The bright beams of the sun hit my face and the light annoyed my eyes. I yawned due to my restless night and walked to my window to watch the sun rise from the horizon. It was so pretty. I grabbed some clothes to go and take a shower. When I was done, I put on my usual clothes and went down the stairs. The Devil and her daughter were not up yet. A chill went down my back when I realized the Devil's husband was home, and watching TV, might I add.
"Hello, Noelle." He said. I said nothing to him and went to the kitchen. I hated this man. I wanted to get away from this house and everyone in it. Why did I not have the strength to get out of here? Why could I not say anything to escape from this place? I grabbed an apple from the fridge.
"Did you hear the news?" the True Devil said. "We're richer now." He said next to my ear and grabbed my waist. I moved away. Damn him. It was incredible that he had not tried anything. He was a pervert, a pedophile. Ever since I came here he had been making inappropriate comments to me, his hands too curious; but the Devil did not notice anything, she was too busy trying to count money. "Aw, come on; don't be like that, you know ... I really missed you." He made a move as if to touch my face, but I wiped the apple and grabbed my backpack, leaving the house as quickly as I could.
I walked in silence. The sound of my shoes hitting the wet floor was calming. Once again, I was all alone and I was taking in my surroundings. The trees were shining with the sun, birds were singing, it all seemed like a dream. Until the distant sound of a car woke me up from it. It passed next to me honking its horn. A high pitched laugh came from inside it saying, "Bitch!" The Devil's spawn, I should've known.
When I got to school, I felt like everyone was watching me. I felt their evil gazes on me. I walked to my locker, grabbed some books, and put the Parenthood notebook inside. When I closed the locker I found myself stared at by at least 5 or 6 girls. They looked angry.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A girl who thinks that just because Gabriel chose her as a partner for something, that she's somebody now?" A girl said; her name was Tracy Reynolds, junior. Umm, are you demented?
"Well, you're not! You're still the weird mute that should learn her place." Another girl said; her name was Mary Jas, sophomore. That was unnecessary.
"He only wants you for the grade, so don't think he means anything by this!" Another said; her name was Dana Finn, junior. I am really late for class.
"Don't even try to believe that you actually have a chance." Mary said, flipping her wavy, black hair from her shoulder and shaking her tanned finger in my face.
"We should go, before she thinks she's actual competition." Tracy said. The girls began to murmur, 'Yeah.', 'Bitch.', 'Who does she think she is?', and other things that I didn't understand. Their murmurs faded as they walked away.
Being the Loner that I was, I heard things, saw things and remembered things other people did not. If I wanted, I would blackmail them so easily they would be ruined for the rest of their high school lives. Tracy was cheating on her boyfriend of 4 years with his best friend ... for 4 years. Mary was the assistant for the school's swimming team ... and she was 'assisting' in more things that you could think of. And Dana was on drugs, but she covered all evidence with make-up. I had all the dirt, and they had nothing on me... except that I was a "mute". What would they do to me?
I walked to my first class, English. A class in which I felt so many glares on my back, I felt as if they were trying to burn a huge hole on it. I couldn't concentrate very well knowing this. It made me uncomfortable and bothered me.
At least my free period was peaceful; I sat under me tree eating my apple. Until a voice said, "Noelle?" My body became stiff. That mess of brown hair, the tall shape, and the incredible blue eyes. Gabriel Edwards.
"Hey, Noelle!" He ran to me and sat down next to me. "What are you doing here?"
I said nothing and continued eating my apple. I just wished he would leave.
"Okay, let me guess. Eating your apple wishing that I would leave?" I looked at him. How did he know that? "Yeah, I'm like that. But we have to talk about our baby's name."
I took out the notebook he gave me. "You still have it?!" He said shocked, an edge of pride seeping into his tone.
"Yes..." I wrote on it, while I rolled my eyes.
"So ... did you think of any names?" He asked. I nodded. "Great! 'Couse I got nothing..." He said. "Do you have them here?" I shook my head. "Well, that sucks, you want to go look for them?"
I said nothing.
"I'll take that as a 'no'" He said. I finished my apple and placed the last bits in a napkin I had taken from the cafeteria. He stood up and helped me stand up, and for a moment I thought my heart skipped a beat; must have something to do with the apple... too much sugar? Maybe it is giving me heart problems. The bell rang.
"Well, I'll see you later Noelle!" He said with a smile and took off running. I hit myself on the head. Stupid, don't let him become your friend, don't let him close. You already learned your lesson, did you need a reminder? I walked to my next class, my favorite class, the class that most people knew and sort of liked. Art.
