A flashlight in the shadows.

Chapter 1: Partners?

'And as the father caressed the little chain link braclet, he asked his wife, "where is this girl....'
"Hey!" I got up to chase Kendra, one of my friends, and get my book back. "Give that here! You're gonna rip the pages!"
"You are such a dork," she stated, tossing it aside, me practically diving to save it from the floor.
"The lovely bones is my favorite book! You know that!"
"Yeah, because you've read it to me freaking 75 times!" I sighed and rolled my eyes, leaning my elbows on the table, eager to read my favorite line at the end of the book.
'"She's probably grown up by now." Almost. Not quite. I wish you all a long and happy life.' I smiled to myself, closing the book and sighing. Kendra rolled her eyes and flipped back her light brown hair.
"Can I please get back to telling you my story?" I nodded and crossed my legs, listening. Gossip was one of the most important things at our school in the small town of Trenton, Maine. Without it, we wouldn't survive. Well, no one except me, of course. She rambled on and on about the cute guy in her science class who's also on the basketball team.
"And then he said to his friend, 'I'm into brown headed girls, then he looked at me! That has to be a sign, right?!?" She exclaimed as I reached for my last textbooks of the day. I rolled my eyes and thought to myself, 'probably not, there's a million girls with brown hair at our school.' Just then, the boy she'd been talking about, Xander, went speeding past us with about six other guys. He turned and winked at her. She squealed in delight and smiled at him. I raised an eyebrow. 'Is she seriously going crazy over a jock?' She called after him,
"Where ya going, Xander?"
"Going to catch Bennett, that stupid idiot!" Bennett turned around, smiling cockily at Alec and said in his thick accent,
"Guess your girlfriends into stupid idiots!" The other guys oohed and they continued running down the hallway. Kendra whipped around, her hair wrapping into my face. I stepped back and frowned.
"What?"
"You should ask Bennett to prom!" She exclaimed, surprising me. I shook my head violently from side to side.
"No, I most defiantly shouldn't!"
"Why not?!" She asked flinging her hands in the air. I rolled my eyes and slammed the locker shut, turning to her.
"He's a mindless flirt who'd go out with anything that moves."
"At least he's a cute mindless flirt! C'mon, proms your chance to climb the social ladder, attend parties and get wild!" I glared at her,
"Did it ever cross that microscopic mind of yours that maybe I don't want to!" I hugged the books to my chest, staring at her. She threw her hands up in surrender.
"Whatever, I need to get to math, see ya later!" She winked and ran to her math class. I sighed and made my way towards theater. Theater was one of my favorite classes. The scripts, the plays, but it was mostly the teacher, Miss. Gadget. She had rainbow colored hair that was styled into giant curls that bounced as she talked. She was heavier set, but I didn't mind. Her wire rimmed glasses set neatly on her nose as I strolled in. When she saw me, she got up, spreading her hands wide apart.
"Ah, Sarah, just the girl I wanted to see."
"Hey, Miss. Gadget, what's up?" Her eyes lost a little shine when she sighed.
"Sarah, I'm afraid to put you in this position..." She stopped staring at me. I frowned and shrugged.
"What is it, Miss. Gadget?" She sighed again and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Well, you are one of my best students, and your grades are wonderful, but I'm afraid that Bennett is in need of a good grade, so I'm pairing you up with him." My eyes widened and I pointed towards my seat.
"But, Hannah and I..."
"I've already spoken to her, and she's fine with doing a monologue."
"Well what about dani? Her and Bennett seemed to be doing fine!"
"Dani has been transferred to Paxton high, sad really, and Bennett has no one else to do his skit with." I huffed and grumbled to myself. She had sympathy in her eyes as she walked back to her desk. I thought for a few moments, then it clicked; Hannah. She must've set us up. All of my friends have been stressing over prom, which is only five months away. I wasn't planning on going, but they were doing everything in their power to get me to go. Ever since Bennett moved here during the summer, they've been stressing to get me with anyone, and Bennett didn't have a date yet. I stomped over to her desk, where she was quietly working on her monologue. She gave me an innocent smirk as I walked over.
