encallar [spanish] >> stuck and failing but run aground
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6.
"Here, sit!"
It was exactly the Monday after that morning in Advanced English. Here was Sophia tugging my arm to lead me to a table where she sat with her bandmates—Alexa Bennett and Lee Sanders, both I'm familiar from gossip within the Warburton Gazette (aside from Mireille's obvious display of comparison). I was thrust in front of them both with my packed lunch and chocolate milk, and they both eyed Sophia and I warily, more so about my intrusive arrival to their table.
However, Sophia was never one to sustain awkward silences.
"You would never guess how Mr. Stinson was behaving—"
"Why is she here?" Alexa turned to Sophia, her long acrylic nails grazing the table, contrasting her long black hair, glossy to a default. "We all collectively hate cheerleaders after they all insulted Lee's condition!"
The condition being that she is mute.
"Haley's one of the better ones."
"She literally deserted you in Sophomore year," Alexa corrected.
"We were having a rough patch!" Sophia defended, and both statements were correct. "She sent over Apology cookies yesterday morning in-person to my house, made wholly from oat and raisins! I didn't even tell her I was turning vegan!"
Knowing Sophia, it was because of the rise of nature documentaries about animal killings, and she was engaged with many protests about endangered sea creatures in our town. It was especially a predictable character trait. By the look on Alexa's pale face, she was revolted on how Sophia seemed quick to accept my apology.
I, too, was confused.
"I heard that your band is coming together," I tried to diffuse the situation, giving a smile to the table, that I hope wasn't too assertive. "Congratulations! It was always Sophia's dream to be a drummer in a band."
"Save it, Winchester," Alexa practically growled at me.
I turned to Sophia, standing up from my seat to her dismal confusion. "Yeah, I'm not welcomed here. I should just leave."
Before she could protest, I bolted towards the exit from the cafeteria.
----
"You don't seem that annoyed to see me," Nicholas quipped from his seat next to mine in the library after I made my social escape.
I bit my lip. "Do I have to always be annoyed when I see you?"
"You're always annoyed about me," he opened up his bag for his silver flask. My line of vision when straight to his bottle of choice. The flask, I learned after two weeks of sitting in the library during the lunch period together, was his quench for hydration. Every other second or so, he would grab it from his dark backpack, sipping from it languidly, as if he had the utmost time to sit back and drink.
"Do you want me to be?" I asked, eyeing my vision from his flask to his deep blue eyes. "I don't see any reason to get annoyed by you after you enhanced my romantic comedy report."
"One of my many many talents," he grinned at me, pulling the flask away from his mouth.
"I thought School Board Director sons only do the bare minimum and takes credit for things he didn't do," I reversed the stereotype he placed upon our first meeting.
He scoffed, "I take my schoolwork very seriously, Haley."
"I'm sure you do Nicholas—"
"Nick, please," he interjected. "If we are going to start calling each other by our names, I would rather you don't use my full first name. I feel like being lectured by my father."
"Nick," I tried sounding the name on my tongue, "I'm sure you take your schoolwork seriously."
He gave a curt nod, with a ghost of a smile etching on his face.
"I really liked the design vision you gave for extra credit in the report, Nick," I continued, as I bit my egg sandwich, "you must spend a lot of time online to learn how to rework a design of putting heads of modern romantic comedy characters into illustrations based on Shakespearean plays. That is talent."
"You should tell my father that," he looks away, exhaling, "he loves undermining my every turn."
Noted. He has daddy issues.
"I can definitely imagine the disappointment," I nod.
We sat in silence together for a bit, as I eat my lunch and he sipped on the flask. I could feel my mouth itching to ask him the contents of his flask, why he sips in it as his livelihood depended on it.
"What kind of books do you like?" he asked, suddenly.
I whipped my head quickly at his random question. His eyes were staring at me, mostly at my reaction towards his question.
"I like fantasy books," I narrowed my eyes at him. This...Nick...is acting different.
"Cool, like Harry Potter?" he asked, as if everything was normal.
"Despite being a masterpiece, I would rather read Percy Jackson and the Olympians," I answered normally. "Nick, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Haley. Peachy," a small grin formed in his defined face.
"You're being talkative."
"Am I not always talkative?" he asked, as if it confuses me.
"Nick, you barely say words to me, and your snarky presence irritates me most days," I told him, as gently as possible.
"It's not a crime in wanting to get to know a person."
"It's also not a crime on asking what's going on with you," I faced him, raising my eyebrows.
"I told you I'm fine!" he furrowed his brows.
I chose not to question him further. "Suit yourself, Spencer."
He rolled his eyes at me, "I'm totally being normal, Haley."
I nodded repeatedly at his actions, like I do to Chloe when she's being suspicious. "Uh huh."
"There you guys are!" Miss Birdie's voice sprang from behind us. We both swivelled our bodies quickly to face her—her ash blonde hair pulled in a tight bun with ringlets framing her plump face, and her arms filled with bangles like the 70s. "I have a proposition for both of you!"
She grabbed a chair from behind her to sit in front of both of us. "I should have known to look at the library first! That's where the duo I needed for the Gazette to thrive!"
Nick glanced at me. "Is this an official proposition to join the Warburton Gazette?"
As she smiled brightly at his question, I understand why people call her The Bird.
She is requesting for an outlandish idea from the two people who wanted nothing to do with it.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I had another cover uploaded, and this is all thanks to my friend @spicyramyeons.It is also exactly six chapters in nick and haley's interactions in 2018, that she too also made me two covers. So I dedicate this beginning to her. Despite that and all my shortcomings with this story, I would like to believe it has a definitive ending for them.
-as always with the weird timing updates, ken-
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The Scraps
Novela Juvenil"So tell me, how does one get suspended from cheerleading?" Haley Winchester got stripped off her title as the Captain of the Cheerleaders, before she even became one. On top of that, she has to deal with the wreck of her family, the loss of her see...
