Lilly In The Storm

Chapter Nine

       It's Wednesday so my class and I are heading to gym class. Once we arrive at the gym we take our seats on the gym floor. This teacher allows us to pick any seat we want so Hannah and I always sit next to each other. The gym is filled with a plethora of voices talking to each other and waiting for the teacher to begin the day's lesson.

       Hannah moves to face me. "So, we should meet sometime after school this week to work on our project." Hannah suggests.

       Our plant project has come to an end recently. We were given October to late November to finish gathering data for our plants. The results were disappointing, our daisy didn't grow a different color. Now that we're finished, we have to make a poster board about the plants. Mrs. Wallis told us she wanted it to be clever. I can be a creative person but sharing that side scares me. What if people don't like my ideas? It would be devastating, so it's better not to share them. Enjoying your ideas in silence beats sharing them and being brought down any day.

       I nod to her as my head begins to gain slight pressure. What if we can't think of an idea? Will she blame me?

       "What do you think we should do?" She asks.

       I put my head down to avoid looking her in the eye. "Uh, I don't know. You pick I guess."

       She shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, we're partners. We should do it together." She tells me with a smile.

       The pressure in my head becomes more prominent from the attempts to convince me. My discomfort grows by the second. "No, I can't. You just do it, we can do the poster together. You come up with the idea." I persist.

       She sighs. "Okay, I guess if you really want me to." She says, finally giving in.

       My nerves begin to ease. I only feel completely at ease when I see our gym teacher walk out from her office, finally class will start and we can stop talking. She instructs us all to sit in the circle at the center of the gym floor. We all do as told and begin class.

       Gym is like it usually is, just a bunch of running around and games. It was one of the better gym days because we did bowling, which is more independent than most games. I like team games but I can't stand people screaming at me to do things, it's a stress inducing mess. Most kids seem to assume you're going to aspire to be a professional athlete or something. It's just gym class, calm down.

       Around an hour later we leave the gym to head back to our class. I keep quiet for a while, wouldn't want to have another bicker with Hannah. I don't get it, I thought I could trust Hannah. What if Zero and Jezz are right? It can't be, but lately I'm second guessing myself being friends with Hannah.

       While we're in class Hannah and I decide to ask our parents tonight if she can come home on the bus with me on Friday to get our project done. I must say I'm a bit worried. Due to Zero's suspicions, we've only had a couple play dates since our first. Plus, our first play date was the only one where she came to my house, the rest I went to hers. She could have stolen something if she came to my house.

       When I arrive home, I walk into the living room to find Mom watching some TV. She looks at me and smiles. "Hey sweetie welcome home!" She says.

       I laugh at her over excitement. "Thanks Mom." I walk closer to the couch where she's sitting. "Hey, would you mind if Hannah came on the bus with me on Friday?"

       She looks at me with surprise. "Wow you haven't had her here in forever, usually you go to her place."

       "So?" I ask her, still waiting on an answer to the plan.