Story!!

[DreamerGirl]

I was going to post this on a place where people would actually recognize the characters and get a laugh, but I changed my mind. If anyone really wants me to I'll type up the rest of it and post it. (It's based off my high school, but I'm not the character you automatically think I am.)

I exit the car and wave goodbye to my dad as I patiently wait for him to exit the high school parking lot. I take a quick look around my school of five hundred students. Of course, nothing has changed; nothing ever does.

After Dad has gone, I begin to walk towards the back of the school near the gate that separates the school from the park. It is the largest park in town, but it is used more by the high school kids looking for trouble than children wanting to have fun; they have a park near their school for that. I smile to myself as I notice the sure enough, it is here I find the people that give the “smoking tree” its name.

The “smoking tree” is a large oak on the park side of the fence. The regulars are the people that can be found at this tree before school, after school, and during our school-wide lunch break. They are all acquaintances of mine, although I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. They just give me something to do when I am bored. Besides, they throw awesome parties.

We are laughing and joking together when Stephen, an 18 year old that happens to be in my history 2 class says, “Look at the Ice Bitch stare.” I look over and of course there is our principal: Mrs. Connie Valenza, or Mrs. Valenza as she expects us to call her.

“Hi Connie!” I yell as I take a drag off of someone’s cigarette.

I don’t usually smoke, but I know it will probably piss her off since I’m the only one out there at the moment that is for sure underage. Just as I predicted, her eyes turn fire hydrant red as she exits back into the school with a huff. I’ve always loved how the smoking tree seems to mock the teachers and parents that try to protect their students/children from the evils of smoking/drinking/drugs and various other forms of rebellion. You can see the tree in plain sight from the side door of the school, which is the door that faces the parking lot. If it wasn’t for the technicality of property lines, it could be considered that we were smoking on school property.

“I better go in,” I say, deadpan. “She probably has a cop on his way.”

“No one can piss of Valenza more than you can!” Stephan laughs, as he brushes some of his brown hair from his matching brown eyes.

At this remark, I give my signature smile/smirk and walk my way towards the school. Being only 15, this is a large portion of my life. My hell. However, it is also my domain.

I quickly check myself in the glass door to make sure my eyeliner and hair is in place. I don’t wear much makeup, but I like to heavily line my eyes. I don’t mind when I make it look smudged on purpose, but having it smudge on accident is a crime. My shoulder-length brown hair is blowing slightly in the breeze, but it isn’t super frizzy, so I’m ok there. I take a moment in my head to admire my most recent light blond highlights, which look like they could have been done professionally if I do say so myself. I’ve dyed my hair so often now that I’m not sure of the original color, but I am very careful to keep it healthy.

I groan on the inside as I open the door. As usual, the hallway is flooded with students, all in their own little groups trying to avoid the rest of the world. Our school has one long hallway lined with lockers and classrooms. There is one hallway that’s separate from the rest where the band rooms are, but half of the student body is oblivious to this. The school is terribly overcrowded, but the old people in town turned down the vote that would have raised their taxes a measly hundred bucks to build it larger. Not that the students are bitter about it or anything....

“Hey sunshine!” Eric exaggerates, smiling brightly. I try to glare at him, but I smile slightly on the inside. Calling me sunshine is a bit of an oxymoron, since I typically am dressed in dark colors head to toe. The students at this school are constantly trying to label me as gothic, although everyone in my old school knows I’ve been dressing this way since long before any of us knew what the term meant. Eric is one of the few people that stick out to me in the blob of faceless acquaintances at this school.

“When you go to lunch today, can you bring me back a Mountain Dew?” I ask sweetly, or as sweetly as I possibly can.

“Now, why would I wanna do that?” he asks, although I know he is just joking around. He WILL bring me a Mountain Dew. He always does; sometimes I don’t even have to ask. My closer “friends” (which is a term I use loosely) refer to him as my bitch, although I’m really not using him on purpose. His best friend lives next door to me, so we see each other a lot. He knows a lot more about me than most people would think. He puts his arm against the locker next to me and we chat about the latest bits of gossip and trouble my neighbors have been getting into lately.

