Chapter three up! I'll be trying to update everyday until the story is finished, so stay tuned. I can't wait to see where it ends up! I have the basic idea, but I'm pretty much winging it, at this point. I'm going to go to the end of the story, then have an epilogue about a year later. Let's see what I have in store this time, eh?
Enjoy!
….
The next day, I went looking for Beatrice at lunch. I was wearing my sandals, some khaki hiking shorts, and a dark green tank top. I finally spotted her, and loped over. I plunked down next to her, to several shocked gasps from her teammates. I inwardly grinned at the thought of their reactions to what I was about to say.
She glared at me. "What is your problem?"
"Actually, Beatrice, I think you have a problem. That's why I'm here. You see, I have no idea what I've done to offend you. And I feel I have a right to know, since you seemed pretty upset about it, whatever it, is. Now, since you're not the one who got propositioned by an ogre," at this she cracked a small smile, "and you're not the one who got your nose broken, I can't see how you would be mad. But if I did anything to offend you, then I'm very sorry. But it was in no way intentional. So next time you have a problem, tell me, and we can talk it over like normal people."
"Normal?" She was giving me an appraising look, like she was making up her mind about whether she should kill me or not. I stood up, and looked back at her.
"Are we cool?"She just looked at me.
I grinned. "A girl after my own heart. I like you." She looked a tad shocked. "Good, well, I'm glad we've had the chance to get to know each other just a little better."
As I walked away, I heard "She's pretty cool, don'cha think?" I grinned when I heard in response, "Yeah. She's pretty cool."
….
My Mom and I pulled up alongside a dumpy house in the car. We just stared at it for a while. Finally I went to get out of the car. Mom looked concerned. "You're sure you don't want me to go with you?" Her tone was skeptical. I just wanted to get this over with as fast and painlessly as possible. Like a band-aid.
"Just…keep the engine running." I got out of the car and walked to the door. I rang the buzzer, and then waited. Finally, a woman opened the door. She looked as dumpy as the house.
"Hi, is Dana home?" She looked surprised. I couldn't blame her.
"Who are you?"
"I go to school with him." I nearly added under my breath, 'unfortunately', but I managed to hold it back, as I figured that would not go down well.
"Dana?" She yelled, to no response. "Dana!" This time she shrieked. I looked back at mom, who looked taken aback. Good. Hopefully she would tell Dad about the kind of person he was making me apologize to.
"What?" That was Dana. This was not going to go well, I could tell.
"Get over here." His mom, I was assuming, hissed at him.
The door swung back to reveal Dana, in all his bruised, swollen glory. Again, I felt a bit of self-satisfaction at the damage I had inflicted. That quickly melted away, though when I saw the look on his face.
"I am not believing thith." He growled, with a slight lisp.
"Hi, Dana, Just came by to give you this letter. It's….an apology." I finally managed to spit out the last bit. Man, did that hurt my pride.
He snatched it out of my hand while his mom asked, "Um, so, who are you again?"
"I'm Sasha, the girl your son assaulted the other day, the one who slugged him in the nose."
She wheezed a short laugh. "You gotta be kiddin' me." She turned back to Dana. "This little witch is the one who messed up your beautiful face?" Well, I thought, I wouldn't have described it quite like that, but sure.
"Yeah, Mommy." He said childishly. Then he shot a glare at me, as though he had heard my mental snicker. I tried to get myself back under control.
"L-look, I—I came by to say I'm sorry, ma'am." I could barely say that lie in a letter. I was having HUGE trouble saying it aloud. "It's all in the letter." I tried not to face-palm.
She snatched it from Dana, as he spat, "Me and you will thettle up when I get back to thchool."
"Actually, this letter is supposed to settle us." Stupid, I know! I jut couldn't stand the idea of doing all this, going to all this trouble, and having nothing to show for it.
Well, in any case, it was the wrong answer. Dana grabbed the letter back from his mom, and stepped menacingly forward. I positioned my left foot behind me, getting ready for another fight.
He crumpled the letter in his fist, and said, "Me and you are far from thettled. Now get lost, Cali girl." He jabbed me with his index finger at that last bit. Must have heard about Beatrice's nickname.
I growled as I spun around and made my way back to the car. It went against my will to retreat, but there was no other feasible option. My body and mind were screaming for blood. How DARE this boy think he could disrespect me? How dare he speak to me that way!
As I got in, Mama commented, "They're both very odd, aren't they?" I could tell that this was the biggest apology I could expect from her. I accepted it.
"Yes, they are, if by odd you mean psycho. Please drive." Okay, so maybe not entirely.
She smiled, looked over at the pair, who were now wrestling over the letter, and joked, "Maybe I should go introduce myself."
I wasn't amused. "Not funny. Start the car."
….
After being creamed by the ball, I wasn't too thrilled to go back to the golf course. But that was the only place I could think of that the barefoot guy might be, and I wanted to talk to him. So, after the fiasco at Dana's, I rode my bike over there, and locked it to a small clump of palm trees.
I took off my shoes and started jogging over to the forest across the course. The grass was lovely, warm, and soothing to the feet. As I got closer, I noticed that the forest looked cool and inviting. I couldn't blame the guy for going there. It looked awesome. I've always loved forests, ever since I was little. By the time I was 4, I could shimmy my way up a 40 foot redwood in 15 seconds flat. I grinned. I'm liking this kid more and more.
