Hello again!
This is the sequel to Oversized Sweaters, but this can also be a stand alone book. You do not have to read Oversized Sweaters to read this.
This book is mostly going to focus on Autumn's life.
The genre is going to be teen fiction. There will be romance, but it will focus on her friends, her family, her potential boyfriend(s), and her.
This is going to be a different kind story from Oversized Sweaters, or at least try to be.
I hope you enjoy!
Remember to vote and comment.
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All Rights Reserved 2015
Picture is from Tumblr
Story Cover is mine
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Autumn ^^ or >> depending what you are reading on.
First chapter of Filmed, up you guys enjoy.
WARNING: I do not remember if I ever gave Max a last name, so tell me if I did. I read back through OS and found nothing. So, for right now, their last name is Riles.
Comment and vote.
Over 4000 words
UNEDITED
The two bags on my shoulders were starting to get heavy. Granted, one was a camera bag and the other one was a regular bag. Both of them were across my body, but I have been walking around the high school for the past thirty minutes and was starting to get a little bit tired because of the weight.
Where are you, Ms. Whales?
I turned a corner and ended up on the sky walk. The wall had a floor to ceiling windows, letting the sunlight in, lighting the hallway up. The ceiling was also a window, from door to door, but it had lights every five feet away from each other for light when it was dark outside. The other wall was exposed brick and the floor was fake tile.
The door on the other side opened, and someone started running down the hallway. He was wearing a bluish gray-ish sweater that was a little too big for him. No backpack. No athletic bag. He started to slow down when he saw me watching him.
He opened his mouth to say something but the door that I had come through opened. He and I both looked to see Ms. Whales walking towards me.
"Oh," she let out an exasperated sigh, "there you are, Autumn, I have been looking for you since school ended. I tried calling your cell phone, but it kept on going to voice mail."
I opened one of the flaps to my bag and took out my phone. Five missed calls from WHALES.
"It must have been on silent," I told her. "I barely touch it while I'm in school."
Ms. Whales waved her hand in the air, "Relax, dear, all teenagers text in class. It is perfectly acceptable in any boring class, except mine." She flipped her gold hair off her shoulder, "Anyway, I see that you have met Evan Hoax, the star of the boys' cross country team," she pointed to the boy in front of me.
Evan gave me a small smile and tucked his hands into his sweater pocket, obviously feeling like he was intruding on something.
"I tried to reach you and see if you could go down to South High and get pictures from the race. Just a few, not many," she explained.
Under his breath, Evan muttered, "Because nobody is interested in cross country."
Ms. Whales eyes widened and slapped Evan on the arm. "It is football season, and football season is very big right now in Texas, but we try to cover every sport that we can in the newspaper. And," she turned to face me, "I think that if we have some photos taken by the famous Autumn Riles might give the cross country team an extra boost at fame."
Evan drifted his eyes from the floor up to Ms. Whales, "But doesn't she usually take the football pictures? The ones that the actual newspaper people want? Paper or web?"
I glanced at him, and caught him watching me. He moved his eyes away from me, and rolled his lips inside his mouth for moment, regretting what he had said.
"I'm sure this game can handle without Autumn's photos. Who are we playing against?" she asked, taking her phone out of her pocket to look at the schedule.
"Ms. Whales, we are playing our rivals, Sam Houston," I told her. "This game is to determine we go to the playoffs."
"Oh," she dropped her phone in her pocket. "Oh," she repeated, pausing to think, "I'll get Simone to cover the photos for the Cross Country meet. Evan, when is your qualifying meeting?"
It took Evan a few seconds to realize what she had said, "This is the meet, but we are the fastest team in the district, no matter what we are running in. Autumn can take the pictures next meet, the playoff meet."
She sighed. Thinking about both sports. "Autumn, you get to choose what to do next week, but for right now, just go home. I do not want students getting mad that you picked cross country over football. I'm sorry, Evan, that we will not have any pictures, but there will be a reporter there covering the story. He will be riding the bus. Isn't he also on the team? I think his name is-"
"Jackson." Evan finished for her.
"That's right, he just transferred, and was put in newspaper since he was on the newspaper at his old school. Don't know much about him, but I do know that he is thirty seconds behind you in the 5k," she explained. "Worried he is going to catch up?"
Evan shook his head, "He is second, I'm first. I do not really care if he passes me." His watch on his hand beeped, and he glanced down. "Excuse me, I have to change for the meet, let me know if we have a photojournalist at the meet next week, Ms. Whales." Without a response from Ms. Whales or I, he jogged off and went through the door.
