IT Lives In The Woods..

Chapter Six

We had all gathered in the school's auditorium as we waited for our Principal Mr Hillary Wellsworth to give his usual assembly speech that was painful to sit through.

          "Good morning to every one gathered in this hall today, and a big thank you to Mr Wellsworth for not cancelling our annual sleepover. Now as you all know, the recent deaths in our town have been increasing rapidly and so for this very crucial reason, all activities outside the school premises will be excluded and dropped from our list of activities today... after assembly, all the students from Bailey Boys High are to go and change to their official sports wear and then gather in our soccer field for the normal match against the girls... now we'll be mixing things up this year so girls don't exactly have to play against the boys. And after the match, you'll proceed to the cafeteria for dinner then get your sleeping bags in place. Now this year we'll be having a bonfire night. You all know it's never been done before... I have assigned some teachers to check your bags just to make sure none of you smuggled in alcohol or any illegal drug."  The murmuring in our assembly hall was even louder as our Principal said the final announcement and as students started to disperse the hall, we heard our Math teacher's voice over the speakers.
"One last thing, your "hook up" spot has been closed in case you all assume there'll be a repeat of what happened last year... no student is to be seen anywhere around the indoor basketball court during the bonfire. If anyone is seen around or in the basketball court, that student will be sent home with immediate effect am i clear??" Mr Martin's words rang through the school walls.
"Yes sir!!" we all chorused.
   
       "This is so wrong!.. I was hoping to go shoot some hoops after dinner" Conrad said.
            "so what's stopping you?.. the rule was to avoid going to the basketball court during the bonfire night and not after dinner"... I said rolling my eyes at him.
   
   "oh right... I can still go flex these muscles for my adoring female fans".... Conrad replied stretching his arms.
       "oh get over yourself..... it's only blind girls that drool over you"... I said obviously disgusted by his narcissistic comment.
        "Then you must be one of my biggest fans... don't think I didn't see you staring at me during assembly".... he said with a wink.
  "oh c'mon you're not that attractive... and I wasn't staring, I was glaring at you... don't you know your face alone can give everlasting nightmares?" I retorted, clearly  irritated by his dumb antics.

"urgh!... you guys really have a weird way of flirting"... Kennedy says as she puts both her arms over my shoulders.
  
   "Who's flirting with who?... I just can't stand how dumb he is!!".... I say crossing my arms.

  "And I can't stand how rude she is!!"  Conrad says staring daggers at me.
                                       "why are you even following us?.. don't you have your group of adoring fans waiting for you to walk with them?" I say turning towards Conrad.
  
"I do but I'd rather walk with you. you look like you need a little ray of sunlight in your life right now.... And it's good to know you notice how important I am". He replies sporting that stupid smirk that I detest so much.

     "Whatever" I say rolling my eyes at him which only seems to fuel his smirk into a full on grin.
  

      The teachers were done with their search and had found several bottles of alcohol, headphones, porn magazines and the likes... everything that wasn't allowed in school.... and every one of those items were confiscated and sent to the principal's office.

         

         The back of the school was bright as the fire burnt through the woods and tyres that had been laid for the bonfire..... students could be seen dancing and singing to the loud music from the stereo. The school had allowed us to play music.... this was the first time the town seemed sort of at peace.. considering recent happenings .
I sat on a large log with Kennedy, Parker and Conrad. We talked over the music and laughed at our own bad jokes.
Conrad, wasn't exactly Bad, he was only annoying when he said certain stupid, meaningless things to me.... and also we had promised my two best friends we would try as much as possible not to pick fights with eachother tonight. and so far so good we were holding well to that promise.

     The night had been far spent and we all cleared out the back of the school.. then proceeded to our sleeping space as we were all tired and sleepy.

Parker had asked Conrad to join our sleeping group... so his sleeping bag was just a few feet away from mine... not too far, but not too close either.

"Hey D, you still up?" Conrad's voice startled me from my own private thoughts.
   
"yah why?" I said slightly turning my head towards his direction.
"Oh nothing much, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for telling on you when we were kids.. yunno, about you having a crush on Corey. that's the reason why you hate me now right?" Conrad said almost whispering.

I was taken aback by the sudden apology and also the question that followed after.
"uhm.... yah,..... I mean no.... I mean yah i kind of hated you because of that.. you made a promise that if I told you who I liked you wouldn't tell anyone but then you told Corey and even the whole school.... and I've always wanted to ask why you did that."  I said as I sat up from my sleeping bag.
  "Well the reason why I told Corey, is a bit childish. I  was sort of jealous you know."  He said as he also sat up from his sleeping bag.

"Jealous?, why would you be jealous?." I asked a bit confused.
  "We were best friends then so I thought you liking Corey would put an end to that and I didn't wanna loose you as my bestfriend" he replied looking at me with an apologetic expression.

"Dude we were 10.. I wasn't gonna marry your brother and abandon you.. I just wanted to tell you cause you were my bestfriend. me liking your brother has nothing to do with our friendship".. I said with a slight chuckle.

"I know that now... cause after I told everyone and saw how you cried and ran out of class, I felt really bad and tried talking to you after that... but the next day when I got to your house so we could walk to school together, I overhead you telling your mum that you hate me and was never gonna talk to me ever again so I left and decided not to bother you". He said. And I swear i caught a glimpse of how sad his eyes were.

   "I was sort of hoping you'd come to me and apologise cause I didn't wanna loose my bestfriend then either... but you never came so I resided on my hatred for you" I told him as I rested my head on my knees.

"All the while i annoyed you, was to atleast get a chance to talk to you... cause honestly I still want us to be friends..." Conrad said.

"From now on then,I've decided out of my good heart, to go back to being friends with you.... shake on it?" I said with an outstretched arm.
   "And I as the kind gentleman that I am, accept your friend request...." Conrad said as we shook hands and laughed at our dramatic gestures.

"Thanks D.... this time I won't loose you... ever again" ..... Conrad said with a broad smile on his face....

I may have imagined it but it felt like our handshake lasted way longer than it was supposed to... and the smile never left my face as I gazed at conrad's smile wondering how this little boy with a few missing tooth grew up to be this handsome.

shoot!.... did I just call Conrad, handsome?
I mentally smacked my forehead as I made a quick note never to say or think that again.
I don't know how long I had laid down for but as I turned towards conrad's direction, I could see the smile on his face as he slept... I too had a smile on my face.... the day had turned out quite alright after all.