Book lover

Ch.2

"Elizabeth?" Thomas asked in confusion.

"Oh, yes. I think she's just down the hallway. Elizabeth! Hun, can you come here for me, I'd like to ask you something," Ms. Flash called.

I closed my eyes, bit my lip, turned around and put on a smile.

"Elizabeth is my top student, 1 of 2 members of the book club, and always eager to learn," Ms. Flash said, embarrassing me.

For a cool teacher, sometimes she doesn't understand how typical high school students work.

"I don't know if you over heard Thomas and me, but I'm letting you know this is your choice. Thomas here needs a tutor to help boost up his grade. You don't have to help him, but I will give you extra credit," Ms. Flash said, turning to me with a hopeful smile.

Don't you hate when your best friend knows that you like a guy so they will keep trying to set you up with him?

Yeah. Best friends are great. Sigh.

" Elizabeth?" Ms. Flash said, with a sense of urgency in her voice as she glanced at her watch again.

"Oh. Sorry. Uh. Well. I'm thinking about it. And I. I just don't really know. Sorry. I don't know if I can. Sorry," I said all at once.

"Okay. Well. I hate to do this, but I have to jet, I'm running late. Discuss it together, and Elizabeth you let me know!" she said, skittering away and leaving us together in the empty hallway.

Awkwardness flooded the situation.

Before I could say something embarrassing, Thomas' phone went off, giving me the perfect opportunity to escape.

He took his phone out of his pocket and turned to answer it.

This was my chance!

I turned around and practically ran down the hallway.

I made it out the doors finally so I was free!

"Wait!" I heard Thomas yell behind me.

Then I was grabbed by the shoulders.

I stopped.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I'm Thomas." He said to me, out of breath from running, but still like a model.

Yes, Thomas I know who you are. We have been going to school together since, I don't know, kindergarten!

"I'm Elizabeth, and I know who you are," I replied instead, quietly looking down out of instinct.

Awkwardness creeped up us again.

"Do you need a ride home?" Thomas asked out of the blue.

"You can drive?" I asked.

"Well. No. But I have a bike," he said, with a cheesy yet confident grin.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I said grinning sheepishly too.

I started walking away.

"Wait!" Thomas called after me.

He was good at catching up to my fast walk.

"I know you probably don't want to help me and all but um... here's my number at least. Text me and tell me if you change your mind," Thomas said, scratching something on a piece of paper and handing I out to me.

"Okay," I replied.

I took the piece of paper from him and we went our separate ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rolling up the mat in front of the door, I picked up the key and unlocked it.

I plopped all of my stuff in my room I shared with my 17 year old sister, Emily. All of her stuff was in boxes.

"Elizabeth, is that you?" Emily called from the kitchen.

"Yes," I answered, wondering what the boxes meant.

The past few years Emily has hardly ever been home. She is always at her boyfriend's house, like all night.

She walked in the room.

"Hey, sit down sis," she said awkwardly.

I moved a box and sat down on the bottom bunk, which was hers.

"Obviously by the boxes you can see that somethings up," she started, "I'm moving out."

My stomach sank in my shoes. How could she just randomly drop this bomb on me! Everything inside of me that I had been holding in just came out at once.

"First dad, then Harry, now you... Why?! You promised me you'd never leave for good!" I yelled.

"I'm so sorry Liz. It's just Clint is moving to Washington for a job."

"You don't have to go with him!" I remarked.

"Elizabeth, I'm going with Clint, because... Because... " she started.

"Because why?!" I yelled.

"I'm pregnant! And I'm leaving tonight," she told me, as if she'd been holding it in.

I shot up from the bunk.

And hit my head.

But at this moment, the pain I felt in my heart was greater than anything else.

"You're going all the way to Washington tonight?!" I exclaimed, bewildered.

"I'm sorry I have to go, I just have to," she said, picking up a box and carrying it out of the room, ending the discussion.

I can't believe what's going on!

I grabbed my back pack and books and ran out the door.

I went to the woods. I have a special place I go to. Its a gigantic tree, that looks over the town if I climb high enough.

I climbed it as far as I could, then looked down and realized I had never climbed this far before.

I sat up there and cried for hours.

The first time I found this tree was when my mom and dad got a divorce right before 3rd grade started. I was 8.

Because of that two things happened.
One is that my dad left and joined the army.

Second is that my mom started drinking... A lot.

But about 2 years later she also found this guy named Bill, who is not a good guy. In fact, he's abusive. He had 3 kids of his own. Herbert is Emily's age. It's rumored that he sells drugs now on the street. For some reason, he hates me. He claimed I was too "goody-good." Emily and her twin, Harry, didn't like him much either. He also had 2 other kids, younger than me named Lucy and Jane, but they live with Bill's mom. Less than a year after they got married, my mom and Bill had a baby boy named Edward.

But before we could even try to adjust to a new "dad", the summer before I started 8th grade, my real dad was announced missing in action. I haven't heard anything else since then.

Because of that, Harry ran away. He was only 15 years old but nobody knew where he went.

Now Emily is leaving me!

I know for a fact that my mom doesn't care because she's always going to clubs and getting drunk. She wouldn't even notice Emily gone. Herbert and Bill would probably be happier. Edward also lives with Bill's mom now. She won't let any of us see them, however, so they grow up not knowing me and I grow up not knowing them.

I have no one.

Except the characters I read in my books. And my best friend English teacher who gives them to me.