It's Just Rae

Chapter Six

“…Ms. Madsen, would you like to answer for us?” Mr. Mathis asks, tapping my desk with his meter stick. I blink rapidly, pushing my head up from my desk. Crap, I fell asleep! I am so tired today. Madame Bateau assigned a paper about Napoleon three pages, front and back, due Monday. All in French. I can barely pronounce Bonaparte, how am I supposed to write a three page paper on him in four days in a language I can hardly understand? Anyway, I was working on it until 2 AM last night, and I got the whole first page and the front of the second page done.

“Um, what was the question?”

“Perhaps you would know if you hadn’t been sleeping in my class, Madsen.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Don’t let it happen again.”

“Of course not, sir.” Luckily, most of the people in my class have serious behavior issues and I’m a total goody-goody, so Mr. Mathis, my English teacher, likes me. Otherwise, I would no doubt be stuck with detention every day for a week. He’s pretty strict.

I push open the front door, having rushed ahead of Addy and beat her to the house from the car. I drop my bag on the floor by my bed, shrug out of my blazer, kick off my purple glitter TOMS, and throw my headband on the table. I drop onto the bed. I close my eyes and let myself sink into the thick down comforter that covers my bed. Mmmm, I’m tired.

Addy skips into the room, making all sorts of noise. “I’m going for a run, kay sweetie?” She tells me while rooting through her dresser drawers. She digs out a pair of Nike shorts and an old softball shirt from Raleigh.  She changes quickly, throwing her skirt at me on the way out. It hits me and I toss a pillow after her as she leaves. I lay lifelessly on the bed for a while, but can’t seem to fall asleep. I’m too busy thinking.

It’s Friday. Amazingly, I’ve made it through a whole week at my new school without any major issues. It’s quite shocking, I have to say. I even got invited to a party and have a ride to school every day for as long as I want. Even the weather’s on my side this week: it’s been sunny and clear ever since we got here, though the norm is dark, drizzly rain almost all the time. I know, because Delainee won’t stop marveling over how great it’s been out lately.

Of all this, though, I think the best part of moving here has definitely been meeting Logan. He’s hilarious, he drives Addy and I to school, and he showed me the most amazing fish and chips stand in all of London. The fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous doesn’t hurt, either. The worst part of the move, I remember, is that ridiculous French paper I have due.

I sigh dramatically and push myself up from the bed. I guess I’ll try and finish that stupid thing. I plop down at my desk and open my purple laptop. I queue up the Microsoft Word file and start considering what I can say about this tiny and insanely annoying man.

                I’m at Tricky’s party. It’s kind of dark and a little out of focus. I blink a few times to try and clear my vision. There’s loud music pounding in the background, but for some reason I can’t make out what song’s playing. I know I’m sitting on a couch in the corner of what looks like a mix between a restaurant and a ballroom. I thought Tricky’s party was supposed to be at her house? And why don’t I remember coming here? Whatever. There’s a bowl of Chex Mix on a circular ottoman in front of me. I lean forward and grab a handful while laughing at a joke that I don’t remember hearing. This is so strange! Pressing my back into the couch, I look around. James is sitting in a black lazy chair next to the couch. Sam’s sitting in the chair opposite James, with Tricky on his lap. Wait, she’s going out with that guy… oh, what’s his name? He’s from some other school. Is it Jack, or maybe Jason? Something like that. I guess they broke up? I’m in the middle of the couch, with Charley and Kendall on one side of me and Logan on the other. Charley and Kendall are sharing some kind of private joke, giggling quietly and sitting way to close to each other. What about Kendall and Delainee? Relationships are so confusing tonight. I see James telling a story with huge, exaggerated hand motions and watch as people double over laughing, but I can’t seem to hear any of it. Everything’s still a bit blurry, like I’ve lost a contact. That is, if I wore contacts. I reach for another handful of Chex Mix at the same time Logan does. Our hands brush each other as he grabs for a handful. In what seems to be slow motion, Logan turns to look at me. I blink in surprise when I meet his eyes. For some reason, I can see him perfectly clearly, although it looks like I’m viewing everyone else through a sheet of wax paper. I find that odd, but strangely intriguing.