English class went by pretty fast. We just got some free time.
As soon as they dismissed the sophmores, I was on my way to my locker.
I'm walking down the hallway, quickly scanning people's faces.
Don't like you, don't like you... You're alright, don't like you, HATE you.
I see my friend Whitney going the opposite way. I flash her a smile and she waves.
I speed down the stairs, and slowly entered my locker combination. When it clicks open, I put away my heavy english textbook and take out my lunch box.
"Jay-daaah," I hear from behind me.
"Daniel! Hey!" I exclaim, excited to see him.
"Whatcha doin'?" He asks.
I sigh. "Putting this stuff up," I close the door and turn to face him.
"Well, come on. I'm starving!" He says, rubbing his stomach.
I laugh and walk down the hallway with him.
"What'd you bring for lunch today?" I ask him. "I brought spaghetti,"
"Mmm... I brought steak," He answers.
"Steak?" I ask, surpised. "Really?"
He nods. "Uh-huh. We went out for dinner last night,"
"Lucky. I had cereal," I tell him.
"Haha, sorry," He laughs.
"So, how was your geometry test?" I ask.
"Eh, it was easy. Which makes me wonder if I did it right..." He replies.
"Yeah, I always think I'm doing it wrong if it's easy like that." I say, agreeing.
We head out of the lower B hallway and into the cafeteria.
There's shorter lines at the microwaves than usual.
I join the one at the very first microwave. The girl in front of me has 2 minutes left on her soup.
"Are we still gonna hang out on Friday?" Daniel asks.
"Uh yeah!" I answer excitedly. "I can't wait!"
"It's gonna be awesome- you, me, and FOOD," He says, his eyes widening.
I giggle. "So we're just gonna eat the whole time?"
"...YES," He says. "But we're gonna do EVERYTHING,"
"Like what?" I ask.
"Play video games, watch movies, have a nerf war, jump on the trampoline, and stay up ALL NIGHT!" He says, practically jumping out of his skin.
"I'm so excited!" I say happily. "But you forgot something."
He thinks for a second, and looks up. "What?"
"We're gonna do that investigation, remember?" I say, remembering what he told me last week.
•
"I'm never going back into my housr again." Daniel says as he catches up to me, his bright eyes wide.
"What happened?" I ask.
"I was watching TV downstairs, right? I wanted a snack so I got up and went to the kitchen to get something. When I came back, the TV was only showing static. I pressed every button on the remote, but the screen stayed the same." He explains. "So I went upstairs to get my phone so I could call my dad and see what was wrong with it. Before I got halfway up the stairs, I heard a really loud sound, like when someone leaves the speakers at the highest volume, and the music just bursts from it. I went back down, and the TV was at 65, the highest it could go on the volume. It almost felt like it kept getting louder. So I turned the volume back down to the normal setting. I got freaked out so I ran up to my room and locked the door, and I swear to God I heard the stairs creaking."
He finishes his story with a deep breath and looks at me, waiting for me to say something.
"I don't even live in your house and that really scares me." I say, feeling creeped out.
"Yeah, I refuse to stay home alone." He says, crossing his arms.
"We're gonna have to find out what happened," I say. "We're gonna have to do an investigation."
"Fine with me. But if we die, I'm not coming to your funeral." He says.
I just laugh.
•
Soup Girl is finally done with the microwave, so I step forward and put my container of spaghetti in. I punch in a minute and 30 seconds and start it up.
"Oh. That." He says, realizing. "Okay. We'll do it."
"It sucks because it's only Wednesday though," I say, sighing. "I'm looking forward to seeing what's haunting your house."
"Yeah, but it'll go by fast," Daniel reassures me.
I suddenly remember what I wanted to ask him about.
"Oh- I just remembered," I start.
"Yeah?" He replies, looking up.
"So there's this guy that you know," I say.
"Who?" He asks, his giant blue eyes intimidating me.
"I dunno his name..." I say. "But he's got brown hair and brown eyes, and... Well, that's all I really know."
"Uh... Show him to me." He tells me.
I pick apart the various people sitting and standing around.
There's a group of some nerdy looking guys passing Pokémon cards around the table, two girls gossiping about a third girl sitting across the cafeteria.
I look at the smaller tables on the side.
