Entry #655381, added on 08-14-09 @ 9:56 am EDT
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| 1. Invitations | Entry #655381 |
1. Invitations
I stared up at Middle Lakes Secondary, a knot of worry settling in my stomach as I considered another year of school stuck there. Not for the first time, I wished I’d stayed at home in bed.
Only the thought of seeing my best friend for the first time after eight long weeks of being separated moved me forward, into the masses of students reuniting after the summer holidays.
I tried to tune out my chattering classmates as I searched over their heads, looking for his face. It didn’t take me long to spot him towering over the rest of the crowd, and I wondered grumpily if he’d grown again since I’d seen him last year. His gaze searched the crowd too, scanning the faces of our peers, seeking mine.
Waving my arm over my head, I wished – not for the first time – that I was taller than my five feet, and I grew increasingly impatient as he continued to look in every direction but mine.
After what seemed like an age, his gaze finally fell on my waving arm, and his face broke into a familiar grin. Striding through the crowd, students stumbled hurriedly out of his way, clearing a pathway between us. I returned his grin enthusiastically, throwing my arms around his neck. Riley hugged my tightly, lifting my feet off the ground and fighting laughter as I struggled against his bear hug. After several long moments he released me, and I sucked in air, wondering if he’d left bruises across my ribs--it wouldn’t be the first time. Leaning into him, I punched him lightly on the arm.
“Don’t think you’re ever leaving me again!” I pouted, putting on what I imagined was my sternest voice. He laughed, ruffling my hair with his hands.
“You take it up with Matthew next time he feels the need to go on an overseas adventure with me in tow. You know what he’s like, love, there really wasn’t any arguing with him once he’d made up his mind about Europe,” he chuckled again, apparently amused by the pout on my face.
“Take me with you next time then,” I whined, glaring up at him, fuming. “It’s not like I wouldn’t have gone with you, you could have at least told me you were leaving. I almost died of boredom home alone all summer!”
Pulling me back into a bear hug, Riley spoke into my ear: “Next time, I promise.”
Pushing him away I poked my tongue out insolently, but it wasn’t long before my cheeks tugged the corners of my mouth back into a smile; I hadn’t realised just how much I’d missed him.
“Good,” I grinned, having gotten my way so easily. I wasn’t really mad at him anyway, not after I hadn’t seen him for two long months. Linking my arm with his, I dragged Riley through the crowd and towards the school. I made it halfway there before I saw him, standing alone by the huge double doors into the main foyer, a piece of paper in one hand and a schoolbag in the other.
I glanced around me and realised that I wasn’t the only one who was staring; we didn’t get a lot of new students to our school. Two girls I’d known since prep were whispering behind their hands to each other, their eyes glued to this new addition to our peer group.
I could certainly see what drew their stares--along with the majority of the other students standing around--he was unlike anyone I’d ever seen in our tiny town; with skin the colour of milk and chocolate brown hair that was so perfectly messy it couldn’t possibly be accidental. He was tall and lean, on the verge of looking unhealthy, and dark, bruise like semi-circles sat under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. His jaw was sharply angled, and his cheekbones were high and obvious under his perfectly unblemished, pale—almost translucent—complexion.
All of these things combined made him undeniably the most beautiful person I had ever seen, and my breath caught as I surveyed his elegant features. He stared across the student body with a slight scowl marring his features, as if starting at a new school bored him.
I felt a tugging at my sleeve and I dragged my gaze from the his angelic perfection to face Riley. I felt irritation cross my face but quickly suppressed it at Riley’s expression, his eyes tight as he stared up at the new boy, his brow creased. I only had a moment to wonder what the reason behind his stare was, before the first bell rang, signalling five minutes until the start of classes.
Carefully arranging my features into a blank expression, I linked back up with Riley and moved forwards past the whispering girls and their sullen looking boyfriends, towards the main doors. Making sure not to look at him, I strode past where the new boy stood and into the main building, pulling Riley with me. As we walked through the doors I couldn’t help but wonder how this boy with his airbrushed features would impact on life at Middle Lakes Secondary; it was obvious already that the whole school would be talking about him.
Walking to the noticeboard across the room I quickly checked my classes against Riley’s and was dismayed to find that we shared only two; literature and history.
Dragging my feet I walked alone towards the science building for my physics class, focussing on trying to recall Newton’s Third Law and coming up blank.
Arriving at the cramped science room, I peered in to see my least favourite teacher, Mr Martin, setting up what looked unmistakably like a slideshow. A disappointed sigh escaped my lips, and I backed away from the door, looking for any excuse not to enter the room.
After several minutes of watching my classmates walk past me with identical resigned expressions on their faces, I decided that I’d left it long enough, and turned to drag myself into the classroom.
