Imaginary Friend

Chapter 13 - Information and Spoken Love

Today was my first day at Celia's school. It's a lot bigger than I imagined with far too many people. Seriously, there's so many people there. The desks and chairs they have you sit at are far too cramped, and the classrooms are the same size as a Redbox machine. The people here, though, are definitely amusing to me. Most of the people shouldn't even bother attending school, Heaven knows they don't have the brain capacity to retain any of the information that they learn.

Also, those mean girls Celia constantly told me about? They're airheads. Seriously, they probably can't even recite the full alphabet. They kept hitting on me too..I didn't really find it flattering, but I've never been hit on before. I'm a bit disappointed that those are the kind of people that I attract. Granted, I can't control who hits on me. Guess I'm just a babe. Yeah, I sound too jerky right now.

I grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder. I started walking forwards, the students looking at me and whispering about me. I was taller than most of them, except for the guys that played football or basketball. The feeling of knowing you're being judged by every single person you lay eyes upon is a feeling that will forever haunt me. You have no idea what they're saying, what rumors they'll spread about you, or what they'll say to their friends. 

I ducked my eyes down to meet the floor, the only thing in this school I know wouldn't judge me. Well, the floor, and Celia. Oh crap, Celia! That's who I was looking for. I got distracted by these people. Man, Celia is so smart. Everytime the teacher looks for an answer, she always has her hand up and says the correct answer. Her assignments look like they were written by William Shakespeare himself, and the math equations she solved could outdo Albert Einstein. 

Gosh, she's incredible. She told me she had to visit the library for information on..well, me. How I became real, the history of imaginary people, etc. I have to meet her there so that we can walk home together. I continued walking until I reached the red-colored door with the word "LIBRARY" over it. I swung open the doors like a sheriff in a Western movie and walked inside the room filled with arrays of books. The librarian looked at me with a hint of curiosity. Probably wondering who I am, no doubt.

I turn my head around and give the woman a friendly smile. I continue my search for Celia as I continue to blend in with my surroundings. I scan the aisles, seeing a couple students here and there, but I'm only looking for that cute little red-head. Did I really say that? Well, yeah, she is cute. I can't let her know though, she probably doesn't feel the same way about me. Not that I feel a way about her! I have to stop lying. I like her, you know that, enough said. 

I go down the second to last aisle and see her! She's looking inside a huge book with a red cover. I sneak up behind her and make plans to scare her, but instead do something a little sweeter. "Hello, sugarplum." I smile softly, kissing her head. My eyes widen and I blush realizing what I just did and said. Why did I do that? I don't know, I'm a weirdo.

Celia turns around to me, a confused look on her face. She smiles, chuckling a bit. "Hey, weirdo." She greets me, not as kindly as I did her. I smiled at her, nonetheless, and looked at her book. "So, did you find anything about my people?" I asked her. She put her fingers to her lips and looked around as if this were a secret. Ohhh..it is. I covered my mouth and nodded, a way of saying an apology in my book. Celia gets a bit closer to me and shows me the book she had was cut in the middle, a smaller book placed inside. I looked at it in plain confusion and wonder. 

"Is that..a book about me?" I ask in a low hush. Celia nodded. She took the small book out and showed me the title - The Imaginary People. Yep, that's me. This was all a bit exciting. I never knew much of how I was born, who I was, and why I never saw my parents. The only person I ever saw was Celia, and that's how I became her friend. There are so many unanswered questions I have. Could this book be the key to the door of answers?

Celia put the book back and closed it inside of the bigger book. "This is the only book I found so far, but it's better than nothing. I need to check this one out and study it when I get home." I nodded, about to leave when she grabbed my arm and turned me around. "Jack, please let me read it first. I don't know what information it holds, but I need to be the first to read it..just in case." I got a bit baffled. "In case of what? Celia, this book holds the answers to questions I've asked since the beginning of my life. I have to read it." "And you can. Just not now. I don't want you to be scarred by the information you may find."

She's only trying to protect me, but I need to know where I come from. I can take any information in there, I'm a big boy. I bite my tongue and nod, pulling my arm away from her. Even though my back was turned, I could tell that she had a sad look on her face. The fact that I caused her to be sad made me die a little on the inside. Shake it off, Jack, shake it off. I looked at Celia with a smile and beckoned her to the desk where she could check out her book. I watched intensely as they performed the ritual of checking out the library books. It was magical.

After we left the school, we started walking home. We already settled on the story we would tell Celia's parents. I'm a transfer student that has no friends and Celia was the only one that was nice to me. We're doing a project together and this project will last for weeks, so I will need to come home every day with her for that week, until nighttime. Then, I'll hide in Celia's room until morning when we get ready and I leave the house before her parents wake up. 

I scoffed randomly and looked down at the ground. "Well, your school certainly is different than I imagined it to be. Those girls..they were hitting on me. Me?" I scoffed again, baffled by the thought. Celia looked up at me, then straight ahead. "Well, I don't know, I guess they think you're handsome." Her tone made it seem as if she was a bit..jealous? No, that can't be..can it? I looked over at her. "Yeah, well, those girls were total airheads. But they were dressed nice and had lots of makeup on." I said to test the waters. Let's see if little CeCe is jealous of these girls. 

Celia didn't look at me again. Her cheeks lost color and she kept walking in a straight line, like an ordered soldier. "I'm g-glad you think they're cute. Maybe if you get to know them more you can hang out with them and be with them instead of me." She bit her bottom lip, probably to keep from crying. No, that was the opposite of what I wanted to find out. Well, she's jealous, but now I almost made her cry. 

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, taking Celia's hands in mine. I turned her around and looked into her bright, beautiful eyes filling up with tears. "Hey! Don't think like that. I just wanted to see if you were jealous. I think nothing of those dweebs. You are everything to me, Celia, and I would never leave you for someone as stupid as they are." I caressed her cheek softly. "They are nothing compared to you. You're my life, Celia." Maybe I got a bit too emotional with this, but that's only scratching the surface of how I feel about Celia. 

Well, my attempts did nothing, because she started crying. I immediately panicked and tried to hit the Undo button on my life. "Celia! No, holy cow! Stop crying! Ah!" I shot into a panicked frenzy, trying to wipe her tears. "Jack, you idiot! These are happy tears!" She smiled, looking up at me. I looked down at her. "They..are?" I asked. She nodded. She hugged me tightly. "Thank you, Jack, thank you. I love you." 

Congratulations on melting my heart, Celia. "I-I love you too."