Love At First Bite

I Almost Kill Someone

The little hang out with Carli did end up a sleepover. The weekend itself went by in a flash, and suddenly we were back to Monday.

"I'm dropping you off by that mansion today. The coolest guy in my grade saw you come out of my car, and now I won't hear the end of it." CJ said grouchily on our way to school.

"What? But that mansion is, like, a mile away!" I complain.

"It is not, it's only like two or three blocks!" CJ says annoyed.

"Fine, whatever." I slump in my seat.

It's more than two to three blocks. I argue to myself.

"Ok. Get out." He says sharply.

"Fine. If I get mugged, I'm blaming you." I said, then closed the car door and headed down the sidewalk. I waited and watched as his Mustang speeds down the road. Sighing, I begin walking forward. I only get in one step before I stop because something caught my eye. Something about the mansion...

I saw a figure in the window. Someone was staring at me, but it was too dark for me to see who. Whoever it is leaves, letting the curtain fall back to place. I just stare at the mansion for a moment longer, unable to move. Once I finally find my feet again, I start walking forward, shaking off the creepy feeling.

"Happy Monday!" Carli greets me in our first hour.

"Eh. Monday's Monday." I say and Carli smiles.

"Yes, but that means that we're already moving closer to summer!"

I laughed. "Ok, well calm down, it's only August. Summer technically isn't even over yet." I point out.

"Who can tell me what city had a giant earthquake in 1906?" Mr. Smalls asks us in my History class.

A girl raises her hand. "Yes, Hallie?"

"San Francisco." She states proudly.

"Correct."

"And there was also the Valparaiso earthquake also in '06. Except that was off the coast of Chile, South America. That earthquake actually had more deaths than San Francisco's at 1,500 while San Fran only had a mere 700-"

"Thank you, Hallie." Mr. Smalls interrupts. "Let's stay in America, though." Hallie looks disappointed she can't go on with her earthquake knowledge. She's by far the smartest girl in school. Or maybe is it just that she's the only one who likes to learn?

I was so bored while Mr. Smalls goes on and on about earthquakes and destruction and death. It was a very spirit lifting class, as it always is. The bell finally rings and I'm the first one up.

"Next week, we'll talk about droughts!" Mr. Smalls says excitedly.

Oh yay. That'll be even more interesting!

I walk out the room with Carli as we head to second hour English.

"Who can tell me what is wrong with this sentence?" Mrs. Jones asks after we settle down. Up on the board is the sentence; The calender had pictures of birds. "Anybody? Really? C'mon, guys, this is easy!"

I kept my head low. Mrs. Jones was that teacher who would always call on me even though my hand isn't up.

"Vanessa? Can you tell us?"

I silently curse and look up. "Calendar is spelled wrong."

"How do I spell it?"

"C-a-l-e-n-d-a-r." I spell out.

"Perfect! So many words are misspelled these days, and many don't even know. Take misspelled itself for instance. Many think it's one s, but it's actually two." And that's when Mrs. Jones goes on and on. I zone out. I don't need to know how to spell. I felt like we were in grade school again.

"How is committed spelled?"

"Double m double t." I mumble.

"What was that, Vanessa?"

Ugh!

Sixth hour gym. No. I hate gym. It's not because of the running, although that's part of it, but the sports in general. I fail at all of them. I can't find one thing I can do without injuring myself or others. Emphasis on the s in others.

"Ok, today we'll have three rotations you'll do. First we have volleyball. Next is archery, and the last is badminton. I'll split you up into small groups and assign you to your first rotation. So we have....how many? Twelve people? That'll work. So in volleyball, we have Cassie, Bentley, Jordan, and Vanessa."

Great. Volleyball. My least favorite out of all three. Oh well, I'll get it done and then I can chill on the others.

My gym teacher, Ms. Bright, is unlike all gym teachers; she has no favorites. You know what I mean. I'm sure your gym teacher has those group of athletic people they just adore. They lead everything, they choose the music to play, they are chosen to demonstrate. Sound familiar? Not with Ms. Bright.

She continues on with separating people into their sport section. You may have noticed that a Senior, Jordan, is in my class. I'm only a Junior. Our class has a mix of all grades. Cassie is a Freshman, Bentley is a Sophomore.

We have it set up so it's boy-girl on our teams. I'm with Bentley, who in the first game, does all the hitting for me.

"Bentley! Let Hickinson hit!" Ms. Bright yells.

I love how he's Bentley and I'm Hickinson. Maybe I was wrong about the favorites thing.

"Your serve." Bentley says to me and I can see Jordan preparing himself.

Anytime I have a ball, it usually gravitates to his head. Classic, right? So I toss it up, swing my arm back, and miss. "That's ok. Try again." Bentley said.

I ignore him. I just toss it over and Cassie smacks it back to us. Bentley hits it up so it's still on our side. He backs away, indicating it's my hit.

Oh god.

I step forward so I'm ready to hit it over. I actually did hit it this time. But it smacks Jordan in the face.

"Ok. Let's have you move on." Ms. Bright says, pulling me away from the net.

"I'm sorry!" I call to Jordan. Cassie and Bentley are looking him over. I sigh as Ms. Bright hands me some arrows and a bow.

Really? Hand the girl who hits people with balls a bow and arrow? That's smart.

I turn sideways and hook the arrow on the bow string. I pull back, and the arrow turns out of it's pocket. I groan and roll my eyes as I fix it. Pulling back once more, I actually get to release this time. Way over the target.

Ok, that's cool. It's a miracle I got it down there in the first place.

I grab another arrow and hook it into place. I pull back, and before I can release, some idiot comes up behind me and says, "Go Katniss!" I jump and release, the arrow heading towards the badminton players. One boy has to literally duck and roll so he won't get killed. The other badminton players either turn to me or go check on the boy.

"Dalton! Are you ok?" One girl asks.

"I am so sorry!" I call over to him.

Dalton? I don't know him. Well, it's a great first impression! I'm sorry I almost killed you, I'm Vanessa Hickinson!

I turn to see who it was who startled me, and I see an obnoxious boy named Randy staring wide eyed in the direction the arrow went.

"What the hell, Randy? Never startle someone with an arrow!" I yelled and put my bow up, deciding it would be safest if I just sat down.