Waking Up.

Chapter 15: Plays and music.

Monday morning is the worst time of the week. I lugged out of bed and got ready for school. The bus seemed to take eternity to get to our stop, and I was tumbling everywhere. Naomi didn't look to much better than I did.
"Naomi, where'd Wendy go last night?" I yawned.
"All she said was she went to a friends house."
"Do you think she went to Mr. Field's house?"
"Probably." She answered.
"Should we tell mom and dad about it?" I asked. Naomi straightened up. She shook her head.
"I don't ever wanna talk about what we saw, especially to mom and dad!"
"Wendy might be in danger." I said. Naomi thought about that for a while. She didn't add anything.
"Ok, fine. We won't say anything unless she goes missing, ok?"
"Ok." We stood in silence until the bus pulled up. It was colder than usual, my breath stuck to the air. We sat down in our usual spots and presumed talking.
"Did mom and dad tell you there's gonna be a new girl in the house?"
"Yeah, they mentioned it."
"Did they happen to mention why she's coming?"
"No, I think we'll just have to ask her."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. Hopefully it isn't that bad."
"Yeah, I hope not." We sat in more silence. When Aspen came on, he smiled at me and waved at Naomi. Naomi smiled, giggled, and gave me a weird look.
"What!?" I asked.
"How many classes do you two have together?" I thought about it for a few minutes.
"Five. We have math, chemistry, drama, history, and choir together."
"Is he stalking you, or something?"
"That's what I asked him!" We both laughed. When the bus had dropped off Naomi and pulled up to the Highschool, Aspen and I waited for my friends on the bench.
"Why'd you call the house last night?"
"I wanted to know if you'd like to come over Wednesday after school and practice the duet."
"Well, now my parents think you're my boyfriend." He wiggled his eyebrows.
"I'm a friend who's a boy!"
"I'm serious. They sat me down and we had an awkward talk. Next time, call my cell."
"I tried to, but you wouldn't pick up."
"Oh, sorry. I must've still been at Pizza Hut."
"Pizza Hut? Why were you there?" He asked, frowning. I mentally slapped myself.
"Oh, yeah. After the birthday party Samantha and Ashton invited us to eat dinner with them." He smiled to himself.
"Those two are getting along pretty well. Are they official?"
"Yeah. I'd say so."
"Well, that's nice. Now, about Wednesday?" He questioned. I looked at him.
"You really are doctor smooth, you know that?" He raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"Yup, I know." I thought about my non-existent plans for Wednesday. Then I nodded.
"Count me in."
"Good! Ill let Rae know your coming."
"Who's Rae?" I asked, confused. He smiled.
"Rae's my sister. She's visiting from college for a few weeks. Don't worry, you'll like her."
"I don't suppose you'll mention me to her?"
"Nope."
"Yay, everyone loves a surprise." I stated sarcastically.
"Yup! Especially Rae!" He tickled me. I laughed and pushed him off. The day went pretty well until Drama. As we all sat down with our partners, practicing the lines, then Mr. Singer told us all to stop.
"Attention everyone! We will have an assistant teacher help out with the play. Please welcome Mr. Field!" Everyone clapped and he waved at everybody. When he saw me, he smiled brightly. My heart sped up and my eyes bulged. Aspen looked at me, concerned.
"Trish, are you ok?" He put his hand on my arm.
"Yeah, fine." I replied barely understanding the words. He looked over at Mr. Field.
"Did he do something?" I turned to him and scoffed a laugh.
"You don't even know!"
"What'd he do?"
"Trust me Aspen, you don't wanna know."
"Really, what happened?!?"
"Well hello, there!" Mr. Field said to me. I hadn't noticed him making his way up to us. I froze like a Popsicle.
"Uh..hi?" I replied.
"Your Wendy's sister, Trish, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"How are you? We haven't talked since last week." He smiled at me. The image of him and Wendy crossed my kind. So did the picture of him and his wife. I shuddered.
"Good. How's Mrs. Field?" I regretted saying that. Aspen looked back and forth between us, unsure of what to do.
"She's fine. We worked out or differences. How's Wendy?" He asked. I wanted to punch him the second he mentioned her name. Aspen looked surprised and confused.
