Charlie's Story ~ My Eighth Grade Dilemma ~ Book One

Charlotte Raleigh's Plain, Lonely Life

My name is Charlotte Raleigh, Charlie for short.  Okay, first things first, I am atheist.  A socially awkward atheist teenage girl who basically has 3 friends, Destany Frakes, Sophia Finkton, and Ethan Nigma, loves to read, watch youtube videos, and play video games alone.  I'm short, no matter how much I try or how many growth spirts I get, or how long my legs grow, I have a strong, unlady like, jaw, dull light olive skin, brownish/black dry wavy hair, and wide, brown eyes.  Every morning I wake up, I follow my usual routine.

Bedroom: Stall getting ready (read), clothes

Bathroom: Business, hair (brush through it so I don't look like a witch, occasionally tying it up, nothing too fancy), face (just lotion, maybe some eye liner, my thin framed glasses, take out my invisalign braces)

Kitchen: Food (I also read while I eat)

Garage: Shoes (usually my old Levi's), car (I don't drive, I only start my mom's car)

Bus Stop: Make myself look presentable (my crush rides my bus), read

Today is the day I break up with Lawrence Noir.  I just love Ethan too much.  I don't want to hurt Lawrence any longer.

Speaking of Ethan, my bus screeches to a halt as we reach Ethan's stop.  When he gets on the bus he sits across from me, as usual.  And, as usual, I stare his way when he isn't looking back at me.  His bright blue eyes look darker, meaning he's happier today.  He wears a white polo and his light grey Areopostile sweater and light denim jeans.  He sits cross-legged with his new white iPhone 5c, covered with his Dr. Who phone case, in his hands and white headphones, one earbud in and the other hanging to his side.  His dark dirty blond hair is sleek and wings out at the bottom, he looks like he does every day, perfect.  I remember sixth grade, the first time I saw him, I automatically liked him.  But now, in our eighth grade year, I have a better understanding of how sweet of a friend he is and how kind he really is on the inside, and I have come to the conclusion that I love this boy.  Although I can never bring myself to say it, I love him more than anything.  He's a nerd, like myself, and he loves messing with me, making my predicament even worse.  I let only a few people mess with me like he does, he is very special to me and he doesn't know it.  Of course, he knows that I have a crush on him, but he doesn't know how much he has helped me through really tough times, or how much I love him.

We get off the bus and walk to the same spot, where the band students always sit.  I set my stuff down, without looking at him, in my corner and walk into the lunch room to drag Destany out so we can talk and such.  I tell her about the letter I'm going to pass to Lawrence and we talk about that for a while.  Then I start talking about Ethan.  And I realize that people occupying the area we circle around, the band area, can hear us so I change the subject.  We talk about stuff that we usually talk about, something weird.  Destany is one of my closest friends and basically the only girl I would ever date.  Oh, I almost forgot, I'm pan-sexual, meaning I don't care about gender.  Love is love.  Now, back to describing Destany.  (Wow, that sounds like a John Green book) Destany has grey eyes, but I insist they are turning green, which they ARE.  She is quite shy and she hides behind her shoulder length blond hair when she laughs or is embarrassed.  She has metal braces, the kind I prefer if you are either too lazy to wear plastic on your teeth unless you eat, can't keep track of multiple trays of plastic braces, are in danger of loosing your braces trays, or just don't like the idea of plastic constricting the ability to breath through gritted teeth.  I am all of those.  Anyways, Destany is what seems to be straight fitted and wears baggy or old fashioned sweaters nearly every day.  She isn't that tall, my legs are longer than her's, and she has a pretty short torso, but she is still taller than me.  By now, she's gotten used to having me latch onto her arm that she puts it out when she knows I'm near her.  I treat her like my sister, and I love her like one too.  She is the sister I never had.  We don't fight, but when we have a slight disagreement, we get over it just as fast as it came up.  She, too, has helped me through depression, anxiety, paranoia, suicidal thoughts, etc. and I love her for it.

But Destany demands that I let her inside so I do.  I am alone in a crowded area.  I walk around, avoiding the assistant principle because he is disgustingly creepy.  It's either he always has a boner, or he needs different pants.  He also needs to STOP FOLLOWING GIRL STUDENTS AROUND THE SCHOOL.  I hate perverts.  Especially Jerry in my symphonic band class.  Even though I only have one period with him, I have to deal with his perverted self every school day because we both have band P.A.W.S. (school mascot is the cougar, it's our block period) and we have the same lunch.  And what really bothers me is that he is in seventh grade.  So basically next year's sixth graders will be total perverts, "badasses", or total sluts, seventh graders will be the same, and eighth graders will be *shiver* NORMAL.

Finally, I get to leave for my zero period, jazz band, when the bell rings.  As I walk to the band room, I turn around to find Ethan is staring at me.  Our eyes meet and my heart stops.