Thank you for the feedback :) I'm glad you all are beginning to like this story! I'll try my best to update often and make sure you're not disappointed. A couple of times a week perhaps? I have work 3 days every week, college orientation for 4 days and California for two weeks coming up, so those may be the obstacles in my way. I'll try to have some chapters stored away though ;). Here we go!
chapter two
"Jess, stop exaggerating. It probably wasn't that horrible. Remember when we talked about over-dramatizing?" Cece replied over the phone. Jess sighed and bowed her head. She could practically feel her friend rolling her eyes. How couldn't she complain? First period was already annoying enough with that boy throwing post it notes from behind her. The rest of the day after that was one unfortunate blur. A blur consisting of people interrupting the teachers, 'oohing' every time someone has to see another teacher, or note tossing from that stupid boy. Did she mention that already?
Jessica rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. "Cece, there's 179 more days left of this. I could barely handle the first day, it was agonizing."
Cece furrowed her brows at her best friend's complaints. This was such a first world problem and the least of her future worries. "Hey Jessica, remember when you said you wanted to be a teacher?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you still want to be a teacher?"
"Of course."
"Do you even know what you're complaining about? You're going to be spending more than 180 days in a school someday. So stop it."
Before Jess could truly retaliate, she closed her mouth and nodded her head understandably. "Now I know why I need you around."
She heard a chuckle over the line. "What would you do without me?"
"Live."
And then the call dropped. Jess chuckled and placed her cellphone in her jeans pocket as she headed off to school again.
Opening the doors to a high school felt like opening doors to a zoo. The minute one walked in, they'd hear the noises of screeching birds and monkeys. In human translation, that meant the popular girls chatting about and the jocks, well, being jocks. Jessica smoothed out her sundress as she walked into school, already feeling oils gather onto her face. I swear, the school's air runs on teen angst and sweat molecules, the brunette thought to herself, walking over to her locker.
Twisting the lock to the correct numbers, she opened it to grab some books and place into her backpack. After getting what she needed, Jess smiled and adjusted her glasses. Maybe it was gonna be a decent day after all. She closed the locker that was still swung open to a certain brown eyed hippy looking boy. Jessica arched a brow as she crossed her arms at the sight in front of her. Since she didn't get the time to really study his appearance yesterday, today's look seemed a little more bizarre.
His brown hair fell below his ears and he had a five o'clock shadow. Jessica did a subtle glance down and noticed he was wearing dark khakis and some sort of tie-dye shirt. Although he could use some assessing on his wardrobe choices, he had that natural glow-a certain attractiveness about his face. The brunette couldn't quite put her finger on it. Instead of coming out and saying something nice-because that would be too predictable-she decided to have a little fun.
"Are you apart of some boy band?" Jessica wondered out loud. "From the 60's?" She tilted her head with sarcastic curiosity.
"Are you dressing like the teachers now?" Nick retaliated, his smile growing. She glared at him as she gripped her books harder against her chest.
"This is an Erdem dress, thank you very much. A teacher probably wouldn't wear this to school."
"Neither would a student."
Jess squinted her eyes at the idiotic boy, stepping and turning away to go to her first period.
Nick smiled as she sauntered into their class. "Post ya later!"
She was gonna lose it. He was the first on her hit list.
And thus, the flying notes begun again.
Hey Mayday!
Mayday?
You know, Mayday? The distress signals that were used by ships and aircraft?
Wow, a pun of my last name. You're not funny. No one is laughing.
That's because you're the only person reading this.
Pay attention to the teacher! She's trying to educate your hollow mind.
Something tells me you care about teachers.
Jess frowned at Nick's last message. How can he just figure that? That's incredibly random. Was it because of her reaction before when he made the comment about the dress? With curiosity, she continued to reply.
What makes you say that?
You give me that whole teacher vibe. It could be the way you dress.
Her cheeks burned at this. The way she dressed? That's crazy. Just because she wore skirts and dresses? That does not equal teacher material. He threw another post it onto the table.
Don't get me wrong, you don't look bad in a sundress. ;)
Nick heard her huff in her desk, and he knew he'd succeeded in affecting her.
Can it, Miller.
And the way you talk & write with such classy remarks and vocabulary.
