Chapter 7

                                         Chapter 7

He turned around but did not look up at first. I could see him breathing heavily and his knit eyebrows showed he was thinking. He just stood there in complete surprise. But after he gathered his senses he looked up straight into my eyes. He cleared his throat and said “…I don’t like you though. I can’t. It’s too hard. I’m sorry.” And then he walked away. I rolled up into a ball and sobbed my heart out. I was still on the school property but nobody bothered to see if I was okay. I kept repeating his awful words in my mind. His scratchy voice he tried to cover up haunted my thoughts. His worried eyes were cast adrift and I could see his pain in his soul. His words hit me like a ton of bricks and kept hitting me until I fell asleep underneath the cold, hard snow.

   I woke up next to an unfamiliar fireplace. I was sprawled out on a large, soft rug and had a fleecy blanket wrapped around my shoulders. There was no noise but the cracking of the fire. I started to smell something. What could it be? I gained the strength to pick myself up and carry me through the corridors towards the smell. I finally came across a huge wooden door.  I twisted the handle carefully, scared to see what was on the other side.  The door creaked as I slowly opened it.

“Come on in, honey!” said a woman. I didn’t know who she was but I could tell by her voice she was full of hospitality and soul. I didn’t open the door anymore. I was too confused.

“Are you coming in or what? I got some fried chicken right here for ya! There’s some biscuits in the oven and some greens on the stovetop. Nobody’s gonna bite you. Don’t be scared.” I watched her flip her fry pan once more before I entered. I sat in the stool next to the cabinets across from the woman.

“You hungry? I got plenty to go around!” She said as she salted the chicken.

“Kind of..” I murmured.

“What was that sweetie? I didn’t catch that.” She asked and held her hand up to her ear showing she could not hear me.

“I said sort of” I said loud enough for her to hear.

“Well make yourself a plate! Plates are in the cabinet right to the left of you.” I pulled on the drawer until I saw some decent looking glass plates.  I got up and started scooping some of her greens onto my plate. I finally asked, “Who are you and where am I?”  

Chapter 6

                                       Chapter 6

I thought about following him, I thought about making things right but got too scared. I never knew anything could be so great and then run away right when I need it most.

It was again the dreadful Monday…the day I could see Ben.

I entered our first class. He was in his usual seat. I found his eyes and he found mine. I blushed a little and I could see that he had some tears in his eyes. I looked down towards the floor and trudged silently to my seat.

I couldn’t pay attention at all as the day went on. Nothing seemed right without him.

He didn’t walk with me to any of the classes. He avoided all my glances in the hallway. I waited for him at my locker for a while before I remembered he probably wouldn’t be coming so I put in the combination 31-15-12 opened it up, grabbed my stuff and trudged out of the school. Tears were starting to form in my eyes but then I saw him walking home and began to follow him… well actually kind of chased him. I had to almost run to even keep up with him he was walking so fast.

 He wouldn’t talk to me. I kept asking him questions. “Why do we have to do this?””Why can’t we just forget about it? Who cares anymore?” All the questions that raced my mind suddenly all spilled out. Now tears were just streaking down my face getting my mascara all over. I could feel my face getting hot but inside my soul it was as cold as ice. I must have looked like a mess, but I didn’t really care anymore.

I stopped in my tracks. Sighed for strength and yelled out “Look you really don’t have to do this-this is all too stupid.” He kept walking so I ran up a little bit and began to talk again. “I don’t know about you but I enjoyed it…yes I liked it and I like you too.”

He froze where he was standing.

                                             Chapter 5

    Science went by slow, but at least I had Ben there to talk to me. It was quite comforting having him sitting there, actually enjoying my presence. The bell rang and I sprung up ready to go to my next class. I waited for Ben to gather his textbooks and we walked to next hour. He had every single class with me.

    We had art next. We took our seats; he sat next to me again. I was glad though. Mrs. Lohnna pranced into the room happily. She told us what we were doing today. We were painting trees. Pine trees, maple trees, apple trees, palm trees, whatever tree we wanted.

     Art class was the only subject I liked in school, other than choir I had 6^th hour. I started off with a sketch of a pine tree. It was the pine tree I always climbed when I went hunting so I knew it pretty well. My hands made twists and turns making every line as carefully as you would disable a bomb. I was happy.

    Ben noticed my drawing. I was hoping he wouldn’t so I wouldn’t get too much attention.

“Jennette, h-how did you draw that?”He stuttered.

“Umm I don’t know…I–just–drew.” I muttered.

“Well you can draw pretty well! I mean look at this,” he lifted up his paper full of little scribbles and unsophisticated lines.

“It’s not that bad.” I lied.

He laughed and said, “It’s not that bad for a two-year old.”

I giggled and finally told the truth. “Well it is pretty bad haha!”

“I know,” he laughed. He had a beautiful laugh, very pure. I sighed as we talked about everything. We got to be best friends. We saw each other every day no matter if there was school or not. He was my best friend and I loved him. What was I going to do?

I didn’t want to tell him I loved him and risk our friendship. But I also wanted him to be mine, and only mine. Nobody would ever have him because he belonged to me.  

