Octavia (Completed - 2018 Watty's Longlist)

Chapter Twelve - Edmund

I watched as Octavia's lips curled up into a smile as she drove away. Great, she probably thinks I'm an idiot! I just can't be normal around a really beautiful girl for one second can I?
I turn away and head into my house. I slam the door shut and dump my bag, shoes and jacket on the ground. Jamie won't be home till 5:30 pm, so I've still got like four hours till he comes home.

I decide to start on my homework and then after that I'll get started on dinner. And. . . God this is so weird. I've never had this much free time in my whole life and I have absolutely no idea how to use it. I never had this much free time when I lived with Mom. Never. It was always get home, look after her, cook her dinner, then homework and bed.

I change into my sweatpants and open up my laptop, getting started with my homework that's due in a few weeks.
What also is in a few weeks is the Winter dance. And I know myself that I would much rather not go and save myself the embarrassment. But, if I was to go, if I was ever going to think of ever going to that stupid dance, the only reason to why I would go is if Octavia went with me. She would make up for the whole dance thing. We could go and maybe sway to the music whilst we talked all night long. Maybe that would be worth going. But right now, I know I have stuffed up my chances of Octavia ever going to the dance with me. I mean, I basically admitted it to her just ten minutes ago. And then I went and embarrassed myself in front of her by punching my letterbox. Like, I'm sorry, but who in their right mind punches a letterbox? I guess I was so annoyed at myself that the moment I got out of her car, I thought she had driven away. I mean, that's what I expected from her. But no, she saw everything. And then she wanted to come inside! My god I would have died if she saw what state this house was in. Never trust boys to keep a house tidy. And I've kind of been a little slack in that department lately with all this free time I have. I've kinda taken advantage of it.

Today, was such a good day. Minus the almost getting a dent in my head, the nausea and the sore hand. But other than that, it was a pretty damn good day. Today was the most in almost four months that Octavia has spoken to me. She spoke to me in the morning in the parking lot, at lunch in the cafeteria, when I almost got my head knocked off by a football and then when she took me to the nurse and drove me home.
Throughout the two classes that I had after lunch, I could not get the words out of my head. Stay away from me and I'm dangerous. I really don't understand why she keeps saying that, and why she said she was dangerous but whatever it is, is probably better than like a drug dealer or an assassin that kills billionaires for fun. It's probably something like she got arrested for speeding, or got too drunk one night.
Although what she said was thrown away when our next break came and Octavia saved me. I really don't know how she did it. I mean, I don't know how she knew those guys were going to throw the ball at me. And even if she did, how the hell would she have ran that fast to get to me in time. Unless she was like only a few feet away when they did and she caught it in time. I'm going to say that the latter is the case because all the other ones are highly unlikely.

Though the weird thing is is that the moment she caught that ball, she was glaring down at those guys and her hands around the ball started to deflate it. I don't know how strongly she was gripping that ball, or if it was deflated before, but the way she was looking at those guys was scary. It was like she could somehow hear what they were saying or thinking, and that's why she got so heated up. And then when she threw it, damn, she could throw it. Like I wasn't surprised that a girl could throw a football. I'm not like that. I was surprised at how much better she was than the school football team's 'best quarter back'.

The moment she took my hand in hers as she pulled me through the bleachers, I swear something weird happened. Like, all of a sudden, the air in our atmosphere changed and became more fresh and breathable, electricity ran up my arm. I didn't flinch though because I didn't want to ruin it and I'm pretty sure my body got much hotter because Octavia's hand was incredibly cold. Though the longer we remained holding hands, I'd grown used to the coldness of her hand. Though the effect she had on me was crazy. It was like I was struck to life again.