Chapter Two
The Note(s)
"L-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a! Get up, Lia, get up!" I groaned. Ariell is my little sister, and the most annoying alarm clock you have ever heard.
"I'm up, I'm up! Just go away!" I heard her giggle and walk away. I sat up, and rubbed my eyes. It is unnatural for anyone to be perky this time of morning. I was the perkiest person I knew, too. Therefore I conclude that it is impossible, for anyone to be perky at this time in the morning. I sauntered over to my closet, shrugged on my favorite pair of jeans and added my cami and my favorite off-the-shoulder top. I slicked on some lip-gloss, added some mascara, and headed out the door.
I stopped in the kitchen to grab some food, more cereal, when I noticed both of my parents in the room. They looked over at me and grimaced in unison. Dad stood up and come over to me.
"Hey, kiddo, I have some news for you."
I put my hand up to cover my still full mouth and asked, "What?"
"A few months ago, I was offered a job at a high paying company, and we have decided to take it."
"That's great daddy," yes, I still call him daddy. Get over it. "What's so bad about that?"
He didn't deny that there was bad news, and I started to get worried. "Honey, we are going to move. In three days."
I opened my mouth in shock. "That quick? Dad it usually takes months to even plan . . . that was why you were waiting to tell me. Am I right?" He looked miserable, and I took that as a yes. "You know, you could have told me, I thought we were over that don't trust the teenage daughter thing. I never lie to you! Why would you lie to me?"
He just steeled his expression, and looked away saying, "We start packing today. We already have the house picked out, your new school has put you in the system, and it's right next to the forest. Not the meek forest outside of here, but a real forest." Okay, no matter how pissed off I was that sounded pretty cool.
The coolness was soon forgotten, though. "Great, bye." I walked out the door with tears in my eyes. I headed over to school. I was a walker because my parents were trying to go green, so I walked to school, and it wasn't far away, so I was fine.
Usually on this walk to and from school I was free from sound and disturbances, and the walk took me next to the forest. I always have loved to forest. I feel at home in it. Especially in summer. Summer is my favorite season. Not because there is no school, I just feel drawn to it.
And this new school thing just added to the stress. All I could think about is telling people how to properly pronounce my name, and having them snicker at me. I was going to be miserable. And how could my parents do that to me. At least I would have been able to warn my friends. Arg! I am so mad at my parents. And for a justifiable reason, too.
I reached school, just in time for Sorcha to come bouncing over.
"I have some bad news."
She sniffed. "Other than you hanging up on me?" She smiled, so I could tell she wasn't that mad anymore. "Oh, and nice haircut slash dye job!" She gave me a little thumbs up.
"Nah, though I'm sorry about that. My dad has been going behind my back for, like, three whole months. And he just now decided to tell me we're moving. In three days. And thank you."
Sorcha's face went blank, and she grabbed my shoulders. "You can't move, you just can't! Not only will you ruin a friendship bordering on six years, you risk losing our invaluable friendship, because everyone knows that if you leave your friends, then you grow apart! How will daddy pick you up?"
"Sorcha, what do you mean 'daddy'? Your dad died before I even met you!"
"No he didn't, you see he's actually--"
"Sorcha. What are you talking about?"
All the sudden she went pale, and got really quiet. "Nothing. Sometimes I just do that when I'm stressed."
Oh, poor thing! She hates sympathy, so I didn't say that out loud. Both her parents died when she was younger. She was adopted from England. I was sort-of adopted, too. I was a porch baby. I was left in the porch of the house of the people I now called Mom and Dad. It was a huge legal debate as to what was to happen to me. For a little while, I was in a social services department. When my parents officially decided they wanted me, they had to go through all of this paperwork. It was a nightmare. I was happy now though, and that's what counts.
