Bates & Landon [Wattys2015]

BATES

"Are you okay?" Someone said to me. I opened my eyes to see a girl sitting down beside me. She plopped down, throwing her blue jean bag with multiple colored buttons down. Her hair was pure red, probably dyed, and she had brown eyes. Freckles sprinkled her cheeks and she had many piercings on her ears. "Cat got ya tongue?"

"What? No, a cat doesn't." I said.

"Okay, well I asked if you were okay." She said, putting her elbows on the table. She wore a lot of bracelets, they almost reached her elbows. "Plus, that saying isn't literally real."

"I'm fine," I told her. "How are you? And I know."

She smiled, showing her not-so straight teeth. "Eh, I'm swell." She held out her hand. Her fingernails were black. We shook hands. "I'm Cece Jakes."

"I'm Bates," I said.

"What a weird name," she crinkled up her freckled nose. "But it's cool. So cool it's the cool with a 'k'. You're name is kool!"

"Yeah, okay. Well so is you're name, Cece Jakes." I told her. Maybe I just made another friend, I hoped.

Cece pulled her dark red hair away from her face. "Ha! Cece is an okay name. Now, Bates is a good one. Unusual, but good."

"Uh, thanks?" I asked. I hated compliments. Even if they were true-- I couldn't help it.

"Oh, shut up and take a compliment. Now, how are you liking the school?" Cece said.

"It's okay," I said. "School is school, right?"

"Yeah, true. Hey--"

"Hello, class!" Mrs. Ellie announced to the whole class as she walked in. As she kept talking, Cece whispered to me about the most unusual things. Like why the sky was blue, and why the grass was green. What if it was the other way -- green sky and blue grass.

I actually talked to Cece while I painted, too."I hate painting." She said.

"Why?" I asked as I stroked the canvas lightly with a light blue color.

"Because," she sighed. "just when I thought I was good at something, I go to this class and see how good Mrs. Ellie paints and how the students paint. Then I realize that I'm not as good as the others."

"Well, some people are better at other things. But Mrs. Ellie, she literally teaches about painting, which means, she has to be good at what she is teaching. Look at your painting," I said as I looked at it. It was a simple painting. A sun set. "It is good. It may not be as good as others yet yours is as good as others ones also. Even with the imperfections in it or the flaws, it's still good."

She smiled. "Wow, that was very well said." She smiled wider. "It sounded like you were talking about my painting and also people."

"How?"

"Like this, their flaws and imperfections make up someone, yet they still are good. Still pretty or something. Ha, I'm not good at this kinda stuff."

"What stuff?" I asked.

"Talking about that kind of stuff. I'm not really good at talking about deep stuff, it makes me upset. Anyways..."

"Oh," I said. "Okay."

"Yep." Cece said. "Wanna hang with me after school?"

"Uh. Where?"

"The mall," she glances at me, "and no we won't go shopping, jeez. We'll just hang. You seem real cool and it would be nice to hang with other people. So want to, Bates?" If I do go, Emmy will just ride the bus home and be home before I am for a little bit.

"Um, sure." I say and hope I'll have a decent good time.

So? How was it?

I figured I'd make a cliché story . . sort of ;) I mean, I love the stories where it wasn't so cliché, but who says I can't write a cliché one? Haha, anyways. I hope you all like it!

Vote and/or comment! (How about both?) Lol

Enjoy

Xoxo
Talia