Walking through the doorway I could almost feel the weight of the stares of everyone in the room turned to watch me, and I felt hot blood rush to my face. I stared at my feet, instantly regretting waiting so long to go in. I made it halfway to my seat at the back of the classroom before I realised I wasn’t, in fact, the object of everyone’s attention. I turned where I stood to see the boy from earlier standing in the doorway, the same bored expression he’d had outside the school playing across his face as he looked briefly over the classroom before turning to Mr Martin, handing him a slip of paper.
“Ah, Mr Scott,” he said gruffly, his eyes passing over the boy and stopping at his face, his expression slightly taken aback. “I trust you have the necessary literature?” he asked, nodding approvingly at the textbooks the boy pulled from his schoolbag. “Take a seat wherever you like then, and let me know if you’re having any trouble with the coursework,” he droned, turning his attention to the roll on his desk and proceeding to bark each name down the list.
Realising that I was still standing staring at the new boy, I quickly moved to take my seat at the back of the classroom. Pulling my books from my bag, I answered my name as it was called, and waited as he moved down the list towards the S’s while I watched the new boy out of the corner of my eye.
He walked down the aisle to take the seat in front of mine, and I couldn’t control the feeling of disappointment as his eyes slid over me without stopping. He sat down and I knew that I wasn’t the only person sneaking glances at him, waiting for Mr Martin to read his name off the roll.
Finally, Suzie Ryan’s name was read out, and silence fell as everyone in the room listened for the first name of this mysterious boy.
“Malachi Scott?”
The classroom was silent as everyone turned to stare at Malachi, fitting this name to the newest addition to our year level. He looked up from his textbook, the bored expression never leaving his face.
“Present,” he answered, in a voice like honey, and I couldn’t stop myself from gaping at the way that one word seemed to ring around the room. I glanced around, and was relieved to see that I wasn’t the only one wide eyed and staring.
For several seconds the classroom was silent, then Mr Martin called out the next name on the roll, and the chatter of my classmates started up again slowly, and within a minute it appeared that everyone had forgotten about Malachi. The only giveaway was that every few minutes someone would turn in their chair unsubtly to sneak a glance at him. I even saw Mr Martin staring at him a few times, failing to keep the curiosity out of his expression.
I stared at the back of Malachi’s head, rolling the name around inside my own. Malachi. I smiled to myself, nodding mentally. He definitely looked like a Malachi. For the rest of the class I couldn’t make myself concentrate on my physics work, I just sat watching him, transfixed.
The bell sounded for the end of the period and I gathered my things together, taking my time as I watched Malachi from the corner of my eye, even pausing by the doorway, shamelessly pretending to search through my bag for something. From the corner of my eye I saw Rachael Dawson--one of the “popular” girls in our grade--sauntering slowly up to his desk.
Standing in front of him, she brushed a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes, and I could barely suppress a chuckle as I watched her growing impatience, the seconds ticking as he failed to acknowledging her. Clearing her throat she rested her hands on her hips, annoyance flitting across her perfectly balanced--and in my opinion, perfectly bland--symmetrical features.
Finally he looked up at her, and I could see her quiet outrage as his bored expression didn’t change in response to her long legs and blonde hair.
“Can I help you?” he asked in that same honeyed tone, one eyebrow raised now as he watched her from where he stood.
“Oh, well, I just wanted to introduce myself, my name’s Rachel, Rachel Dawson,” she said, her usually confident giggle coming out a squeak. “Um, if you need someone to show you around or anything...” she trailed off, her pale cheeks flushing as she seemed to forget what it was she’d intended to say.
“Bye,” she said after a moment, staring at him for a second before turning away. I watched her walk briskly past me out of the classroom and this time didn’t quite manage to suppress a laugh.
Malachi turned where he was standing to stare at me, and I was shocked by the colour of his eyes: a deep emerald green, quite unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The corners of his mouth twitched up, and I found myself returning his smile. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped, his eyes locked behind me, all traces of laughter instantly gone from his face.
I turned and saw Riley standing in the doorway. His face was stormy as he stared back at Malachi, his jaw set at right angles. I looked from one to the other, confused at this mutual animosity. I felt my face burning as they turned their stares on me; Riley beckoning me to the doorway and Malachi with an almost vacant expression that I didn’t understand.
I pulled my schoolbag onto my back and hurried out the doorway after Riley, forcing myself to not look back at Malachi and his strange green eyes.
As I walked to the canteen with Riley, I could feel his gaze focussed intently on me. “What?” I snapped, feeling oddly on edge, trying to get the image of Malachi’s staring eyes out of my mind.
“So you met the new student then?” Riley asked casually, casting a quick glance behind us, back towards the classroom. Following his gaze I saw Malachi standing in the hallway, watching us, and a shiver ran through my body. Something about his penetrating gaze was really creepy.
