Unpredictable

Chapter 17

I was curled up in my reading room, deeply engrossed in my book. "Hey Opal!" Elliot called. "Hmm?" I said. "It's raining enough to form puddles. You gonna go out?" My head whipped around to look out the window. Sure enough, rain pounded against the window. "Oh my gosh how did I not notice!?" I cried, throwing my book on the chair and racing upstairs.

I loved rain. You can run in it and splash in it and so many other things. I put on my red rain boots and yellow rain jacket, slipping on rain proof pants and running outside. I saw the biggest puddle I could find, ran up to it and jumped, slamming my feet down hard on the ground. The water splashed all around me as I continued to jump up and down.

I ran around, jumping in puddles and acting like the 5 year old I am inside. I saw a figure in the distance. I wiped the soaking strands of hair from my face. In my excitement I forgot to put it up. The figure grew nearer, they were running. Not in a hurry to get away from anything, like an exercise run. They kept coming and I sucked in my breath. It was Park.

I noticed, for some reason, that whenever it rains Park goes out to jog. No I'm not a stalker, I always play in puddles when it rains and his route goes by my house. I always see him run. I could make out the details of his face now he wore a gray shirt that clung to his torso because of the rain, revealing what I already guessed to be an extremely fit body. His shorts were loose around his legs but also soaking wet.

Usually he just runs right by me, because we've never talked before. But now, after everything, he slowed to a walk and took off his headphones.

"What are you doing out here blue eyes?" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. I ran down the driveway to meet him. "Playing in the rain like I always do. What are YOU doing out here mud eyes?" I asked in a normal tone considering our distance now. "Running in the rain like I always do." I nodded. "Fair enough."

The silence that hung around us quickly grew awkward. "Well... this is fun and all but I have to..." I started. "Wait!" He cried. I put my hands on my hips. "What? Don't want to lose me again?" I said in a joking tone. He rolled his eyes. "Forget it." Before I could stop him to tell him I was just teasing, he put on his headphones and jogged away.

I walked into the school, attempting to rub the sleep from my eyes. I groaned and already hoped I could go home, but that's against the law. Something was weird, I thought as my eyes were still closed. Everything got suspiciously quiet and whispery in the school when I walked in.

I removed my fists from my eyes and looked around. People were staring at me, like, everyone. They whispered to each other, it was like a scene out of a movie. "Why is everyone staring at me?!" The halls went silent, nobody answered me. I sighed, reaching over to the nearest person against the wall. I took the collar of their shirt and balled it in my fist, bringing the person to me. It was a small freshman boy. "Tell me why." I simply stated. "G-Go to the c-cafeteria." He said, shaking. I raised my eyebrows and let go, running to the cafeteria.

My mouth hung open and my arms hung limply by my sides. My backpack dropped to the floor along with my lunchbox as I stared at the sight before me.

Our lunchroom has three walls with windows and one without. And on that one wall without any windows was a gigantic blown up picture that took up the entire wall.

There were two people in the picture. One was Park. The other was me. It was when I went over to his house.

And we fell asleep together.

We were wrapped all in each other, my hair was a mess and my blue dress was all weird. His mouth was open as he rested his head on mine. In the top corner it read, "Almore High's Cutest Couple." I heard footsteps coming up to me, and the next thing I knew I was tackled to the ground. Someone pinned me and yelled, "Why didn't you tell us??" I opened my eyes and found Rosie and Rowan on top of me. I was still too stunned to say anything.

"You and Park?! Are you serious?! You DESPISE Park!!" Rosie yelled in my ear. I shoved them off of me. "There is NO Park and I! I don't know who put that there, but it's photoshop!" I lied. They stood, helping me to my feet. "Oh." I grabbed my backpack and put it on, grabbing my lunchbox. "I gotta go." I walked with a purpose out of the lunchroom.

I found him in the halls, surrounded by his usual entourage of girls. I stormed right up to him. "So I'm getting ready to throw the ball, and I've got players all around me. So I reel back and... OW!!" He yowled. I had grabbed his ear and dragged him away. "We have to talk." I said sternly. "OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!!" He cried as I continued to walk.

I saw a janitor down the hall. As we walked past him I snag his key ring that hung loosely by his pocket. I found the closet, yanked the door open, and thrust him inside. I slammed the door behind me and pulled the little string connected to the lightbulb, lighting the room.

"Are you nuts?" He asked. "HAVE YOU SEEN THE CAFETERIA?!?!" I yelled. He plugged his ears. "No, I haven't. What's so important about it?" I started pacing. "There's a picture, okay? A GINORMOUS picture! And do you know who's on the picture, Mr. Mud Eyes?! YOU! And ME! Together!" My hands made motions in between us. "When we feel asleep... TOGETHER!!!!" He raised his eyebrows. "When did we...." His mouth fell open. "Oh no."

I pointed at him accusingly. "What did you do?!" I cried. He held his hands up in surrender. "I did nothing!" He stroked his chin. "Well...." I stormed up to him and put a finger on his chest. "What?" I asked through clenched teeth. "There may be my little brother.... he might of taken a picture for blackmail later on, until two days ago when I wedgied him and placed his underwear on a hook on his bathroom door." I groaned. "Okay. So how did it get here?" He cringed. "His best friend might be the head cheerleader's brother." I face palmed myself. This was not good.