Abigail Scarlett leaned against her locker, sighing. “Great. Another Monday.” She rolled her eyes, brushing her wavy, auburn air out of her face. “Carli, can you believe Mr. Cranfur is testing us today?”
Carli, Abigail’s best friend was rummaging through her locker. “I know. It’s not fair. I mean honestly, it’s Monday!” She continued to push binders aside. “Hey Abby, have you seen my English notebook?”
“No, but we don’t have English until after lunch. We didn’t even have homework, what do you want it for?”
Carli smiled sheepishly, looking down at her feet.
“Carli, no! You’re going to read his phone number again? Don’t you know it by heart by now?”
Carli blushed. “Yes, but I like the way he writes.” She self consciously tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
“You are so in love.” Abigail laughed, going over to help her look for her notebook. “Would you just call him already?”
“I dunno, I always think the guy should call first- Ah ha, found it!” With a flourish, Carli pulled out her notebook from between two textbooks. She hugged it close. “Oh Brian…” A dreamy look slowly crept onto her face.
“You know Carli,” Abigail brought her back to Earth. “We should really organize your locker sometime,” She glanced up and down at the mess of loose papers. “Then you can find you English notebook whenever you want.” She joked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Carli turned an even deeper shade of red. “Oh you just be quiet Abby.” She gathered her books together and stood up, locking her locker with one hand. “C’mon, we should get going before Ms. Johansson kills us for being late.”
The two girls walked down the halls, side by side. The bell signaling the beginning of first period rang, its monotonous screeching resounding throughout the school.
Abigail and Carli sped up, rushing to reach their first class. They slowed to a walk as they neared the door.
“Dang it. We’re late,” Carli glanced at Abigail, frustration edging her voice. “Again.”
Abigail sighed, looking through the tiny window on the door. She waved to her fellow classmates, glancing towards the front of the room where Ms. Johansson sat at her desk, a stern, disapproving look etched onto her face.
Abigail mouthed to her teacher “Door’s locked”. She watched Ms. Johansson mutter something to someone in the front row, he nodded and got up to open the door.
“I’m so glad you two could join us” Her teacher scoffed sarcastically as they entered. “What an honour it is to have you grace us with your presence.” She tapped her desk with her pencil, her eyes searching them, watching as they took their seats. “As I was saying,” She paused to glare at the latecomers. “Today’s lesson is on World War I. Could you please read the chapter in your textbook and do the questions. We will discuss the answers afterwards.” She smiled in a sickeningly sweet way. “This is individual work, no talking please.”
The class broke out into groans and complaints; it seemed that reading from a history textbook on a Monday morning wasn’t anybody’s favourite activity.
Ms. Johansson looked up from her work as the moaning persisted; she cleared her throat loudly, instantly silencing the class. “I believe I asked for quiet. Get to work everyone.”
They didn’t need to be told again, the class fell into an uneasy silence, nothing could be heard but the rustle of turning pages and the occasional creak as someone shifted in their seat.
Abigail was trying to concentrate on her textbook but her father’s face kept popping up into her mind. She sighed, re-reading the same paragraph for the third time. Suddenly, a sharp elbow jabbed her in her ribs, she whipped around to confront the person but she glanced towards Ms. Johansson sitting at the front of the class, and thought better of it. “And what would you like Dave?” She rubbed her side, wincing. “That hurt by the way.” She tossed her hair back and flipped the page, waiting expectantly for an answer.
“Oh hey, sorry about that, but Brian wanted gave me this note to give to Carli, could you pass it to her?” He tossed a folded up paper onto her desk. “Thanks Abs.” He turned back to his textbook.
Abigail glanced at the note, she knew she shouldn’t open it, but she so wanted to. She told herself to stop, Carli was her best friend, if she wanted her to know what the note said, Carli would tell her herself. She turned to her left where Carli was sitting next to her, scribbling away in her notebook. “Carli,” She poked her, smiling. “Its from Brian…”
Carli gasped, breaking the silence. Ms. Johansson’s head shot up, pinpointing her and giving her a disapproving look, but Carli didn’t care, her heart was beating tenfold.
Abigail watched as a smile slowly spread across Carli’s face as she read the note. Abigail smiled back at her, her eyes sparkling with happiness for her friend.
Brian had also been watching Carli read the note, a hint of anxiety on his face. As she looked up, his eyes met hers. His face brightened as Carli made a heart with her hands, winking. He nodded excitedly, trying to act cool.
That’s when Abigail’s curiosity got the best of her and she snatched the note out of Carli’s grasp, she didn’t get a chance to read it though, before Ms. Johansson began to take up the questions. It was only then that Abigail realized, with a jolt that she hadn’t answered a single one. She knew that Ms. Johansson would be collecting their notebooks at the end of class to see if they had done their work. She hastily glanced at the clock, ten minutes until the next period, the note could wait. She shoved it into her book, much to Carli’s dismay and frantically began writing.
~§~
“Carli, I’m so happy for you!” Abigail gushed after reading the note. “I expect you’re going right?”
Carli bit her lip, hesitating. “Well, I don’t know…What if I make a fool of myself?”
“Are you crazy? You’ve had a crush on Brian since the fifth grade, and now he’s gone and asked you out, and you’re going to say no?”
Carli thought for a moment. “I’m going.” She answered determinedly.
“There’s my girl,” Abigail laughed, smothering her friend with a giant bear hug. “Hey, how about I come over after school and help you pick out what you’re going to wear for your date?” She elongated the word ‘date’, emphasizing it.
“We’re just hanging out at his house…” Carli answered shyly “No need to make such a big deal about it, I’ll wear, you know, whatever.”
“First impressions count” Abigail persisted. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”
“All right then, you can come over, say around five-ish- ” She was cut off as the bell ran again signaling the start of the next period.
“Shoot. First history and now science, we are so not going to win an award for punctuality, that’s for sure!”
The two of them rushed off towards their next class.
YOU ARE READING
(You are Never) ALONE
Teen Fiction"Sometimes, when you're trying to find yourself, it takes more than just yourself to do it." It's a story about love, about hardships, about hope, but most of all about finding yourself especially when you never thought it was possible. Because ever...
