Eight
Sapphire
Oh great! I thought. Eric was late again. It was six weeks into our film/drama assignment and the project was due in a few days. We had done all the filming and most of the edits, and that day we were supposed to do the final edits. Don't get me wrong, there was no way I was over Eric, but when he was late for the fifth lesson in row, I got annoyed. On top of that, I had all this stress from a History test in the next lesson and other assignments due, so I was getting mad. So mad, that I decided to leave a little message.
Usually when I called Eric to see where he was, I hung up when it went to message bank, but not that day. That day, I called him up, waiting for the ‘Leave a message after the beep!’ that I knew was coming, and when I heard that annoying beep I left him the angriest, most threatening message I had ever left, probably the scariest message he would ever hear. Then something funny happened. Well, not so funny for me…
Eric jogged into drama/film class, looking all cute with a red nose and a wooly hat covering his ears. He was carrying a steaming bag of muffins, for me. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from giving him a huge hug, but I did go bright red when I realized he was going to get a very unpleasant message later on.
I quickly said thank-you and asked if he had gotten my message, he smiled cheekily and said no, then shoved a muffin in his mouth, so I left it at that. The class went well and we finished the film that lesson, even though we were both perfectionists and wanted to get everything right, and if I may say so myself, it was great. The storyline was fascinating, Eric was an excellent camera-man, and honestly, I did a pretty good job playing a love-struck teen (not too hard considering my life).
That night I went home in the mood to celebrate, but the parents were out, so instead, I got all the girls involved in a game of ‘Truth or Dare’. Libby only ever took truths, but she was a very open person, so we got nothing interesting out of her, Tash wouldn't play properly, but made Raie and I do some pretty horrible dares, and Raie was very quiet most of the night, that was, until, Libby asked me one particularly interesting Truth.
“Who is it you like? We all know you are love-struck, so who is it?” Libby asked with a sly smile on her face.
“I change my mind, Dare” I said, trying to avoid the question.
“Well then, I dare you to answer the question.” Libby had cornered me, so I finally gave in.
“Eric Sorrenson, from my assignment. Okay? It’s not that interesting,” I was annoyed by then.
Raie’s face suddenly went a bit paler and her eyes dulled, the way they did whenever she was sad. I pulled her into a hug, something I hadn’t done for weeks, and after we finished our game and Libby and Tash had gone to bed, I asked her what was wrong.
Pulling away, she mumbled, “Nothing” and went to bed with the others.
I was hurt by the way she acted, like we didn't even know each other, but I did what I had been doing a lot then, and just left her. She and I had separated so much in the two months before that. For the last few weeks before that night I hadn’t even known where Raie went at lunches, just that she was never with me, Tash or Libby.
Everything was so out of control- I hated it. If it were up to me, I would have never hung out with the Drama kids; I missed Raie that much, but the few lunches that I tried to spend with her, she wasn't there, and none of us knew who else she hung out with, so we just assumed she was in the Photography Club, like she had wanted to be since before we had started at Macquarie. The only other person I had ever seen her with was an attractive new guy, named Guy or Ty or something, but she obviously wasn't close to him.
I missed Raie as if I hadn’t seen her for years, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. It was like we were at two places on either side of a bridge, and we had always had that bridge to get to each other, but now it was cracked and falling down, and soon enough, the whole thing would be gone.
Raie
"The coast is clear, Raie, you can come out now," Eric chuckled. From behind my little wall, I wandered over to the long bench and planted myself next to Eric, keeping on the lookout for Sapphire. "Remind me again why you're hiding from her? I thought you were best friends."
"Exactly," I breathed, able to see my breath as I shuddered. It was due to start snowing in a couple of days. I loved the cold, it was much better than summer when there is heat and sweat and exercise to be done. In winter you can always just curl up under the blankets and stay warm with a good hot chocolate and a nice book. "She called dibs, which means I'm not meant to be sitting here with you." When I’d found out that Eric was this supposed ‘Sonny’ she’d met on our second day here, I almost died.
"Dibs?" Eric raised an eyebrow.
