Author's Note: My lord! I logged online yesterday and my entire email was flooded with Fanfiction notifications. I read through EVER SINGLE REVIEW. Twice. They make me incredibly ecstatic! I'm super encouraged and inspired right now! Thank you, thank you THANK YOU so much for all those LOVELY reviews! Well I entered my school's writing festival contest, and 6 students get chosen to go to a festival, in which… I WON! I'm one of the 6 that was chosen to go! I get to go through courses with [unannounced] famous authors and they will be sharing tips, secrets, ect. I also get to meet the author of Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan, I'm super excited, and my writing was also entered in a state-wide contest, and I was one of the 20 final writers! Aaahhh! Anyways, no more of my useless blabbing, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
After the bell rings, I slowly climb down the tree, disappointed and crushed, I walk towards our line to get inside. Nobody even gives me a second glance.
It was coloring hour, and I just thought this whole idea was stupid. Wasting paper on such unimportant tasks, was just STUPID.
After taking my seat, I put my heads down on my desk, my back turned on Zach's chair.
Through the reflection of the window, I could see Mrs. Wieber leaning in down on Zach as he whispers something in her ear. She nods understandingly, gives me a quick look, and points to the other side of the room.
Even though he did it in silence, I could mouth out his words. Thank-you to her
Zach walks all the way to the back of the room, and sits down on an empty desk next to Ben Anderson. I could feel Maracelle's evil grin directed on me, I could feel Zach looking down on his desk, idle and uncaring. I quickly turned away, and found myself strangely thinking about Ben.
Ben Anderson was the nicest kid in the entire school, and possibly universe. He was the ONLY person who talks to me, the ONLY person who smiles at me. He always says hello, with a big, bright smile, always offers his crayons and fruit snacks, and always gives you a nice big push on the swings. Ben was taller than most of us, his hair black, and his skin pale. The way his long lashes always brush up against his cheeks make me wonder why Maracelle wasn't all over him ever since he moved here.
Oh yea, that's right. They were step-siblings. Maracelle's father married Ben's mother. Oh, how sorry I feel for that sweet boy, having to live in the same house as Maracelle Langsdorf.
I snap back into reality as Mrs. Wieber puts the stupid coloring sheet on my desk. Giving me a slight, comforting pat on the shoulder.
I reach into my desk and grab my coloring box and hesitated before reaching for the Green Crayon. Green. His eyes….
Don't think about him, Cammie!
Not paying attention, I colored the trunk green, but I didn't care. It was different, I like it different, I like BEING different.
I took out a red crayon and scribbled the tree top angrily. A chair scraped the ground and I saw Maracelle running across the room towards Zach.
My stomach twists like a corkscrew.
"Hey Zach!" She cries, standing in front of his desk, her body swaying right and left, right and left, right and left….. So hypnotizing…
Zach didn't even look up from his coloring sheet, [which, he scribbled on, insanely also]
"Hi," he replied, dead, plain, and simple.
"May I color with you?" She asks, her voice bubbly and perky.
"Sure," He says again, still not looking up.
Maracelle ran and grabbed a chair, dragging it towards his table, then scooching it next to his seat, between him and Ben, plopping herself down. She didn't even bother to look at her Step-Brother, who was awfully squished.
Maracelle looks deviously across the room towards me, and smiles her evil smile. Right then, I swear to Jesus I could just grab my yellow crayon, and throw it across the room, where it will hit her in the face, hard. But I couldn't, and I didn't.
"So Zach," She says, squeezing in next to him, putting her coloring sheet and crayons on his desk, "What's your favorite food?"
He didn't answer, and Maracelle awkwardly replied for him, "Mine is Baby Carrots with Ranch. So who is your favorite singer?"
"I don't have one," He says, his face still idle, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Well mine is Hannah Montana," She says proudly, "I got to meet her once, my daddy bought me backstage passes!" She didn't take his hint.
"Good for you," He replies coldly.
Maracelle bites her bottom lip, the way she does when she's sad, upset, or doesn't get her way. You could see the disappointment in her eyes. For a split second, I felt sorry for her, but then my empathy evaporate, snap! Just like that.
"Well…. Is your favorite crayon red? Because you're using it awfully a lot," She moves closer to him, "My favorite crayon is pink, because it's a really nice crayon, and it's my favorite color,"
And then it happens. Zach just… blows up. Everything in him kind of breaks.
"WHO CARES!" He jumps up from his chair like a kangaroo, "It's JUST A CRAYON, IT'S A COLOR, it will get you NOWHERE in life! NOBODY CARES! And especially not ME!" For the first time since in class, Zach's face wasn't idle. He was in complete rage and anger, as it it's been building up inside him, and it finally popped. The whole class is staring at them, even Mrs. Wieber, the silence following was completely awkward.
Tears started to build up in Maracelle's eyes, and Zach's breathing steadies itself.
"Oh my," he says, his voice, much, softer this time, "I am so sorry, Maracelle. It's just, it's just that it's my first day, and I miss all my old friends, and my parents made me move, and made me leave everything behind, I'm dearly sorry I lost my temper, I'm feeling quite homesick."
And then he hugs her.
HUGS HER.
As in, wrap his arms around her, and draws her close to him, her head resting on his chest. She hiccups, the way she does when she's sad.
A rush of jealousy and anger swept over me in a split second. HOW DARE SHE! HOW DARE SHE TOUCH MY ZACH!
My words surprise me, my Zach? I didn't own him, but the way he smiled at me FIRST, and the way he sat up there with me in the Oak Tree, it felt as if he was my possession, as if he was mine, ONLY mine, and that NO ONE, especially Maracelle can hug him, and he shall not hug her!
I turn my back on them, forcing myself not to look any longer. My stomach drops, and I wish I haven't witnessed the whole scene.
Zach is mine.
And I am definitely, not letting Maracelle have him.