Oxygen

Chapter 30 - Stay Gold

The whole period was dead boring, as usual. We were filling out these worksheets about endangered animals, which I highly disapproved of. Some of the things I saw on there were very stretched from the truth. My dad always told me to never believe everything people say, and it's best to learn the truth for yourself. I wish I had his heart warming advice with me again, but it was too far gone.

I finished the class with barely any work done. I'm sure I'll be able to avoid doing it for homework. I walked out of the class and headed to science. I walked with Evelyn until we eventually went our separate ways.

"So what were you doing at a river yesterday?" Evelyn asked suspiciously. I sighed, replaying the memories from yesterday in my head. "I was upset, about what Olivia did. So Jordan took me to the river and we ate lunch." I shrugged as we walked round the corner and continued down the hall.

"You just ate lunch?" the way she asked me was as though she expected something more to have happened while we were off skipping school. "Umm, yea just lunch. And he asked me to the formal". 

"He what? How could you not have told me sooner!". It was obvious that Evelyn didn't always absorb the things I said, mainly because I have to tell her things a thousand times. "Yea, I texted you about it yesterday, remember?" she shook her head, having no memory of my message.

"Oh, I forgot. I'll see you at lunch!" she said as she turned away from me into her class. I kept walking to a few doors down, where my Biology lesson was about to start.

"Hey Fern" Nik said, appearing from behind me. "Hey bro" I said jokingly. We were pretty close now, Nik and I. We spent quite a bit of time together because Jordan was his best friend, and Evelyn was now his girlfriend. He was like my older brother, ten feet tall and the most protective friend I've ever had.

We took our seats at the back of the class and started on our project. Mr Cedar handed out some information to help us and took a look at our project. "Looking good kids" he said in his usual cheery voice. Mr Cedar is one of my favourite teachers. He's much less strict than other teachers, and like me, he's smart. He understands everyone; the quiet types and the outgoing people.

We got stuck into our work pretty quickly. The summer weather was definitely affecting our work ethic, but that didn't hold me back from getting it done. By the end of the lesson we had a 3D heart model sculpted from clay, and a poster about the respiratory system.

Nik and I walked out to lunch together, satisfied with our efforts on our project. We sat down at the table and chatted until everyone else arrived. "So have you asked Evelyn to the formal yet?" I asked. "Umm, what? Oh shoot, the formal!". I rolled my eyes as I patted him on the shoulder.

"Dude, if you haven't asked her yet, do it soon. The formal is in two weeks, so do something nice for her". Nik nodded as he sat back in his seat. "She's gonna be so mad that I haven't asked her yet" he said hopelessly. 

"She hasn't said anything to me so far. Just do it soon". He nodded and Evelyn came to the table, carrying coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. "Hey guys" she said, sitting next to Nik and kissing his forehead. Their relationship was perfect. Nik's previously tense mood changed as he hugged Evelyn and took a sip from her warm mug.

"Hey Ev" I said, moving away from the affectionate couple beside me. Third wheeling has never been my thing. "So, Fern, can we go dress shopping soon? I was thinking you'd want- need my help, with finding yours". The way Evelyn tried to dull down the insults was heart warming. We've been best friends for so long that it doesn't upset me when she says things like that.

"Okay, how about tomorrow after school?" I asked. Tomorrow we finish school at twelve, so we will have just enough time to find the perfect dress for both of us. "Yes! let's do that! Sounds perfect!" Evelyn's excitement was far bigger than mine, but to be honest, I was kind of looking forward to impressing Jordan.

"Hey Jordan" I said as he approached me, and took his designated spot next to me at the bench. "Hey" Jordan replied sweetly. I leaned over and gave him a kiss. He immediately held my waist and I combed his hair.

"Get a room" Evelyn said, laughing with us. "No thanks" I replied. I was saving my special moment with Jordan until formal, I had decided.

To me showing someone your love for them should be special, and I already know that Jordan is my forever love, my best friend, my everything. I hope he wants to love me like I love him.

"When the time is right, we'll get a room" Jordan said in a whisper, giving me a wink.

We spent the whole lunch hour chatting to each other and catching up on homework. Formal is in a couple of weeks, and soon after that will be graduation. There is going to be a lot of work cut out for everyone in senior year, so we all stayed focused on our work.

Nik slid on his black glasses before reading through his paper. "I didn't know you had glasses?" I asked him. Being gone for over a month meant that Jordan and I missed a lot. Not just at school, but friends and family too. I never want to do that to those people again.

"Yea, I got them a few weeks ago" he replied. I felt bad for not knowing a simple fact about one of my closest friends. This was clear on my face as Nik gave me a sympathetic smile. Sometimes we didn't have to exchange words and we still understood each other. Once upon a time my life was as miserable as it could get.

Last period I had an art class. It's been a while since I've properly done a sketch or a painting, but now feels like the time to get back into the things I love.

I entered the old classroom and took a seat at the back on my own. I enjoyed the whole lesson just drawing quietly with music blaring through my earphones.

I held up my peice of paper and smiled at what I'd drawn. The pink shiny satin and fresh curling ribbons reflected off the page and made the artwork look real. I smiled with approval and felt a sense of achievement as I closed the book.

I rubbed my fingers over the clean cover. The gold binder of the book reminded me of a poem; Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

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Hey lovely readers,

So the reason I added this heartfelt poem to the end of this chapter is because I have just finished reading 'The Outsiders' at school, and I could've cried. Anyway, this was one of the great quotes from the book, so I wanted to include it.

What's your favourite quote? I think 'Nothing gold can stay' would have to be my favourite.

Thanks for reading, don't forget to vote!
Alice xx