"What the hell, Hannah?!" I whispered. She shrugged and said,
"I don't know what you.."
"Oh, don't give me that! You told Miss. Gadget that I'd be fine with pairing up with that man-child!"
"Speaking of.." She stated, looking behind me. I shot her a dagger glare as he walked in, a bleach blonde on either side of him. They were both giggling and smiling widely at him. We made eye contact for a split second, piercing me with his arctic wolf eyes. Bennett Webber had moved here from France last year. Since then, all the whores of my grade have been on the case, never leaving his side. He joined basketball, greatly enhancing our team, but he was as dumb as a sack of fucking bricks. His brunette hair was always in bangs across his face, contrasting his light grey eyes. He waved off the two girls and approached me, bag slung lazily over his right shoulder.
"Sup Appleton?" My lips formed a small line as I sighed.
"Nothing."
"Cool, imma sit over there." He plopped his bag down on a desk near the back of the room and set his feet on top of it, setting his hands behind his head. I sat down next to him, wanting to bang my head repeatedly against my desk. He took out his phone and started typing. I sat up and cleared my throat.
"Ehem?" He didn't look up from the small screen. He only smirked at the screen. I tried again, "excuse me?" He looked at me, a bored expression on his face.
"Yes princess?" I felt my cheeks getting hotter with rage.
"My name isn't princess."
"Ok, cupcake."
"It's not cupcake either."
"Whatever you say, kitten." I was seriously considering punching him straight in the nose.
"My name is Sarah."
"Whatever, what do you want?" He asked, flipping some hair from his face. I crossed my arms.
"We need to work on our skit."
"No, you should do that, that's boring and I have better things to do." He went back to texting. I took it from his hands and held it away from him.
"No, if you want a good grade, you need to help!"
"I have other teachers homework to do, sweetheart." Sweetheart? He was just asking for it. I poked his chest with my index finger and said,
"Look, pretty boy, I intend on getting a good grade, so you can either help or forget passing this class." The bell rang loudly, making most everyone cover their ears. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Fine, wouldn't want the teachers pet to get a bad grade," he got up, smirking to the side and leaving me fuming. You'll get what's coming to you, webber. I met up with Kendra and Hannah at our lockers in the hallway, as we did every day after school. We'd drive Hannah home and then Kendra would drop me off at my house. When I approached Hannah and Kendra, they were giving each other high fives and smirking. I pointed a finger at Hannah.
"That was cruel."
"Whatever, he seems to like you!" She squealed, smiling. I rolled my eyes and tucked a strand of hair that had slipped out of my ponytail behind my ear.
"Yeah right, there are girls who're way easier to get to than I am."
"So? Maybe he enjoys some adventure!" I rolled my eyes and punched Kendra's arm, smiling. She gripped it and pouted.
"Why'd you hit me?"
"Because, let's get going. I need to finish my chores before my dad gets home."
"Ok, let's go," Kendra agreed, pulling me and Hannah behind her. My dad owns his own auto repair shop. It brought a lot of money to us, but it meant that me and my sister, Jane, had to do pretty much everything at the house. Cleaning, cooking, the whole shpeel. Jane was going on a date tonight, so it was up to me to take care of the laundry, the sweeping, and the dishes. We all hopped into the black Kia optima, plugging Hannah's phone in so we could hear her music. She played unfaithful, by Rihanna, and we all started singing along, me quietly. We dropped Hannah off at her mothers house near the school and started driving to my house.
"I honestly don't get why you don't want to go to prom!"
"I don't know, I'm just not into dancing and stuff," I stated, shrugging. She raised her eyebrows and exclaimed,
"You don't have to dance there! C'mon, it's senior year and you haven't accomplished anything!" I made a scoffing sound and smiled.
"That's not true, I met Mr. Throwben's 150 book challenge freshman year," I laughed to myself. She laid her head on the steering wheel and sighed.
