Rough Around the Edges
Chapter One:
"It's not that noticeable, Janet." I lied to my best friend, Janet Sweeney. She was talking about the big zit on her chin. I had to lie to her because if I told her that the zit was huge, then she would be really mad at me the rest of the day…or until the fat thing disappeared. She frowned when I said that.
"It really is, though. Don't lie just because you want to make me feel better." Janet said to me, flipping her jet black hair over her shoulder. I sighed as we both walked down the hall to our next class.
If you were wondering, my name is Daniela Marx and I'm fourteen years old. I'm a freshman at Castle Rock Junior High and Janet and I are the most popular girls here. Everyone loves us because…well, I don't really know but they do. Janet's more of the bitchy attitude girl, while I'm the sweet innocent girl. Janet had a boyfriend, Bruce Wade. I didn't have one, but Jerry Cleaver always had his eyes on me.
I smoothed out my yellow dress with the black band in the middle and smiled at the people staring at me in the hall. We got to our classroom just as the bell rang and took our seats in the back.
"Class, is everyone here…wait, where's Chambers?" our teacher, Mr. Lee, asked. Janet and I looked around the room to Chris Chamber's seat. It was in front of this boy, Gordie Lachance's seat. I sighed. Chris was always late to class. I wasn't that good of friends with him, but he looked mean enough for Janet and I to stay away. Gordie looked over at Janet and I and smiled. I smiled back at the poor kid. I also wasn't really friends with him, but he always struck me as odd or…distant. He wasn't the worst looking kid but he was weird and always writing that notebook of his.
Suddenly, the door flung open, and in walked Chris, clad in white tee shirt and loose jeans. He had one book in his hand and his head was down.
"How kind of you to grace us with your presence, Mr. Chambers." Mr. Lee said and Chris turned around to salute him and walk back to his seat. As he walked past my desk, we exchanged stares. It was as if it was slow motion as the tension between us grew. His blue eyes molded with my green ones and I gasped.
"Take a seat, Chambers." Mr. Lee said, breaking our gazes. Chris looked away and took his seat, backwards diagonal from me. I shivered at the thought of the 'moment' we just shared. I hoped he didn't think it meant something.
"Now, class I am going to assign your semester project. It is worth about sixty percent of your grades, kids." Mr. Lee began. I took a swift look back at Chris and he was staring directly at me. I turned away as quickly as I could and tried to pay attention to Mr. Lee. "I am going to assign you to a partner and the project is that you must have a written report or speech about that person. It must be who you think that person really is." I groaned thinking, 'oh great, another project'. The worst part was the assigned partners deal. I mean, what if I get stuck working with some loser like…Chris Chambers. I shuddered at the thought of talking to the class about who I thought he really was. What I really thought he was, was scum and worthlessness. The kid was obviously going nowhere in life what with an alcoholic dad and a brother like Eyeball Chambers. I eyed Janet as she stared into space, her chin propped up by her elbow leaning on the desk while she carelessly listened to Mr. Lee.
"Now I'm going to assign your partners. Lindsay, you are with…Margaret." I noticed the two girls highfiving at the front of the class. "Janet Sweeney…you are with Mr. Lachance." I saw Janet roll her eyes and groan as she looked back at Gordie. He smiled hopelessly. "Miss Marx…how about the Chambers boy?" He said to me and I stopped breathing.
Her I was picking out every detail on how I hate the boy and now I have him as my partner. Great. How utterly cliché, the girl who doesn't want to be with this kid and ends up being with him.
"Melanie and Ryan…" Mr. Lee droned on down the list and I leaned back in my chair. I turned around to see Chambers. He was smirking at me and I glared my bright eyes at him. I turned my chair slightly around so I could talk to him.
"You look here Chambers," I whispered and he chuckled. "if we get a bad mark on this project I am seriously going to do some damage to that already damaged head of yours. Okay?" I said, in all seriousness. Usually when I use that tone with anybody, they back off, but Chris just chuckled some more. "You think this is funny? You think I want to be paired with a delinquent like you?" I asked. He grinned.
"Whatever, Marx." He said, still smiling. I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him. Great, this project was going to go 'oh-so' well. NOT.
a/n: hayyy! Long time no see, eh? Here's a new story that will be filled with lots of chapters and excitement, romance, drama and craziness! Hope you like it! Express your love with some reviews please? And also, ask me anything you want at my formspring :
.me/juliettexXx
-xoxo, Jules!