Suddenly, a familiar voice calls down from the hallway: “Hi Lor.” It sounds excited, but it’s from a person you have to know really well to read any emotion out of at all. Eric immediately backs away. Sure enough, walking down the hall is the one person in this school that stands out more than I do: Trey. He is extremely tall, and his shaggy brown hair is only a few inches shorter than mine. I notice that today it isn’t in a ponytail, but he is wearing his signature long black coat that he hopes intimidates people that don’t know him. I happen to know that he hates violence, but to tell anyone else that would ruin his reputation.

I don’t know why Eric got scared away so easy. I guess it is supposed to be a secret, but I know very well that Trey isn’t interested in me. I wonder to myself how long he can go without asking about her when sure enough he interrupts me.

“Is Allie gonna be in school today?” he asks, trying to sound cool and casual. Allie has been going to this school a lot longer than I have. She dresses pretty similarly to how I do, but she has light blond hair that she sometimes streaks with pink, blue, or any other color she comes up with. Poor Trey has been trying to get her attention forever, but she didn’t even know his name until after he made friends with me. It’s somewhat ironic, since the rest of the school could pull him out of a lineup.

“I’m not sure. Her moms out of the hospital again so things should be ok for a while.” I say, realizing that I almost forgot how worried I had been about how she was handling things. “She may be back in school today, but she may just take the day to rest after being a parent for 2 weeks straight.”

“It really is remarkable how she takes care of everything when shit like that happens...” he says, staring into space.

“Did you know Adema is playing at the Stargaze this coming Saturday?” I ask.

“Of course, I was planning on going. Why? Did you want a ride there?” he replies.

“No, nothing like that. It’s just Adema is her favorite band and it would be a perfect opportunity......”

“Hi Allie.” he says, making it obvious that she just crept up behind me and I should shut up before I get him embarrassed.

[Ceraziefish]

That was a pretty slick ending. I like your story, it sort of reminds me of my high school days (all six months ago... ergh I'm such a geezer).

There's a few awkward style things, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Going through and finding them would require more energy than I have right now, and they don't negatively impact the story. It's still good.

[DreamerGirl]

Oh, that's not the actual ending. That's just as much as I typed out. The ending is actually the best part of this one.

That was just the setting and introducing the characters.

[Ceraziefish]

Well I thought the way it ended (in here) was kind of silly.

[Gundampilotspaz]

Don't use "/"

It gives the impression that you can't choose a word, which is a big no-no. Since the act of writing is converting thoughts into words if YOU are unsure of what you are saying then so will your reader.

[DreamerGirl]

But in the way I was using it I needed to include both words, because I was counting both students and teachers in that sentence. Otherwise it would be repetitive to separate them, and repetitive = boring.

The second time I could have cut it out. It doesn't have anything to do with not knowing what I'm saying though, so that confuses me slightly. It's mostly I hate listing things in stories. It might as well be a textbook then.

Thanks for commenting!

[Tanni Foemangler]

benevolent forum leader that i am i will eventually read your story. i just have a hard time sitting at the computer for more than 3 minutes at a time

but i'll do it soon. promise :wink:

[DreamerGirl]

You know I was looking at it and it really shouldn't have been put up until I typed the rest of it up. ^^;;

T'was stupid of me.

[stranger]

that's pretty good, post more

[DreamerGirl]

Last time I lost all the tabs so I tried to format it differently. This is it, the rest of it. Now you can rip it apart. Edit- Damn, I still lost all the tabs.

"Hey girl, how's it going?" I turn around, smiling.

"Alright, I guess." She's half staring into space while she talks, something I've seen her do often.

"I didn't know you were coming today." I say.

"Well, I saw someone last night who told me I have a test today.... I think it was in English?" I am in shock at how casual she is acting, but I know if I bring it up she may never talk to me again.

"Yeah," Trey says. I forgot they had the same English class. Even though Allie doesn't come to school very often, all of her classes are advanced for her grade. Well, all except for Science. She's in the class she should be in for there. She's actually only 14, but she started school early so she is a sophomore like me. Trey is almost 18, and he's a senior. He is actually quite smart, but he failed an English class once because he didn't do a single paper.