"She's good. Why, are you two still speaking?" I asked. Mr. Singer called to Mr. Field, and he turned back to me.
"Well, I'm afraid I have to leave. That's a nice blouse you've got on. Say hello to Wendy for me, bye!" He walked away without another word. Aspen frowned at me.
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing. Let's keep practicing our parts." We went over the lines from the script about a zillion times. I didn't really care if we got the part or not, I was just eager to finish class. About half way through class, Mr. Singer made an announcement.
"Ok, I want to hear you guys preform for me. Who wants to go first?" I felt like melting into the seat. After five pairs had gone up, Mr. Singer pointed to us and yelled,
"You! Come down and preform!" Aspen noticed my nervousness, and he tentively took my hand.
"It's ok, we can do this, ok?" I nodded and we walked onto the small practice stage. The room never seemed as full as it did until we were in front of everyone. Aspen started.
"Oh, my dearest Juliet, where art thou?" He dramatically looked in different directions. I flipped my hair and patted a few steps forward, pretending to run to him.
"Here I stand, Romeo. Oh, how will thine handle our families? We cannot be!" He took my hand and knelt down.
"But we CAN, Juliet, my dearest love. Indeed, my only love!" It went back and forth for about ten minutes. We made it as dramatic as possible, pausing at sections for effect. When we were finished, we bowed and, just for extra applause, Aspen picked me up bridal-style and we made our exit. It felt good being in his arms. It was as though my body was made to fit his form. When we sat down, the whole class was quiet. Even Mr. Singer was rendered speechless. Aspen high-fived me, and we stared at the teachers. Finally, Mr. Singer stood up and clasped his hands.
"I think," he started,"we have our Romeo and Juliet!" Some of the class sighed, and most of the girls glared at me. Aspen smiled and shook me.
"Did you hear that!?! We're Romeo and Juliet!" I felt my stomach drop. Yippie.
"Yeah, yay!" I pretended to be excited. We were dismissed from class and I walked with Aspen to the choir room. He pulled me to the side in the janitors closet. He shut the door and leaned against it.
"Ok, spill it."
"Spill what??!" I asked, trying not to be too obvious. He gave me a skeptical look.
"Don't play dumb with me, why are you so cautious around Mr. Field?" He stared at me. I looked around for an exit, but couldn't find any. I finally decided to tell him.
"Ok, I'll tell only if you swear not to say anything." He nodded and I sighed. I explained everything. About how Naomi and I were brushing our teeth and how we noticed Wendy had been gone. Then I explained what we saw through the window and about our promise not to tell. Once I'd finished, he banged his head against the door.
"Holy shit."
"I know, right?!?"
"We have to tell someone!"
"No! If we say anything Wendy'll know I told!"
"Well we can't just do nothing, Trish!"
"Aspen! You promised!" I felt a few tears come out in frustration. His face softened, and he came over to me and wrapped me in a hug.
"Ok, ok. I won't say anything! Please don't cry." I wiped away some tears, but I still sniffled. He looked down at me and made a silly face. I giggled and stopped crying. He wiped away a tear from my cheek.
"There, let's get going, ok? We wouldn't wanna be late." But it was already two minutes past class time started. As we walked into class, I felt the hard stares of my classmates. In our school, being late to class was almost as big of a crime as murder. Aspen went over to Mr. Lockwood, whispered something, and we were excused to sit down. After everyone had practiced, he called Aspen and I to the front.
"Ok, I want you two to practice practice practice, ok!?!" We both nodded and everyone was excused from class. Aspen and I started walking to chemistry together.
"What did you tell Mr. Lockwood?" He smiled slyly.
"I told him you got your period and we needed to go to the nurse." My eyes widened and I punched him.
"ASPEN! You told him I got my period?!?"
"What?!?" He exclaimed, holding his hurt arm. "It worked, didn't it?"
"Well, yeah! But you don't just do that!"
"Why not?"
"Because you just don't! Don't ever do that again, even if we are late! Got it!?!" He nodded.
"Got it." We got to chemistry virtually unscathed. Miss. Waters had stations set up with little mixes of magic science stuff. I looked at it and my head swam.
