Without A Doubt

Chapter 9.

It's Tuesday morning and I totally got blindsided. Last Thursday Ms. Scott didn't give us a writing prompt. I'd completely forgotten that she hadn't until Monday afternoon at our team dinner. I was actually having a decent time with the team. Everything was going great. Eden, Ashlyn, Jackie, Maddie, Tessa, Cassie, and Ally were all here. They were all talking about the scrimmage tomorrow. Eden's mom had made us this Italian pasta stuff. I didn't eat very much though because I don't like pasta. Jackie wouldn't look at me, which I didn't mind, so I just pretended I was interested in the conversation. I don't know what they were talking about but one of them mentioned a paper that was due next week. When they said that I remembered that I had absolutely no idea what the hell I was going to do about tomorrow. For the rest of team dinner, I was just worrying.

This morning on the drive to the school I started to overthink. Not knowing things is unnerving. I don't like uncertainty. I don't like not knowing. Plus, I'm still a little uncomfortable around everyone. I put my headphones in and walked into the library, then set my stuff down on the table. No one was here yet, I didn't realize how early I had gotten here. I put my arms on the desk and rested my forehead on my arms. My foot was tapping nervously on the ground. It's an uncontrollable habit. My headphones were still playing music but not too loud so I still heard when the door opened. I picked my head up from the desk and looked over at Liv. I gave her an awkward smile and then leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. She didn't smile, she just sort of acknowledged the fact that I was there by raising her eyebrows a bit and tightening her lips. I stared directly in front of me because if I looked at her I know I'd start staring. We sat there in silence for a total of 8 minutes before the others started filing in. First was Peter, then David, then Jane and Carter at the same time. When Carter and Jane came in the first thing Carter said was

"Hey Track Star, we lost you on Friday." I just sort of laughed.

"Sorry I went to save my friend Emma from a guy."

"That's alright. We left pretty soon after that." Jane said. I nodded my head then remembered that I have nothing to ready for today.

"Hey Ms. Scott didn't give us a prompt last week. What are we going to do today?"

"Whenever we don't pick something to write about we just present anything we want." Peter gave me a reassuring smile.

"What if we don't have anything to read?" I felt my ears burn.

"That's okay. You don't always have to present."

"Oh okay."

"So, what did you guys do this weekend?" Carter asked. Everyone started talking about what they did, I stayed quiet. David went to visit his grandparents. As for Peter, he was working on some project all weekend. Jane stayed home reading, which sounds great if you ask me, and Carter was practicing with his band for a gig they have coming up. I like that word gig, it makes me laugh. Liv was about to say what she did but Ms. Scott walked in with a box of those pig n the blanket things. I wonder if she always brings food.

"Hi everybody. I brought food." Ms. Scott got situated and then explained to me about how when we don't have a prompt that it's a free read. Even though Peter had already told me, I didn't tell her that. I didn't want to be rude and interrupt, plus I felt like I would be undermining her authority if I cut her off.

Liv was the first to get up and read. She read a poem that she'd written. The poem was short and sweet. It was saying that sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is realize that we need to move forward, no matter how much it hurts. I like it when she reads. After her it was David who wrote a couple paragraphs about an adventure with his dog. In it his dog had superpowers and could fly. Peter wrote about his soon to be major, in detail. I was completely lost the entire time. Carter wrote a haiku about music. As for Jane she wrote this short murder mystery story. It was just the right amount of creepy and suspenseful. No one, not even Ms. Scott, asked any questions when I didn't get up to present. I've written some stuff before but never anything significant, or even good enough to read to other people.