"What's it on?" she asks, barely pretending to care.

"Um... Those vocabulary terms like syntax and stuff. We also have an essay question," he answers.

"No big deal then. Are you at least going to spend more than five minutes on the essay this time?" she asks, with a sarcastic smile.

"I have to if I want to graduate," Trey says, with a pouty look to him. He loves annoying teachers by doing stuff like that.

Just then, the bell rings. "Let's all meet down here for lunch, k?" I ask. They all shake their heads and I begin to walk to class. Out of the corner of my eye, I see people walking up to Allie and talking about things she has missed out on the past few days. I get the privelege of being the new kid that most people won't bother, but Allie has lived here for 5 years and has hung out with a different clique every year until she met me. I've seen people even start sentences with "Remember what happened in elementary school and..." then she has to remind them she wasn't here in elementary school.

My first class of the day is History 2, and it takes all of my energy just to keep from falling back asleep. Mr. Zahn always does the same thing. He writes notes on the board, and I decide if I need to copy them down of if it's common knowledge any half-informed idiot would know. Usually it's the second. He is considered a "model citizen" of this town. He's Catholic and has 8 sons. I don't understand why the hell you would want 8 sons, especially when you live in town anyways. He is the advisor of student council, and his family does at least one community service even per month. Sickening. Just sickening.

"Laura, what do you think the answer is?" he asks, yanking me back into the classroom discussion. I absolutely HATE it when people use my real name. It's annoying, and it sounds terribly snobby.

"It's Lor," I say plainly. "Now, what was the question?" A few people giggle like annoying hyenas.

"There was no question, and you would have known that if you were paying attention." I just roll my eyes and dive back into my thoughts.

The bell finally rings, and it's time to move on to my second class. Finally, lunch comes around and I cut in front of the ungodly long lunch line so I can meet up with everyone on time. One of the girls I cut in front of starts to say something when Allie pops out of nowhere. "Hi Ashley, how is your brother doing?" The girl forgets her objection, and begins to chat with Allie, while letting her get in line in front of her. Knowing everyone must have some perks after all, I smile.

We walk down to where we said we would meet together, and no one else is there yet. There is a very small stairway that goes down to the "garage", the room for Tech Ed. and Mechanics classes. The hall down there is an odd yellowish off white color. The stairs are a little dusty, but there is no mold here and it's cleaner than most of the school, including the lunch room. We sit on the steps and start to eat. Well, I start to eat. Allie has a habit of picking at her food for a while before she decides what she will risk eating. School food can be a very dangerous thing in her eyes.

She seems to have settled on eating the popcorn chicken as she asks me, "Are you and Eric dating yet?"

"Why on Earth would you ask me that?" I say, trying to sound shocked at the idea. It didn't work; I can literally see her looking straight through me.

"It's so obvious." Allie says, smiling at the fact that she has learned my secret. "Of course, Trey seems to scare Eric away.

"Well, I think Trey is distracted at the moment with someone else." I smile. She thinks she's so smart for being able to see what I'm thinking, so I'm going to use her power against her. Sure enough, now she won't even look at me.

"That's nice for him I guess....." she says, as she checks her chicken closely before putting it in her mouth.

"Do you like him?" I ask. I am not the best at being subtle, but I'm trying. Besides, if I was too subtle she would just ignore me like she did with my last comment.

"I don't really know him, but he seems ok." She still doesn't seem to know where I am going with this. Before I can continue Jared walks up in his yellow coat.

"Hello ladies," he says, smiling mischievously. He is dressed in his usually baggy jeans and long t-shirt. Of course, he has his bright yellow coat on as well. For some reason I have yet to understand, coats are extremely important at this school. It may just be because of how cold it is in the winter that it was bound to become another important fashion statement. It's already the end of April, but some people are still walking around in their coats.

"Wanna go for a walk? I have a welcome back present for Allie," he winks, and we both know what is up. Jared is a guy that Allie has known since she started high school' I think she smoked her first joint with him. I don't smoke pot, but Allie does from time to time. Jared himself is known for being a bit of a stoner, and I think he likes it that way. He's pretty cute, but he intimidates a lot of girls because of his reputation. If you drive in a car with him in town, you can almost guarantee it will be pulled over.

