Sorry about the lack of updates. I had a little bit of writer's block with this, but it's all good now. This chapter is basically filler and it's short too just to warn you. But the next chapter should be longer, there's a lot of stuff revealed in it, especially about Amy if you were wondering about her. And FYI: I don't own the World Book Encyclopedia. This is dedicated to everyone who reviewed. I'm the first to admit I'm an attention whore so I always get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I see I have reviews!
Chapter Four
"Allison?"
Allison looked up from her bologna sandwich to see Andrew standing in front of her. He clutched a grocery bag in one fist and he kept glancing over to the table he sat at with Stubby and the other jocks. Allison raised her eyebrows, her way of telling him to continue.
"We need to start writing our report. Ms. O'Conner isn't gonna give us any more time in class to do it…" Andy paused, looking around again. "I have wrestling practice after school but we can do it after it's over." He looked to Allison to see if she had a problem with this proposition. She shrugged which he took to mean that it was alright with her. "I have three little brothers so my house is really noisy. Can we do it at your place?" he asked, speaking softer than usual. Not that it mattered; there wasn't anyone around to hear him. Allison ate alone in a corner at the back of the lunch room. She liked the table because it was by a large window so she could watch the occasional bird fly by or if she was lucky a squirrel would scamper past. Nobody sat near her, mostly because they wanted to sit near the doors to make a hasty exit when the bell rang.
Allison bit her lower lip as she thought. "I guess," she mumbled. Andy nodded.
"Good. Just write down your address and I'll be over about seven," he said. He drummed his fingers on the tabletop as she scribbled her address down on a piece of paper she pulled out of her algebra folder. Andy stuffed it in his pocket and muttered "Catch ya later."
Allison returned to her sandwich but she couldn't help but watch him head over to his table. He gave Stubby a high five before he sat down and pulled out what seemed like five sandwiches. Allison wondered how he could eat so much. She knew boys ate a lot, at least that's what she had observed around the lunchroom. But five sandwiches seemed a little much. However she put thoughts of Andrew's dietary habits out of her head and opened up her composition notebook. She flipped past the picture of the cliff overlooking the ocean to the next fresh page. She thought about writing another letter to Amy but the words didn't come.
Frustrated she threw away what was left of her sandwich and gathered her books. Technically students of Shermer High School weren't allowed to leave the cafeteria until the bell rang but Allison did every so often anyway. She would go up the back stairwell to the top floor and sit in front of her locker before the bell rang and she had to go to French.
Allison didn't tell her parents that Andrew was coming. Not that they would care. They probably wouldn't even notice. After dinner her father would go upstairs to his study to read the newspaper and her mother would go watch mindless sitcoms in the den.
After dinner Allison remained in the kitchen instead of going up to her room. She sat at the counter on one of the bar stools and doodled animals on a stray napkin. She wasn't going to be surprised if Andy didn't show, she was used to people breaking promises to her.
However, she should have had a little more faith in him because just a few minutes after seven the doorbell rang. Dallas galloped down the hall, barking loudly as he always did when someone was at the door. Her parents were hardly bothered by the dog any more. They paid as much attention to Dallas as they did to Allison, which wasn't much. Allison held her dog back as she opened the door.
"Hey." Andy said. His hair was wet, as if he had just gotten out of the shower.
"Hi." Allison mumbled softly, releasing Dallas who bounded over to Andy, begging with his puppy dog eyes for attention. Andy laughed and patted the canine's head.
"What's his name?" he asked.
"Dallas." Allison answered. Was she actually having a normal conversation with Andrew Clark the wonder jock?
After Dallas had got done sniffing Andy's sneakers and got his ears scratched enough he ambled away, probably up to Allison's room where he would curl up at the foot of her bed. Andy looked around the hallway, Allison noticed his eyes going over the photographs her parents had framed and nailed to the wall long ago.
After a few moments of silence Allison realized that she probably should lead him to the kitchen where they would be working. She never had been good at social situations. She started walking down the hallway, looking back to see if Andy was following her. He was, but his eyes were still on the pictures.
"You have a twin sister?" Andy asked, pointing to a picture of Amy and Allison when they were four in matching sailor suits. The only way you could tell them apart was that Amy's sailor suit was trimmed with dark blue and Allison's was trimmed with red. Allison nodded.
"Are you identical?" he asked. Allison nodded again.
"She doesn't go to our school, does she?" Allison stopped as he asked this. She bit her lower lip.
"No," she whispered before continuing into the kitchen. She sat down at the table without inviting him to do the same and pulled out the two Emily Dickinson books she had checked out of the school library. She also had laid out the D volume of her father's World Book Encyclopedia set. Andy sighed as he sank down into the chair beside her, pulling a notebook out of his bag.
"I guess we should get started, huh?" he said taking one of the Emily Dickinson books. Allison noticed that it was the one she had handed to him earlier in the library. Allison took the other book and opened to where she left off.