correction: Last chapter said something like 'the early fall air...' but it's actually in early October so it would be like... mid-autumn.
~springshowers
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.Chapter 14 - A Confrontation and a Discovery.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Mr. Gordon, could you please come up to the board and mark the punctuation and grammatical mistakes?" Mr. Rosman bellowed, after scrawling down five sentences on the chalkboard. Mr. Rosman had a grey-ish white beard and had a freakish resemblance to Sean Connery. Gordo always laughed to himself whenever his English teacher would slur his s's. Gordo pushed himself off his seat to the board. "Now, while Mr. Gordon is revising. I have finished grading your poems, and I must say I am impressed." Gordo stifled a laugh. "Let me read you one...
"Sitting heavily in the silent forest,
Fog smothered the crunching snow beneath my feet.
With its extended gray overcoat,
It covered the seeming barren trees.
I plodded through the woods
Through the trees, through the fog,
Not a single shard of light shone through
'Beauty,' I exclaimed.
A sudden blinding light shattered the heavily thickness,
The fog seemed to melt away, revealing what lay beneath,
True beauty - vibrant colors of every kind clothed the naked trees,
A picturesque azure sky lay on the horizon."
"Any thoughts, Gordo?" he said, turning from his seat at the corner of his desk in the front of the class.
'What is it? Pick on the Jewish kid day?' Gordo thought. "I like it. I could picture the surroundings by the words the poet uses to describe the trees and sky at the end."
"Well explained," Mr. Rosman said, turning to the class. "Any different views?"
Gordo returned to his editing on the final sentence, unable to see Lina raising her hand. She had transferred to a Honors English class late last week.
"Yes, Ms. Lee?"
"Well, I think there is an obvious metaphor between a walk in the woods and life. I see the 'gray overcoat' could be all the distractions and little things in life people base their lives on. And the blinding light... it could be an event, maybe a religious epiphany, that there is way more to life than the little things people get stressed out over."
"Very well thought out, Lina." He said, picking up the stack of papers, and handing them out to the respective students. A few students had their hands raised now, probably to respond to Lina's explanation.
Gordo dusted off his hands and walked back to his seat. There's no wonder why he enjoyed going into English class everyday. Getting to participate in deep conversations was engaging for him. His parents would have a field day with the conversations students have in here.
* * * * *
"Hey Lizzie. I heard it's 'Manager's special' today for lunch," Gordo said, walking up to Lizzie's locker. He promised he would me her there before lunch everyday.
"Ew... remember last year? The hamburgers?" she made a disgusted face, as she opened her locker. It was adorned with a couple pictures of the Three Amigos, a mirror, and a few notes she put up.
"How can I forget? Now, every time I go to McDonalds, I picture the cafeteria lady's feet. What's this?" He plucked off a piece of crumpled paper off her locker door.
"Oh... yeah well. A New Year's resolution of sorts."
"Find love?" he read off the torn piece of paper.
"Uh yeah," she stuttered, taking back the reciept from Gordo and putting it back on her locker door. She had torn off the top before meeting Gordo. "Let's get to lunch!" she said, mocking enthusiasm and shutting her locker.
Lizzie and Gordo got their lunches and walked to a table. When they sat down across from each other, he poked at his food, as he normally does.
"So what do you think it is?" she asked, taking a whiff of the mashed potato looking glob on her tray.
"I dunno, but it reminds me of the stuff that comes out of Tudgeman's pimples..."
"Ew!! Gordo!!" she almost screamed. She pushed her tray away from her.
"Sorry," he apologized, half laughing.
The cafeteria was a large, gray room, probably room to fit 500 hungry students. It goes without saying that it was ear-deafening.
Just then, Lina walked by.
"Lina!" Gordo yelled. She turned around. "Want to eat with us today?"
"Actually," she looked back, "I can't. Maybe later." She looked back from Gordo to Lizzie.
She walked away like the wind.
"What was that about?" Lizzie asked.
"I don't know."
"Oh please, Gordon. Spare me," she said, exaggerating almost every word. "Something's up between you two."
"Believe me, Lizzie. Nothing's up," he assured.
Just then, Lizzie's eyes turned their focus to a blonde paying for her lunch behind Gordo (from her viewpoint). Lizzie felt her blood boil and her hand was clinched into a fist. Kate walked through the lunchroom, about to pass the table Lizzie and Gordo were sitting on. She looked up at Kate's overdone hair and make-up covered eyes. Her eyes narrowed, recalling the events of last night. Kate continued her procession and passed, oblivious of the vicious stare she was getting. Gordo stared Lizzie's now pale white knuckle and the evil look being emitted Kate's way.
"Lizzie, Lizzie. Don't flip. It's just Kate. Don't let her get the best of you." He tried his best to quell Lizzie, but she didn't turn her head for a second.
