Organized Chaos | OCs and Short Stories

Georgia

So I wrote this for an ELA project back in 2017, when I was in seventh grade. It's been a while but I still like it, so I figured why not post it?

Side note - this story is based on the book Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. There will be characters from that story in this one, and the entire premise of the garden is from Seedfolks.

So yeah, enjoy!

Word count: 1,886

The school bell rings, and suddenly there is an explosion of noise from everyone around me. I stuff my papers in my bag as the math teacher tries (and fails) to calm everyone down and maintain order. I stand only when everyone else is by the door, and go through the usual motions that guide me down a relatively safe path out of the middle-grade hallway. Thank the teacher and place all of the books that aren't needed for homework inside my locker. My eyes catch on the images I put up back there. They are partially covered by my books, it I can still see them clearly. One is a picture of my parents and I at a church gathering, and right next to it is an image of Tessa and I at the pride festival that some people host every year down the street. My parents still don't know that I took the picture with Tessa.

I reluctantly close up my locker and start down the now almost quiet hallway. I have about four minutes until the cleanup students are released and by then I need to be in the upper-grade hallway, which releases half an hour after we do.

After taking a few well-learned turns, I find myself in the upper-grade hallway, which leads to the side entrance. From there it's only a five-minute walk to my apartment.

Except, of course, I have to wait for my two friends to push their way out of the packed-together parade of middle schoolers that is the front entrance.

As Charlie and Tessa greet me, my mind goes to what I resolved to tell my parents this afternoon. I've liked girls for almost two years now, and Tessa's been bugging me to tell my parents for half of that time. The problem is, I don't know if they will be supportive. Obviously I hope they are, since I would love to have their support. But it's always hard to tell with my parents, since they work so much that I never hear many of their opinions on anything.

"So, you going to bring up the dreadful, horrible topic - that you hate talking about in public - with your parents tonight?" Tessa asks not-so-subtly while elbowing me in the side, a wide grin on her face as she drags me out of my thoughts.

"First off, ouch!" And second, um, yeah....." I pretend to fall to the ground from her blow to my side. She just laughs it off.

"Why are you so nervous? My parents were fine!" Tessa told her parents about her "gayness" (her word, not mine) about two weeks before she started telling me to 'get up my courage and drop the bomb' on my parents.

"Look, Tessa, not everyone is as open-minded as your parents." Charlie cuts in as I get up and we start walking. "Aww, thanks-" I begin, but he cuts me off. "However," he continues with a sneaky grin in my direction, "However. I do think that Gigi is being a wimp." Any thankfulness I may have felt before was now gone.

"Hey! One, I am not a wimp, and two, I told you not to call me that!" As we turn on to the next street, I catch a glimpse of a ton of green, and the smell of leaves and vegetables (of all things) reaches my nose.

"What is that?!" Tessa exclaims, pointing in the direction of all of the green. I turn to look, and I'm faced with the scene of multiple wood-rimmed garden beds, with healthy-looking plants in each one. I've wanted a garden for so long, seeing these beds is like a dream come true. Some even have people tending to them! I recognize some of them, like Kim, who lives in a little house down the street from me, and Maricela, who I've seen multiple times when I stay in school long enough to see the upper-grade students get released, since I believe her daughter is in the grade above me.