Hola! (I have Spanish today, so I thought I might as well get into the mood.) Here's the next chapter...thanks again to all the wonderful people who have reviewed so far, and I hope there are more to come. Enjoy!
My school day started out with me getting hit in the face by a locker. I don't know where you to go to school, or how your day usually starts out, but I sure hope it isn't like mine. Cold, hard metal slamming into your face is not a pleasurably experience. Trust me.
"Oh, sorry, freak," I heard as I lay on the school floor, dazed. (Can you guess who it was?) I glared up angrily at Paulina, who had a smirk on her face.
"I'm sure you are," I replied, sitting up and holding a hand to my head. Paulina just smiled sweetly at me and walked away.
"Ignore her. She's just trying to get you mad." I twisted my neck around to see none other than Dash. Jeez. For a football player, that guy is real good at sneaking up on people.
"Oh, really? I never could have guessed," I replied drily as I stood up. Dash grinned, then shifted from foot to foot, like he had last night. Suddenly, those last two words hit me like the locker all over again. Last night…
I'd tried not to think about it. I wasn't sure what to make of it, or him. I mean, this was Dash Baxter we're talking about. All around jock, star football player, most popular boy at Casper High, and the guy who beat up my two best friends as a hobby.
Or so I'd thought.
Last night had shown me a different side of him. He was a sensitive guy who liked to write songs, didn't actually like being popular, and understood what it was like to have controlling parents. He was just a regular guy. I even sort of…no. Not thinking about that right now.
We stood awkwardly, not sure what to say. I wondered what was going through his mind right now. If it was anything like mine…did he think of me differently, too? Was I now more than just the Goth-freak, someone different?
Did I want to be different to him?
Fortunately or unfortunately (you decide), the silence and tension between us ended. "Hey Sam, what's-" I turned around to see Tucker behind me. "Oh. Dash." He looked a little scared and nervous, but he was trying to put a mask of bravado on. "What do you want?"
Dash looked nervous, too. "Nothing," he muttered, then took a few steps back. "See you later, Sam." Then he ran up the hall, pushing a few kids out of the way to get through. Not as hard as usual, though, I noticed. When I turned around again, Tucker was looking at me skeptically.
"'See you later, Sam'? What's up with him?" Tucker peered at my face, which probably held a look of bewilderment, confusion, among other things. Sometimes I can be an open book. "And what's up with you?" I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
"Nothing," I replied, breezing past him. "C'mon, we've got to get to class. Where's Danny?" Tucker shrugged, following me. "I don't know. Probably got into trouble,if you get my drift." I nodded absent-mindedly. Yeah, I thought. Trouble.
I drummed my fingers against my desk as Lancer continually droned on about Shakespeare. Tucker was sprawled across his desk, probably asleep, and a dozen other students were snoring or doodling on their papers. But all of this went unnoticed to the oblivious Mr. Lancer, teacher extraordinaire! Yeah, right.
But he did notice when Danny came trudging into class, looking half-asleep, his eyes partially closed. Lancer slammed his Shakespeare collection on his desk, making the whole class jump.
"Mr. Fenton! Late again, I see. Detention!" Then he continued droning on, and Danny just slid into the desk beside me, ignoring him. After a minute or two, I leaned over.
"Where have you been?" I hissed, keeping my face toward the board. When I looked back at him, he just shook his head, yawning. I'll tell you later, his look told me. I just nodded slowly and sat up straight again. No use trying to get it out of him now, with all these witnesses.
Might as well let him get some sleep…
"You did what?" I hissed at Danny for the fourteenth time. He just groaned and rolled his eyes. We were sitting at the lunch table, having just gotten our trays. Tucker was busily trying to stuff as much hamburger as he could into his mouth while Danny was explaining to me why he was pretty much dead to the world during the rest of English. (Well, more dead than uusal, at least.)
"I took an expedition into the Ghost Zone," Danny repeated, shrugging like it was no big deal. Which it was. "You know, to kind of explore. Map it out." Now it was my turn to groan.
"I understand that, but why didn't you call me or Tucker? We would've been happy to help you. I mean, what if Walker had caught you?" Tucker nodded, agreeing with me. Neither of us liked for Danny to be in danger, and no one can do everything by themselves.