"Kate!" she yelled. Kate stopped for a second and looked around at the sound of her name.
"Lizzie, don't," he whispered.
"Kate!" Lizzie yelled again. This time Kate looked down at Lizzie. Lizzie slammed her open palms down on the table, startling Kate. "You..." Lizzie pointed her finger at Kate. Kate backed away slowly from an approaching Lizzie. Lizzie's demeanor changed. She transformed from a tame house pet to an angered bull, kicking up its heels and out for the blood of its tempter. Lizzie continued, "You... ruin everything. You are evil, Kate. I never wanted to admit it, but you are truly evil. You steal my boyfriend from right under my nose. You are conniving, selfish, and attention-seeking. You're probably not even that pretty, which is probably why you wear two pounds of make up on your face and you have to act like a slut. Were you born to a pair of psychopathic sadist? Because I swear you take pleasure in seeing other people suffer." Lizzie took a short breath.
By now, half the cafeteria was staring at the two blondes. Kate looked around, frightened still by Lizzie, but straightened her posture, trying to regain some of the self-confidence she had lost.
"Did Lizzie-wizzy lose her boyfriend?" she said, with mock sympathy and ignorance. She patted the top of Lizzie's head, almost provoking out the already fiercely agitated Lizzie.
"Shut up, Kate," Lizzie tersely spat out. She slapped away Kate's hand.
Gordo looked up helplessly at the two, debating whether he should intervene. He decided to let Lizzie handle this, but if things get too physical he will intercede.
Some genius started chanting 'Fight! Fight!' so by now the whole cafeteria was in chaos at the chance to see the two brawl. The teachers who were monitoring the lunch period were searching the cafeteria to see where the confrontation was.
"Why, Kate? Why is it always me? Why must I always be the butt of your jokes and the receiver of all the humiliation you dish out? Huh? Answer me!" Lizzie almost screamed. The chants and taunts got louder.
Kate was scared, but tried her best to conceal it. "I still don't know what you're talking about, McGuire."
"Don't play dumb, although I do understand that it's hard for you to do," Lizzie smirked. "Jeremy and the girl. I saw you and your little posse at the movies last night. I know you had something to do with it. You always have something to do with it." Gordo got up from his seat and watched the spectacle. He wanted to go calm Lizzie, or at the very least prevent actual physical harm from Kate. He was soon joined by a couple teachers.
"Oh, him," Kate said, emphasizing 'him.' "Oh please, I didn't have to do anything for him to cheat on you."
"Liar!" she roared, almost throwing Kate off balance.
"No..." Kate started to say, but was interrupted by an abrupt shout.
"Shut up for goodness sakes!" the voice cried again. Lina broke through a layer of people who had gathered around the two battling blondes. "You!" she pointed to Lizzie, "You should be thanking Kate. Thanking her for making you realize what a piece of garbage your ex was. This guy is obviously too good for you. Now will you stop making such a ruckus? Sheesh." Lina stopped her brief lecture and returned back to her seat, pushing through the crowd. Lizzie seemed to have calmed down and Kate retained whatever was left of her composure. The crowd around them slowly dissipated and the teachers escorted Lizzie and Kate out of the lunchroom. The lunchroom was still buzzing with the excitement of the almost brawl.
He looked back at Lina, quietly eating her lunch, as if nothing at all happened. Ten minutes down of lunch, still a whole half hour left.
* * * * *
Lizzie stepped out of the office, and was greeted by an awaiting Gordo.
"How was it?" he inquired.
"Not so bad. She said that they have to call my parents, but no suspension," she said, walking down the hallway to her locker.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "So," he started, "what was the point?"
"Point of what?"
"You know what."
Lizzie thought for a moment. "Kate thinks she's the greatest thing to ever step into Hillridge. She thinks she can take advantage of everyone around her and hurt everyone without a fight."
He nodded. "Well, I have to go, Lizzie. So see you after school," he said, waving goodbye.
Lizzie walked the rest of the way to her locker to gather her books. She spun the lock, letting the numbers twirl around. She opened the door to find a note.
She sighed heavily. For a moment, she wanted to take it into her grasp and crush it, burn it, and then burn the ashes. But she decided to read it anyways.
The carefully folded piece of paper was sitting perfectly on top of her books. A pearly white magnolia sat in front of the note, which had "Lizzie" inscribed in cursive on the front.
'Jeremy didn't know my favorite flower,' she thought to herself, as she took in the light scent of the flower.
She picked up the letter as if it were going to fall apart if it were dropped or handled without the utmost care.
"Did my heart love till now?
Forswear it sight,
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,"
Since this is a love letter,
I found it only fitting to quote the greatest love story of all time.
She stood for a minute, just staring at the piece of paper. This was definitely not Jeremy's doing.
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