"Isn't the cross crounty meet next week on a wednesday?" I asked her. "And the football game on friday?"
Ms. Whales' eyes widened, "You might be right, Autumn." She took out her phone again, looking at both of the schedules. "You are correct. The cross country meet is at Plano and the football game is in El Paso. That means, if you want to do both, you have to leave school early on wednesday and ride with the cross country team. And on Thursday, after the pep rally, the team hops on a bus to El Paso. The newspaper will have their own bus to take you guys there riding behind the football bus."
I furrowed my eyebrows, "You aren't coming?" She usually came to important games and told us what to do and what to write down or what questions to ask. It was to help the newbies, but it was nice to have the input.
She shook her head, "The newspaper is run by the students for the students. The newbies I'm sure will be glad that I am not looking over their shoulders twenty four seven." She started to walk towards the end of the hallway, "I will see you next week, have a excellent weekend, tell your family I said hi."
* * * * *
I walked into the day care with keys in my hand. If I was off duty for the day, meaning no photojournalism to take of, I picked up Oliver, my brother.
"Good Afternoon, Autumn," the owner of the day care greeted me as I signed Oliver out. "No job today?"
I shook my head and smiled at her, "No job today. How has Oliver been?"
"Well, he is probably going to happy now that you are here," she answered. "You have not been to pick him up in over a month, shocked that I could even recognize you."
I gave her a soft smile, "Have a nice evening, Maddy," I called out as I started to walk towards Oliver's room. I opened the door, and braced myself for the little guy to attack me with his small hands and arms.
"Autumn!" and the little boy appeared out from a table and started to run towards me. He was smiling from ear to ear, with his arms stretched out wide. His brown hair, that reminded me of my father's, jumped slightly with every step that he took. He quickly wrapped his arms around my waist then pulled away. He pointed to his mouth, "Look, I lost my first tooth! I finally get a visit from the tooth fairy!"
He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the teacher in the classroom.
"Can you show my sissy the tooth I lost?" he asks. He waited but the teacher looked at him, patiently, waiting for him to say something else. Then it clicked. "Oh, pleeeeeease?" The teacher stood up and unlocked a cabinet, taking out the tooth that was kept in a zip loc bag.
And she handed me the bag.
The tooth still had blood on it.
I am glad that I am not the tooth fairy in this family.
"I see, now only about 7 more years until all of your baby teeth are gone," I explained to him.
We walked over to his little hook that was resting on the wall. I took his coat off the hook, he turned around and made his arms wide so I could help him with his jacket.
"How much money do you think the tooth fairy will give you?" I asked him.
"Well, how much money did the tooth fairy give you?" he fired back, putting his backpack on.
"Five dollars."
His brown eyes widened, "That much money? Do you know how many candy bars I can buy with that money?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "You will probably end up being on a sugar high, then crash at the end of the day. And it will be on the internet by the morning what you did while you lost all sense of reason. It will be on a video or multiple photographs on all my social media accounts."
He paused. "You just use your phone to take pictures and to call mom and dad."
"I have an-" I stopped to think. "Instagram that I rarely use." But I have a Tumblr; he is too young to know about Tumblr. "Come on, we have to make it back home soon, so I can do my homework and you can have your snack and nap."
He pumped his first in the air, "Yes, gummies!"
* * * * *
"Yes, mom," I answered her, twirling my pencil in the air. Oliver was behind me, sitting on the couch, taking his nap. "Whales gave me the afternoon off and Ollie is sleeping right besides me. You can stop worrying, and tell dad to come home. He is not answering his phone."
She murmured something about how he never charges his phone. "Okay, see you when I get home, Autumn. Love you."
"Love you too," I called out then hung up.
Somebody cleared their throat behind me. I turned around, and dad was standing holding up Pei-Wei in his hand. He put a finger to his lips, "Don't tell your mother, I want it to be a surprise when she comes home. I'm was starting to miss fast food. Wake up, Oliver and wash your hands. I'll prepare both of your plates."
I walked over to him and stood on my tip toes, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you," I told him, pulling away. I went over to Oliver and poked his stomach, waiting for him to start giggling from the tickling.
He tried to pretend to be asleep but I saw his mouth quiver into a smile. I used both hands and started to wiggle my fingers around his stomach. He arched his back foward, trying to keep my fingers from moving, but I was stronger than him. He still was not laughing though.
Knowing his weak spot, I put hand onthe back of his neck, just for a slight moment. Then he erupted in giggles, holding the back of his neck.
