Untitled Story... Beginning of a Story.

I feel like I haven't been Buzznet-ing in a while. It's so sad. I feel so disconnected since my project is over. So since I have no new photos to share. I thought I'd share the beginning of a story I started a while ago. It's major lame and probably has a gazillion errors in every sentence. But it's the furthest I've gotten in any story yet. And it's not much. It also ends at a very random spot haha. I haven't looked at it in like a year at least. It's been a while... And I haven't really gone back to edit it or anything.. Anyways here it is... Don't judge my lame writing skills. Actually... Please do, I love hearing feedback and how I can make it better! :)

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The final bell rang.  Freedom at last, at least after the next week and a half.  Well, that was if everything ran smooth.  I walked out of Mr. Harvey’s European History class for the last time.  The class was a complete bore, but I had to take it.  It was even more brutal because no one I actually talked to was in the class.  I walked over to my locker to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind, and I saw Tessa skipping over from the other side of the hall.

“Halfway done senior year!  We’re so close!  Can you smell it?” Tessa was always overly enthusiastic, but now even more so.

“I don’t know what you’ve been smelling, but I’ll pass.  How about we just get out of here before someone locks us in?”

“Fine, but I’m dropping off Julia too.  She said she has to pick stuff up from the gym.  Let’s go get her.”

I closed up my locker and we headed down the old halls that were in desperate need of a new paint job.  There were kids scattered around talked about their plans for winter break.  The halls were filled with fading murals and rackety glass trophy cases. As we passed more and more I stopped by the trophy case at the corner of the gym as Tessa kept jabbering on and walked right into the gym.  Even though I had passed by it a million and a half times, I had never really stopped and looked at it.  So, I put down my backpack and took a look.  It was filled with plaques, old baseballs, and photos of the teams dating all the way back to the 50s. Dad and Grandpa Masters were both in there. They were both MVPs of their time.  Grandpa reminds me of Claire, my sister.   She has the same chocolate brown hair, even though his was all white now, and bright blue eyes, his had turned icy over the years. And they were both constant reminders how I did not belong in the family.

“Charlie, where’d you go?” Tessa called out from the gym.  I grabbed my beaten up navy blue JanSport and headed towards the gym.  As I turned the corner I ran into none-other-than Josh Cutler. Ever since 7th grade, when he asked me to be his science partner over all the other girls, I’ve had the biggest crush on him.  The only way I could ever explain why he chose me was that he thought I was the smartest, which I definitely wasn’t.  He was so sweet and had this smooth caramel hair and the most gorgeous hazel eyes.  I hadn’t even paid attention to any of the other guys in school since then, even though I don’t have a shot.

“Hey Charlie,” he said so calm and cool.  He was with his friends Mark and Tyler.  I have no idea why he hangs out with those two idiots.  They are like Beavis and Butthead. 

“Hey, I’m so sorry.  How are you?” I tried to act normal, but it always came out that I was trying too hard.

“Don’t worry about it.  I’m good.  Glad schools over, you know?  Got any plans for break?”

“Umm, not really.  Just hanging out with some friends and getting some sleep.  What about you?”

“Yeah, sounds about the same.  We’re having a party at Mike’s tonight, you know, half-way through senior year kind of party.  You should come.”  My heart was about to burst out of my chest and my cheeks instantly flushed red. 

“Umm, thanks, but uh, me, Tessa and Julia were going to hang out tonight.  Have fun though. Thanks.”

“Well, they can come too.  You know, if you want. It’ll be fun.  It’s gonna start around 8, if you want to stop by.  I gotta get going.”  Mike and Tyler had already left and he went to catch up.  I just stared out at him for a moment until my daze was interrupted.

“Why didn’t you come in?  What happened?  I was talking to you and then I looked over and you were gone.”  Tessa said as her and Julia walked up to me.

“Hey Jules.  What did you have to get?”  I asked Julia, completely ignoring Tessa.

“Hey, just my uniforms and sneakers.  I have a couple tryouts over break.  But seriously, what happened to you?”

“Oh, I – I just ran into Josh.” 

“What!” Tessa flipped.  “How did I miss this?”

“I told you, he totally likes you,” Julia said.

“What did he say?  OMG!  Everything, I want to know everything!”  Tessa couldn’t even contain herself.

“I just ran into him… literally.  He asked what I was doing over break and stuff... And umm… He asked if I wanted to go to a party tonight.” Tessa was hooked on ever word and completely lost at it at the last part.

“Oh. My. God.  You have to go!  It’s going to be amazing!  You’ll totally fall in love and I’ll be your maid of honor and…”

“Woah, who said you’d be the maid of honor?” Julia chimed in.

“Umm guys, we already have plans, remember?  And I’m not getting married any time soon.”

“I’m sorry, what plans?  We can hang out whenever.  You have to go!  You may never get this chance again.  And you have to call every half hour and tell us what’s going on.  This may just be the high light of the year.”

“Well, if I go, you’re coming with me.  He said you guys can come too.”

Tessa’s screech could be heard around the globe.  Tessa and I had never really been invited to a party before.  Julia gets invited all the time by her volleyball and softball girls, but she normally just hangs out with us. The sporty girls were a bit to extreme for Julia.  Last spring break they all got trashed at some party and dared Julia to wreck their coach’s car.  Of course Julia didn’t do it, but she never felt comfortable with them since. 

“Okay, so I’ll drop you guys home and then we’ll meet up at my place around six.  Got it?”  Tessa was far too excited as usual.

