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.

Chapter 2

                                                             Chapter 2

 

I thought I might as well go back to my house before my parents had a heart attack. I knew they really didn't care but they acted like they did. Too bad they weren't good actors. I started going off north towards John Street.  Five houses down from the corner sat our house. Looks normal on the outside, but it’s a dungeon on the inside. I walked in through the door since I was too sore from falling out of that stupid tree to climb back into my window. I had to drop off my game first though. I walked around the back of my house, threw my game and weapons in the bushes for later and limped off to the front door.
    They were waiting for me, arms crossed right in the front hallway.  Ever since I walked through that door I regretted it. Their worried faces were fake and I knew now that nobody cared about me. I now knew I was alone in this complicated world and these plain white walls tore my heart apart. There was nobody that wanted me. Was it because I was stubborn, or a loner, or was it just because I gave nobody the time of day? I guess we’ll never know…
    I was beautiful though. My flowing red hair glistened in the wind when I ran. And my baby blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. I wasn't very tall but I was thin and that was good enough for me. I'm not popular but that's okay with me. Why would anyone want to transform into a snob just to get attention. And why would you betray anyone who has ever seen the real you, I don't know...

 

Chapter 1

                                                              Chapter 1

     The shriek of terror awakens me from my mystified dream. I reach over and turn the light on hoping it was just my imagination, but as we all know luck never comes my way. The Dream…it all happened in an empty field except for one oak tree, oak trees are everywhere in Bend, Oregon. Everything was silent. It was a beautiful day, sky blue, sun shining bright, grass in a shade so green you couldn't imagine. I walked up to the single tree for only God knows why. I touched its rough skin of bark when all of a sudden lightning stroke the branch right above my head. My fast reflexes I got from hunting got me out of there but I fell. Why did I fall? My leg was stuck underneath the huge branch. I screamed…it was broken. The wind howled, sleets of rain came pouring down, and the sky turned as dark as my soul. I couldn’t get it off of me. I kept calling for someone to help me but nobody came. Tears just exploded from my eyes, like a water balloon. More lightning came…it was burning the whole field, trapping me. Another bolt of lightning hit a higher, thicker branch and fell and crushed my skull. I suddenly woke up. I flew upward trying to grasp the last of my breath. I figured out it was my own shriek that exited my own mouth. I don't know why, but I don't really care at this point. I didn’t even try to pull myself back into sleep, it was too late for that now. I look over at my alarm clock. Three A.M.  Yes, Just what I needed! My parents would still be asleep. I figured I would go hunt. I grabbed my bow and my quiver full of arrows and headed out the window without even getting dressed, brushing my hair, or brushing my teeth. I walk about a mile to the edge of the woods, look around to make sure nobody was watching me. But wait, why would anybody be watching me at Three A.M.? I shook the question from my head and move on into the woods. I soon find a nearby tree to sit in and wait for game to cross. By Six A.M. I've got three rabbits, four squirrels, a porcupine, and eight bloody arrows.