The Time Keeper

Grace

Ding! Ding! Ding! Chimed the grandfather clock. "Ugg Midnight" she whispered in a low voice to herself, and as expected for the nineteenth Time in a row the shadows on her walls danced to the bone-chilling music that was warping her vision to make everything look perpendicular to her. This Time she would get him, she would get the man who always tried to get her at midnight. All she needed was Time, Time to make a plan, Time to set a trap, and Time. Time. Time. Time was something that always seemed to move slower when he was around, Time something she longed for, no need. As expected the tall thin man trapped her, he always had her trapped, it was like he knew her every move, and as she braced herself to be taken by the man, she thought if only I had more Time. "Grace!" her mom yelled, waking her from the horrible dream she was having, and in an instant Grace shot up from the bed alive and breathing. What Time is it? she thought while looking over at her clock at 6:30 am. Of course, she thought it was Time to get up and go to school, Time to start another day where her crush wouldn't even notice her. She looked at him like a hawk, stalking its prey. Slowly and quietly she watched his every move, and she thought of a simpler Time, a Time where he and her only talked once. That Time was way back in November when he asked her for a pencil because he had lost his on the bus. With her mind still in a daze and her body, in reality, her feet moved to the beating of the bell, sending her to history, the first class of what was the most miserable week ever.

History, she thought, why do we need to learn about the past. "Grace!" Hissed Miss. Raven. Grace could have sworn that she had the soul of a raven considering the fact that ravens are also considered to be the bird of death, and with that reasoning in her mind, she noted that Miss. Raven was a Raven because every person she has married has died a mysterious death. "Grace!" Miss Raven said again "Yes?" said Grace "Would you care to grab your things and leave my class you're going to be late for English." "Oh ok sorry," Grace said while walking out the door. English with Mrs. Deeb was always interesting. She would give us surprise Quizzes and we would take notes, but she was my favorite teacher because every Time we had her class we could eat food. Then all at once in the present Time, like right now the gods somewhere above answered my prayers and somehow told Mrs. Deeb to put Dax and I in a group project.

I'm super excited. As I walked over to Dax's table I kept telling herself to play it cool. Don't screw it up Grace. She sat down next to him and he just stared at her. She was kinda freaked out by this. Mrs. Deeb started to announce the project. "Your project is 80% of your grade. You are going to have a little Time in this class, but you will have to do most of it outside of school." Martha, my best friend, raised her hand and asked, "Mrs. Deeb, do we have to go over to our partners' house and work with them?" asked Martha my BFF "Yes Martha you do. As I was saying you will have to work on it outside of class. You will have to visit four places in our city Boulder, Colorado. I want you to take notes about your findings, what you see, how much you have learned about your partner, and how this makes you feel. Any other questions. No? Good. Class dismissed."

As everyone walked out the door Dax asked if he could come over to my house to look at places we could go, and of course, I said "yes." "I was watching you too. Him coming over to your house gets you one step closer to him asking you out. I know you like him, and he likes you too." Martha said with a wink leaving me speechless. Snapping out of my daze I ran home as fast as I could. Of course, I ran into Dax on my way out, like straight into him Not a bump, but STRAIGHT into him. Lucky he thought it was hysterical and gave me a lift in his Balck 1967 Chevy Impala Hardtop. I gave him directions to my house, and he said "I will be back in an hour or two, only Time will tell."

When I opened the door the strong smell of garlic hit me right in the face. I knew that we were having baked spaghetti and garlic bread. OMG the house is going to smell like garlic when Dax gets here. I ran up to my room and spread perfume all over the place. I made my bed and picked up all of the clothes off of the floor. This should be fine. Then I started some of my homework. Ding Dong Crap he's here. As I walked down the stairs I tripped and fell on my face. I received quickly and rushed to open the door. There he was all 6ft of him. His emerald green eyes pierced through my heart, his perfectly wavy dark brown hair was dangling right above his eyes. He had perfect skin, you could see the way his muscles outline through his black t-shirt as he stood there looking down at me. "Come in" I said as he stepped inside my house I felt his hand brush over mine as he closed the door behind him. We went up the stairs and he asked about the pictures on the walls. I said "They are just family, and friends." He sat on my bed and I went to my desk. "I will look online for some places that we could visit Dax? DAX are you good?" I asked "Oh yeah I'm fine. Sorry." he said "Ok well do you want to help?" I asked him, and after many hours of looking online to find the perfect places we finally found four. The Boulder Theater, The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Chautauqua Park, and Eldorado Canyon State Park. "Were done!" I said in a high pitched voice. As he smiled at me he said "see you tomorrow Grace" he said, and he walked out the door.