Arc 2- Middle School/Junior High
My alarm rings and I open my eyes. Liv has joined me in my bed. I force myself to get out of bed and get ready for work while washing my face, I'm hit with a random wave of deja vu.
I look up and stare at myself in the mirror. "You'll get through this," I tell myself and try to bring up my confidence.
My phone rings. My head snaps in that direction and rushes over to answer it. I read the screen. "Boss." 'Ohhhh noooo. Well shit, what did I do this time?' I wonder before answering. "Hello?"
"Hey Forrest, can you come as soon as possible, we're in a bit of a rush right now and need your help." I start panicking and wondering what was happening.
"Yep I'll be there as soon as a can," I say as I hang up. I rush to put on my clothes, grab my keys and run out the door. I yell to my cat, "I'll be back at soon, see ya Liv!" I hurriedly lock my door and dash to the elevator. I get there just as the door is closing, sighing in relief. I whisper to myself, "I wonder what happened this time?" My heart slowly calms down from that slight adrenaline rush a few minutes ago. Huh, it's weird how my anxiety really does make me panic at every little thing.
~~~
"Liv, I'm back home~~~" I shout into my apartment. My cat meows back as a response. I start talking about my day to her. "Yeah, today was tiring I just wanna go to sleep." Liv only stares at me, expecting something. I realize something. 'Shoot, her food.' I groan and drag my feet towards the kitchen. I scoop out some dry food from the container and set the bowl on the ground before tiredly walking towards the couch and flopping down, watching Liv scarf down the food. Now I feel guilty for not giving her more this morning. Liv quickly finishes it, runs towards the couch and gracefully jumps on. She settles in my lap and I start petting her. She purrs gently and I enjoy her comforting warmth, making me sleepy. I feel myself drift off again.
It's the start of grade 7. I walk into the room and realize that most of my friends wouldn't be in the same class as me. I mean, I still had Hannah and Parth so it was a bit more bearable. The day dragged on and I became more and more disappointed. It seemed like some of the people in my class were pretty much assholes. I couldn't join the strings class and yeah. Horrible. It still was pretty ok since I was in grade 7 anyway.
I wake up and think back to my short dream. 'Wow I was that child wasn't I?' I reflect on myself. I let go of the breath I wasn't aware of holding and look over at the clock to see what time it was. 12 a.m. I'm too tired to wash up so I wrap myself with my blanket and fall back asleep.
Bonus:
A man enters Forrest's apartment. His soft voice resonates through the apartment. "Hey, Forrest I brought some groceries for you. I know you never have time and stuff so--" He sees her lying on the couch, softly snoring. The cat has woken up though. Liv stares at the man warmly and comes up to greet him. Forrest moves a bit in her sleep and mumbles a few words. He catches a "well shoot" but doesn't question anything. The man walks towards the kitchen and sets down the bags full of vegetables and other healthy things (oh wow). He walks back towards the door but stops before the couch. He debates in his mind if he should carry Forrest to her bedroom. 'She would sleep more comfortably in her bed, but at the same time I don't want to touch her cuz personal space.' The man sighs and decides to leave her there. He walks back and rummages through Forrest's closet, coming up with a fuzzy blanket. He gently lays the blanket over her and rolls his eyes. 'You really should take care of yourself' he thinks while bringing her to a lying position and tucking her in. He leans in and whispers a "soft good night" before almost comically tiptoeing towards the door. Liv comes towards the man while he puts on his shoes. She softly chirps as he reaches for the doorknob. The man crouches down and pets her, Liv enjoys his warm hand. "Promise that you're taking good care of her right?" Liv just stares at him, almost like a "Is this man serious? Of course, I take good care of her." The man smiles warmly, stands up and leaves, making sure to lock the door. Liv goes back to her respective place on the couch, beside Forrest. As all things should be.
Grade 7
A random memory passes through my head in the form of a dream. I see Ryan and Elliot walking through the halls after school and I turn my head to stare at him. I was debating whether to say hi or not when Ryan randomly shouts out "Forrest has a---" my brain changes the wording "Forrest likes Elliot~~~" I deny it and go back to getting things out of my locker. I catch a glance at Elliot, he just looks really confused and I shrug in response.