But one day we were taking a walk, hand in hand because he didn’t want me to fall. We walked about a mile into the woods and then came upon a field I’ve never seen before. He dropped my hand, tapped my shoulder, said “Tag Your It”, and ran.

I ran after him, he was actually kinda fast. We ran and ran until I caught him underneath a lonely, beautiful apple tree. I tackled him actually. We fell to the ground and just laughed.

We laid there for a while then he faced me. His eyes sparkled under the clear sunshine. Then he leaned over and kissed me. I was in shock I was so happy. I never thought it was going to be this easy.

His lips were soft against mine until he found the need to break free. He felt as if he shouldn’t have done that for some reason.  He had a pained expression on his face and dug his palm into his forehead mumbling curses.

“No I shouldn’t have done that…I’m sorry,” he said and ran away.

Chapter 4

                            Chapter 4

What was he thinking? I wanted to approach him and find out his problem. Whenever we switched classes I could feel his eyes on me from across the hallway. I kept my head down the whole time and walked quietly trying to be invisible, as I always was.

    I trotted towards science class. My least favorite class, ugh. Tell me why we have to take science, I mean seriously who cares about cells? Cells were the subject we were studying at the moment. I hated science with a passion. I hated everything about it from the book to the insanely fat teacher, Mrs. Fallofure.

    I looked around the classroom looking for my new seat. She switches the seats every month. Guess who was sitting in the back of the classroom? Of course, it was Ben. All the other seats were taken except for the one right next to him.

    He noticed I was looking at him. He patted the chair waiting for me to come sit next to him. I reluctantly sat next to him. Will the embarrassment ever end? First I scream at him in homeroom then I have to sit next to him in science! This is just not my day.

“Hi I’m Ben,” he said, his gorgeous voice was the song of birds as they sang their beautiful lullaby.

“I know uhm I’m Jennette,” I couldn’t help but smile every time I looked into his eyes.

“I know,” he said. His eyelashes were a beautiful golden color and every time he blinked I could feel my heart beat right out of my chest. I hope he doesn’t notice that.

“I’m intrigued by you,” he said. “You spoke out and didn’t care what people said about you. Why is that?” he asked.

“Well when you know nobody really cares about you, that you’re an outsider from the real world, you tend to not really care as much as you should.” I said, shrugging to say I wasn’t offended to reveal who I was.

“That’s not true, I’m sure somebody cares about you.” He said thoughtfully.

“Nope,” I said making my lips pop on the p.

“What about your parents?” He asked.

“No”

“Friends?”

“I don’t have any,” I said kinda shy.

“Okay do you have any relatives?”

“No”

“I care about you,” he said.

    I looked up, shocked; to see his dreamy eyes staring into mine. His closed, perfect smile twisted into my heart. I thought I was going to melt and ooze onto the floor before I hit reality.

I looked at him curiously, “You do? I wasn’t sure what this felt like, I’ve never found somebody who cared for me or liked me at all.

“Of course I do, you’re so different and spontaneous and so easy to talk to,” he said.

“Umm thank you?” I wasn’t very sure what to say after that so I just smiled and giggled a little. 

Chapter 3

                               Chapter 3

    I thought I might as well actually go to school today. I don’t see why I have to go. I mean I react by instincts. I would never get a job of any sorts using my mind. My instincts guide me through the day. That is one of the many reasons I am a hunter. No smarts required except how to pull back your bow string and send the arrow flying.

    I walked up to the school and all of a sudden my stomach twisted and turned. Something was going to happen today, but what? What could this strange reaction be? I have been to school many times and it wasn’t very exciting. I gave up my pondering and went inside.

    As I walked into homeroom and all my breath escaped my lungs. I saw him. His golden hair flowed as the wind struck his face. His emerald green eyes sparkled as he laughed, he had a gorgeous voice. I noticed I was just standing there, staring at him with my mouth hanging open so I closed it and walked to my desk.

    Why was he here? I have never seen him before, he had to be new. While I was thinking Mr. Gibson, my teacher, walked in and introduced him. His name was Benjamin Newton. Ben for short. Then Mr. Gibson made us introduce ourselves. Making us stand up and say our name. How embarrassing and childish.

“Katie” one girl said.

“David” a boy said.

   Many more went on and it was my turn now. I stood up taking my time, making sure not to fall over.

“Jennette” I murmured quietly staring at the ground.

“Excuse Me?” Mr. Gibson asked. I guess I didn’t say it loud enough.

“Jennette” I said a little louder but it was barely audible. I never stopped staring at the floor.

“Could you please say that a little louder?” Mr. Gibson asked.

“Jennette!” I snarled as I glared at Mr. Gibson with fierce eyes and teeth showing as if I was a wild animal.

    He backed away confused by my fierceness. He was not used to this. I hardly ever spoke so he thought I wouldn’t be this difficult. He was seriously thinking I would just say my damn name and sit back down. Wow, how can you be a teacher and be so stupid? He thought I was a good kid? All the kids whispered about my remarks, but I would barely call it a whisper since I could hear all of them.

    I finally sat back down and met Ben’s eyes. His looked worried or pained in a way. His eyebrows were creased in curiosity. He left my glaze and I looked down at the floor again.