FicWad

Here's my next update. Please review if you like this! I never know whether or not my fictions are good or not unless I get reviews. haha


Geometry went by relatively fast, which was surprising since it was one of my hardest subjects. I have to admit that I wasn't really focusing on Mrs. Anderson's lecture though. My mind was miles away as I continued to peek at James and Ray out of the corner of my eye. They seemed really different than any boys I had met before. I couldn't quite figure out what it was that made them different, but I had no doubt in my mind that they indeed were different. There was a certain aura around them that separated them from my fellow classmates.

A couple of times during class, I had caught Ray glancing at me. When our eyes had met, he had smiled at me instead of looking away. His smile revealed perfectly straight white teeth. By the time class was over, I had learned that Ray was a straight-A student. When Mrs. Anderson quizzed the class on a few example problems, Ray raised his hand and answered them all right. The whole class stared at him in awe. It was obvious that Ray was going to become one of the most popular and most liked students here at Downey High School.

I had also figured out by the end of class that James was going to be a troublemaker. During the middle of class, Mrs. Anderson directed a question at him, "James, what's the cosine of thirty-nine degrees? You can use your calculator to figure that out if you want." Everyone swiveled around in their chair to look at James.

He was staring at Mrs. Anderson with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. He obviously had no idea what a cosine was, let alone what the cosine of thirty-nine degrees was. Once he had found his voice, he said, "Um, what the fuck is a cosine?" The whole class turned to see what Mrs. Anderson would say to this.

Mrs. Anderson just kind of bit her lip and said calmly, "I know you're new here so you don't know the rules yet, but we don't use the F-word here in class." James shrugged his shoulders and apologized in a light tone, "Oh sorry, didn't know I was breaking rules. What I meant was, what the hell is a cosine?"

I had to bite my lip from giggling as Mrs. Anderson answered, "Uh, James? You're not suppose to use that word either unless you're talking about hell as in Heaven and Hell. But anyways, a cosine is a ratio of a right triangle. It's the adjacent side of the triangle divided by the hypotenuse of the triangle. Here, let me show you an example."

Mrs. Anderson drew a sketch of a triangle on the board and went into an in depth explanation of how sines, cosines, and tangents worked. James just stared at her like she was talking in another language. When she was finally done with the lecture, Mrs. Anderson asked James, "Alright, did you catch all that?"

James quickly replaced the blank look on his face with that charming smile of his and nodded stiffly. Mrs. Anderson smiled back and said, "Good. Now class, you can work on section two in your books for your homework this week." Even though James had said he understood everything about the cosines, I knew far better. It was clear that all Mrs. Anderson's lecture had gone in one ear and right out the other. James caught me looking at him and winked at me.

I blushed again and quickly pretended to me very intent on solving a geometry proof. I hadn't ever really shown any interest in boys before. As a matter of fact, I had really shown any interest in people in general before. Like I had said, making friends and socializing were at the bottom of my list of priorities. On the contrary, I would usually go to extremes to avoid talking to people.

But for some reason, I got a different feeling from Ray and James. I was actually considering suggesting tutoring James on geometry if he wanted the help. But before I could put this plan into action, I realized that if I tutored James, he would actually have to come to my house. That obviously wouldn't be a very good idea with my psycho mother around. I had no idea just how she would take me bringing a visitor into her house. Obviously not very well.

Once class was dismissed, I took a long time in putting my textbook and pencil back in my bag. I wanted to continue to sit in this chair and watch James and Ray for the rest of the day. Ray, who had already placed his books in his bag and was standing up, placed a firm hand on my shoulder and said, "Hey. I don't think we've met. What's your name?"

"Um, Olivia," I said in a barely audible voice. I wasn't use to talking to strangers. I couldn't even remember the last time I talked to a stranger. I knew it was common courteous for me to return the question, but since I already knew who Ray was, that would only look stupid. Trying to think of something intelligent to say, I murmured, "So you're Ray, hm?"

Ray nodded, those polished white teeth of his shining in the light. I considered smiling back at him. It had been a very long time since I had last smiled. Smiling was for people who were happy - I was not a happy person. I noticed that Ray still had his hand on my shoulder. I couldn't decide if I liked that or not.

Once I had gotten my books together and had flung my book bag over my shoulder, I started towards the door. Ray walked by my side, pacing his walk with mine, "So Olivia, what's your next class?" I didn't know why he was continuing to talk to me. Didn't he know that I was the invisible girl who no one talked to?

"I have physics next," I told him shortly, not used to having conversations with people my own age. Ray frowned, brow creasing as he replied, "Shit, I have chemistry next instead. But listen, Olive, why don't we meet after school? I'd like to talk to you a bit and maybe get to know you. It's obvious you don't have many friends here. So how about it?"

I stopped walking and turned around to face Ray in confusion. Why on earth would he want to befriend a freak like me? Stuttering through my nervousness, I replied, "I guess we could. But why do you want to be my friend? Nobody's asked me to be their friend before like this. Most people ignore me around here."

Ray's eyes traveled up and down my body as he said, "You're a very pretty girl. I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be your friend. Anyways, let's meet to the right of the school entrance by the big oak tree, okay?" I nodded, still a little confused by Ray and his friendliness. But Ray just smiled, waved, and said, "See you then! I look forward to it."