"Good afternoon, class. Today we will be mixing elixirs and try to make a what is known at sodium fluoride." Aspen looked excited, but I could tell already I was gonna have trouble. We started off. Luckily, Aspen was totally ok with doing most of it, he just told me to hand him random stuff and I looked at the labels to figure out which ones were which. After school Aspen and I boarded the bus.
"Ugg! Could they possibly give us anymore homework?!" I exclaimed. Aspen shook his head.
"I don't think they could if they tried!"
"Exactly!" I sighed. Aspen asked me about my speech.
"It was awesome! I had so much fun talking about Naomi and how she almost burned the house down last year." Aspen looked curious now.
"How'd she almost burn down the house!?!"
"Well, it was Mother's Day. She wanted to cook something for mom for breakfast. She started the waffle iron on fire and then a cabinet caught on fire. Then she tried throwing water on it, but since it was an electrical fire, it flared up. Panicking, she took the fire extinguisher and tried to use it, but couldn't figure out how. So she just beat the flames with the fire extinguisher container until the fire died out. Needless to say, mom was pretty upset. Naomi was grounded for a week while they replaced the kitchen." Aspen and I laughed for about five straight minutes. Our sides began to ache, and we had to try and stop.
"Oh-oh my god! That's the funniest thing I've heard all year! Hoy crap!" I wiped away a tear that slipped out during my laughing fit.
"Yeah, it was pretty good." We pulled up to the middle school and Naomi got on. We tried to hold it together, but we burst out laughing again. She gave us a funny look.
"What?"
"Nothing, bye Trish, see you tomorrow." Aspen got up and left. She sat down next to me.
"What happened?" I was still snickering.
"I-I told h-him about the Mother's Day thing!" She gasped and pushed me.
"You are so mean!"
"I'm sorry! It was funny, ok?"
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. I hugged her and replied,
"I'm sorry. Ok? I'll never bring it up again." She smiled and crossed her arms.
"Ok, I believe you." We listened to her music until we got home. Then, when we got off the bus, she tugged on my jacket.
"I need to tell you a secret!"
"What?" I asked. She leaned close to my ear and cupped her hands.
"I'm going out on a date tonight!"
"Really?!? With who!!!" I screamed. She told me it was a kid in her grade named Alexander.
"He's super cute!" She exclaimed.
"Well what're we waiting for?!? Let's go pick out your outfit!" We ran inside to her bedroom and picked out an outfit.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"We're going to the skating rink." Then she paused. She looked up with pleading eyes.
"Trish, would you go with me? You don't have to hang out with us, it'd just be nice to know you're there." I thought about it, and then nodded.
"Ok, I'll go. But this is your date, ok?" She hugged me and we picked out our clothes. She decided to wear a nice green flowing shirt with black leggings and some nice shoes. I wore a tie-dyed sweatshirt with grey sweatpants and light brown Uggs with white fur. I pulled her hair back into a neat high pony-tail and my own into a messy bun. We left at around 4:30 for the skating rink. Her date was leaning up against a post, waiting for her. He had light brown hair and a white smile. They held hands, got on their skates, and darted off. I decided to buy myself some food. After I'd gotton a chili dog, I sat down at one of the picnic style tables and ate while watching Naomi. They were chasing each other around the huge rink. Alexander caught up to her and snatched her off the ground. She squealed and laughed, making me smile. They presumed skating, completely oblivious to everyone else.
I felt a light tap on my shoulder. When I turned around, I wanted to run. Mr. Field was standing over me with a smile on his face. He wore a blue shirt that fitted perfectly against his toned muscles, and his dark hair was neat.
"Hey Trish, what're you doing here?" I pointed to Naomi.
"She's on a date. It's her first one, and she wanted me to come along." He smiled even brighter.
"So, your not here with anyone besides her?" I squinted at him.
"No."
"Well, seeing as how you look extremely bored, do you wanna skate? My treat." I felt some what in danger. I couldn't tell if he was coming on to me, or if he was just being polite. I assumed the ladder.
"I can't skate." He scoffed and waved his hand.
