Chapter 2:: Blue Eyes & Grey Skies
Author's Note:: So here we are basically right after the action of the movie, Five months after the events of the first chapter. Junia goes to class at a new school and meets a very interesting boy.
October 14th, 2006
Junia lifted her head to look at the time. It couldn't really be time to get up. It felt as if she had only fallen asleep a few minutes ago. The little black alarm clock flashed three bright red numbers. 7:00! The numbers screamed at her. It's time to get up! It's 7:00! It's time to get ready for school! It's 7:01 now! Junia sighed; it was time to get up. She reached over and silenced the incessant buzzing and the brightly colored numbers. She pushed the covers off of her legs and sat up, glancing hopefully at the clock again. It was now 7:02 and definitely time to get up. Junia stood up and made her bed, looking over at Amanda.
Her roommate was still sound asleep, curled up in a little ball with the blankets pulled up to her chin. Only Amanda's arm was visible, holding the pillow in a secure position over her head so that neither sound nor lights could wake her up. For a second, Junia contemplated waking Amanda up, but she quickly dismissed the idea. If she woke her up, Amanda would whine about having to get back early and Junia'd have to endure that all morning. If she let Amanda continue sleeping, she'd get yelled at later after class. In Junia's opinion, 15 minutes of yelling was much better than 20-30 minutes of whining. Junia shrugged and got to work getting dressed.
It had been very obvious since the day Junia moved in that Amanda had never wanted a roommate. It was the "damn school" that didn't have room for another "free rider" since they already let the "Boston public chick" in. And the last thing that Amanda needed was this "freak from the middle of nowhere" staying with her in her room. After all she "paid for the privilege of privacy". Junia knew the rant by heart.
Junia really didn't care in the slightest that Amanda didn't like her. She didn't really care for Amanda that much either, but the circumstance of being a four hour drive (on a good day) from anybody she knew, left her with Amanda as her only "friend". In truth, this whole arrangement could have been avoided if Junia had waited to move here with the rest of her family, then maybe she could have roomed with her sister, but she had needed to get away. And fast. So Junia was stuck here with Amanda Gates and her elitist best friend, Kira Snider.
Junia quickly threw her books into her messenger bag, and grabbed a sweater as she left. "Sweet dreams, Amanda." She whispered, smiling to herself, as she closed the door.
As soon as she left the building she wished she hadn't spent time just standing in thought. She glanced at her watch. 7:24. She had twenty one minutes to walk all the way to her English class, and from the looks of things it was about to rain. The grey skies loomed over her, taunting her, reminding her. She wished she had enough time to run back and get her umbrella, but instead she had to brave the grey skies and just go to class.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Junia tapped her pencil against the desk, hoping that the syncopated rhythm would somehow enhance her memory. List 10 presidential cabinet positions. She knew seven. Actually, she knew at least ten, but she could only think to write down seven. What was it about tests that made her brain just shut down?
"Ms. Goodwin, kindly cease that tapping, lest I have to take your pencil and give you a zero on the test due to your failure to complete it." Her professor reprimanded from the front of the classroom. It was a rather obnoxious way to ask her to stop in her opinion. How hard would it have been to walk up the aisle, whisper a single word, and then walk back down without calling everyone's attention to her? As it was, 23 pairs of eyes turned to look at her as she stilled her pencil. Junia looked up from her test, her cheeks slightly pink. "Sorry." She said quietly and the majority of the class turned away to finish their tests. That was, except for one pair of blue eyes that gazed intently upon her. It took a little more than a second for it to sink in that he wasn't just looking at her because of the professor, and he wasn't zoned out. He was staring at her. Junia's face turned a deeper shade of pink, as she quickly bent her head over her test, letting her hair fall onto the desk creating a curtain to shield her face. She remembered two more positions and took a stab in the dark at a third. The bell rang shortly after she finished checking her answers.
Quickly, Junia stuffed her books into her bag. She wanted to flee the scene of the crime as quickly as possible, not that anyone would take too much time thinking about her. It really wasn't that big of a deal as to make a difference to them. Junia hurried down the stairs, handed in her test, and rushed out the door. She only got far enough out of the building so that others could move around her before she stopped dead in her tracks.
It was raining.
Junia hated rain.
The enchantments that rain had on other people, had no hold on her. She did not like the way it changed the color of everything around her, even the sky. She did not like the smell of rain or seeing mist rise off of the surfaces it hit. She did not like the steady rhythm of rain hitting the sidewalk, or the windows, or the roof. She did not like getting wet. At all. People swept around her, sticking books over their heads or putting up umbrellas. Others just ran out in the rain, hopping from tree to tree, overhang to overhang. A few were dancing and messing around with their friends. Everybody was too busy to notice Junia, standing there, the only still thing in the picture as she tried to find the courage to walk in the rain.
"Hey." A voice came from behind her. Shocked, she turned around, coming face to face with the blue eyes. He was putting up an umbrella. Next to him, his friend was working with the handle of his trying to get it to stick up, however, he was more focused on blue eyes than what he was doing.
"Hi." Junia said quietly, shifting her weight onto another foot, feeling very awkward about this whole situation.