When he was done laughing, five minutes later, he came walking into the kitchen with a melancholy look on his face. He pouted his lip out and said to me, "There are other ways for you to wake me up, Sis. That was not one of them."
Dad smacked my shoulder once Oliver was out of view.
"What was that for?" I asked him, rubbing my shoulder.
He shrugged his shoulder, "I felt like Ollie needed payback for what you did."
I rolled my eyes at him and helped him get the plates ready for dinner. "You know-" I scrubbed the take out box clean of noodles and made sure that they werall on the plate before setting it down, "Mom would probably like to eat with us and not eat alone when she comes home."
He paused. "That's why we are waiting for your mother, who should be heading up the stairs in-" he glanced down at his watch, "three. Two-"
I glanced at the door and my eyes widened when I saw mom walk through the front door. I turned towards my dad, "It is scary how much you two know each other. And that you can predict when one of you is coming home."
Dad laughed at me, grabbed my shoulder, pulling me closer to him, and kissed me on my forehead briefly. "I saw the headlights in the window. Plus, Logan usually comes home at this time."
Mom hung her jacket on the hook besides the door and walked into the kitchen. "I thought I was going to cook spaghetti tonight?" She asked, leaning in and kissed dad on the lips. "I have all the ingredients in the fridge and in the pantry. Bow tie noodles. Bow ties are cool." She went on.
Oliver walked back into the room, "Well, we can pretend the noodles are bow ties. They may be long and stringy, but we all have an imagination." He took one of the noodles off of his plate and tried to put it on his shirt, making it try to create the 'bow tie' effect.
He failed.
In less than three seconds, the long noodle on his shirt fell off and onto the kitchen floor. His bottom lip quivered, and his pout came out. "I thought that the noodle would stay on."
I patted him on the back, hoping to make him feel better. "Go put your clothes in the wash and get dressed in your pajamas. After you are done eating, you can go straight to bed, okay?" I explained to him.
He smiled and literally skipped out of the kitchen.
"Autumn," dad said, as I bent down with a paper towel to pick up the noodle, "you go put on your pajamas, too." I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "And do your homework after dinner. You do not have to go to bed, but at least be comfortable. We do not want Oliver to be alone in wearing pajamas to the dinner table."
After I tossed the paper towel in the trash, I folded my arms across my chest, "Well, if we do not want Oliver to be alone in the whole PJ fiasco, why don't you two also be in your pajamas?" I cocked an eyebrow, trying to be persuasive.
My parents exchanged glanes.
Dad was the first one to speak, "Sure, but I get to cook for an entire week. Logan, you do not get to ask me what we are having for dinner because I will most likely get nervous to impress you and end up burning down the kitchen."
Mom rolled her eyes at him, "As long as it is edible and does not contain mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes, or onions, I will probably eat it. But make sure Oliver can it it." She lifted a finger and pointed it into his chest, "Do not go all five star on us."
"Yes, sweetheart."
* * * * *
The button-up pajama shirt was the only thing formal about my night wear. My pants were nike shorts; the color scheme of them (bright neon) did not match the dark purple of the top.
But I was pretty sure that my family did not care about what I was wearing to the dinner table.
I sighed as I glanced down at the homework resting on my desk. Two chapters for English, one chapter for History, ten more questions for Math, and trying to write my first story for the school newspaper.
I started to decide what I could do tonight and what I could do during lunch. The math questions were easy enough to get done tonight and the writing could get done in Newspaper if Ms. Whales allows me to take a break from my camera tomorrow. I had to get the reading done tonight. So writing was the only thing that could be put off.
Just hold on. Graduation will be coming around the corner soon, I told myself.
I walked over to the window that rested in front of my bed, well, one of them. I sat down on the edge, barely having enough room to be comfortable.
The oak tree in the middle of the background, had its limbs stretch from my house to the one next to it. Big enough to climb on to reach the other window that was also on the second floor of the house.
I only climbed on it once, my parents never found out that I sneaked out of the house, through the bedroom window, in the middle of the night.
The summer heat was starting to feel like less like summer heat, with school coming up again, and I let a window open while putting up more photos on my photo wall, organizing it. I was going to interview to be in newspaper as a sophomore, and just skip journalism, because I wanted to do Photojournalism. I wanted to get used to seeing my pictures everywhere.
Plus, I already had some of my pictures in the actual newspapers or news. That had got to boost me up a few, right?
Dad would always keep the AC on sixty degrees, making the house freezing. I complained about it, even changing it from time to time but he always found a way to change it back to where he set it originally.
It was the middle of the night, so nothing bad could happen with my window open.