“You guys, Tyler’s parties are pretty intense.  There’s always a lot of, well everything…” That’s the thing about Julia, she was so innocent.  Then again, she was the only one who had ever had a boyfriend.  It was freshman year, he was a junior and the point guard on the basketball team named Shawn Wright.  Julia didn’t say yes right away.  He was a sweet guy, but he had to win her over.  I just think she didn’t want to jump into anything with someone she barely knew.  They went out for almost two years.   They broke up right after winter break of his senior year.  Not that she ever said anything, but I’m pretty sure she wanted to get it over with before he left for college.  They are still friends and she even hung out with him when he came back this past summer.   

“Julia, this is our shot.  I mean mine and Charlie’s.  Just think about it this way, you’ll be our tour guide since this is all so new to us.  We are going to have so much fun.  Okay, so what are you going to wear?”

She went on and on about what she was going to wear and she thought we should wear.  Meanwhile, I started thinking about Josh.  He was probably just being nice, he was nice to everyone.  He probably invited everyone, maybe even Maggie Roswell.  Everyone knew Maggie has a crush on him and everyone always make fun of her or tease her about it.  Once in 10th grade a few of the ‘popular’ girls left a note in her locker saying,

“I dream about you day and night. 

I wish you were my star and light

Meet me by the stage right,

And I may just might,

Give you a kiss goodnight.”

The thing about Maggie was she didn’t understand that people were being mean to her, she really thought she had a shot.  Especially, when Josh showed up because he found out and apologized and was so sweet about it.  I think she thinks they’ve been dating ever since.  Honestly, I think she has a much better chance than I ever would.  Behind her Hermione Granger hair and Ugly Betty mustache, Maggie could actually be really pretty.  She was about 5’ 5” and had a build of a swimmer, whereas I stand at a mere 5’ 2” with a tummy and am not athletic what-so-ever.  He was definitely just being nice.

            Tessa decided she was going to wear her silver tank top with a cardigan and jeans.  That Julia was going to wear her grey sweater dress with tights and I would wear my purple, cropped sweater on top of a tank with jeans and my new black boots.  She just had it all figured out. 

            “Let’s go!” Tessa said.

“Okay, just give me a minute, I’ll meet you at the car, “ I said. 

                                                            ***

            “Six o’clock, my place, sharp,” Tessa said as I got out of the car.

            “How could I forget” I gave her my signature sarcastic look.  “See ya Jules.”

            “See ya.”  They drove off.

            For some reason I always got a bit anxious walking up to my front door.  It was almost as if I was walking in someone else’s shoes and at any second they were going to take them off.  The house was bigger than average and beautifully kept.  Dad is a CEO of this business company I never bothered to ask much about.  Mom stays at home, which is why the house is always in tip-top shape.  She’s not one of those PTA moms, but she was always keeping herself busy.  I walked right into the kitchen just to be greeted by grandpa drinking a freshly opened beer. 

            “Where’s Claire?” he asked bluntly.

            “I don’t know.” I answered back ever more bluntly.

            “When’s she coming back?”

            “How should I know?” I opened up the fridge and took out a bottle of water.  I felt his cold eyes burning through my back.

            “Don’t use that tone with me.” He said rather harsh.

            “I didn’t have a tone,” I answered sarcastically.

            “You listen here –“

            “What’s going on in here?” Mother walked in with some dry cleaning, thank goodness.

            “This girl is trying to be smart with me.  Just trying to teach her some respect.  Something you…” he grumbled the rest to himself.  He knew better than to say something like that to Mom.

            “Charlie, be nice to your grandfather, would you?”

            “He’s not my grandfather, that’s your other daughter.”  I took a sip of my water

            “You got that right,” he glared at me.

            I headed up to my room.  Placed the water on my nightstand next to a stack of magazines I had finished reading.  Right as I plopped onto my bed, the door opened.  Claire walked in as though it was her room, as always.

            “Richard was looking for you.”

            “Oh yeah, I saw him.   He just wanted to give me some money.  I told him about that concert I was saving up for, so he thought he could help out.  How sweet is that?”  She sounded like an angel.  She even glowed.  It was all the make-up she had piled on, she was almost at my skin color.  

            “He’s a sweetheart for sure.  How as you last day?” I said trying hard not to roll my eyes.  Claire and I got along, but we weren’t close.  We were, up until around the time I met Tessa.  Well, maybe even a little after that.  I never seem to remember because it happened slowly, but I knew it was happening.  In 7th grade she quit the volleyball team that she was on with Julia and joined cheerleading.  That was fine, until she started hanging out with Paige D’Ortone.  Now Claire was nice, but she knew how to work things to get her way.  And if she didn’t she made sure whoever stood in her way was punished without ever being caught or questioned.  Even when we were younger, if I ever got something for Christmas that she wanted, she somehow found a way to get it and keep her gifts too.  Paige got her to be a bazillion times worse than she already was. 

            When we got to high school, Claire was one of the prettiest girls.  That summer before we started, she had blossomed, got all the curves from Mom’s side of the family.  She even made some of the juniors and seniors jealous.  She didn’t try too hard either, or at least she made it seem like she didn’t.  But I know just how long she takes every morning, an hour and a half earlier than I wake up.  The thing was though, she had this vibe that made guys think that it was an honor to talk to her. 

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Random right? That tis it. I don't know if I want to continue this story, cause I've been having other storylines floating more recently... We'll see...