It's called being educated. I don't think you're familiar with that.
Ouch. I have you know that I have an immense understanding of exquisite vocabulary.
Yeah? You have a soft spot for writing, Miller?
You should read some of my stuff. Maybe you'll become my number one fan. x
In your dreams.
After a few minutes, he didn't reply to her note. Not that she really had an issue with that, anyway. After all, what was the point of being in class if she wasn't going to pay attention?
Jess heard a ruffling of papers from behind her and quizzically looked from the corner of her eye. No. She turned back toward the board. Focus, Day. He's trying to distract you.
Instead of a post-it appearing on her desk, she felt something slide under feet. Glancing down, she saw several pages all attached together. In bold letters, she could see the title "The Pepperwood Chronicles Draft #1" Looking up at the teacher who was distracted teaching, Jessica reached down and placed it on her lap. Flipping the page, she saw the list of characters: Julius Pepperwood, ? Knight, Schmith, Gator, Gay Dog, Lady Diamante, and Bayou Sue.
Another note was tossed on her desk, the girl reaching over and unfolding it.
It's a short read since I just started it. Also, I don't want to see any pen marks on this. I don't need you critiquing my masterpiece.
For some reason, her eyes couldn't leave the question mark that was supposed to be a character name.
You can't think of a character name I see?
Nope. But I think I may know it now. I'll have to see if it fits first.
Huh.
The bell rang once again as everyone began closing their books and standing up, leaving almost all at once. Jessica's gaze lingered on Nick's before he smiled cunningly at her, walking out of the room. Her eyes reverted back to the story he gave her, and inwardly sighed.
Was she really going to read this? She didn't even like the boy.
But she did like a good read.
That night, Jessica flopped on her bed with the attached papers and scanned the title again. Let's see how good of a writer Nick Miller is... She thought to herself as she flipped to the first page. How many pages was this anyway? She flipped through until she found the last page. Okay, so it was 97 pages. This is a short read? It wasn't like a playwright either.
Dammit Miller...
A couple of hours went by as she intently read this novel, and Jess had to say, this wasn't bad. A little wild for a story written by a 17 year old, but really clever. What intrigued and bothered her the most was that one of his characters were held anonymous whenever they would talk or do something important. The question marks were practically glaring out of the pages. Checking the page number, she was already on page 90.
Was Julius Pepperwood supposed to represent Nick? They had some similar characteristics, but she still didn't really know this Nick boy all too well. Were all of these characters based off real people? These are questions she could be asking Nick, but that would just give him more satisfaction into thinking she actually liked it. Laying on her back and reading this also made her wonder if she was ever going to be placed into this book. Don't be ridiculous Day. He has known you for about two days, there's no way you'd be relevant in this 'short read'.
The book wasn't even close to finished. By the looks of this rather unique plot, there was no way he could just end it on page 97.
After finishing the last seven pages, she thought about giving Cece a call. She never actually mentioned this Miller guy to her, so she might as well spill the tea now. This was definitely going to be a game changer, though. Whenever Jess even mentioned a boy, Cece would become majorly hyped and would hit her with interrogation-odd, because that was normally Jess's job.- And after it would finish, it always ended with a bottle of water and Advil-because man, the questions this girl could come up with. You wouldn't believe.
Her thumb hovered over the call button below Cece's contact. It was already late, and although she would answer at the first ring, Jessica bit her lip hesitantly.
She could wait a day or two. What was the rush?
The next morning, Jess walked over to Nick Miller, who was already seated. Was he expecting her already? She wanted to slap the smugness out of this boy. She flopped the papers down on his desk, and raised her brows.
"Not bad, Miller. Did you finally think of the character name?" Jessica watched as amusement filled his face.
"I did."
"Well, what is it?"
He gestured her to lean closer, so Jess obliged. When she was close enough, his lips moved closer to her ear, whispering softly and causing a chill run down her spine. She despised that feeling.
"That's a spoiler. You'll just have to wait."
The blue-eyed girl frowned and leaned away from him, slumping down in the seat in front of him.
What a school year this was gonna be.
I hope this was longer than chapter one [probably not lmao]. I had A BUNCH of ideas that I came up with on the spot for this chapter. Rate/Review :) thank you!
