ANCHOR

Chapter 12

SAM

    My alarm clock rang, loud in my ear. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. I made no motion to turn it off, as reality swayed and struggled to fall into place. I had stayed up until one in the morning, after putting Derek to sleep, doing his homework, then completing mine. I groaned, shifted, and closed my eyes. Beep. Beep. Beep. I got up.

  I lazily stepped into the shower, the water streaming on my bare skin. I began to wake up, and felt  purpose settling into my veins, deciding if I saw Hope today I would talk to her. I tried to think of the words to say, something casual. Should I pretend that I'd never seen her before other than that one day in the parking lot? Should I bring up the day, under the willow tree? Should I even acknowledge her as my neighbor?

  Stepping out of the shower and throwing on my clothes, my head was still churning with possibilities. "Hey Sam." I heard Derek's voice come from his room, as I opened the bathroom door. He gave me a soft smile as he played with a minute of happiness, tasting it on his tongue, then joked. "I know I'm gonna sound like a girl when I say this, but what one?" He held up two shirts, looking at me questioningly. One was a blue colored polo, and the other was a normal brown t-shirt. "I'm not very good at this stuff," I replied, but then added anyway, "The brown one brings out your eyes." He chuckled and I was glad to hear it come out of his lips. "Thanks Sam."

  I knew he wanted to look good for the girl he liked, and looking in the mirror, I suddenly became conscious of how I looked, my dark hair messy and my shirt wrinkled. I tried to smooth both out with my hands, but it hadn't helped much.

   We walked out the door, Derek smelling vaguely my cologne I never wore. I didn't bother nailing him for it. When we got to his school I watched him walk in the doors, all alone, head down, steps steady.

   I parked in the school parking lot where I had yesterday. There was something calming in a routine, so I found myself repeating the same actions all the time. I glanced at my schedule before walking into the school, trying to memorize the classes. English first, the bio, then geometry. I could do this.

  The hallways seemed a bit intimidating, filled with masses of people, all with unrecognizable faces. I found my way to English as quick as I could, second floor, room 212.

  The first thing I saw was Hope. She was seated in the back of the room, her long hair framing her face. Her friend was talking to her, but she was looking at me. I felt my heart beat in my ear and I looked around for a seat, finding one in front of her friend. Melanie was talking to her, and i couldn't help but hear. "Hope. Hope? Hello. Earth to Hope." I felt my blood rushing to my head as I came to conclusions. "Oh hi Sam." I heard Melanie say, suddenly recognizing me. I turned around, giving her what was supposed to be a friendly smile and said, "Hi Melanie." I saw her face start to flood with color before I glanced over at Hope. "Hi Hope." I was surprised how easily it came, to talk to her. Her blue eyes smiled and her lips slightly curved upwards. "Hi Sam." she replied, and my stomach was on fire, loving how my name sat on her lips.

   I saw her look towards the front of the classroom and I did the same, unable to concentrate with her so close. Hi Sam. "We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet," the old woman addressed Mrs.Hoban began. Hi Sam. "Not only are we going to read the book, but I figured a project would make it more interesting." The lady said, her face wrinkling into an expression I recognized as mischievous. Hi Sam. "You'll each get a partner, of the opposite sex, and write a paper on it. The boy will write from the perspective of Romeo, the girl will write from the perspective of Juliet." She seemed proud of herself and pulled a sheet of paper off of her desk. Hi Sam. I listened intently to the list of names she recited, listening for either my name's or Hope's.

   Mrs. Hoban read out last, "Hope Stryder and Sam Torres." in complete monotone. I could feel a smile creeping on my face and willed it to go away. I looked over to Hope, and saw her flash a smile in my direction, her blue eyes sparkling. "I am passing out the guidelines. John," she barked to one of the students, "pass out the books." Everyone was abruptly out of their seats, and I realized they were going to sit with their partner. I got up, and pulled Melanie's old desk next to Hope's. "Hi Sam." "Hi Hope." I felt a smile playing on my lips. I debated what to say, but she started speaking, her eyes trained on mine. "Funny we meet again." she stated, simply, taking my breath away. "I don't think I ever thanked you, Sam." I felt a low chuckle at the base of my throat. "Nothing to thank me for, Hope." I heard myself say. She studied me, and then her eyes shifted somewhere else. I followed her gaze over to a tall boy, with blonde hair. He was attractive, and I felt jealously stirring in my gut.

   I saw her face shift back to mine, and looked at her when she said, queitly, "I think we owe each other a conversation, outside of these walls." she said, and I felt the jealousy melt as soon as it came. "Yeah." I told her, swallowing. "What do you say we go for some coffee after school? I can drive you." I saw her thinking, then she glanced at the boy again. Then back to me. "Yes." she said. Yes. Then there was blue, and the world was flooded, I didnt know what way was up or down. Yes.