Finding Home

Chapter 8

I want to make one thing tremendously clear, I'm shy. It's not a secret, I know that I'm shy. I freak out when I talk to people. I worry that we won't have anything to talk about. What if I say the wrong thing? What will they think of me? What if they don't like what they see? So as you can imagine, I was exceedingly nervous as I pushed open the door to the hangout room. What if it was too crowded or loud? What if people were running around screaming everywhere, but as I stepped into the room, all I saw was a fairly large room with just a couple of kids, really, just hanging out.
There were foosball tables and lounge chairs. A snack bar and a refrigerator. People were laughing, chatting, reading, writing, goofing off, listening to music, really doing anything. I almost immediately spotted the girl I'd spoken to the previous night. Her cotton candy hair was up in a high ponytail. She turned and her eyes landed on mine. To my surprise, she came right over, a kind smile sitting on her face.
"Hey, I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Meredith. We talked last night." I nodded, hearing AJ's voice in my head, "Give them a chance". I breathed in and answered smiling, "Yah." Then paused unsure of what to say next. I wasn't used to making friends and it wasn't an expert on how to do it. Luckily Meredith seemed to be a pro in the friend-making department. "Anna right?"
"Yep." I nodded again.
"Cool, well, do you like foosball? We're playing a game against some kids and I kinda, well, suck. Are you any good? I'm sure the two of us could crush them even if we both aren't the greatest. What do you think?" I couldn't believe it. She was asking me to hang out with her! This was going much better than I had anticipated. There was only one problem.
"Um, I'm not sure, I've, uh, never played before."
"Don't worry one bit! You'll catch on really quickly!" She winked. Gaining enough courage, I followed her to the back of the room, my heart pounding like a beatbox at one of Mama's parties.

It turned out there was one thing I wasn't expecting after heading over with Meredith to the foosball tables. It was our opponents. It just so happened they were the two I'd spoken with this morning. Meredith began to introduce me, but  the one who'd made fun of me swiftly interrupted her, "I'm Jamal and this is my brother Jack." There was a bit of silence and then finally Jamal spoke again, but this time it came out all in a rush as quick as a heartbeat, "I, uh, just wanted to say, that, um, I'm sorry about this morning. I, well, it doesn't matter why. I was mean and I'm sorry."
Shocked, I was speechless. I must have looked stunned because Jack walked over the table to me and said, "You okay Anna?"
"Yes, I'm fine, sorry. Nice to meet you both... again." I decided to shake off what Jamal had said yesterday, we all had our faults and he seemed like a genuinely good guy, Jack too. Maybe everyone here had faults just like me. Maybe this place wouldn't be as bad as I'd thought.
"Well" Meredith budged in, interrupting my thoughts, "Shall we play?" Everyone nodded eagerly and we began.
For the next hour, I slowly caught onto the game. I can't say I'm a pro at the game, or that I'm any good. Meredith would never admit it, but I think I made her worse. Despite my lack of talent, we had a blast. We were in a fountain of laughter half the time. I can't say I've laughed so much in a while.
The end score, which neither Meredith or I am proud to say, was 12-0 for Jack and Jamal. Even though we'd lost horribly, I was still keen on playing, but Meredith happily pulled me over to one of the couches to a girl with her head practically touching the notebook she was holding. Her hand was writing words and sentences so fast I was mesmerized. Her hair was stuck in a messy bun perched on the top of her head. Large round glasses also sat upon her nose covering up a coating of warm, dusty freckles.
"Hey Rebecca, this is Anna." Meredith said. The girl looked up from her notebook and smiled, "Hi."
I croaked back a hello in return. "Rebecca is a writer." Meredith informed me, with a kind twinkle in her eyes. "Aw, Mer, you're the sweetest." Rebecca said and turned to me, "I'm really nothing, Mer just likes to brag about everything. Don't tell her anything you're passionate about because if you do it's all she'll talk about it for the rest of eternity." I giggled. I liked Rebecca alright. She had a warm, kind glow about her.
I sat down beside her while she and Meredith talked about an assignment they had in school. They must attend the same school I thought.
After sitting there contemplating whether or not to take the risk for several minutes, the AJ in me burst out.
Books have always been something I've relied on throughout my life. Mama never had the money to buy me books, but the library became my best friend before I can remember. I spent more time in there than at home. The librarian would always say that someday she'd run out of books for me to read. I'd always thought it would be so cool to have a friend who was a writer. I'd have a constantly changing library with me. So I decided to take the risk and ask.
When a pause in their conversation took place I realized my chance, "Hey Rebecca, I know this might be super weird, but I absolutely love books and I, uh, was, um, wondering if I could, um, read some of your work. I totally understand if you don't want me to. You, um, don't know me and well, I think I might feel kind of weird if, someone I didn't know, um, asked me, to, um..." I started to realize I was mumbling and stumbling and getting nowhere. I stared into my hands which were fiddling with a loose string on my borrowed shirt wishing as hard as I could that the last thirty seconds hadn't happened. I was about to excuse myself when Rebecca gently took one of my hands and my face turned up to hers, "Of course you can read my work. Please don't feel bad. I have been dying to get a real book lover to critic my work! Meredith isn't much a book person." I shifted my gaze over to Mer who shook her head mouthing "Movies are so much better!" Rebecca giggled and I joined along. She playfully shoved Mer. We all smiled.
Rebecca looked back down to her notebook and then turned to a bag I hadn't noticed that was sitting slumped beside her. She pulled out a couple more notebooks, ruffled through a few and finally handed my one. I was an old leather book with light rose embroidery of petit flowers crawling up the cover. "Here," she said placing it into my hands, "I think you'll enjoy this one."
I looked up into her eyes, they were a soft deep green. A comforting colour. We stared at each other for a moment, her gaze told me all I needed to know, we were going to become good friends.