The Story Of Daniel

/f o u r t e e n/

Chapter 14

Seven Years Before

Daniel found that middle school wasn't as hard as he thought it would be at first. He was worried about having so many teachers; turns out he enjoyed not having to be with the same person all day. He was horrified of what may happen to him, but he ended up enjoying it. But of course, like all good things, it would come to an end. In this case, it ended in a week.

While Daniel and Amelia were walking home, Daniel decided to bring up the topic of school. "It's crazy, isn't it? On the first day we were terrified of middle school, and now look at us. It's actually quite nice."

"It's okay, I guess," Amelia responded. Looking down at her feet.

"Okay? Just okay? We get so much more freedom now. Sixth grade is awesome." Daniel was so consumed in his excitement that he didn't even notice that Amelia was clearly not enjoying it as much as he was.

"Sure," she said.

"Are you okay? You're acting weird," he said.

This set something off for Amelia. "You think I'm weird too?" she asked with anger in her tone.

"Amelia, calm down," Daniel said. "I was just kidding."

"I don't know what to believe anymore," she replied. She didn't sound angry anymore, just hurt. She stormed off ahead of him, and Daniel didn't follow. He was in shock. What was wrong with her?

***

That night Daniel couldn't sleep. He kept thinking back to his argument, if you could even call it that, with Amelia. He was lying back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what he had done wrong. Why had she gotten so angry? Why did she sound so hurt? He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sound of something hard hitting metal. It was coming from his window that was open just a crack, not enough for anyone to notice.

Daniel could only think of the zombie film he had watched a few days ago as he crept over to the window, heart beating fast. He grabbed a book from his dresser, it wasn't the best weapon, but it was the only thing he saw. Daniel suddenly regretted being a fanboy. At least it was a hardback.

Daniel help up the book like it was a sword and went to the window. He peered out and let out a sigh of relief when he saw what had made the ruckus. It was Amelia. He opened the window all the way and slid out onto the roof.

"What are you doing here?!" he whisper yelled.

She looked shocked. "I'm sorry, I thought you were asleep. My aunt was drunk, this was the only safe place I could think of."

"It's fine. But what was the noise I heard?"

She suddenly noticed the book that Daniel had a death grip on and smiled. "I accidently dropped a rock in the gutter," she said.

"Well, it gave me a heart attack," Daniel joked. He was happy that he could joke with Amelia now after what happened earlier that day. He looked down to see a pile of rocks by Amelia's feet. "What are those for?"

"I'm making some of the constellations," she said. She then moved some of the rocks so that Daniel could see what she was making. It was a pattern of rocks that looked vaguely like the body of an animal.

"What the heck is that?" he asked.

"It's Leo." She then pointed to a place in the sky. "See that, that's Leo too." Daniel looked up to see a group of stars that looked just like the group of rocks on his roof. "There's a whole bunch of constellations and each one has a story."