"Let me rephrase, you haven't lived at all!"
"What am I doing right now then?" I asked, being sarcastic. She rolled her eyes.
"I give up, I'm done. But do you promise you'll at least try and get a date? Please?" She asked, giving me a puppy dog face. I sighed and nodded.
"Fine, but I'm not promising anything, ok?"
"Ok!" She hugged me and pulled up to the house, letting me out. I waved goodbye and walked up the cement sidewalk to our house, books clutched in my hands. I reached up to the key resting on top of the doorway, letting myself in. I set my bag and books on the glass coffee table, walking to the small laundry room in the hallway.
The layout of my house was modern, yet simple. The living room had tan carpeting and beige paint with white trimming on the wall. We had a small flat screen resting on top of a modern bookcase type thing, a tan couch in front of it. We had a small hallway that led to our dining room and back padio. Next to that was our kitchen, black counter tops and dark wooden cabinets with a stainless steel refrigerator and stove. The staircase was close to the kitchen, leading up to our small hallway with three doors. One lead to my fathers room, one led to janes room, and one led to mine. We each had our own bathroom, which I was ever so grateful for. I was expecting everyone home at 7:00, I'd start supper right after I was finished folding laundry. I grabbed a basket and sat at the couch, watching silence of the lambs as I folded the towels and clothes. I loved Jodie fosters performance in the film, it was truly amazing. I had finished almost all of the laundry when I heard a big truck pull up to the house next door. The Johnson's had moved out about two months ago, and dad had told me someone else was moving in today. Curious, I opened the door and stuck my head outside. At first, all seemed normal.
A man with grey streaks running in his hair and a small beard started bringing boxes inside, his short wife with dark hair and green eyes trailing shortly behind him, also carrying a box. A little girl was trying to pull her pink bike out of the truck, failing. And then, out of no where, Bennett walked up behind her, smiling. He took it out and set it on the lawn. She hugged him, him bending down and picking her up in the air. I leaned against the doorway, smiling at how cute she was. 'That must be his little sister,' I thought to myself. He set her down and looked over in my direction, seeing me in the doorway. He smirked and waved at me, making me straighten up and walk back inside. I shook off my thoughts and put all the clothes away, then began cooking supper, which was chicken Alfredo. I liked vegetables, so after I'd made the white sauce for the chicken, I chopped up some broccoli and chicken and fried it in a pan on the stove top. I got a text from my friend, Dina.
'I can't find book theif4 our report:( I sighed and texted back,
'Ill find it 2morrow:)
'K:3' I sighed again and went back to the pan, looking out the kitchen window. I could see into their back yard, where Bennett and his dad were currently putting up a basketball hoop. Bennett's little sister was carrying a brown cat inside the house, talking to it as she did.
My thoughts were interrupted by my phone once again, this time from Jane,
'Ugg! I'm coming home early:/' I smirked to myself and typed,
'Bad date?'
"I'll tell you when home, by.'
'Bye,' I set it down on the counter and stuck the Alfredo in the oven. I decided to sweep and work on my homework. After the dining room and living room were clean, I took my bags and ran up to my room, setting everything on my bed. My room had light grey walls and soft carpeting. My bed was medium size and had a pink blanket and comforter. I had one lamp in the corner and a small desk with a computer. It sat next to a big picture window that let a lot of natural light into the room. I didn't have any curtains because I'd read that you focused better when surrounded by nature. I logged onto the computer and started researching for the skit. The skit was basically supposed to be a shorter version of a Shakespearean play. Hannah and I were originally going to do Camalot, but seeing as how we weren't doing it anymore, I pondered over what I should do with Bennett. I ran my fingers across my face, google searching, 'Shakespearean skits.' I got about 1,000,000 links. Yay. I sighed and looked out my window. When I did, I couldn't believe what I saw. Karma must hate me or something, because I saw Bennett hanging up posters in his room, directly across from mine, also with a picture window. I stared for a minute, looking around his room. I'd expected hoops and posters of basketball players, but he wasn't hanging anything like that up. He hung up pictures of the Beatles and five finger death punch in one corner beside his own desk. He had a flat screen, but that didn't surprise me. What did surprise me, was the easel in the corner, sporting a large, blank canvass.