"Nonsense! Anyone can skate if they try! What size shoe do you wear? I'll show you how to skate." Before I could protest, I found myself putting on a pair of skates and being led out onto the floor. His hand gripped mine in an effortlessly strong way. I felt slightly comforted by it. I leaned on his shoulder for support, praying to god that I wouldn't slip and die. He helped me turn the other way, and I almost fell.
"AHHHHH!" I screamed. People gave me weird looks. I grabbed onto his shirt and held onto him. He put his hand around my waist and held me.
"It's alright, Trish. I won't let you fall."
"Are you sure?" I said while shutting my eyes tightly shut. He took my hand and gave it a little squeeze.
"I promise." Naomi suddenly noticed us and gave me an alarmed look. I mouthed,'it's ok!' She nodded and proceeded skating with Alexander. A slow song came on, and everyone slow skated. He took one of my hand in his, then he slipped the other one around my waist.
"It's just like dancing. Do you know how to dance?" I shook my head no. A walrus dances better than me. If I had to dance for my life, I would die within the first five seconds.
"Here, I'll show you." And he did. I didn't know he could dance, not that I needed to know. We skated effortlessly back and forth on the rink. First to one side, then to the other. We almost ran into another couple, and I leaned into him, not wanting to fall and break my neck. He pulled me in tighter and rested his head on top of mine. We dance-skated for a few minutes after that, then he looked at me.
"Want to go for a walk?" I tried to say no. He looked at me and pleaded.
"Please? Just around the block, I promise!" Unwillingly, I agreed and we returned our skates. I told Naomi I'd be back , and we started our walk.
"So, how do you like school so far?" He started. I shrugged.
"Ehh, it's school."
"Any favorite subjects?" I thought for a moment.
"Choir, I guess."
"Oh, so you like to sing?" I smiled.
"Yeah."
"Can you sing for me?" I now if Samantha or Marleen were here, they'd take that as a sexual gesture, but I didn't. I'm not really a dirty thinker, I'm just surrounded by people who are.
"Not here, no."
"Why not?" He questioned.
"Because! It's in public!"
"Oh, c'mon! It'll only take a second!" He pleaded. I rolled my eyes and said,
"Fine, what should I sing?"
"I don't care! Anything." I sang a little bit of lullaby, by nickel back. After I finished, he clapped.
"Wow, that was really good Trish!" I blushed.
"Thanks."
"Seriously! You should be a singer when you grow up!" We approached the doors to the rink.
"Well, I gotta go get Naomi. It was nice seeing you." I stated. He waved goodbye and went to his car. I sighed in relief and went inside. Naomi gave Alexander a kiss on the cheek and we left.
"Well, how'd it go?" She smiled.
"Really well! He wants to go get food after church on Sunday!" Then she paused.
"What'd Mr. Field want? He didn't hit on you or anything did he?" I shook my head no.
"No. He just wanted to talk. We went for a walk around the block and came back." She leaned against her seat.
"He scares me."
"Me too." We drove in silence to the house. Mom and dad called us to the table when we came inside.
"Naomi! Trish! Come over and sit down, we gotta talk to you." We sat down at the table, concerned for our selves.
"Yes?" We both asked.
"Ok," mom started,"you two are probably wondering why Eve is coming to live with us, right?" We both looked at each other and nodded.
"Yeah."
"Well, she's from California. Her parents died when she was a little girl in a house fire. She was living with her big brother, but he's a drug addict, and is unfit to care for her. You two are to be nice and respectful to her. Do not mention anything about drugs around her, any questions?" She finished. Naomi looked up.
"How old is she?"
"She's 14 and a half. She'll be going to the same school as you, Trish." Dad stated. I nodded and we asked one more question before going to bed.
"When will she be coming?"
"On Thursday. Trish, I want you to invite her on your camping trip with Samantha and Marleen." He didn't know that Aspen, Luke, and Ashton were going too. I didn't mention anything.
"Ok. Night!" We both stated while running up the stairs.
"Night!" They both called after we'd shut the bedroom doors.

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Ok, I know this chapter kind of sucks, but I tried. I hope you'll enjoy the next one better, thanks for reading, bye. :)