Yeah, sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out, I've just been so busy with the holidays, then I got wicked sick, and then school started again. I know, I know, no one wants to hear why I didn't update, they just want to read the new chapter.. So get on with it then, and just ignore me. Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews!
You know how kids like to play that staring game? The one where whoever blinks first loses? Well, I was in one of those matches right now with Warren Peace. Only, this wasn't a game, and I wasn't having fun. He just sat there, glaring at me. As if I was keeping him from doing something wicked important. News flash buddy, its not like I want to be sitting with you.
We were in the school library, in a spot away from any other person. I had the stupid survey sitting in front of me. He didn't even bother to take his out. I'm not going to lie, I was a little hurt. I didn't care about him failing, if he wanted to do that I wasn't going to stop him. What hurt was he didn't even want to take the time to get to know me.
"Alright, um, lets start with the first question I guess. Favorite color?" He didn't say anything back. He just kept that stupid, angry look on his face. "Alright, no favorite color. Mines red, but it's not like you care or anything."
"You know, I don't even want to do this. You're lucky I'm here right now."
"Oh, yeah. How lucky am I? You wont even talk. I don't even know what the point of you being here is."
"If there isn't a point, then I'll just leave."
"Forget it, I'll just leave. I'll make up the answers myself. You're favorite color is pink, you're favorite movie is The Notebook, and you're favorite band is New Kids on the block, before they made their "comeback." Hope that works for you." See, I was being nice. Everyone knows that hanging tough, the right stuff, and step by step were way better songs than Summer time. Oh, alright, I liked that song too, so sue me.
I grabbed my stuff and started walking out of the library. I noticed that he was following behind me, and I started walking faster. Needless to say, he caught up with me in no time.
"Wait a second," he said, but I kept walking. "Would you stop walking. Damn it Roxie, just stop for a second." I stopped, spun around, and pointed a finger in his face.
"Roxanne. Not Roxie."
"Yeah, right sure." We just stood there for a couple of seconds, looking at each other. It was such an awkward moment of silence.
"Well, go ahead," I finally said. "Say whatever it is you wanted to say."
"Why are you being such a bitch?"
"Yeah, alright," I said, and started walking again. I didn't want to even bother talking to him. How dare that boy call me a bitch. Sure, maybe I was acting a tad bitching, but it really wasn't like he didn't deserve it. Normally, with a guy, I would never be this outspoken. There was just something about this boy that brought out the worst in me. Unless he was being scary. Then I was too afraid to speak up. Like last night at the restaurant. Right now he was just an asshole. I had no problem giving him some attitude.
He was still following me down the hallway of our school, when, thankfully, classes got out for lunch. He must have lost sight of me after all the students came running out of their classrooms. I made it outside and to the buses. There were a couple of them available for the seniors to leave during the lunch break. Right as the bus I was on was ready too take off, I looked out the window and saw Warren getting onto the bus behind the one I was on. I let out a sigh of relief and relaxed the rest of the way home.
………………….
I stepped off the bus and almost screamed. There waiting for me, was Warren.
"How did you get here so fast?" I asked.
"There were less people on my bus," he said, with a shrug.
"And you're here, why?" He held up the paper that had the survey on it.
"I thought we could, you know, get this over with."
"You're mothers making you do this isn't she?"
"You're lucky she likes you."
"Yeah, I thought so. Well, follow me. No one is home at my house, we can do it there." I paused when I realized how dirty that sounded, but when he didn't make a rude comment, I continued leading the way. When we reached the front door, I unlocked it, but I didn't open it up right away.
"I have a dog," I warned.
"Yeah?"
"And a cat."
"So what?"
"Well, I don't know how they are going to react to you. Could you maybe promise not to burn them?" He gave me a look as if to say I was crazy, but I was totally serious. I didn't feel like dealing with any burns today. I slowly opened the door and I could hear Berko running to say hello.
"Roxanne, Roxanne! You're home, who is this? Did he bring me a treat? Can we all go for a walk?" The puppy was jumping on Warren, but instead of freaking out and yelling, my hero just lightly pushed him off. He then pat him on the head.
"Down boy," Warren said. Berko then lied down at Warren's feet and rolled onto his back.
"Roxanne, tell him to pet my stomach! I love when people do that," Berko said, his tail going a mile a minute. I didn't even need to relay his message. Warren bent down and started to pet him. I just watched in confusion. I mean, Warren being affectionate? Every time I'd seen him in school he had been mean and scary.
