M is for Melody (Old)

Chapter 5: I Catch The Geometry Bug

I sit next to Ellie in math, the second year in a row - which is how I really met him. I saw him around with Wendy a few times during moments past, but he was silent and I never really talked to him face-to-face until last year's final semester. I suppose I have Kripps to thank (ew), for he was technically the one that made the seating chart. Little by little I seem to be replenishing my lost comrades. Smiling a bit sadly as I take my seat, I remind myself of many brooding years spent alone, perfecting my daydreams instead of my intimacy with other people. I drop my head on the desk and feign sleep.

Indeed, ever since sixth grade, everyone I knew slowly dispersed from my sight, setting out for other things and people who desired trips to the mall more than hours of pouring over complicated origami.

First, it was Hannah, a girl who indulged in romance novels. She was the first person I ever met under friendly circumstances. However...she notified me via email that my contact was deleted from her phone the summer after fifth grade ended. I suppose that spiteful message I received was the result of webs full of rumors spun by other prissy girls who showed a bit too much of their skin in public. What can I say? I'm quite the rumor-target of my own fault. For Hannah, I only can estimate that what she thought of me those last few weeks was altered to an extreme scale and she no longer wished to be seen with a creep like myself.

Next is Quinn. She is the kindest person I have ever met. But I guess that didn't matter at all, because her parents both got jobs early into seventh grade in Phoenix and nothing she could coax was tempting enough for them to cancel their flight and the permanent move to Arizona. Thus, Quinn went to live on the other side of the country. And I haven't seen her since (which may or may not be because her mother thought of me as a delinquent).

Jackie, Morgan, and Paris too. All went their own ways eventually. Now, since then, almost three years without a place to sit at lunch and no partners to work with in class, I met Wendy.

Wendy was the new girl last year. She has long, curly brunette hair that is pushed back with clips every day. Her dresswear consists of skirts and corduroy short-jackets, hand painted sneakers, and a different color of nail polish every day. She moved from Maine, which she said was the drabbest and boring place on the face of the Earth. I guess she's right, I can think of not one intriguing thing in that state.

Well, for some miraculous reason during that first day at lunch she sat down...next to me. At my lonely table in the corner. Why she won't tell me I don't know. And so! She became my friend.

Ellie seemed to just poof into existence from there. I had never seen him before, but a few days later Wendy was pulling him to and fro her business. Back then he was quite quiet. He simply folded his hands and sat behind us on the bus. Then something clicked with him this year, and he started to be funny and smart all of a sudden. He helps me with math a lot.

Speak of the devil! He arrives. My eyes follow his procession. His back is straight when he walks, and his stride is long. Others look back as he passes, like their gazes are magnetic. I can never figure out if they love looking at him or think he's the strangest being on the planet for hanging out with me. But no, I'm the strangest being on the planet, don't they get that already?

"Hello, yonder human being," I greet, saluting awkwardly in my face-down position.

Ellie sits down beside me and picks up one of my braids. "I thought sleep was for nighttime, not math class," he teases.

"I'd rather stay up at night watching anime than sit through this horribly boring hour with my eyes plastered open in an effort to absorb this pointless information," I respond, blinking sleepily for effect. My jaw bounces on the desk as I speak, lifting the top of my head in time with my words. I tuck a hand under my chin to act as a cushion against the hard surface.