The Way We Are

One

"Achoo!" Madeline sneezed.

"Bless you," Harmony, her desk partner, said, digging through her bag. "Here's a tissue." She handed Madeline a white Kleenex in front of her face.

"Thanks, Harmony." Madeline smiled, blowing into the tissue, sounding like a trumpet.

"Goodness, Mads! Can you be any more noisy?" Harmony snickered.

"Sorry." Madeline toned it down and the warning bell rung. Class was starting in a minute and everyone flooded into the room.

Jay slipped into the room, sitting in a desk three seat from Madeline's seat. He took a glance at Madeline. Madeline turned her head a bit and smiled at him as her way to say "Hello". Jay gave off the smallest of smiles. He took his pencil and traced over the holes and scratches carved into the wooden top of the desk. The bell finally rang and the teacher of the classroom, Mrs. Ben, popped from her chair to start class.

"Now class, today we are reviewing what you may have learned last year, atoms." Everyone moaned. "I know, but welcome to your chemistry unit. Now can any of you tell me what is the term for a negative ion?"

Madeline's hand shot up in the air. Mrs. Ben pointed to her and she spoke confidently with her chest puffed out. "Anion."

"Over achiever," Harmony whispered into Madeline's ear.

"Is there a problem?" Madeline snickered. "Look at it this way, you don't have to wait awkwardly for Mrs. Ben to pick you and you look like an idiot in front of the class stuttering as I whisper you the obvious answer."

"Wow, offensive much?" Harmony rolled her eyes. Madeline nudged her arm and they both let off a small giggle.

Jay had been watching them the whole time, laughing like he was part of their conversation too. He turned his eyes to Mrs. Ben, drawing an atom with everything he had learned from last year. Jay started to sketch in his open notebook. He started to draw a bird, which turned into a tornado. Jay looked up at Mrs. Ben, acting interested, sitting up straight.

I'm just about done with this class. Jay thought. He knew everything from last year. Science just utterly sucks. There's only one good reason I comes to school, and more importantly, this class. Jay stared at Madeline. She was his only friend. In all other classes, he knew no one personally. He didn't even talk to Madeline in school anyways. But it was still comforting to have someone you know around.

Everyone busted out their textbooks as Mrs. Ben said a page number that Jay couldn't quite catch. Jay took out his book and looked over at his neighbor for less than a second. Three eight four. He said to himself repeatedly. He reached the page and tried to follow along to Mrs. Ben's words, but everything she said was another excuse to fall asleep.

Madeline had been jotting down notes of information she had a hard time remembering from last year or was just plainly new to her. She was like a sponge, she soaked up everything she heard. She glanced at Harmony who was twirling her light brown curly hair around her pencil. She shook her head at her boredom.

"Something funny?" Harmony noticed Madeline slightly shaking her head 'no'.

Madeline just chuckled at her clueless friend who shrugged it off and went back to entertaining herself. Madeline looked over at Jay, who was trying desperately to not fall asleep. Madeline licked her lips and whistles a quick, short note. Jay's head instantly shot over in Madeline's direction.

"Stay awake!" She mouthed at him.

Jay rolled his eyes. He listened in to the teacher and acted as if he was listening, but still not interested. Madeline went back to scribbling notes. Before they knew it the bell rang and all there was for homework was just a worksheet. Madeline quickly packed up her things and took a worksheet by the door. Jay was the last out of the class and he took a worksheet as he walked out of class.

Today will be over before you know it. He told himself.

~

The day dragged on and it felt like the end of the week for Jay at his last hour.

I hate Mondays. He told himself as he sat on the floor of gym class.

The gym teacher, Mr. Maze, took attendance and shouted, "Alright, everyone get going." When only half the class, including Jay, started to stand, Mr. Maze spoke again. "Now!" His voice was startling and everyone was soon jogging around the gym.

Jay reluctantly jogged. Mr. Maze watched everyone as they busted a sweat making there way around the gym.

"Alright, that's about five minutes. Walk!" Everyone instantly slowed at the command. Some put their hands over their heads to breathe better.

"Alright today is the push-up test," Mr. Maze explained, looking through the papers on his clipboard. Everyone moaned as if on cue. "I know, it's your favorite time of year, but it has to be done. Abele! You're up!" A girl with dark brown hair known as 'Sammy Abele' stepped up. She was quiet, but she was very athletic.

Everyone went off, chatting, some playing basketball, and played other things they could find in the gym.

Mr. Maze made his way down the list until he called Jay. "Morgan! Jay! You're up!" Jay reluctantly made his way to Mr. Maze.

Once Jay was in position, Mr. Maze counted down from three. "Three, two, one. Go!" And Jay went up and down, pushing as hard and fast as he could. His arms grew weak but he kept pressing on.
"Stop!" Mr. Maze's growl flooded his ears, and Jay collapsed on the floor. "Heh, fifty-three. Not bad. Alright, off you go." Jay nodded at his results and the teacher's praise. He got up and walked towards to gym exit, knowing that there was only a minute left.

Then, just as Jay predicted, the bell rang, with everyone spilling out of the gym.

~

The bus ride home was normal. Jay sat alone while Madeline sat surrounded by hundreds of her wannabes. Jay could hear Madeline's name several times, but he couldn't ever hear her voice in response. The bus pulled to a stop and Jay stood up, glancing at Madeline who was trying to escape her crowd. She finally pulled herself out and Jay started to head off the bus. He took a couple steps and as soon as the bus was out of site, Madeline ran up by his side.

"You alright?" Jay asked. He was always surprised to hear his voice after not talking for a whole day.

"I'll meet at the tree, ten minutes." Madeline rushed. Jay nodded, running home as Madeline ran across the street to her pale blue house with perfect landscaping. Jay went to his middle-class brown house with okay gardening. Jay was a big garden person, but always is too busy to worry about it.

Jay opened the front door, tossed his backpack inside and headed down the street. He reached the house at the end of the street at roughly seven minutes. This house was up for sale for a very long time. It was one of those stereotypical abandoned houses. However this one was more green from flourishing vines. No one wanted it because of all the overgrowth.

Jay went straight to the backyard to where an ginormous apple tree was. He and Madeline had found this place long ago, and had made this place their somewhat 'hangout'. Jay caught sight of Madeline. She was sniffling, rubbing tears from her eyes while sitting on a swing they crafted together.

Jay rushed over to her. "Mads are you okay?"

Omg new book! Yay! I have been saving this book idea for a while and finally am getting into it. This is a side book at the moment, while my main book is The Last. I think it would be fun to bring a Chicklit to my profile. Hope you guys will stick around! I got BIG plans~!