Let's see...oh, I know, let's deviate. Thanks for reviewing, Lord Candycane, .SP, The Duke of Biohazard, Al Drin Hoshizora, and A-Plus Cassiopeia.
As soon as Roxanne slammed the door, I slumped down on my bed, only to feel something else. A cry happened as I did.
"Oh, I-" I began jumping up.
"Hey, don't apologize." Brent's voice said. "I just wasn't expecting that. You can sit on my lap if you want to."
"Get off my bed!" I snapped. "I know you're not real!"
"I am!" Brent insisted. "Look, if I wasn't real, would you be able to feel this?" I felt two arms wrapped around me. "And I've helped you before." he added. "Who did you think helped you with the equation in math class this morning?"
I stopped. He was making good points. But I could still be imagining all this. My dreams were pretty vivid. For all I knew, I could be hugging myself.
"Well, if you are real, get away from me!" I said, pulling away from the arms around me.
"Sorry." Brent's voice apologized. "I don't mean to move too fast. I know you don't really know me yet, but when you haven't been around girls before, things get awkward. And I like you, a lot. But I promise, I won't do anything like kiss you or stuff like that until you know me properly."
"If you were real, someone else could hear you, couldn't they?" I said pointedly. "Why do you only talk to me and do stuff so Roxanne can't see it, but I can?"
"I don't want anyone else to know I'm here." Brent admitted quietly. "I'm not going to harm anyone, Sammy. I just want to hang out with you." As he spoke, we both put the finishing touches, so my room was cleaner than it had been in a year.
I had plenty of time to hang out with him that night. Simon tattled on me again, saying I pulled the chair out from under him. I tried to tell Mom and Dad that he'd missed the chair and I wasn't near enough to pull it out, but they didn't believe me. I tried pointing out that I'd cleaned up my room without complaint, and I hadn't cleaned up the chair at the time, and I tried to warn Simon, but that didn't work, either. I was confined to my room for the whole night. Brent kept trying to get me to keep up a conversation with him, but eventually, he gave up.
"Sleep in the guest room if you have to stay here." I told him. "And make the bed every day, or Mom will blame me again!"
"I will." Brent promised. He paused. "I really am sorry that I got you into trouble, Sammy. I didn't mean to."
The next morning, things went more smoothly. I ate my cereal quickly, made my bed, checked the other rooms were OK, and went to school.
That's when things went downhill, in a major way. First, I have to say, why did I ever make friends with Roxanne? Her stupid trick had me thinking I was going nuts! First, she told everyone that I thought I had an invisible boy in my house, so everyone, including Ms Starkling, pretended to talk to invisible people, and then started laughing at me.
At lunchtime, I confronted her. "I'm sick of you making fun of me, Roxanne." I said quietly. I only called her that when I was serious. "Bye." It was the same thing. That 'bye' was our "break friends" goodbye. Maybe we'd make up later, maybe not. But best friends were supposed to be a bit more understanding. And they weren't supposed to make their friends the laughingstock of the sixth grade!
After I'd done that, I went to the library, and took out my lunch – a box of homemade sushi. I occassionally bought sushi packs at the store and I'd made a tuna roll. But I had to keep it on my lap so Ms Pinksy, killer librarian, wouldn't see it and go ballistic.
I'm not kidding. Ms Pinksy may look normal, but when she's angry at someone, they'll probably die. Or write a hundred book reports. One of the boys in my class got into trouble with her last year, and around now, he's still got another eighty book reports to write until he's done his time for his minor crime.
So I was just opening my box, when a piece of it floated up.
"Not again." I muttered. "This can't be real."
"Can't you share?" Brent's voice asked from the seat beside me. "You've got like eight pieces."
"Shhh!" I hissed. "The librarian will hear you if you talk at a normal volume! If you get me into trouble, I will never forgive you! What are you doing here?"
"I got lonely." Brent said, not listening to my warning. "And I missed you. Come on, we can still hang out at school, can't we?"
"Everyone thinks I'm crazy and is making fun of me!" I said angrily, my voice now rising in volume. "Why couldn't you have proved it to Roxanne? She wouldn't have told everyone if you'd actually talked to her. Heck, I still think I've gone crazy, because you can't be real – this is like science fiction, and science fiction is...well, fiction! Look, either you prove it to everyone, or I have to put up with the rest of the world thinking I'm nutty-"
"Samantha!"
Uh-oh...
Ms Pinksy was standing over me, and she'd heard me talking. And then she saw the sushi.
"Who were you talking to?" she asked.
I shrugged. "I learn things better when I say them out loud." I muttered. "I was repeating a passage of this book I'd been reading about...um...mental disorders. And...I..I'm..." I had no alibi for the sushi
Ms Pinksy paused, her face thoughtful. "This is very unlike you, Sammy." she said softly. "Are you sure you're all right? If you have any trouble, you could always talk to the guidance counsellor."
I struggled to keep my cool. This was so embarrassing! I already thought I was crazy – no one else needed to know it. Already, a bunch of the other kids had heard the commotion and were staring. I knew I was blushing.
"Um," I said, "That's okay. I'm...er...just having a weird day. I completely forgot the rules – too much else to think about...I got teased a bit, fell out with one of my friends. Just normal stuff. Besides, I've got an inter-school relay race after class today, so I couldn't talk to her."
At least that made her go away...eventually. But people were still laughing at me. And although Brent kept quiet for the next few minutes, half my sushi was swiped.
Sorry I took so long! I lost inspiration. But I'm back, and working.