"What?" Warren asked. He must had seen my shocked face. "I like dogs." I then noticed Jasper walking slowly over to Warren and then rub against his legs. Warren scratched the cat behind his ear and Jasper started to purr. I just love how both my pets betrayed me. I thought at least Jasper would be giving Warren a hard time, but nope, he loved him. This just shows how unpredictable animals could be. Even me being able to talk to them wouldn't have guessed that they would like my hot head partner.
"Let me guess, you like cats too."
"Well, now you know two new things about me."
"Lets go see what else I can learn." I led him into the kitchen, where I tossed my bag onto the table. I walked over to the fridge and opened it. "You want a soda or something?"
"Yeah, sure." I grabbed two cans of coke and placed on in front of him. I then sat down across from his seat. I took the survey out of my bag and placed it in front of me.
"Favorite color?" I asked, starting once again with the first question.
"Same as you. Red." Oh, so he had been listening. Surprise, surprise. For about an hour this went on. We traded our likes and our dislikes. Surprisingly, we ended up having a lot in common. I didn't think it possible, but it was. In fact, if he wasn't such a rude, antisocial person, I think we would actually make great friends.
"Roxanne, can we play ball?" asked Berko dropping a ball at my feet. I hadn't even seen him get up and get a ball. This whole time he had been sleeping by Warren's feet.
"No Berko, we can't play ball. I'm not finished with my home work. Why don't you go see what Jasper is up to and I promise to take you on a walk tonight."
"Can we go to the park?"
"Yes, we can go to the park." The puppy then walked into the other and I looked back at Warren. He was giving me a strange look.
"What?" I asked.
"Did you just talk to him? I mean did he like understand you?" It figures that he would have no idea what my power was. Did he even read the information the school gave him on me?
"Yeah, I can talk to animals."
"And you're not a super because why?"
"I can't control them. I can just talk to them. Most of the time animals are scared of me. It's not like I can make them form this huge army and do whatever I tell them to do."
"So you just talk to them?" he asked. I shook my head yes. "But you just speak normal English and they understand you. You don't have to like speak dog or anything like that?"
"Right. I just speak normal human talk and they understand. It doesn't have to be English. I can speak French, Spanish, anything really. They just understand me."
"That's cool I guess."
"Sure." We sat in silence for a couple of seconds. Both of us not really knowing what to say next.
"So why did you name him Berko?" I knew he didn't really care. He just wanted to break the silence.
"It's a name from a movie."
"What movie?"
"Empire records."
"Never saw it."
"You should, it's a great movie." He just shrugged his shoulders not really seeming to care. "So, anyway. I was thinking, when do you want to start the next assignment?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, this survey thing is due Friday, but we still have other assignments that will need to be done. We could start them now so we don't have to do them later."
"Why can't we just do the next one next Thursday."
"A day before its due?"
"Yeah, why not."
"That's cutting it a little close. Why not give us more time to work on it so it's done right. I say we get together on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday can be our break day. Then do final touches to whatever the work may be on Thursday." He started laughing but I didn't really see what was so funny.
"You're crazy you know that. School really isn't that important. Look, we aren't friends. I'm giving you my time on Thursday and I think that should be good enough." I think my jaw literally dropped. I couldn't believe he had just said that to me. I just sat in silence as he folded his piece of paper that had the survey on it, stuffed it into his pocket, and started walking to the door.
"I'll see you next Thursday," he then said. I didn't even bother getting up to see him out. I heard the door open and then close. That was when I finally stood up. I ran over to the phone and called the only person I knew who would care to hear me complain.
"Becca, Hey, it's Roxanne. You are not going to believe how horrible of a partner Warren Peace is," I said, once my friend picked up the phone.
"Hey, I can't talk right now. I'll call you later," she said quickly. Then she hung up.
"Ok?" I said, in confusion. She normally always has time to gossip about pointless things. It seemed a little weird for her to hang up so quickly like that. Not thinking much of it, I called Berko over to me, found his leash, put it on, and then took him out for the walk I promised him. I would worry about Becca and Warren later.
So, I know the chapter is a little short, and it is a little boring right now. I'm just trying to get the story going, it should get more interesting soon, I promise! I just felt bad about not updating, so I decided to post this just so people knew I was still alive and had an interest in this story. Thanks so much for reading!