"See you at the dorm." His friend said smiling at blue eyes before walking off into the rain. As if the wall of water was not intimidating at all.
"You wanna share my umbrella?"
Junia looked over her shoulder and then back at him, with a look that said the mixture of things in her mind. "Are you talking to me? Are you serious? Who are you, anyway?" Junia opened her mouth to say something and then shut it right back up, realizing she didn't have a decision in mind. On the one hand, this boy was very good looking and she hated rain. On the other hand, she had no idea who he was and his umbrella didn't look too big.
"I saw you standing here, and I figured that chivalry isn't completely dead yet, so I might as well offer to escort you to the dorms. If you don't want to though, I understand." He said.
That was an odd explanation. The middle part of it made Junia sort of question whether or not he was attempting to hit on her.
"No," Junia said slowly. "I would greatly appreciate the escort." She smiled a little at the formality of their speech. Most of the people where away now so it was them and a few groups of two or three walkers.
"Well then," The boy said, jerking his head in the direction of the rain. "Let's go." He took a few steps out of the overhang, assuming that she was with him. However, Junia had only taken a step before she stopped. It was raining hard now. In the few minutes she had spent standing there; it had gone from simple showers, to a thunderstorm. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking around and smirking at her. Junia took in a breath and walked quickly so that she was under the umbrella. As she predicted, it wasn't very big so they were forced to walk close together. She hoped he didn't mind.
"Thanks." Junia said.
"No problem. Walking in the rain sucks."
"Yeah." Junia agreed. They walked a few minutes in silence before he said something else.
"So, Hoffman was a real prick to you." He stated. Junia was sort of shocked at the bluntness of this statement coming out of silence. "I think someone needs to take care of that rod up his ass. Or teach him how to treat pretty girls."
Junia tucked her hair behind her ear, unsure of what to say. She was generally pretty awful at accepting compliments she couldn't return. This boy's flirtation left her unsure of what to do with herself, other than smiling and looking at her feet.
"I think he may just have been in a bad mood, today. Rain does that people." His odd comments were starting to rub off on her. (Although, if she wanted to be honest, she would have said it anyway.) He nodded as if thoughtfully considering this statement to be a viable explanation. "So, how'd you think the test was? It kicked my ass."
"I thought it was ok. The last question was sort of hard, though, I guess."
"Yeah." He agreed. They fell into silence again. As awkward as she felt, trying to keep up a failing conversation and walking under a tiny umbrella with a hot boy she had just met, after he had stared at her in class because the professor had yelled at her in front of everyone, she actually enjoyed blue eyes' company. They continued walking in silence, Junia feeling more comfortable, the quieter it was. They were soon at the dorms. Junia entered first, the blue eyed boy following behind her, closing the umbrella on his way in.
"Thanks, again." Junia said, turning to look at him.
"No problem." He was back to looking at her intently, just like he had in class.
"I'll, see you in class tomorrow then." Junia said lifting a hand to point at him, and then letting it fall. He nodded and the two parted directions, walking to their respective dorm rooms.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Amanda was in the room, lying on her bed in a bathrobe, reading a magazine by the time Junia got there. She looked up and furrowed her eyebrows. "You're dry." She accused. Junia nodded and continued to the other side of the dorm room to her dresser, where she began to take out clothes to change into. "You didn't remember your umbrella, either." Amanda abandoned her magazine, getting up from the bed. "But I guess you were in too much of a hurry to grab it, and wake me up so I wasn't late for class."
"I'm sorry, you seemed like you had woken up and chosen to get back to sleep, and I didn't want to disturb you." Junia said holding up two shirts, trying to choose between them.
"Well, I didn't." Amanda crossed her arms. She looked Junia up and down. "And are you going to tell me or not why you're dry despite the fact that it's pouring." Amanda demanded. It was as if it was some absolute treachery that Junia didn't have drop of water on her. Amanda looked as if she had just gone swimming. Her hair was completely soaked, meaning she had either taken a shower because of the cold rain water, or more likely, she had just put on the closest warm thing she could find once she came out of the rain.
"A boy helped me out." Junia said reluctantly, laying the shirt on the bed.
"Yeah?" Amanda raised an eyebrow, actually interested in what Junia had to say for once.
"I didn't ask him to, or even hint anything. He just came up and offered to walk me to the dorms since had an umbrella and I didn't." Junia shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal, really. I don't even know his name."
"What did he look like?" Amanda walked over and sat on Junia's bed. She seemed…eager? Junia turned back around to look at her roommate.
"Short blonde hair. Pale, a few inches taller than me. He had this smirk on his face when he wasn't looking really intensely at me. And he had blue eyes."
"Did he have a kid with short brown hair and brown following him like a puppy?"
"He wasn't really following him, he left when the blue eyed boy said hello to me."
"That's Reid Garwin, then."
Ending Thoughts:: So I attempted to make Reid like he was in the scene where he meets Sarah. Trying to be cool and relate to the girl, but saying awkward things that are just sort of…off. Junia doesn't know what to do with him. Reviews honestly make me write faster.