We were watching a movie in History when..
"Psst," Hissed Danielle. "Robyn."
I turned in my desk and looked behind me. Danielle held out a folded note which was ripped out from her binder paper. I grabbed the note between two fingertips and turned back in my seat.
I unfolded the note and skimmed through Danielle's sloppy handwriting:
Soooo. you and Jason huh? ;) ;) ;)
I turned back around to Danielle and made a face at her. She simply winked and smiled. I turned back around and pulled out a pen to write back on the note.
I wrote Brain malfunction much? and passed the note back to Danielle.
Danielle took a note and after a few seconds, I felt her feet kick my ankle.
"Ow!" I whisper loudly and sharply turn around to Danielle with a glare in my eyes. Her eyes wander as if trying to look innocent. Then they looked back to me and she smiled.
I rolled my eyes and faced the video on the projector screen once again. By the time I did the bell had already rung and everyone stood up to go to 7th period.
7th Period - Physical Education, Mr. Bresko
I walked into the locker room and asked one of the lady PE teachers for a locker. After I was given one, I scanned for it and finally changed.
Many other girls changed around me and were talking about each other's bodies (legs, bums, boobs, etc). It was a little overwhelming so I rushed into my PE shirt and tucked it into my red mid-thigh shorts.
By the time I finished, Danielle ran over to me already dressed and looked me up and down. She scowled and pointed at my calf.
"That's a nasty scar," she said.
I looked down at my legs and stared at the faded scar that reached from my ankle to the mid part of my calf. Every time I stared at it I shivered so I immediately looked away.
"It's from years ago," I said.
"What happened?" Danielle asked.
My heart accelerated from the memory of it but I tried to act natural. "Just from an old accident." It wasn't a lie.
"It doesn't look like it was just an accident. What made it?"
I forced out a smile. "Really, Danielle. It's fine."
Danielle looked at me for a second then sighed. "Okay. Well, you look nice."
I returned the compliment and we both walked out to the gym as if the conversation never happened.
Everyone was given a role call seat in vertical rows on the floor, alphabetically. I sat near the front behind a kid named John Bates. Danielle, being her last name was Millington, sat in a different row beside me.
We did a couple warm ups such as jumping jacks, crunchers, and push ups. Afterwards Mr. Bresko told us to pick partners for Badminton.
Danielle looked to me and raised an eyebrow at me as a way of asking me to be her partner. I nodded and when Mr. Bresko told us to find our partners, we rushed to each other.
"I better warn you," I say to Danielle, "I'm not very pro at badminton."
Danielle shrugged. "It's really just a practice game anyway."
We were both assigned to court 4 and were given rackets and a birdie to start a game. Danielle served first and we rallied for 5 hits. We continued practicing and in the end, we managed to rally for over 20 hits.
Suddenly, Mr. Bresko blew the whistle and everyone dropped what they were doing and kneeled to the floor.
"Many of you are serving like kindergartners!" Mr. Bresko's voice travelled all around the room. "When you're serving, I'm seeing a lot of people throwing the birdie right before they hit it! That is NOT what you're supposed to do." He scanned the room and pointed to someone. "Kay, come up here."
My eyes followed where Mr. Bresko was pointing and saw Robbie lifting himself from off the ground. He walked over to Mr. Bresko and crossed his arms.
In the backround I could hear the sounds of girls chattering and squealing in excitement.
"Robbie and I are going to demonstrate the proper way to serve in badminton!" Mr. Bresko yelled so everyone could hear.
He took two rackets and a birdie from someone else's court and handed a racket and the birdie to Robbie. They stood a couple feet apart and Mr. Bresko gave a single nod to Robbie. At that, Robbie served the birdie at a perfect angle and it landed right on Mr. Bresko's racket, which swung and hit it back. Robbie stopped the game by purposefully catching the birdie into his hands.
Mr. Bresko turned back to the audience. "See, that is the proper way to serve!"
Now, I heard both boys and girls chattering. while girls chattered excitedly, boys chattered jealously.
I leaned over to Danielle and whispered, "What is up with everyone and Robbie?"
"Robbie is an all-star athlete," Danielle whispered back in an annoyed tone. "He's top in almost every sport in the school."
I turned back to Robbie and Mr. Bresko. Mr. Bresko blew his whistle and yelled, "Back to your game!"
Everyone stood back up and continued playing. This time, I served, and both me and Danielle rallied for 12 hits in that one round. I could've gotten more, but my eyes became distracted when I saw Robbie from the side of my eyes, staring at me.
****
"Would you like to stop by somewhere before we head over to my place?" Danielle asks me while we walk over to her car.
"I don't have much in mind," I reply. "But a look around town would be nice. Having not been here a while makes me curious as to what's changed."
Danielle unlocks the car and as we step inside, she says, "Not much has changed, really. Same ol' boring town."