He looked over, saw me staring, and waved again, this time with an even bigger smirk. I rolled my eyes, shook my head, and turned back to my work. I heard an impala pull up the driveway; Jane. I walked downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing the Alfredo out of the oven. She came in, hair done and clothes covered in eggs. I held back a laugh and asked,
"Umm, so...how'd it go?"
"I should've known better than to trust justin!" She sat at the counter and sighed. I shrugged and lifted my hand in the air.
"I told you, but noo...you couldn't take my advice," I started making desert, which happened to be cookies tonight. She glared at me and sighed,
"You know, your not right about everything."
"I never said I was," I stated, mixing the contents of the bowl. She rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair.
"I'm taking a shower, I'll be back down in a while."
"Ok," I stated, greasing the pan. Jane was a junior, and the complete opposite of me. She's been on about a million dates, and I've never so much as had a boyfriend. She gets low B's and C's while I've had straight A's since second grade. She was pretty, and I was a mix of a smurf and a pit bull. Just as I'd set the cookies in the oven, the front door opened and a loud voice boomed,
"Where are my beautiful girls?!" I smiled and went around the corner, hugging my dad tightly. He was shorter than me now, but he was way more muscular. He was slightly overweight with a scruffy beard and glasses. He took off his jacket and asked,
"Where's Jane?"
"Showering," I explained, pointing up. He nodded and smiled.
"What smells so good?"
"Chicken Alfredo and chocolate chip cookies." I answered, smiling still. He hugged me again and asked,
"Would you mind bring some to the new neighbors? It's good to have a nice first impression." My face lost color as I thought of it.
"Uh, do I have to? Can't Jane?"
"Well, she needs to work on her homework and I'm guessing you're already done, right?" Of course, he was right. Curse jane. Why can't she just be a shut in like me?! I grumpily agreed and took some fresh cookies and wrapped them in plastic wrap. I held it with both hands as I approached the house. I knocked twice before the small woman from earlier answered.
"Hello!" She stated in a cheery voice. She had a slight accent, but she was trying to hide it. I gave her a small smile and stated,
"Hi, I live next door. My dad wanted to give you this as a welcome to the neighborhood." She smiled even wider now.
"Oh, how lovely! Please, come inside."
"Oh, that's ok, I really don't have to..."
"Please, I insist!" She pulled me inside, bringing me to the kitchen. The house was a replica of mine, just on the opposite sides. I set it down on the counter and she talked to me.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Um, no I'm good, ma'am."
"Are you sure?" She asked, still smiling. I nodded and waved her off. I looked around.
"It's a lovely house."
"Thank you, my husband picked it out for us." She gestured to where he was. I, not wanting to be awkward, said,
"Do you need help unpacking?" She turned to me, surprised.
"Well, if you'd like to help, you're welcome to." She gestured to several boxes piled up in the living room. I nodded and walked over to them, opening some up. The first couple were dishes, and the next few were gardening utensils. But the next four were interesting. They were filled with beautiful, amazing books. I caressed my hand over the old leather of them, smiling. I heard a voice behind me;
"Stalking me, Appleton?" I whipped around to come face-to-face with Bennett, smiling like crazy.
"No, your mother invited me inside."
"I don't believe you," he stated, still smiling. She came around the corner, smiling at him.
"Ahh, Bennett, this girl is here to help, don't scare her off," I giggled a little. He rolled his eyes and said something in French. She looked up, frowned, replied, and went back to unpacking. I sighed and looked at him.
"Well, it's been fun, but I gotta go."
"Ok, sweet dreams Appleton," he shouted as I bolted out the door.

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Hello everyone! This is my second ever book on watt pad, and i feel good!(danananananana) hope you all like it, I'll try to keep the authors notes short and sweet, bye, hope you like the next chapter! :D