Across the Maps

Chapter 8

The next morning drags by slowly. I change into black jeans that have large rips in the knees, a neon orange shirt and my neon pink and yellow high tops. I quickly brush my hair and then amble downstairs to eat.

The kitchen is empty and I am thankful for the silence. I grab the cereal box from the cabinet and get the milk out of the fridge. When I am finished, I saunter over to the table and sit down.

As I eat in silence, Hallie stomps in, her long brown hair whipping behind her with each step she takes.

She wears tight jeans, a light blue sparkly shirt, and a white jacket with large coppery brown buttons. Without speaking, Hallie strides across the kitchen and makes some cereal.

She sits down across from me and starts gobbling down her food like a starved wild animal.

"Good morning," I greet friendly.

She answers, her mouth full of food. "Whatever."

"Eww," I scrunch my nose in disgust. "Don't eat with your mouth full."

After she finishes chewing, she spits out, "Yeah, well don't tell me what to do."

"Stop being such a brat," I snap, not in the mood to argue.

"I'll stop when you stop being bossy and annoying," she hisses, her voice cutting though me like razors.

Temper won't help, I remind myself over and over. Keeping my mouth shut so I won't say anything that I will regret, I walk to the sink and wash out my bowl.

Hallie stares at me, watching every little step and move I make.

"See you can't tell me to stop being a brat because you can't stop being annoying," she mocks in a menacing tone.

"Maddie shut up," I exclaim, my voice rising with each word I say and I have to resist the urge not to lunge at her and push her down.

"See I told you that you were bossy," she scowls.

"Yeah whatever. You're stupid," I snap, shuffling out of the room and back upstairs, leaving Maddie dumbstruck in the living room.

Usually we fight and get into trouble, but today is not the day. Jeremy is coming over and I will not ruin the day by getting in trouble for fighting with Hallie over something stupid.

Three hours later, a knock comes on the door and I bolt downstairs to answer it. Jeremy stands at the door, leaning on one foot, his light hair disheveled. He wears a navy blue shirt and jeans.

"Hey," he smiles.

"Hi," I reply. After standing at the door, staring at him for a while, I speak. "Oh come in." I open the door wider and he enters slowly.

Gazing around the large front room, he speaks, his voice amazed. "Big," is all he gets out.

"Yeah. I know," I shrug. "Let's go to my room."

I grab his arm and drag him to my room. As we walk down all the hallways and past all the rooms, he seems to get more and more hypnotized.

When I get to my room, I push open the door and pull him inside. After taking a few glances around my room, he speaks. "I didn't think your house would be this big."

"Yeah. We don't have a lot of people over an when we do, they're shocked just like you," I exclaim.

"I'm sorry for staring earlier," he apologizes, his voice quiet and shy.

"It's fine." I say, accepting his apology. "What do you want to do?"

"What do you usually go and do for fun?" he asks.

"Watch television, swim, read, or write. Believe it or not, I'm not the most fun person ever."

He lets out a loud laugh and I join in. After several minutes of giggling, my stomach aches from laughing and after a few minutes, I finally catch my breath.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" he asks, laughter still in his voice.

"Sure," I reply. "Follow me."

I grab his arm and lead him down the long narrow hallway and to our media room.

"Wow," is all he says as he takes in our large room.

The rows of seats large seats, which take up most of the room, are a black leather. The lighting on the walls is a little darker than the rest of the house and the projector sits in the back or the room, on a small glass table.

I turn it on and Jeremy and I finally come to a decision about what to watch, which is really hard since he likes movies about war and I don't.

We finally pick a movie that has enough action for Jeremy, but enough romance for me.

We pop it in and start it. As the disc plays, I find Jeremy staring at me through his peripheral vision and it makes me uncomfortable. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Trying to ignore him, I turn to the screen and attempt to concentrate on the movie, which seems to drag on forever.

Finally the movie ends and I turn the player off and stride over to the lights and flip them on.

"That was very..." he pauses and thinks back to the movie. "Sappy. To sappy. Like way to sappy." I laugh at his choice of words.

"It wasn't that bad," I interject, smiling like a fool.

"I still think we should have chose one about zombies or something else with more action," he points out and I roll my eyes.

"You liked it and you know it," I tease playfully.

"Nah, it was horrible," he comments, a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

"Whatever. You just keep thinking that," I smirk. "Let's go back to my room," I suggest and he nods.

"Okay." We get up and walk back to my room and I shut my door behind me. Jeremy plops down in one of my chair and I sit in the chair beside him.

"Today was fun," I exclaim and he smiles a large grin.

"Yeah," he replies. "It was. We should do it again sometime."

As I am about to answer, someone knocks on my door. "Come in," I yell.

A figure opens the door and steps inside. It's Cole.

Please vote and comment. Thanks for reading.