From Afar

Chapter 9

Andi woke up late the next day, Shane practically had to drag her off her bed. The second she was ready for school, she grabbed her things and went down to gulp down her milk.

"Slow down, Andi" Mrs. James reminded.

Mr. James came down and was fixing his tie when he said, "How was your date last night?"

Andi almost choked on her milk, "Dad," she said before finishing her drink, "it was not a date. It was for our art project."

Her dad looked at her, "Right" he said, "Well, then did you enjoy?"

Andi managed a yes as she rummaged through her messenger bag for her car keys.

"Invite him for dinner?" Mrs. James asked.

"I'll try, mom. I invited him to the rest house this weekend" she said, finally relieved to have found her keys. She kissed her parents goodbye and ran out.

She was already at her locker when the bell rang, first period is about to start. She sent Ashley a message, running late. I slept in, cover 4 me? i'll b there in a few. Thanks. xoxo

She grabbed her books and raced to Literature. She let out a sigh of relief when she found the classroom still in chaos, it meant Ms. Collins hasn't arrived yet. She made her way to her seat, and settled her books on her armchair. Her phone vibrated, a message from Sky, mornin' slept well sleepyhead?

She smiled and typed, i was having a nice dream abt a delicious lobstr wen reality woke me up. She hit send by the time their teacher entered the room.

Ms. Collins placed her things on the table, and pulled out a book. She cleared her throat and stood in front of the table, "We have an activity today. Each one of you gets a blank sheet of paper, pass this around" she said handing out a bundle to the student in front.

When everybody had one, she continued, "Arrange the chairs in a circle form, everybody must be in the circle."

"Settle down," Ms. Collins said once the chairs were arranged, "This is a simple activity. First write your name on top. When I say pass I want you to pass your paper to the person sitting on your left. You must write something on the paper passed to you, write either a trait or any observation you have of that person. You are not allowed to sign under what you wrote, it must remain anonymous. You can write anywhere on the paper. Understood?" The class nodded and started writing their names on top.

"Let's start. Pass" Ms. Collins ordered. It went on for about fifteen minutes, when the papers were returned to their respective owners, Ms. Collins asked a question, "Who here does not agree to the words written on their papers?"

No one raises their hand, "Very well, then" she continued, "How do you think is this relevant to Literature?" Ashley raised her hand, "Just like with books, we tend to pass judgment based on the title or the synopsis without really knowing what's inside"

"Yes" Ms Collins agreed, "always remember that the outside is as important as the one from the inside. Everything has two sides, we are composed of more than one thing. Those that are written on your papers are just few of what you are made of, they can matter but at the same time, they may not." With that conclusion, the bell rang and students started grabbing their things.

Andi is still sleepy and tired, in her Math class, she conveniently fell asleep. She was awaken by a shake, "D!!! Waaaaake uuuup". She opened her eyes and saw Ashley staring at her, eyes wide open.

"You fell asleep in Math?! Tell you what, you can't copy my notes about today's topics, 'kay?" she teased.

Andi stretched her arms and let out a long yawn, "Okay. what was it about though?" she asked.

"Limits" Ashley replied, "Come on. Kyle's waiting for us outside" she pulled on Andi's arm that was resting on the armchair.

"Mornin'" Kyle greeted. Andi nudged him and started walking in front of the two who fell into a conversation. They arrived in the cafeteria, everyone was gathered in the center. Kyle ran towards it, the two girls behind him. They saw Sky in and Felix staring at each other.

"You shut your mouth, got that?" Sky shouted.

"Oh please" Felix snorted, "everyone knows it. You're being nice to her so you can get into her pants."

Sky moved towards Felix but Seth grabbed his shoulder. His eyes found Andi among the audience who gathered around them. Andi turned away, heading out of the room. "Go" Seth ordered. Sky caught up to Andi in the lockers, "Hey" he called.

Andi was gripping her books too tight, her knuckles turn white. She exhaled and forced herself to face him, "Hey".

"It," Sky struggled, "It wasn't true, what you heard. I want us to be friends, not because you know..." he trailed off. Andi smiled, "I know. I just thought that you shouldn't risk being in detention because of getting in an argument to defend me".

Sky kept his eyes on the floor, "I don't care. What he said was wrong, I didn't like it and that's why I retaliated."

"Well, next time ignore him okay?" Andi replied, "Want to eat out?"

Sky looked at Andi and offered her a smile, "I'd love to. McDonald's sound good?"

Andi agreed and they head out to the parking lot. When they got to Mcdonald's, Andi suggested a naughty idea, "Want to try ordering in the drive thru without a car?"

"Walking you mean?" he asked, a little confused. Andi gave him a devious smile then nod. They stepped out of the car and looked around, they casually walk to the drive thru window and placed their order. When they claimed their food, they laughed because they didn't know they would get away with such a silly act. They went back to the car and ate.

"Are you still coming this weekend?" Andi asked, fixing all her trash.

Sky ate the last piece from his burger, "mhmmm" he replied. "We should get back" Andi said.

"I have to pass by my locker" Sky said.

"Sky!" Dana called, behind her were their friends with worried looks, "Where were you guys?"

"We ate at McDonald's" Andi said.

"By the way, is the outing to your villa this Saturday?" Seth asked. Andi nodded, "Why?"

Seth shrugged, "I was thinking if I can join your brother and his friends in the swimming competition?"

"I'll talk to him about it but I'm sure he'll be glad to know you'll join them" Andi replied. The six of them walked towards the music room, people were sitting with their groups rehearsing for their projects. Sky held Andi's arm as if to say stop, "Want to go work on our art project later?" he asked, his eyes hopeful.

"Sure!" Andi said enthusiastically. They entered the room and sat among their friends.

Their teacher arrived and called groups one by one to perform. Since Sky worked as an individual, he was the last one to present. He took a deep breath before walking to the guitar placed in the corner. "Hi," he took his seat in the center, "I wrote this song hoping to make her smile. To the girl who makes my dreams worthwhile, to you, the one who completely holds my heart"

http://m.soundcloud.com/alexdncl/im-in-love-with-you-original

*This is a song composed of a friend. I asked if I can use it for this book as Sky's song because I am no song writer.