I shrug. "I'd still like to look around."
Danielle sighed. "Okay we'll take a look around. But I promise you, you won't find much to stare at."
We drove out of the parking lot and started heading out to the road. As Danielle drove, I looked out at all the things that haven't changed. Danielle says there's not much to look at, but everything has a little memory of its own.
We passed by a tree that reminded me of the time I climbed it and broke my leg falling down. An abandoned house reminded me of how Khloe and I, as kids, would wander around it for hours looking for ghosts.
Then we neared my old treehouse.
"Danielle?" I said, pointing out towards a sandy driveway surrounded by grassy fields. "Can we park there real quick?"
Danielle looked to where I was pointing. "There?"
I nodded. She looked at me curiously but did as I told. She drove to where I pointed and once the car stopped, I opened the door and walked out. I began walking towards a path in between two fields of grass which led to a deep forest.
Danielle came out too and called after me. "Robyn, where are you going?!"
I turned my head and gestured for her to follow as I continued to walk. Danielle rolled her eyes and followed behind me.
When we finally made it into the forest, I followed my instincts and led my way down different paths. Danielle, who was still confused, struggled to find her way around and keep up with me.
"Robyn," she calls from behind me. "Seriously, where are we going?"
I stop short and turn to face her. I smile. "A long time ago, I wandered off into this forest. I found a tree house hidden somewhere around here."
I continued to walk and Danielle said, "Wait, a tree house?"
"Yeah. A big one. With a bed and everything. I would go there once a week or whenever I just needed some time to be alone."
"Well don't you live a poetic life.." Danielle mutters.
I smirk at her then wandered my eyes. I recognized a tree which had fallen down after a dramatic storm.
"We're getting close!" I call back to Danielle.
As I walked over logs and plant and squeezed through bushes and trees, I started to recognize more and more of my surroundings. Everything added up and memories started rushing through my brain when finally..
I smiled greatly and pointed to the top of a tree, "There it is."
The tree house was in the shape of a dome and made entirely out of wood. only a single window was built into it, but it was covered with drooping leaves from the tree. The whole tree house was covered by the tree's leaves. Anyone else would have had trouble simply pointing it out because it camouflaged almost completely with the tree it sat on.
I could hear Danielle panting from behind me. "Robyn?"
I spin my head towards her. "Yeah?"
She tries to catch her breath. "I love you, but next time? Please warn me to stay in the car if we have to hike for 20 minutes."
I grin and give her a weird look before looking back up at the tree. It was no more than about 15 - 20 feet up, and a ladder attatched to the side. Out of excitement, I immediately began climbing up it. Halfway up, I looked down to Danielle who was was resting with her hands on her knees.
"I'll be up at the treehouse if you need me!" I call to her.
She waved a hand at me and placed it back on her knee. I chuckled and continued my way up.
No words could describe how excited I was to be in the tree house. Standing in it after what felt like eternity made my mind go through a rush of exhilaration. I stepped up on the treehouse and scanned every inch of place. Memories began flowing in in all direction.
A desk sat in the corner behind the window, and a twin bed lied beside it. The desk contain everything from paper to writing/drawing utensils. A rusty sink hung to the wall near the entrance and it was still available to use.
I slowly walked around and found my way to the bed. I flopped myself onto it and simple reminiscized everything.
But then I realized something.
I quickly stood up from the bed and faced it...The sheets were different. Originally, they were a dirty checkered-like pattern of red, blue, and white. Now, it was a plain but clean and dark blue sheet that looked as if it was made not to long ago.
Someone has been in here recently.
Danielle made her way into the treehouse and accidentally tripped on the way in.
She moaned, "mmm.." in pain.
I ignored her.
"Robyn?" she asked in a moaning voice.
I didn't respond.
She realized there was something going on so she immediately stood up and walked beside me as I stared mindfully at the bed.
"Robyn?" she said again. "What's wrong?"
My eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. "Someone..someone has been here recently."
Daniele urgently looked around the treehouse then back to me. "Then why the hell are we still here?! we should be getting back!"
She linked her arm around my elbow and started pulling me towards the exit.
Suddenly, we heard the sound of a breaking tree branch. We haulted.
Danielle looked to me with wide eyes. She mouthed, "What was that?"
I shook my head and shrugged. I was just as clueless as she was.
Then we heard another tree branch.
I unlinked my arm from Danielle's and cautiously looked out the treehouse window.
Little did I know that what I was about to see was the one and only Robbie Kay, walking towards the treehouse with his backpack slinging over one shoulder.
A/N: sorry if this was a boring chapter :P it ain't all about Robbie(jk hell yeah it is). I'm trying to incorporate Robbie into this as much as I can even before he starts to play a big role in the book, but I don't want it to seem overwhelming.