Santa's Daughter (1st bk of Santa Series) (Completed)

Chapter 11 (Edited)

While we were walking into the kitchen and going through the trapdoor that in the pantry, we stayed silent. We climbed down the ladder and went through the passageway, also staying silent.

The passageways lead to the barns, so we didn't have to go through the snow and such. It was a way of an escape, if our house caught on fire or something like that. It was also a place of protection if there was any bad weather coming on us, like a tornado.

There was a generator at one end of the barn, and it controlled the overhead lights that hung off the concrete ceiling. When the power was out, it still ran, letting the whole area be lighted.

Another thing about the passageway was that the floors and walls were also made of concrete. It wasn't that chilly under here, because there were heaters placed at different ends and some in between, making it stay warm. In the summertime, we just turned off the heaters, and not use the passageways.

There were some entrances that lead into the forest. However, the walls, ceiling, and flooring were made of dirt. There were torches at the beginning and end of the parts, so that we could see in the dark.  

"So..." I said starting a conversation, "... why did you want to talk me?" I looked at John through my peripheral vision and not looked at him straight on.

He sighed and looked at me, fear and maybe love in his eyes. He looked rather lost, and I didn't know why. "I-" he began but stopped. He sighed again and turned away, blushing. His hair fell into his face, and I had this urge to move my hands through it.

"Alright who's the pretty girl that you've been looking at that made you so speechless?" I asked, jokingly. I narrowed my eyes, teasingly, while I folded my arms across my chest.

He rubbed his chin, thinking about what I had said.

I could tell that he wanted to make a joke about what I had said to him, because that was what he did sometimes. He usually acted calm and collected with everyone, but when it was just me and him, then he would make a joke or two.

"Well-" he began with his tale, still having his hand on his chin "-there is this one girl who I usually talk to at lunch and am at her house, right now."

I looked at him accusingly as I could get without laughing. "You've been two timing me? Uh how rude," I said trying to keep a straight face. It didn't work. My lip kept twitching, because I wanted to laugh so hard.

John and I joked about our relationship with each other. There wasn't one to begin with, but people assumed that we were together. We evened each other out, kind of. And well, he was my Yin to my Yang. And, I did want to be in a relationship with him, but I didn't want our friendship to end.

"Yeah, with the Snob," John said, teasingly.

That did it I started to laugh. I knew that The Snob would be the last girl on the planet that would get his love. I was sure that he would marry a horse if it came down to her or the horse.

John joined in and laughed with me. His whole face lit up with laughter, and again, I felt that butterfly feeling in my stomach.

We laughed until we got to the passageway that was under the twelfth barn. It was just that funny, because it would never be true. He didn't like her, nor did I. She was that rude, and I didn't know if it was because of her parents or not.

I stopped laughing and looked at John, turning serious. "Really, what is the matter?" I asked, climbing up a ladder. The ladder lead to the office or sitting area that was in the barn.

There was a trap door under a rug, that not a lot of people knew about. Each barn had the same design, even though sometimes the trap door lead to a tack or a feeding room.