Melon Boats

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I awoke to sunlight streaming through the window and mockingbirds whistling an aria. For the first time in year, I had slept well, with no interruptions. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched, yawning. With great effort, I peeled myself from the comfort of my bed. Slipping on a red checkered flannel shirt, I checked the clock. 9:07. The sleepiness immediately left my body. I quickly cleaned myself up, grabbed my books and keys, tended the animals, and sped off in my car.

Trying desperately not to speed, I made my way to school. Again, only the furthest parking spot from the school was open. I hurriedly parked and sprinted into the building. Down the hall, up the stairs, third door on the left. I burst into the room, and everyone's eyes were on me. Some glared, while others silently thanked me for the momentary break from class. I took my seat by Paul Carson, a fellow debate team member, and my best friend. Again, without turning from the whiteboard, Mrs. Meyer growled, "Detention, Mr. Kinkade." Great. I sighed in defeat, laying my head down on the desk. After all, what was the point in paying attention if only seven minutes remained in the class?

I had just begun to drift off to sleep when the first hour bell jolted me awake. I sleepily gathered my things and headed for Calculus class. Paul stopped me before I entered the math room.

"Man, what's goin' on? That's two days in a row you've been late."

"I forgot to set my alarm last night." It wasn't a total lie. I had forgotten my alarm.

"That's just not like you, though. Are you sure there's nothing else?" Paul had always been a close friend, so he knew the big and important things in my life, but I had yet to inform him about this newfound nuisance. My blood began to boil at the thought of her, but I forced myself to take a deep breath.

"No, there's nothing else. Just a little off lately." He gave me a skeptical look, but let get me get by with that reply. At least until later. I entered the math room just as the bell rang.

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I beamed as I sat down at a lunch table across from Paul, much happier than I had been this morning. Paul raised an eyebrow in question. "Well, hello, Mr. Happy Pants." I couldn't help but chuckle at the stupid nickname. I had a good reason to be happy. I had passed a particularly difficult test in Calc with the highest score in the class, and had also corrected an equation in Chemistry and was right. Despite the sour start, I was having a great day.

Paul and I were in an animated discussion over binomial nomenclature when he stopped talking mid-sentence. His cheeks flushed, and his eyes seemed to be following someone. Before I could question my friend, a mess of crimson curls appeared beside our table. She piped up, "Hi Paul. Goliath." I scowled.

"What are you doing here?" I spat.

"Well, I'm required to attend school, and I value education, so that's what I'm doing here."

"For some reason, I find it hard to believe that you'd value education."

She ignored my comment and turned to my friend. "So Paul, how are you today?"

"I'm doing just fine, Annabelle. Thank you for asking." Annabelle. Hmm..... Such a pretty name for such a nasty girl. How ironic. They continued to talk as I ate my food and read a book I'd recently bought. The Phantom of the Opera. Christine Daee had just fainted and Raoul was right by her side, waiting to confess his love to her. I had just read the part about Raoul finding no man in Christine's dressing room when I heard my name.

"Oh, don't mind Oliver. He can be grouchy sometimes." Thanks best friend. I glared at him and he winced.

By this time, the girl I now knew as Annabelle had taken the seat beside Paul. She laid her head on his shoulder, which seemed to make him nervous. I cracked a small smile at his rosy cheeks. Poor guy. Paul was your average, grade-A geek (much like me), so he wasn't used to extra female attention.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I gathered my things and headed straight for the art room. About halfway there, I felt a hand tug on my arm. I turned around to meet a pair of striking emerald eyes.

"Are you heading to art?" I nodded. Weird. She wasn't insulting me. "Good. So am I."

"Wait, what?!"

"I got switched from Oral Communications to art." Great. Just great.

"Um, cool?" She smiled. The silence between grew awkward, so I said the first thing off the top of my head. "So, your name is Annabelle?"

"Yup."

I snorted. "Sounds like a ballerina name."

"No, it sounds like a princess name! And that's because I'm a princess." She beamed at me. Odd....

"Okaaaay then..."

"Hey, at least my name isn't Oliver." That was a dagger through the heart. My eyes stung, but I bit my lip to keep the tears from falling. Don't break in front of her. Not now. She seemed to sense she had said the wrong thing, so she tried quickly to fix it. "Hey, I didn't really mean it. I was just joking." Okay, first not insulting me, now apologizing? What was going on? She seemed flustered, so I plastered a reassuring smile on my face.

"It's alright. I think I'm tough enough to take a teasing."

"Oh, please! You have all the strength of the Sugarplum Fairy!"

"Now, there's the annoying dwarf I know." I smirked, to which she glared.

This was going to be an interesting year..

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A/N: Okay, so I feel like my writing may be confusing, and I apologize if it is. Things should clear up soon, though.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and as always, comment and vote, please! :D

P.S. this is not spell checked or anything, so I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. :P