When I got to the surrounding undergrowth, I stopped. I breathed in the smells of rotting wood and greenery. I stepped in. It felt like I'd walked into a portal to another world. I was careful not to step on plant as I trod through this magical place. I felt a bubbling in my chest. I started singing. To be precise, I started to sing Arms, by Kristina Perry (Currently my fav song). I may be biased, but I think I sounded damn good. My deep, (for a girl) alto voice rang with emotion, as I concentrated instead of on pronouncing the words, but on putting as much of the glee and contentment I felt into the song as possible. As my voice rang through the jungle, it felt like every noise was singing with me.
I reached the edge of the forest just as the last notes trailed off. I came upon a ship scrap yard, from the look of it. I decided to let him know I was there, in case he was there too.
"Hello?" I called out. "Anyone here?" I looked down, and noticed a fire smoldering. I threw a couple sticks on it from a pile nearby. None had been snapped off of a tree.
I poked around, feeling a bit guilty about messing with his stuff, and looked in one of a couple of bags sitting on a log next to the fire. It had the clothes the guy had been wearing the first time I saw him in it. I moved on to a brown sack sitting next to it on the ground. I opened it. Inside were a bunch of snakes. I gave a short shriek, and dropped it back down. The snakes, I recognized, were cottonmouths. Highly poisonous.
One slithered out of the bag, and onto my bare foot. I froze, terror seeping into my bones.
"This is NOT good."
"I wouldn't move, if I were you." A voice warned behind me. If I could freeze a second time, I did. The voice sounded guarded, bordering on hostile. Well, I'd gotten my wish. I'd met the barefoot guy.
"Wasn't planning on it, not with a cottonmouth." I could hear my terror seeped into the words.
"I want you to step back, real slowly." His voice softened. He had noticed my fear. "On three."
"Um, I think I'll need a little assistance with that!"
"One—," He grabbed my hand. It felt calloused and warm. Comforting.
"Two—," He gripped harder.
"Three!" he pulled me back as I jumped. He quickly put a sack on my head while I regained my ability to breathe.
"Um, whaaat are you doing?" I asked while letting him bind my hands behind my back.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" He sounded a little annoyed, but mostly disturbed.
"My name's Sasha, and I came by to talk to you. I saw you running past the bus the other day." I let a little humor creep into my voice as I added, "I haven't seen anyone other than me run that fast."
"Really?" I had peaked his intrest.
"Yeah. Look, I didn't come here to hassle you." My words sunk in. "Well, any more than I already have." He gave a low chuckle. I could feel his breath against the back of my neck. The combination made my hair stand on end. "I just thought… I dunno. You just looked interesting. I haven't seen a kid my age run without shoes like I do, before."
He pulled me up. "Well, sadly, you have to get out of here, like, right now."
"Alright." I said with a resigned sigh. "Just, do me a favor? Don't make me walk over anything particularly sharp or unpleasant or anything." He gave a loud laugh. It was a warm laugh, like honey and sun-warmed wood, one that made you want to join in.
"Alright," he said, still chuckling. "I'll spare you this time."
"So, she asks, certain he'll turn her down, why'd you have cottonmouths in a bag?" I asked as he started me on our march.
"You're right; that's my business." The laughter was nearly gone from his voice.
"Okay, no asking about the snakes, got it. So, personal life, off limits?"
"Yup."
"Darn. And just when things were getting interesting."I got another laugh. I marveled at it for a second, before diving back in. "So, where are you taking me? And, please note, my eyebrows are currently raised." He chuckled. God, he's attractive!
"I'm sending you back to where hence you came." This time, I chuckled. "Keep walking and don't turn around 'till you count to fifty." He gave me a little push. I had just started walking when he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "And you have a gorgeous singing voice," He whispered into my ear. I could feel myself flushing, and thanked every deity I knew for the bag on my head. It felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. He gave me another little shove. "Now start counting." He sounded amused. I obeyed, feeling to dizzy to do anything but.
As I stumbled along, counting, I reflected. Boys normally have no effect on me whatsoever. But something about this one made me feel like I could run a thousand miles on his laughter alone. What was it?
I stumbled heavily and got annoyed at myself. I hate feeling like a ditzy, popular girl, the kind I saw every day, and this boy made me feel bubbly and stupid. "Ten, eleven, UUGH, forget it." I said, unbinding my hands, and taking of the hood as I spoke. I was talking about more than the counting. I resolved to come back and learn more about him. I was uncomfortably aware that given my attraction to the guy, my decision could be called stalker-esq, but, it couldn't be helped. And, besides, he hadn't told me to stay away, had he?
I felt a strange sense of déjà-vu, when I heard shouting from the golfers. I turned around, just in time to be hit by another golf ball, in the same spot as the first. I dropped like a brick.
"That hurt."
…...
Chapter 3, done! Finally, I meet the barefoot kid! Little fluff, not much. That's for later chapters! And I changed their ages. Beatrice and Mulletfingers are 15, and I'm… I mean, my OC is 14. And all, with the exception of Mullet fingers, for obvious reasons, are freshman. No reviews yet, so review as soon as you read! The song Arms copyright Kristina Perry, 2011.
