The Earth Still Revolves

Chapter 2: The Haiku

I pretended like I didn't even notice her standing right in front of my face.

"Hi, I'm Lisa," she said. She sounded like a kindergartener during snacktime.

I didn't say a word. I didn't even look up. She kept talking.

"I saw you sitting alone and I thought you know since I'm sitting alone too why not make a new friend because if you're sitting there and I'm sitting there why should both of us have to be alone I mean-"

"Please. You can stop talking," I quietly shushed her.

I rolled my eyes, stood up, and walked away from that table.

I just wanted to be alone, as I am normally surrounded by talking people.

My eyes scanned the outside tables and there was nobody. I sighed a subtle sigh of relief and sat away from the door.

Zip! I opened my back pack and smiled to the sight of my journal.

I read an old entry:

A field of flowers

Blue as day

One flower in a field

Pretty pink pansy

I decided to write a new entry:

Like geese in the fall

Secrets that cannot be shared

Fill the gloomy sky

I almost ripped out that horrible haiku when a blaring noise sounded from all around me. Could this lunch period get any more annoying?

From crazy Lisa to fire drill.

That was the boiling point. I simply could not take it anymore. My exercised legs carried me away from the fire drill and to the parking lot.

And then to the main road by the school. And then to the near neighborhood.

Until I realized that leaving too early would screw up my plan.

I screeched to a halt and secretly snuck back on campus.

"Ma'am, you're going to have to do a lot of explaining in the principal's office," the amazingly sneaky freshman patrol raised his eyebrows as he spoke.

"Can I just explain it to you now?" I pleaded. He hesitantly nodded. "I was at lunch, and the school never does drills during lunch periods. That caused me to totally freak and I ran, not knowing where to go."

"Why didn't you just follow everyone else?"

"I was alone outside, but not far enough from the school to be safe," I batted my eyes at him, hoping he'd let me go.

The patrol used his pen to flick the air in the school's direction after a moment of slow thought. My face grew a fake, cheesy grin and I skipped back to lunch.

I couldn't believe he'd bought it. Idiot.

I resumed my lunch time and wrote a diary-type entry in my journal on the page with the haiku.

I was disgusted as the bell interrupted my choppy silence.

Blah blah blah, the rest of my day went on nobody cares...

The next ten days went pretty much the same (obviously, weekends excluded).

My plan was a success so far, and I was glad. For my plan to be absolutely perfect, I would need a car tomorrow.

On the morning of my graduation, the day my life was supposed to begin, I woke up to unwanted silence in my house. My parents were gone.