"Sure," Allie says. "Wanna come?" she asks me.

"No, I'll stay here and wait for the guys," I say. "Are you coming back right away?"

She looks at him for a second before nodding her head and saying, "Yeah."

I'm only eating there alone for a minute when I hear someone say "Think fast" and a bottle of Mountain Dew comes hurling out at me.

"Thanks Eric," I say, surprised I was actually able to catch it this time. We start our usual conversations, when Trey walks up.

"Where's Allie?" he asks, not sounding as casual as he usually does. "I thought we were all going to meet down here."

"We were... well, are. She went for a 'walk' with Jared. She should be back soon." I search his eyes for an emotion. Yes, there it is, jealousy.

"Wait, is Allie yours?" Eric asks. He's adorable, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Allie is nobody's and neither am I, but if you mean does he like her the answer is yes." I say, a little of the feminist in me is coming through.

Eric is still laughing at the idea of Trey having a crush when Jared and Allie come back. Jared and Trey give each other the "heads up" move and Allie comes and sits across from me, since Eric has taken her previous spot next to me. Jared and Trey are close friends, and Trey learns that his jealousy was not necessary.

"Tim wants us to hang out at his place tonight since his brother will be having a party downstairs and you know what he thinks of his brother" Jared tells us.

Tim has a passion for music and enough ambition to start his own country. He already has picked out a college and was accepted. His brother Brain, on the other hand, is 21 years old, can't hold a job, and will probably be living off of others for quite a while. For the obvious reasons, they bump heads quite a bit.

"I'll be there," Trey says. "What about you two?" he asks Allie and I. Eric is used to being left out of most of these events, but I don't think he minds since he leaves Jared and Trey out of parties he plans.

"Sure," I say while noticing Jared give Trey an 'I'm scheming' smile.

"Actually, I already told Brian I would go to his party." Allie says. "I'll probably come upstairs when it starts to slow down though."

Allie is the only one out of all of us that is also friends with Brian. They met through her friend Krystal's boyfriend. Krystal is an awesome person, but she goes to a different small town school about 15 minutes away, so we don't see each other very often.

Jared must have found out about the party from Allie, and that is hwy he is getting everyone to hang out at Tim's. Wow, he is going through a lot of effort to get them together, I think to myself.

Well, it's finally time for me to go. I throw on some lip gloss and grab my coat. Trey and Jared drive up, and we head over to Tim's. The party is just getting started so I say a quick hi to some of the people there I've met through Allie as we try to make our way upstairs. I see her near the TV talking with Krystal and a few other people. We give a quick wave to each other, and I escape out of the crowd.

Once upstairs, it's quieter and calmer. Trey is playing video games and Tim is showing off his latest music composition. I'm a little worried about Allie, but I figure she has earned this party with all she has been through the last couple days. By tomorrow, everyone will know and she won't get a moments peace.

We all start to play euchre, while playing our own music to tune out the obnoxious hip hop blasting downstairs. I hear a quiet knock on the door, and in walks Allie.

"Are you ok?!" I practically jump out of my seat.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to go somewhere that's a little quieter. That's all." She lays down on the upstairs couch and watches us for a while. We play like this for a couple hours. I look up at Allie after a while. Obviously, we all had become so into the game that we didn't notice it. But now, now I did. I made the mistake of looking up. Tears are lightly running down her face. Part of me wants to run up and hug her and tell her everything will be ok, but I know she would hate it if everyone in the room saw her cry.

I'll wait until we go home to try and comfort her. Right now, she just wants to be able to hide. She deserves to hide right now. Tomorrow, the real world will find out her secret and expose it for all to see. I can imagine it now in our town newspaper: "Mother of 3 dies from cancer." Then, the whole town will be sending flowers and asking waht they "can do to help." Tomorrow is going to be harder on her than today.

[Ceraziefish]

I'll read this when I'm not so engrossed in something else. Sorry, ><