"You were at that dance thing, and I didn't think it was important enough to bother Tucker with," Danny replied angrily, leaning closer over the table so that no one could hear what we were saying. Suddenly, he sat up straight, his eyes widening a bit.
"Hey, that reminds me," Danny said. "How did the dance go last night?" I looked down at my salad, which had suddenly become very interesting. I started to poke through it with my fork, choosing to ignore his question.
"Uh, Sam? Danny asked you a question," Tucker said, tapping my shoulder. I didn't answer. "Sam? Hello, earth to Sam!" He waved a hand in front of my face, and I looked up, annoyed, as he took it down.
"What?" I asked nastily, now practically stabbing my salad. Danny and Tucker just stared at me. "What?" I asked again, louder, getting more annoyed. Not only did they have to ask stupid questions, they had to stare at me, too? This was not one of my greatest days.
"Behind you," Tucker muttered, low enough so that only I could hear it. I froze. Suddenly, I had a very bad feeling…slowly, I turned around and looked up. Just in time to get a waterfall of water dumped on my head.
I was totally soaked, all over. Water dripped from my now very wet hair onto the floor, forming a puddle. The whole cafeteria burst into laughter, except for Danny and Tucker, who were looking nervously from one another. I turned around fully to face Paulina and Star.
"You looked like you were steaming, Sam," Paulina said triumphantly, smirking as she and Star held the cooler that had held the water that they had just dumped on me. "We thought we should cool you off." I stood up slowly, shaking a little to get some water of my clothes. I must have looked like I was getting ready to murder someone, because Paulina and Star stepped back a fraction, though still smirking.
"Oh, look, bat-girl's mad," Star cooed. " I'm so scared." The cafeteria laughed again, and I nearly snapped.
"Can't you just leave me alone?" I hissed at them, but they didn't flinch.
"But it's entertainment," Paulina replied, pouting. "What do you expect? I mean, just look at you. Once a freak, always a freak." Paulina turned toward the A-List's table. "What do you think, Dash?" Dash froze, and so did I. The whole cafeteria was staring at him, waiting for him to agree, and join in. Our eyes met. I'm not sure what he saw in my eyes, but he looked away quickly.
"Yeah," he muttered, just loud enough so everyone in the cafeteria could her, including me. I stared at him. "A…freak." Everyone started laughing again, and I looked around helplessly. I didn't know what to say. Paulina turned back to me, her face twisted with dislike.
"Get lost," she snarled. I did. I tore through cafeteria, leaving behind my friends and my uneaten lunch, their laughter echoing behind me. I kicked open the doors, ran through the hallways, and out onto the football field, water streaming off my hair and clothes, leaving puddles behind me.
I stopped in the middle of the football field. I wasn't sure why I'd come here, but I'd needed to get out of there. I might be the Gothic Manson girl who doesn't care what anyone says and defies the world, but everyone have their limits. And I was almost at my own.
"Sam!" I nearly snarled when I heard his voice.
"Come to make fun of the freak, Dash?" I turned around, glaring at him. Dash stepped back as he met the full force of my glare.
"No, Sam," Dash said, stepping forward and gulping. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't know what to do…they were all staring at me….please, Sam!" His eyes pleaded with me, but I didn't budge.
"You could've said no, Dash! But when it cam down to it, that's all I was. A freak." I replied bitterly, kicking at the ground angrily. He shook his head stubbornly.
"No…Sam, you're not a freak. You never were. It just took me a while to see it." I looked up at him, surprised. What, did this guy write poetry, too?
"That can't change what you did, Dash," I said, my voice losing some of its anger. He nodded, grimacing.
"I know. But, Sam, I…" Dash shook his head. "Dang it, I've never been good with words," he said angrily, and then he kissed me.
I nearly fell backwards, and I would have if he wasn't holding my shoulders. This was insane! Dash was kissing me! I was kissing Dash! And…well, I had officially run out of things to scream in my head. My heart was probably sick of my mind anyway, because it suddenly took over. I started to close my eyes, even though my rational mind was still screaming as it slowly shut off.
But before I closed my eyes, I saw Danny staring at me from across the football field, a look of utter shock on his face.