“Not exactly,” I shrugged. “I haven’t spoken to him or anything. I saw him reject Rachel Dawson though,” I grinned, an image of her stricken face flashing through my mind. “What was with look he was giving you, though?” I asked, tilting my head to look at him. “I mean, you’ve never met him before, have you?”
Riley’s face gave nothing away, and he just shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so. He didn’t seem very friendly though, did he?” He laughed quietly; a strangely dark sound.
We arrived at the large hall where the canteen was and moved to our usual table next to the wall. I sat with my back to the rest of the school as they took their own seats, and Riley dropped onto the bench across the table from me. I looked around at the laughing groups of our peers and smiled to myself; Riley was all the friendship I needed.
A familiar piercing giggle came from behind me, and I turned in my seat, already dreading who I knew would be standing there.
“Hi Riley!” Amanda, Rachael’s dim Best Friend For Life, grinned toothily at Riley, ignoring me entirely.
“Hello Amanda,” Riley replied, shifting uncomfortably in his seat under her beaming gaze.
“How were your holidays?”
“Riley went to England with his big brother!” I enthusiastically provided before Riley could so much as open his mouth. Amanda’s eyes darted to me momentarily before they settled back on Riley.
“Wow! England? That’s super interesting!” she bubbled, directing her words to Riley as if he’d been the one to answer her question. I watched her incredulously; amazed at the way her painted red lips drew back over her teeth as she spoke in an uninterrupted smile. “Anyway,” she continued, barely pausing for breath, “I’m throwing this huge party on Saturday, and it’d be so super if you could come!”
“Oh, that’s really nice of you Amanda, but I’ve actually already made plans with Bekah for Saturday,” Riley spluttered, his expression stricken.
“Well, Rebekah’s totally invited too, of course,” Amanda said, still managing to ignore me. The pause before she’d answered was barely noticeable, but her eyebrows had drawn slightly lower over her eyes as she’d said it.
“We’d love to come!” I said, grinning at Riley across the table. He stared back at me, his expression pained. Amanda pouted for a moment at her conversation being interrupted a second time, but then she grinned, apparently realising that she’d gotten her way.
“Super! Umm, I’ll see you on Saturday then! Bye Riley!” She turned without a second glance at me, and I poked my tongue out at her back as she ran off to join Rachael. Girls like Amanda were the reason I’d hated the first seven years of my schooling. Frizzy red hair and glasses hadn’t exactly made me popular with that crowd in primary school, and it only took a few people thinking you were a weirdo and before long the whole grade thought so too. In the past couple of years I’d swapped the glasses for contacts and discovered the hair straightener, but by that point I think it had been written too deeply into my genetic makeup to have any real effect.
Riley, on the other hand, was an entirely different case. When I’d first met him, he was a gangly twelve-year-old with acne and one of the worst bowl-cuts I’ve ever seen. In the past five years, he’d grown about a foot and filled out in the chest and shoulders. He’d even found a decent hairdresser who’d managed to tame his golden curls into something that seemed to make most girls swoon. It didn’t make any difference to me of course, he was still the same gawky twelve year old in my eyes, but the rest of the girls in our year seemed to have different ideas.
Amanda wasn’t the only girl who’d been coming up to Riley and inviting him to all kinds of things, but whether it was one-on-one movie dates or crowded parties, his reply was always the same. I asked him why he adamantly refused every girl who asked, even the ones who weren’t Barbie dolls, but he just said that he wasn’t interested. This answer always made me roll my eyes and insist that he was a boy, so if a pretty girl asked him out then there was no such thing as “not interested”. But he just laughed and said that one day I’d understand.
Riley was far from laughing right now though; in fact he looked fairly peeved. I just grinned, drawing my lips back over my teeth as far as they’d go and batting my eyelashes at him in my best imitation of Amanda. Apparently he didn’t find it as funny as I did.
“Why’d you do that, Bekah?”
“Well she asked me so nicely and all, I just couldn’t say no!”
He snorted, rolling his eyes at me. “You know we have to actually go now, don’t you?”
“It was worth it,” I replied defiantly, but already I was regretting opening my mouth. Just the thought of going to one of Amanda’s parties was painful. A sudden idea popped into my head, and I grinned unwittingly.
“You’re actually smiling? You’ve just doomed us both to a night in Amanda’s company, and you’re smiling?”
I wiped the smile off my face, knowing full well that Riley wouldn’t approve of the reason behind it.
“Oh come on, it’ll be fun, just for the experience of it,” I replied lightly, trying to pull him out of his gloom. He was no fun to be around like this.
“Whatever, Beks.”
I shrugged, rolling my eyes at him. He could be such a drama queen when it came to girls.
"2. Shopping"  |
© Copyright 2009 Caitlin Stafford (UN: caitstafford at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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