A World of Colors

Chapter 10

I now know the name of the girl sitting next to me in ESS. The one that laughed at Mark.

I have to say, I was prepared to hate her. That was until we needed a group of three for one of our labs in ESS, and Mark and I needed the extra person.

Her name is Marlee Evans. She is sixteen years old and has two sisters and two brothers. She is the middle child. Her favorite class is AP English. Her adorable Corgi dog is named Charlie. Her favorite color is pinkish-blueish, a color that is a little less pink than but bluer than purple.

We learned all that in twenty minutes.

She was the kind of person who takes every situation light-hearted. I have never met anybody else so easy to be around. She's a natural with conversation and school. I've only known her for three days now, and I feel like I know every little detail of her life from her twelfth birthday party up.

She's meeting us after school in the library again. Mark and I beat her to it. We take our favorite table at the back again, chatting with the librarian as we enter.

As we take our seats, Marlee walks in. Her blonde hair sparkles with her immaculate nails, and she finds us almost immediately.

"So, how was everybody's day!" It's hard not to laugh at her sing-song tone.

"Ugh. It was just terrible! Mrs. Sparks gave us a humongous project due on Thursday, which only gives me about three days to work on it. Mr. Reynolds gave us two high-quality essays due on Friday, and Frau Chandler gave us an entire book to read, due next Tuesday." I sigh in exasperation as I finish.

"Well then, you'd better get to work!" Mark makes hundreds of jokes at my expense. Marlee laughs and makes fun of the different aspects of life. It feels almost like home.

For my project in Biology, I have to research a certain type of pollution. Inspired by my seagull encounter almost a week ago, I decided to study up on the pollution of the oceans. It's a lot worse than it seems.

Apparently, at our local beach alone, pollution levels are quadruple what they used to be two years past. Seagulls, saltwater salmon, and other essential keystone species are found dead from pollution poisoning on a regular occurrence.

Mark decided to leave a little early that day, leaving me and Marlee alone.

"So, have you heard some of the Homecoming announcements?" She starts giggling. Oh, girls.

"Yes, of course, I have! It's impossible to have not heard them yet! In fact, I was thinking about scheduling the pollution walk the weekend before the dance," I sigh.

"Well, would you like to hang out with me and a couple other girls this weekend? Promise, we don't bite!" She giggles and looks my way. What do I have to lose?

"I would love to!"