Elizabeth had always had an odd outlook on how life was thrown at her. She never believed things happened for a reason or in fate and crap like that. Life was just something every human dealt with and when you reached the ending, that was is. There was nothing else after that, no Heaven, no Hell. Just blackness, darkness. She always felt like God had cheated her and didn't love her, taking the most sacred thing from her, a year back. If she could just live her days, get them over with and not have to deal with humanity any longer, things were going to be just fine. But of course, things never truly do turn out that way. Ever. There would always be some magical person that would appear and rescue her. Just like in all the Fairy Tales. But, that's not at all what happened to Elizabeth Thomas. Yes, she should meet somebody wonderful in so many different ways but it ended up into an even worse thing than anything good. Which leads me to the story of how Elizabeth Thomas came to fall in love with a boy named Alan McClennan.
"What are you lookin' at?" A voice called out, entering the dark bedroom. Elizabeth kept her eyes glued to a small, cracked picture frame containing a faded photo.
"Mom," She answered softly, her voice close to a whisper. Calvin sat down on the edge of the bed, close to her, examining the object in her hands.
"I miss her," Elizabeth added, running a finger over the picture.
"So do I." Calvin responded, draping an arm around his little sister. "I dream about her sometimes,"
"Really?"
"Yeah," He nodded. "It's always when we were littler and she and dad are tickling us." She sighed, with a saddened tone.
"They were the best parents, Liz," Calvin reminded her.
"That's why I miss them so much," Elizabeth answer. Calvin squeezed her into a hug and whispered, "Don't be sad because they're gone, be happy because they were once here on Earth." Elizabeth considered this before smiling and placing the frame back in its normal spot next to her jewelry box that played a soft lullaby.
"Now c'mon, you're going to be late for school!" Calvin hollered, playfully kicking her butt. She shot him a glare and he smiled big back at her. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her book bag before they left the room.
Elizabeth really did miss her parents. It was not fair that two people so loving, friendly, and amazing had to die while rapists and murderers got to live. Elizabeth thought back to the day when she found out her parents were stone-cold dead.
They had all been driving home a little past eight o'clock on that warm summer's evening. It was one of those nights where there aren't any clouds and all you want to do is sit outside all night and gaze up at the sky. And it would be the perfect night because there was going to be a meteor shower later that night. Everyone was laughing and were all making jokes with each other.
"Hey kids, how about we all make s'mores tonight?" Their mother asked, glancing in the back seat. They both nodded vigorously, excited for their arrival back home.
But, as sudden as a camera flash, tires screeched, people's bodies jerked and windows were cracked broken. Another car had blown a red light, running directly into the passenger's side of the Thomas's car. The force was so immense that their car flipped over, sending everyone into hysteric shrieks.
The ambulance arrived and pulled everyone safely from the massacred car, except for their mother who was knocked unconscious and was rushed into the ambulance and hauled away from the scene. Their father, however, was awake but wasn't doing so well. Calvin and Elizabeth just ended up with bumps and bruises and a cut here and there. Their father was also being taken away by the rescue people, into another ambulance. The last thing Calvin and Elizabeth saw of their father was him covered in blood, smiling and giving them a thumbs up, and then he was hurried away.
When the two siblings saw the person that crashed into them, they didn't know what to do or say. It was a young man, late twenties and he had a very large gash across his left eyebrow. The blood was dripping down his temple. He also had a small cut on his lower lip. He came rushing over towards Calvin and Elizabeth pleading, "I'm so sorry," and "I didn't mean to!" The man's lip quivered and he was shaking. Elizabeth cried, not because she was in pain but because she was scared of what was going to happen.
The next morning, Calvin and Elizabeth woke in their Grandparent's home, only to find out their parents had passed away late last night. Elizabeth instantly fell to the floor, crying and Calvin hugged her.
"Elizabeth!" Calvin screamed. She snapped back to were she was and blinked. "I'm growin' old her, get a move on!" She grumbled under her breath but followed her brother out of the house and into his rusty old pick-up truck.
Elizabeth had always adored Calvin, even though they had a five year age difference. He was twenty and she was fifteen. But maybe that was why she loved him so much. Sure, Calvin had beat on her and teased her but that's what brothers are supposed to do. There would also be times when they got along and could tell each other everything. Calvin never hesitated to help her with any sort of problem she was facing. And after their parents were gone, the only had each other. So they decided to remain in the same house, live together, and move ahead in life. Calvin always looked out for his little sister and felt the need to protect her; it was his job. Who else was going to?
They pulled in front of the high school and remained quiet until Calvin spoke up.
"I'll pick you up around three," He said. She nodded and began opening the door.
"Is everything alright?" He asked. She halted and looked back over to him.
"Yeah, why?" She replied.
"You just seem, odd today."
"I'm fine. Honestly." She smiled. "I'll see you after school." He nodded and she exited the car. Calvin drove away with his old truck huffing and puffing as it drove on down the street.
Elizabeth turned back towards the school and headed in towards it. Other kids swarmed the hallways, whooping and hollering. She saw a group of boys all talking in a circle. As she got closer, she found out it was Benny, Smalls, Squints, and Yeah-Yeah. It was a small town so everyone knew everyone. Everybody had a nickname and had things said about them.