Art, my only interest; the only thing that made me feel alive inside. Through art, people could see another world, any world you would like. How amazing. Any world you'd like ... it was almost a happy thought. Right?
When I walked in, the smell of paint hit me. The smell of pages, crayons, pencils followed behind. Images of people, animals, places, things; they all covered the walls. Others would wrinkle their noses at the smell. I actually liked it.
Mr. Antonio Garcia was a nice man, he was around 55, his graying hair contrasting so interestingly with his tanned skin. A funny mustache covered his upper lip in a cartoonish manner. He was close to retiring, which made me feel a little sad. He was nice to me, and if I were to have friends, he's the type of person who I'd like to be around. I went to my seat.
"Hello class." He said in a low voice. This class was small; only about 8 people took the class, so it was relatively quiet. "Everyone has a special project. It will be due for the end of the year. It is very simple but it will take some time to think of what to do. You will draw anything that you consider special, the most special thing you can think of, it can be a person, an object, or a place; it can be anything. The only thing hard in this project is that you will need to make your painting tell a story. The memory of why that thing, person, or place is special, why you say it is the most special thing in the world to you."
'Great.' I thought sarcastically. Something that was special to me? That was hard. That was going against everything that I had worked for. The teacher was on to me. He was trying to make me suffer.
"But what if we don't have one specific thing?" Some girl asked. I think her name was Lillian, yes, Lillian Turner, freshman.
"You have to have one thing that you consider more special to you than anything else." He said. "What about you Noelle? What do you consider special?" I just stared at him through my hair. I had nothing special; he knew that, he was just trying to make me talk. He stared at me with his dark brown eyes that would normally cut through people, enter their soul and break them down. I began to glare at those brown eyes, and he just laughed.
"I understand." He said. I knew he did. I just didn't appreciate the experience. What did I consider special to me? What did I care about? I didn't even care for my foster parents. I put my head down and thought. Something special. Special?
Aside from the whole art project ordeal, the rest of the day went by fast. I still thought of the special project for Art. I couldn't help it. I also couldn't help think of all the 'threats' from those girls. What was wrong with them? I understand having a small crush on a man, but they were creepy. Threatening a girl because the object of their obsession chose her for a project. Who did they think they were? Ah, yes. They were his sick, obsessive fanatics.
Speak of the Devil and he shall appear.
"Hey Noelle!" Gabriel Edwards called out. I turned around. He was running after me, carrying something in his hands; it looked like ... a doll? A baby doll. "Isn't she cute?" He said when he had finally gotten close to me. I looked at the plastic baby. She was slightly tan, had blue eyes and rosy cheeks. I knew it was a 'she' because she had no clothes on and Gabriel was basically throwing the doll at my face.
"She is just so adorable! I think she has my eyes!" He said. Did he not know that it was a plastic doll? Actually, the doll did have his eyes. Something was wrong with this picture.
I looked at his eyes more carefully. The shade of blue of his eyes was very fascinating; it was so different from other shades I had seen. It was like clear blue waters that gleamed with the sun, if that makes sense. I jumped out of my thoughts and went back to thinking straight. He gave me the doll. How did I carry her again? She was slipping from my hands.
He laughed. "You can't carry her like that Noelle. It's like this." He fixed her position. I looked at him. Had he had experience with babies? He looked down. And suddenly said, "I had to take care of my little brothers when I was younger. My dad left us ... and my mom has to work double shifts at the hospital. So it was just me ... and my four little brothers." He looked at me, he was about to cry ... I knew he was about to cry. I turned my back to him. Why was he telling me all of this? I looked at the doll. She was kind of cute, I guess. He put his hand on my shoulder.
I looked at him. "You want to come meet my family?" He asked. I froze. Meet. His. Family. What? We were not really married he knew that; did he not? Well, we did have a baby, but he did not have to take me to his family, the baby was fake, a doll. Why was he asking me that? Suddenly I got a horrible headache. I thought too fast. "Forget it, maybe next time ..." He said. I offered him the doll; I didn't know what to do with it. I had to admit having a 'baby' was confusing for me; I'd never taken care of a child before. He smiled.
"Okay, I'll take it today. But sooner or later you'll have to take care of our child!" He said in a playful voice. "See you tomorrow, Noelle!" He left walking. His last words almost made me laugh ... Almost.
I turned away from the spot in silence; it was time to go to Hell. I mean ... "home".
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I hope whomever read this liked it! Don't be scared to VOTE/COMMENT ... maybe fan? ... if you liked it ... anyways.... THANKS FOR READING!
Hugs and Machine Guns,
U-niike101