Pages of You

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dear Atlas,

Guess who's in my 6th-grade class?! Chiron Bontemps! Remember the French kid I wrote to you about months ago? Yeah, he's in my core class. I wonder if he remembers me.

Love always, Rosie (September 1st, 2008)

Dear Atlas,

All the girls seem to like Chiron. I overheard some of them in the girls' P.E. locker room talking about how they thought his accent sounded funny but that he was cute. I nearly gagged Atlas. We're in 6th grade; it's weird hearing girls my age talking about having boyfriends and relationships. Ewww.

He said hi to me the other day for the first time. Not only is he in my core class, but he's also in Orchestra with me. Guess who plays the cello? Me! I'm the only girl playing cello. I told my dad, but he disapproved though. He told me the cello was too big and that it would be annoying having to carry it around. He doesn't understand. I love the cello. Chiron plays the viola. We both sit in the front row. There have been moments when he kept looking at me throughout the class, which was kind of annoying. Like, do I have something on my face??

Today, when it was time to pack our instruments, he walked over to me and helped hold up the cello bag while I stuffed it inside. When I thanked him, he gave me a tiny smile and walked away.

Boys are weird.

Love always, Rosie (October 6th, 2008)

Dear Atlas,

Chiron's often hangs out with me during lunch. It started with him sitting next to me on my favorite bench when there weren't any spots in the quad. He didn't say anything for a while. But this is probably the 3rd week now that we've sat eating lunch together, and he finally said a word to me.

"Do you want to split?" He asked me, holding up half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I was surprised by his randomness, but I quickly nodded. I held up my ham and cheese sandwich. "I'll give you half of my sandwich if you give me yours?"

And then that's what started our lunch tradition, I guess. We met up at my bench and just split our lunches!

I can never understand boys. But at least his English is getting better!

Love always, Rosie (October 22nd, 2008)

Dear Atlas,

You won't believe what happened today after school! I was at the front waiting for my parents to pick me up, and then I saw a crowd of people behind one of the school buildings chanting Fight! Fight! Fight!. Of course, I ran towards the crowd.

Guess who was in the fight?! Chiron and this kid named Brandon! I didn't know what started the fight, but I was scared. There weren't any adults nearby, and Brandon was beating up Chiron. I ran to them and pushed Brandon off of him. He looked like he was going to hit me but stopped. It's probably because I'm a girl or something. What a loser. Finally, we heard the whistle from one of the teachers, and the crowd dispersed. Brandon, the stupid coward, also ran away, leaving me and Chiron.

I helped him up and walked him over to the nurses' office. I asked him what they were fighting about, but he said nothing.

"Fighting in school is a sure way of getting suspended." I reprimanded him.