Fallen

Chapter 2

Monday mornings are already bad. To make matters worse, I woke up an hour late. I walked into school looking like absolute hell. My caramel brown hair in a nasty ponytail on the top of my head and my sweatpants on full display. This was not going to be a good day at all.

"You look pretty today," snickered Nicola as I approached her locker.

"Did you even sleep in a bed?" asked Jack.

"You lost the battle with your hair babe," Maria remarked.

"Sexy sweatpants, Clark," smirked Luke.

"Runway model ready," Chase teased.

"Are you done?" I sighed.

"Yes," they all said in unison.

"Good, I gotta get to class," I said as I walked away.

"Woah, so eager to get away. Come on, we were just joking," Jack smiled as he caught up to me.

"You guys were on a role."

"One of our many talents," he ruffled my hair under his fist.

"Thanks, thanks a lot," I glared trying to supress a smile.

"You can't stay mad at me." I smiled and looked ahead down the hall. Crap. It's him.

"Quick!" I grabbed Jack my his sweatshirt and dragged him into the janitors closet beside us.

"Well, baby, if you wanted to be alone with me, all you had to do was ask," he smiled.

"Shut up."I peaked out the small rectangular window on the door and watched him pass.

"Alright, the coast is clear. Let's go," I pushed Jack out of the closet and we resumed walking to class.

"When are you going to stop avoiding him?" Jack whispered.

"When I die."

"And I'm Mr. Dramatic."

"I look like death today, I had a reason to avoid him."

"How long have you had a crush on him? 8 years? You need to just talk to him."

"A guy like Aaron isn't a guy you just talk to. What would I say? 'Hey, I kinda have an obsession with you and I'd like to see where things go.'"

"Maybe something a little less creepy to start out." This time my glare did not falter.

"Just give it a shot, pumpkin," he encouraged.

We walked into biology and took our seats. I knew that one day I would have to talk to Aaron and see if we could possibly be something. I would never forgive myself if I never gave it a shot. But it was only softmore year, I had time. He didn't need to know that I have had a crush on him since he kissed me under the basketball hoop in 2nd grade. Not quite yet. Besides, he was dating Cassandra. If you could even call it dating. They basically just make out again the bleachers every Friday after school. I'm sure that's long term, not. His short dirty blonde hair complimented his blue eyes well. His muscular body showed that he was a star athlete. There was nothing but perfection seeping from his every pore. His smile could win awards, whereas mine was mediocre. Maybe he could see me as more than the geeky girl in his health class someday.

......................................................................

"Mom, I'm home!"

Silence.

Being home alone is my one minute of peace. I feel like my whole life is chaos. Granted, I do enjoy keeping myself busy with my friends. But I also love the quiet that comes with an empty house.

I went down to the entertainment center and put in the Proposal. It is my favorite movie and Ryan Reynolds is drool inducing. I got about halfway through the movie until I fell asleep.

Beep! I heard my phone go off, waking me from my slumber. The menu music was repeating on the TV. Well that's obnoxious. I turned off the TV and realized it was after dark. The complete darkness of my basement never ceased to scare me. I reached the lightswitch and tried to turn on the lights. Nothing happened. Flicking the switch over and over, my panic continued to rise. I stopped flicking the switch when I heard the storage room door creak. There was just enough light for me to see the door slowly open. That's it, I was officially scared out of my wits. I was afraid if I turned my back on the door, something bad would happen. So I continued to stare at the opening. I then heard a low growl.

"I'm out of here!" I screamed and made a run for the stairs. I was about halfway up the stairs when something grabbed my ankle. My step faltered and the thing was able to grab me around the waist and drag me down to the storage room. I was too scared to make a sound. Silent tears fell down my face when I thought I would never see the light of day.

As soon as the storage room door shut with me inside, I head the roar of laughter. I wiped my face and searched for the light switch. Once the light was on, I saw them.

Jeremy and Martin we're bent over laughing so hard, their faces turned red. I stood frozen, trying to understand what had just happened.

"Whew!" sighed Jeremy, "I haven't laughed that hard in years."

"Her face!" shouted Martin. That was a cause for another uproar of laughter. I stood there dumbfounded. As soon as I regained my bearings, I crossed my arms and stood tall.

"Well I hope you enjoyed that. You'll wish you never did it." I sneered.

"Oh sis, that's cute. Are you trying to threaten us?" My brother snickered.

"Maybe," I said with a shrug.

"I'm not scared. By the way, Mom said dinner is ready. You might want to change your pants first though. I'm pretty sure you peed them." Jeremy and Martin walked out still laughing before I could respond. I stood there with my mouth open trying to comprehend what had just happened. Why was Martin here? And since when did he play pranks?

By the time I got to the dinner table, Martin was gone.

"Did Martin go home?" I inquired.

"Yeah, he was here for a while, his parents wanted him home for dinner," Jeremy answered.

"So, you guys are hanging out again?"

"I guess so. I saw him on my way home and we got talking."

"Oh." I then realized that I never responded to Martin's text, nor had I thanked him at school. I was so consumed in how bad I looked that I forgot! Now I feel even worse than I did about snapping at him. Maybe I will text him after dinner.