Elizabeth had seen them around school and outside of school. They were always playing baseball at the Sandlot. It was their place. They hung out there all of last summer and the summer before that and she was sure they'd be there again this coming summer. She remembered the time when they boys were all at the pool a few summers ago. Squints had put the moves on the lifeguard, Wendy Peffercorn. Elizabeth was there when that happened and had found it hysterically funny. She was laughing about it hours afterwards.
The girl walked past the four boys like she normally would and they continued their conversation. She made it to her English room and plopped herself down in her desk, three from the front all the way to left, by all the windows. She set her pencil down towards the edge of the desk and tapped her fingers softly, waiting for class to commence.
Elizabeth didn't necessarily get along with other people to well. It wasn't that she was socially retarded or anything, it's just tat she felt she didn't need other people to get herself through each day. She would be able to manage just fine with Calvin. She would talk here and there to other girls but whenever they wanted to hang out, she'd find some excuse not to make it. The weird thing was, was that she was never like that until after her parents were killed. She slowly drifted from her friends, only saying "hello" every now and then.
Yeah-Yeah and Squints entered the room, snickering over something Squints had just said. Elizabeth turned her attention to the two boys.
"I'm sure of that, Squints," Yeah-Yeah exclaimed, grinning.
"I'm tellin' you," Squints sternly said, moving closer to his seat. "She wants me…Wendy Peffercorn, the hottie lifeguard wants a piece of 'ol Michael Palledorous!" Yeah-Yeah rolled his eyes and sat down in his chair.
"Yeah, yeah…she wants you so bad, Squints." Yeah-Yeah sarcastically shot back.
"She does though!" Squints urged, pushing his glasses further onto his face. Yeah-Yeah looked away just as Mr. Tambellini walked to the chalk board, signaling the beginning of the class period.
"As you all know, the end of the year is approaching soon…" Mr. Tambellini reminded everyone.
"Hell yeah it is!" Marty Thorn yelled, throwing his hands up into the air. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and tried to listen in to the teacher.
"…and for your final this semester, you and a partner will come together and research a famous person from history." A huge grown erupted from the entire class and everyone sunk further down into their chairs.
Mr. Tambellini was Elizabeth's favorite teacher because of his laid back attitude and personality. He was pretty young; mid twenties and was adored by almost everyone. He rarely assigned projects which was why everyone was so pissy.
"Aww, c'mon Mr. T! You never give us any projects!" Laurie Anderson whined, placing her elbows on her desk.
"Yeah, yeah! Why now? At the end of the year!" Yeah-Yeah added, straightening up in his seat, popping his bubblegum. (Mr. Tambellini was the only teacher that had allowed Yeah-Yeah to chew gum in their class, straightening up in his seat, popping his bubblegum. (Mr. Tambellini was the only teacher that had allowed Yeah-Yeah to chew gum in their class. He somehow managed to ignore the irritating popping.)
"Guys," Mr. Tambellini urged. "You have to do something for the final…I can always give you all a test-"
"NO!" The class screamed, cutting him off. Tests were the worst. Worse than projects because at least with projects you could cheat and look up all your information while you were doing it. With tests, well, it was another story. Mr. T smiled and continued: "Well, as I was saying…you will pair up with one other person and together you'll create a poster of a famous person in history. And guess what the best part is?" He grinned. Elizabeth snorted and all necks snapped towards her, eyeing her closely.
"Miss Thomas?" Mr. Tambellini questioned, with a smirk.
"Like there is a best part in this…" She mumbled under her breath, which gained many snickers from all over the room. Usually she just kept her mouth shut and did as the teacher said but today she didn't care at all.
"What's the best part, Mr. T?" She asked with sarcasm. "Wait, do you get to choose our partners?" A giant grin spread across his face and he exclaimed, "BINGO!" Another moan was withdrawn from the students. "And since you guessed correctly Elizabeth, I'll give you the choice of your partner." Elizabeth sighed heavily and roller her eyes.
"I honestly do not care, Mr. T." She admitted, leaning back into her chair.
"Oh, okay…lemme see then," His eyes scanned the room back and forth, until his eyes landed.
"Alan, you'll be Elizabeth's partner. Is that alright?" Yeah-Yeah's head snapped up and he nodded, looking over at her.
Elizabeth silently sighed. She was relieved that her partner was Yeah-Yeah and not somebody like Marty Thorn, obnoxious and just fucking annoying.
Mr. Tambellini continued assigning partners to everyone and then said, "Okay, now get together with your partner and figure out who you all wanna do your project on. Once you both now, come get it approved by me. Oh and there are no repeats so if you want somebody, be quick about it!"
Everyone then lazily walked over to their partner and began discussing possible people. Yeah-Yeah pulled a chair across from Elizabeth and sat backwards in it, placing his arms on the back rest.
"So," Elizabeth began. "We need to think somebody who's a good overall person."
"Yeah, yeah!" He agreed, blowing a bubble.
"Do you have anyone in mind?" Yeah-Yeah though in silence for a moment before grinning.
"We could do the Great Bambino!"
"Babe Ruth?" Elizabeth confirmed. He nodded his head and answered, "Why not? That guy's a freakin' legend!" Elizabeth nodded her head. They could do The Babe…he was the greatest baseball player that ever lived.
"Okay, let's do the Great Bambino." Elizabeth smiled and Yeah-Yeah mirrored her grin.
"I'll go tell Mr. Tambellini!" He said and ran off. Elizabeth knew as much about Babe Ruth as she knew about baseball itself. All she knew was that Babe Ruth was a goddamn legend and he was like, the god of baseball but other than that, she'd need to do some research.