~ ~ ~ ~

Physics went by much slower than geometry. I figured that was probably because there was no James or Ray to gaze at as a distraction. As soon as physics was over, everyone headed to lunch. Most people liked lunch break so they could have a chance to eat and socialize with all their friends. But me? Lunch break was one of my worst parts of the day. It was a time where I would sit in the corner and eat an apple or whatever little bit of a lunch I had managed to steal from home. Nobody would ever approach me or ask me to sit with them. Sometimes lunch break seemed to drag on for ever longer than the boring history lectures that we were all forced to listen to.

As I slipped into the lunch room, I immediately scanned the crowded room for my usual corner. As always, it was abandoned and beckoning to me. Careful not to push or shove anyone, I made my way through the sea of people until I had come to my little corner. I sat down and rested my back against it.

I didn't have any lunch today. There hadn't been any leftovers from my mom's dinner last night to steal. Even though my stomach growled hungrily, there was nothing I could do about it. To ignore my hunger, I closed my eyes and pretended I was somewhere else instead of in this busy, loud lunch room. I wanted to go somewhere where I could have peace and quiet, where there was no pain or agony, and where I could be happy for once...

"Hi!" a voice shocked me out of my reverie. I heard a thud and whipped my eyes open to see who had spoken to me. Never in all my years had someone come over to sit by me. I stared at Jame's smiling face and kind brown eyes. He was sitting only a few inches from me and was pulling a sandwich and chips out of his lunch bag.

"Um...hi?" I replied. I said it as more of a question than a greeting. I had no idea why James was sitting by me. Why would anyone want to sit on the floor with the freak when they could be gossiping with the popular kids at the lunch tables? I had known James was different than the average kids...but still!

Knowing I was being rude, I peered at him closely and asked, "Why are you sitting here?" James looked up from his sandwich and glanced at me curiously, saying, "Because I want to, obviously. I thought you looked lonely though and maybe you wanted some company?" I blinked at him. No one had ever said something like that to me before either.

After taking a bite of peanut butter and jelly, James went on in a casual voice, "Don't tell me you actually like sitting by yourself. You don't, do you?" I thought about that question for a few minutes before answering. Before today, I would have definitely said that I liked sitting by myself better. But to be honest, I liked the thought of James sitting beside me. I wasn't quite sure why he was doing this or what he wanted from me, but I had to admit that I liked his company.

"I guess it's nice to have someone to talk to," I said carefully. James glanced away from his sandwich to look at me. I noticed that his gaze stayed fixed upon my face whereas Ray's had wondered up and down my entire body. James frowned slightly and then asked, "Aren't you going to eat something? I was starving after geometry so don't say that you aren't hungry because I won't believe you if you do."

"I don't have anything for lunch," I shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. I know that most kids would find it peculiar that I wasn't eating, but I had grown used to skipping lunches. It was becoming harder and harder to steal food from my mom. She always seemed to be in the kitchen or living room these days and she always monitored the food supply. When I grew hungry enough, I would end up stealing something. When she found out, I would be slapped.

James slid over closer to me and held out the bag of chips to me, "Here, eat these. You must be starving. Do you always not eat lunch?" Very slowly, I reached out my hand and took the bag of chips from him. I couldn't figure out why he was being nice to me. Did he want something from me or what? Our hands brushed slightly as we passed the chips and I couldn't help but notice a tingling sensation in the place where's James' hand had brushed against mine.

As I opened the bag of chips, James kept the conversation going, "So what kinds of things do you like to do? Outside of school I mean. Do you like music or anything?" I popped a chip into my mouth and chewed it silently before replying, "I just go straight home after school. My mom wants me to get a job though. But yeah, I do like music."

James' eyes lit up when I said that and he continued to question me, "Cool! Do you play anything?" I shook my head. My mom would probably kill me if I practiced an instrument inside the house. It would interrupt her usual peace and quiet and cause her terrible headaches during her hangovers.

"You should learn how to play something," James stated a-matter-of-factly. "I've been playing guitar for two years now. It's a hell lot of fun. Maybe you could come over to my house sometime? I could teach you how to play guitar maybe." By this time, I was completely bewildered. James must really want something from me if he was willing to invite me to his house and teach me to play guitar. You didn't just do that kind of thing for free.

Unable to keep my question to myself, I burst out, "What do you want from me?" James cocked his head so that his blonde curls fell into his eyes, "Huh? I don't 'want' anything from you. Actually, that's not true. I just want to be your friend. Is that okay?" So he wanted to be my friend. I still didn't understand why he'd want to be my friend, but I decided not to waste time contemplating that right now. He seemed like a really nice guy and there was no need for me to be paranoid.

Before I had a chance to reply to his question, the school bell rang, signaling lunch was over. James made a face and got up to his feet, stretching his hands over his head as he did so and yawning widely. Then he leaned down and offered me his hand. Tentatively, I took it and let him help me to my feet. I felt like I had been shocked by an electric current as our hands clasped. It was a feeling unlike any I had experienced before. The weirdest part was that I couldn't identify what was causing this unusual feeling. Maybe I was getting sick or something?

"Okay, I'm off to fuckin' social studies," James told me, still holding my hand. "I'll see you tomorrow?" I nodded, glad that he was still holding my hand. We locked gazes for a moment, exchanged smiles, and then parted and went our separate ways. As I went off to English, I found myself skipping down the hallways. So far, I had thought my school day had gone pretty well. I had met two really nice guys and maybe they would become good friends of mine. Little did I know that this day was going to end up being the worst day of my life.