The scene changes and I see myself at the same overnight camp as grade 5. It was one of our night activities and these two girls from another class come up to me. One of them leans in and quietly tells me that Elliot likes me. I get confused. "What? Since when?' I wonder, almost saying my thoughts out loud. The other continues, "anyway, do you like him back?" I just nod. They squeal loudly and in the corner of my eye I see Elliot turn in our direction but I ignore it. The two girls start encouraging me to tell him. I just blush and hope that they can't see it. I shake my head and tell them that I can't. They keep on insisting but eventually give up, going back to their friends... If I remember properly, the evening before, I kept looking in the direction of Elliot's table when Hannah comes up and asks if I'm jealous. "I'm sitting at the same table as Elliot. Don't you wish you were there too?" I just say that I'd rather not be there. She leans in closer and tells me that he likes the girl that came up to me, I think her name was Cara or something. I was a bit shocked but it's something that I've gotten used to hearing. Even then, my face wouldn't stop heating up and Hannah sees my reaction. She gives a suggestive smile but leaves without saying anything else.
Now that I knew that Elliot liked me, there was a spring dance coming up and I was hopeful, thinking that he would ask me to it. I don't know what I was thinking but it certainly was childish and I expected too much. That day, Kristin decides to make me an Instagram account. I was completely hidden from social media so I agreed out of curiosity. That girl from the camp then messages me and asks if she can give my account to Elliot. I tell her "why not." She does and messages me saying that Elliot became really excited and happy all of a sudden after requesting to follow me. "He's smiling a lot now cuz of that" I read from her message. Then I see the follow request, "elli_the_eliott has requested to follow you" I internally scream at the name. 'Wow, he uses the nickname I call him. Ahhhh oh my God, that's cute.' but I hesitate from pressing the accept button. My heart was beating way too fast and I didn't know what to do.
Ms. L tells us that it's time to go to the dance. We follow her and I walk inside with my friends. The music is loud. The bass is killing my ears. Rainbow lights flash over the entire caf. People make song requests. I yell to my friends, "let's go somewhere farther from the speakers." They agree and we choose a place to stand. A dance battle starts and we watch. Some of my friends start singing to the music. I was a bit less energetic but was enjoying it on the inside. I think most of it came from me being stubborn and refusing to like an event that felt like it was out of a coming of age movie. Someone taps my shoulder. I turn around and am met with Elliot's red face. Yes, even in low light I could tell his face was red as fuck. I step a bit closer to hear what he's saying, having to look down at him. Hehe he's short now. He yells over the music. "I sent a follow request to you on Instagram." I reply with a simple "yep" and give him a thumbs up. He looks like he wants to say something else but doesn't. "...I guess I'll just go back then..." he says hesitantly. I frown but hide it with a wide smile. He turns an even darker shade of red.
"I guess I'll see you around then."
"Yeah."
I feel like I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.
We both turn around and walk back towards our groups of friends. I look back and watch him leave. It seems that they have seen the whole thing and start asking questions. The only one I could hear clearly was "what did he have to say to you?" I waved my hand, dismissing them and told them not to worry about it. They dropped the topic. I spent the rest of the dance wishing I talked to him more but I didn't have the courage.
Everything calmed down by the time summer came around but I never talked to Elliot after that day at the dance.
I regret it.
Yeah, the rest of the school year was pretty boring, to be honest, but we got our yearbooks at the end of the year and some people told me to go ask Elliot to sign it. Naturally, I didn't. Yay. I can't even talk to him. What a coward. Our class found out that Mr. Allen wasn't going to teach our music class next year so that sucked. So in other words, the whole year could probably be summarized with one word: Meh it wasn't too bad. Ok I lied, that was five words.
I wake up to the sound of my alarm beeping, reminding me it's a new day and immediately want to throw my phone across the room. Grudgingly, I get up and start my day.
'Wait' I think, 'IT'S A SATURDAY.' I silently yell at myself, "WHY THE HELL DID I SET AN ALARM" and decide to just go take a cold shower since I'm already awake.
~~~
I finish my quick shower, feeling much more refreshed and continue sorting the things I've forgotten about a few days ago. I pick up yet another journal. "Forrest's journal" is written in my messy handwriting. I notice that I've actually filled up all the pages in this one. "Grade 8" it reads, "Today was the first day of school." I put the book down quickly. 'No, we're not getting dragged back to the past.' Glancing at my old journal again, I pick it up. I convince myself, 'I little bit won't do anything..." and I quickly notice a trend with that year's entries. They're all short? Dismissing that fact, I turn my attention to the worn-out pages.