Some guy is trying to dance, and all of the people sitting with him are laughing.
A girl and what looks like her boyfriend are sitting together, occasionally kissing.
There's people coming in and out of the door, none of which are him.
I look all around the cafeteria, but I don't see him.
The microwave goes off and I take my lunch out. I stir it up and let Daniel put his steak in.
"I don't see him," I say. "If I do, I'll tell you."
Hmm...
How on earth am I gonna show Daniel who he is if I can't even find him?
Daniel says something but I'm not really listening.
"Jada," He says.
"-huh?" I say, realizing.
"This is my friend Carson. He lives next door to me," He explains.
I look up and I can't believe it. This is the guy!
"Hey," The boy says, nonchalantly. I mean- Carson.
"Hi," I say, tensing up.
His hair isn't done up all special, but the way it sorta swirls a little bit kinda gets me.
"Yeah, so that's Jada," Daniel says. "She's shy at first, but she'll loosen up once you get to know her."
Carson turns to walk away but before he leaves he says, "Nice shirt, by the way."
He pointed to my shirt. My Eminem mugshot shirt, to be exact.
Hehe, hey, he likes it.
"Yeah, he's my neighbor. I can't believe you'd never met him." Daniel says, taking his food from the microwave.
As we turn toward the doors, I can't help but feel butterflies. I can't stand it, but they feel great.
"Daniel, that was the guy I was asking you about." I tell him. "Carson."
"Why'd you wanna know about him?" He asks. "What's so special about him?"
I try to choose my words carefully, but I still don't get them out right.
"I see him everywhere. Like, every time I look up, he's there. But, I almost feel like I like h-" I stop.
"You feel like you like him?" Daniel asks, not looking at me.
"Uh, no!" I laugh nervously. "I feel like I like his... Hair."
I'm a terrible liar.
"...okay. I'll tell him you're interested." He says, winking.
"Nooo, please!" I beg.
"You said you didn't like him." Daniel says.
"Okay, fine, I... Kinda have a teensy weensy crush on him." I admit reluctantly.
"Uh-huh, I knew it," he says with a laugh. "So, do you think he's... 'Cute?'"
He makes a weird face when he says 'cute.'
"Kinda, yeah," I say. "But I swear, if you tell him, I'm gonna put you in a headlock."
"Whoa, easy, girl." He says, stepping back.
I laugh. "I'm kidding."
We make it to our lunch spot and sit down against the wall.
I stick my fork in my spaghetti and spin it around. Once I get enough spaghetti, I lift the fork to my mouth.
Daniel's slicing through his steak and it's dripping with steak sauce.
"Hey, so I finally got that new PS3 game in the mail." He says.
"Which one?" I ask curiously.
"Call of Duty: Ghosts." He says. "I'm gonna wait to play it, though."
"How come?" I ask him.
"So me and you can play it together on Friday!" He exclaims.
"Yay!" I say. "I'll bring BioShock."
"That one looks good." He says.
"I know. But I haven't played it in a while because, the one time I did, I got so scared." I tell him.
"Hahaha!" He laughs at me. "Seriously?"
"You've never played it before, so you wouldn't know how scary it is," I say.
"You'll just have to prove it to me," He says, shoving his mouth full of mashed potatoes.
I sigh and continue to eat my lunch, thinking about how I want things to go between me and Carson.
Is it too early for that?
I could wait for him to talk to me, or I could talk to him myself.
Okay, I'm definitely not gonna wait for him to come talk to me, because then it'll NEVER happen.
And I would never just go up to someone I just met and strike up a full-blown conversation. That's just weird to me.
Of course, we do have Daniel in common, and he could kind of lead us in a positive direction. But- I don't wanna use him like that.
Why is this so complicated?
I spend the last 20 minutes trying to beat level 182 on Candy Crush.
The bell finally rings for 5th period, so put the lid on the empty container and slip it in my backpack.
"See ya on the bus, Jada!" Daniel calls behind him as he leaves for art class.
"Bye!" I say, as I smile and wave after him.
After I zip up my backpack, I hoist it on my shoulders and start walking toward the stairs.
This period I have Spanish.
In fact, that's my favorite class.
As I'm walking up the stairs, I see Carson.
I quickly look away and try to focus on something else.