Sorcha walked away, her face all pinched up like someone made her eat a lemon. I sighed and walked away to the dreaded Statistics. I hate math, but I'm good at it, so I feel like its one giant scheme of evil that God has made for me. At least Brady is in my class. That's something to look forward too. Allison is there, too so I'll have nothing to worry about except the actual math.
I walked into the room and groaned really loudly when I saw that we had a sub today. I took my seat next to Allison and she gave me a sympathetic look. The bell rung and the rest of the stragglers huddled into the room. We all took our seats and the stout sub waddled over to the white board to write his name.
He was a pudgy old coot, with a receding hairline and a sweating problem. His name was Mr. Gournashelly. Strange name. He waddled back over to the podium and started to call roll.
"Harry Smith?
"Here."
"Susan Thompson?"
"Here."
This continued for a couple of minuets. "Um, Or-lith Smithers? Is that how you pronounce it?"
I sighed again. "It's pronounced Orla, but I go by Lia."
"Okay, Adam Black?"
After that was done, he headed over to the white board and started droning about "illustrating the central limit theorem".
I leaned over my text-book, and started to write notes, when I saw that one had been placed on my desk.
Hey, what's up?
Brady
Oh. My. God. Brady just passed me a note! My dreams have come true. Then reality came crashing down on me as I replayed every chick flick I ever saw. The popular dude gets interested in the not so popular chick, later she finds out that he was only using her.
Nothing much, you?
Lia
I passed the note right in front of me, as, coincidentally, he was sitting there. I tossed the note onto him as Mr. Gournashelly turned back to the white board. I saw his chest move and I thought he was chuckling, although I don't know at what. I felt slightly miffed. I didn't write anything funny. He pretended to stretch dropping the note back onto my desk.
Heh, ik how you feel. That guy must've pissed you off, with the whole name thing. You really sounded pissed off. I know I would be the same if that happened to me.
Lol, what's ur #
Brady
I started scribbling back my reply.
Lol, your right. He did piss me off, EVERYBODY asks that!
Why do you want my number?
Lia
I repeated the process of tossing the note over his shoulder. A couple of seconds later the back of his neck went bright red, and he hastily scrawled back a reply.
So I can call u
Brady
I was the one who blushed this time. I hastily wrote my reply and threw it over his shoulder. I knew not to get my hopes up, but he was still single, so I had no real competition, right? I hung my head in defeat. Everybody wanted Brady to be their boyfriend. Well, all the girls and the gay guys. Then my mood picked up as I remembered that he could have anyone he wanted, and he chose me to talk to.
Class was pretty uneventful after that. I continued to take notes, and when class ended, I headed out the door. Not before I looked over my shoulder and saw Brady wink at me. I nearly swooned on the spot. I smiled back and headed out the door in a rush nearly knocking over someone in my haste.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. I had to tell everyone the bad news, and we all had a good drama session. We decided to spend every minute together. We became one giant blob of friendship. We acted as if the world was ending in three days and this was our last chance to be friends. Which in a way it was. The only person missing was Sorcha.
I felt alone and unprotected without her there beside me. Like I was missing my skin.
I walked into lunch, with my protective formation of friends and looked around for Sorcha. I sighed when I didn't see her anywhere. I walked over to the lunch line, hesitated, and then went to sit back down. I didn't feel that hungry, per usual. And I just sat there, alone, until one of my friends got through the lunch line and came to sit with me. Just then Sorcha burst through the doors, movie style. If anyone knew how to make an entrance, it was Sorcha. She sauntered over to where I was sitting and held up some paper and a pencil. She slammed her hands down on the table.
"I demand to have any and all information on where you're moving to."
"I don't know anything yet! I swear."
"Then when you get home suck your parents dry, and then report back to me."
"Why don't you just do it?"
"Because I have to be somewhere, duh. Call me at seven o'clock sharp."
"Can I come with you?" Hey, I'm not the perfect student.
She looked a little conflicted. "Sure, why not."
"C'mon, let's ditch this hole then!"
We left the cafeteria and headed toward the exit.