I only had one light on in my bedroom, the one on my desk, and the rest of the light came from the street lights. I was the only person in the house that was awake, making it a peaceful summer night.
Oliver went to bed a hour ago, making mom and dad go to bed too. I stayed up watching The Hunger Games on Netflix, waiting for the movie to end. When it finally made it to the end, I was no were near tired. I went upstairs to my bedroom, and started to clean it up a bit. Once that was done, I decided to make it more 'me.'
I paused and walked over to the window, staring at the big oak tree. My parents got engaged right next to it.
Looking past the tree, I noticed that the people next to us were still moving in. Well, person. I had seen him around school while getting our schedules, getting lost, and being too shy to ask were anything was. The adult volunteers and teachers had to help him. He had been in town for a week, and I still did not know his name, and that is saying something, my parents liked to meet neighbors. No, we did not have any of them over, but they liked to say hello every once in a while.
To create a friendly aurora around the block.
His dark hair was disheveled, like he was restless and just needed something to keep him up. He was in his pajamas, like me, but he moved slowly like he was sleepy. He was fighting sleep. On the other hand, I was wide eyed.
It was hard not to watch him, him unpacking and bringing out the objects that were in the boxes, I mean. It was mostly normal things that were in boxes, but he had three boxes full of books. And while he was getting the books out of the boxes, he organized them on his bookshelf. Not just tossing them onto the floor.
He was creating more work for himself.
When he was done with one box, he moved on to another one. Right in front of his window. Not wanting to be caught watching, I tried to turn away but he saw me. He gave me a small smile and waved. He paused then raised a finger, telling me to wait for a second. He wrote something down on a piece of paper with a black marker then showed it to me.
Want to help me unpack?
I nodded, looking around my room to change for something more appropriate than a tank top. I found a oversized shirt that used to be my dad's and just slipped it on.
I knew going right through the front door was not an option, but I also imagined using the oak tree to sneak out. It was only a good ten feet away from his window, it would not be that hard to get there.
With my window already open, I carefully stepped out onto the limb, watching my step. On the other side, he opened up his window and moved a bean bag in front of his window. It was my first time even stepping onto a limb, and I was terrified that I would fall.
I held on to the limbs above me, reminding me of small river you climb across using the net above you to help balance yourself on the objects resting above the water, but in my case, I did not have a net. And not the comfortable feeling of water right underneath me.
When I finally reached the boy's window, he held out his hand to me, and led me into his bedroom safely. Once my feet were on the floor, he did not let go of my hand, introducing himself to me, "Evan Hoax. I think I saw you at the school thingie this past week."
"Autumn Riles," I replied, letting go of his hand. "You did. I saw you getting lost and did not ask anyone for help."
He rubbed the back of his neck, nervously, "Yeah, I'm not good with meeting people."
"I could tell," I glanced around his room, "How come you are still unpacking. You have been here for a week and you still have a lot of boxes." I walked up to one, labeled Desk and pointed to it, "That is very vague."
He smiled, not showing his teeth. Just being amused with me. "It was suppose to be desk items but I was too busy, and rushing, to add that extra word in." He walked over to the stack of boxes and took the one that we were talking about off the top and handed it to me. "I'm pretty sure that we agreed on unpacking. You get this box and I will finish on my books."
The first thing that was on top of the pile of things in the box, was an owl. A stuffed owl. Purple. "Where did you get this?" I asked him picking it up with one hand. It was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.
"My mom gave it to me," he responded. "They are her favorite animal."
"Mine too."
Three hours later, he only had four boxes left; a big improvement from what we started with.
"Thank you for helping me unpack," he commented, walking into his bathroom. I watched him open up the medicine cabinet and take out a pill bottle. He opened it and just took one pill. I looked away as he put the bottle back in the cabinet.
He glanced at the clock on his wall, the one that I unpacked and put it on the wall where he told me to, "It is four in the morning. The sun is coming up soon."
I nodded, staring at the clock. I worked for three hours and I was just starting to get tired. Evan looked refreshed though. We had switched moods.
"I guess that I will see you at school then," I said. I walked over to his window and started to walk back over to my window.
When I reached it, I carefully climbed back inside and glanced back over at Evan.
He ran his hands over his face, and fell backwards onto his bed. He laid there for two seconds then shot up, and began on the final four boxes.
I sighed and went over to my bed, not bothering to close the window. As soon as my body was under the blanket, I fell right to sleep.
Oliver was basically jumping up and down in his chair while eating his dinner. Excited that he gets to bed early. More sleep for him.
It was annoying a little, but it was also kind of funny.
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Unitel next time...