The girl in front of me has a pretty cute backpack, so I just stare at the pink floral pattern until I get to the top of the stairs.
I look up when the coast is clear.
I breathe a quick sigh of relief when I don't see him anywhere.
When I walk into Spanish, I'm greeted by my teacher.
"¡Hola, Jada!" Mrs. Scott cants.
"Hola, Señora." I laugh.
I sit down at my desk, which is at the back of the room and to the left.
Since no one sits in the seat beside me, I don't have to be asked every 30 seconds about "what this means."
The last time I sat next to someone, all they ever did was poke me in the arm with their pencil and ask "what does... This mean?" And it was the same word every time.
And would you believe- he's still an idiot?
I'm so glad I don't sit next to him anymore.
The Para Empezar ("for start"/ "to begin with") is up on the board, and it says to translate the following.
"La casa está sucio. Yo necesito limpiarla. Yo tengo amigos viene hoy, así que necesita ser limpiarla."
Okay, this is easy.
The house is dirty. I need to clean it. I have friends coming today, so it needs to be cleaned.
It usually takes the class about 5 more minutes to finish, so I just wait for Mrs. Scott to go over it.
The door opens, and I hear someone conversing with the teacher about their schedule change.
"Oh, yes. I have a seat right there in the back, next to Jada," Mrs. Scott says, pointing to the empty desk beside me.
I look up at the mention of my name, and I'm quite shocked to see Carson swooping in for the desk next to mine.
"Hey, you're that girl!" He exclaims, as he plops down in his seat.
"Y- uh-huh." I smile nervously.
"Yeah, so I got my schedule changed." He tells me.
I hate talking to him.
I love it so much.
"How come?" I ask him.
He sighs. "Well, let's just say I couldn't stand Ms. Meyer."
"Oh, haha." I laugh a little.
"Alright, clase. Let's go over the para empezar," Mrs. Scott says from the front of the room.
Her eyes scan the room for a victim.
"Jada, why don't you answer it?" She says, nodding toward me.
"It means, 'The house is dirty. I need to clean it. I have friends coming today, so it needs to be cleaned.'" I answer.
A large smile spreads across her face. "Very good!"
She walks over to her computer and taps a few keys. Up on the screen pops up a new page titled "Partner Project!"
The bright, swirly, mulitcolored font almost distracts me from my disappointment.
Almost.
"So, we're going to be working on a project this week and next week," she declares. "You'll be working with partners-"
The class yells with excitement at the mention of "partners."
"-but your partner is the one sitting next to you." She finishes.
"Yeah, so we're partners!" Carson exclaims.
I smile happily, or at least as happily as I can.
"Alaina, would you hand out these copies for me please?" Mrs. Scott asks, extending her thin arm out, her palm clutching the rubric for what could make or break me.
Alaina walks around the class shoving papers down everyone's throats.
I never thought the act of passing out papers could be so violent.
She comes around to my side of the room, and hands a sheet to Marc.
Walking past him, she comes up to my desk and pulls out another from her dwindling stack.
I almost expect her to crumble it up and throw it at my face, or delicately slice my throat open.
But she just sits it on the corner of my desk, same with Carson.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Everyone has one now." Alaina states as she makes her way back to her seat.
"Thank you." Mrs. Scott says. "Okay, read along with me."
She takes a short pause to make sure everyone's ready.
"This week we're starting a new topic: Spanish-speaking countries!" She exclaims.
No one reacts.
"You and your partner will have to create a map that depicts all of the countries, but you have to find a unique way to design and color it." She looks up to make sure we're not dead.
"You can do whatever you like, just be creative." She emphasizes the last part.
"There will be minimal class time to work on this, so most of the work will be done at home." She adds. "You have 15 minutes to get started."
Carson loudly scoots his desk up closer to mine.
The lack of space between us make me dizzy.
"So, what do you wanna do?" He asks.
"I was thinking something food related." I tell him. "Like a cake or cupcakes with all of the Spanish-speaking countries frosted onto them."
"Whoa, that's a way better idea than I had." He says. "I was just gonna make a power point."
"So, it's okay that we do that for our project then?" I ask, just to make sure.
"Yup." He says. "Whose house are we gonna do it at? Yours or mine?"
Oh, boy.
•••