I sighed, cupping my hands around the warm hot chocolate and taking a sip. "Yes, dibs. Don't ask," I added.
Eric shook his head and took a sip out of his Styrofoam mug, which I guessed was full of tea. He then reached into his large coat and pulled out a paper bag full of something that smelt great. "Blueberry is my favourite, but I know you like white choc chip," he pulled out a muffin from the bag and planted it in front of me, stuffing a blueberry muffin of his own in his mouth.
I put my hot chocolate on the bench beside me and wrapped my hands around the still-warm muffin. "Oh, yum," I said, breathing in its delicious scent. "Thank you." I took a large bite from the muffin and looked at Eric, finally making up my mind. "I better not sit with you anymore."
Eric stopped chewing. "Whap? Whay?" Food splattered out of his mouth and I laughed.
"Swallow and try again," I giggled.
After a couple of chews, I saw Eric finally swallow his food. "What? Why?"
"Because Sapphire likes you! And I'm not supposed to hang around you because of that."
"But-"
"No. You should ask her out, satisfy her."
"I-"
"For me? Do it for me? You'd make her really happy..." I couldn't believe I was saying these words. I really liked Eric and I was sacrificing him for Sapphire who'd been practically ignoring me for weeks now. Actually, I wasn't really surprised that she hadn't discovered I'd been sitting with Eric.
"You’re a good friend," he said with a quick nod.
"Yeah... I guess. Treat her well." I climbed to my feet, violently shivering, and shoved the remains of the muffin into my mouth. I grabbed my books and juggled them in one hand and my hot chocolate in the other. "Be good," I smiled at him before slowly and reluctantly walking away. So yes, I did have a major crush on Eric- god, he was mega attractive- but he only considered me as a friend. Sapphire probably wanted him more anyway.
Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks. Something cold and wet had just touched my arm. Still juggling my hot chocolate and my books, I peered down to my arm to see what the cause of my becoming even colder was. On my arm, just above my wrist, was a tiny droplet of snow. I gasped as another few drops fell on me, and let out a wide smile. Snow was my favourite thing in the world.
A few cheers went around the school yard and I gave a small laugh at everyone dancing around in the wonderful snow that was falling from the sky. My cheeks and nose were a bright red, and I could barely feel my toes- but I loved every bit of it. Some tall football jock slammed into me and made me drop all of my books and my beautiful hot chocolate. They landed on the icy floor at the same time, my cup tipping over and spewing hot chocolate onto all of my books.
"Jerk!" I yelled after the guy and gave a sigh, bending down to grab my books. My skinny jeans, with tights underneath for extra warmth, and big, fuzzy snow boots were proving to be not very suitable for the cold. I had five layers on my top half- two singlet’s, a long sleeved top, a cardigan and my long woolen jacket- and I was still freezing my butt off.
I slipped a pair of gloves around my fingers and grabbed my hot chocolate cup, tossing it aside so I could fix up my books. Groaning, I realized that all of the pages of each of the books were soaked straight through in brownish liquid, and most of the writing wasn't readable any more. "Great..." I murmured.
I almost jumped in surprise as warm hands wrapped around my gloved ones, pushing them away, and scooped up my moist books. Snow was starting to fall heavily from the sky and my teeth were chattering like crazy as I looked up to find out who my helper was.
"Ty, right?" I breathed.
Ty straightened up and looked at me, his eyes piercing into mine. "I just realized who you are." He handed the books back to me and I gaped, still pretty shocked.
"I-uh-" My teeth chattered. "Th-thanks."
"No problem... geez your freezing," he observed. "We should go inside."
"I-I."
He laughed. "You don't have to talk until your warm."
Ty gently grabbed my wrist and led me into the library, which was warm and cozy. Once my teeth had finally stopped shaking, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"That's okay." He was still studying me curiously.
"What?"
"Raie Griffin."
"I-uh, that's me?" I raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know?"
"Ty is short for Tyson." My heart thudded heavily in my chest. "Tyson Whyte."
"Ohmygod," I let out all at once, dropping my books again. I froze in my spot, unable to move. "Tyson?"