FicWad

Chapter 2

Elena stared at her Rice Krispies snap, crackle, and popping at her with a slight frown on her face.

"Elena, what is your problem? Isn't this day better than Christmas for you?" Adam asked walking into the kitchen and setting his book bag down.

"It's nothing," she mumbled and stirred her cereal around in circles.

Adam was about to protest, but he was interrupted by Pete bursting through the door.

"Hello Sheen spawns," he said happily.

"Pete," Adam acknowledged his friend as he opened a pop tart package.

"Whoa, El, what's with the frown?" Pete asked taking Adam's pop tart out of his hand before he could take a bite from it.

"Why is everyone asking me that?" she asked upset.

Pete and Adam stopped what they were doing. Elena rarely ever raised her voice.

"Elena, seriously," Adam said sounding slightly worried for his sister.

"You want to know what's bothering me?" she asked as she continued to raise her voice.

Pete and Adam could only nod in shock.

"I'm upset because it's the first day of school and I am not excited about it. This is like my Christmas and I am dreading it. That is why I am upset," she huffed and walked over to the sink to dump her now soggy Rice Krispies down the drain.

"Well, why aren't you excited?" Pete asked confused by this girl's behavior.

Elena took a deep breath as she rested her weight on the sink in front of her.

"I'm not excited because you guys are going to be in a different school than me," she said quietly not giving either boy any form of eye contact.

"That's it?" Adam asked trying to hide the amusement in his voice.

"I knew you guys would just make fun of me, but you don't understand, the kids at school are cruel to me. It's nice to have you two looking out for me," she said turning to look at the two boys in front of her.

"Oh Elena, we will still look out for you. We're only a block away," Adam said trying to comfort his sister.

"It's not the same," she mumbled.

"Don't sweat it, El. We'll still protect you," Pete said puffing out his chest.

"Dude, lame," Adam looked over at his friend and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not lame," Pete said shocked.

Elena just started to laugh at the scene played before her.

"Awe, see. I knew I could get you to smile. Even if it was by your brother insulting me," Pete said sounding unsure of his actions.

"I'm sorry guys. It will just be weird to not have you in the same school," she said shrugging.

"Elena, if someone is bothering you, just let me know. Pete and I will take care of it," Adam said grabbing his book bag as to signal it was time for the three to begin their journey to school.

"Thanks," she smiled.

The three walked in a line down the sidewalk towards their schools.

"So, you guys are in high school this year. You scared?" Elena asked breaking the silence.

"Naw. What's to be scared of?" Pete asked shrugging.

"I don't know. Seniors?" Elena offered.

"No way. All you gotta do is stay away from them and they'll leave you alone," Pete said simply.

Elena didn't really understand how Pete was so easy going. He never seemed to show his fears or anxieties to others. It was something she always wondered how he did it so well.

-----

Elena sat in her science class trying to concentrate solely on the desk in front of her. She loved school, but this year was different. She was worried about how the other kids were going to treat her.

"Is this seat taken?" she heard a boy's voice ask.

Elena looked up to see an awkward boy standing there with black thick rimmed glasses. He pushed his glassed up on his nose and shifted his books in his hands.

"No," she said startled that this boy would want to sit by her.

"Thanks," he said shyly and plopped his books down on the desk.

They both sat in an awkward silence and Elena was praying for the bell to ring, so the teacher would start talking and she wouldn't feel so nervous.

"I'm Patrick," he finally said breaking the silence.

Elena looked over at the strawberry blonde boy who had a kind smile on his face.

"Elena," she said simply.

"So, you new here?" he asked looking around at the other students catching up on their summer vacations with one another.

"No. Why do you ask that?" she asked.

"Well, you were sitting by yourself, that's all," he said shrugging.

"Well, I'm not new," she snapped.

Patrick just nodded.

"I'm new," he announced to her.

Elena looked over at him and he kept his warm smile on his lips. Elena softened up a bit sensing that this boy was indeed no threat.

"Where are you from?" she asked softly.

"Oh, from the other side of Chicago. My parents split up and here I am living with my mom," he said simply.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Elena said sadly.

"It's ok, but thanks," he smiled at her.

Elena observed this boy sitting next to her. He sat in his seat with a smile on his features observing everything around him. He was very comfortable with his geekiness and she admired that. She instantly began to feel more comfortable with him.

-----

Elena sat in the busy cafeteria reading out of her latest library book. She nibbled on her sandwich and ignored everyone around her.

"Hey Elena!" she heard her name being called.

She looked up confused and saw Patrick waving at her with a dark haired boy following him.

"Hi Patrick," she said moving her books aside, so he could sit down.

"Want company?" he asked happily.

Elena just nodded and Patrick and the other boy sat down.

"This is Joe. We have math together. Joe, this is Elena," Patrick introduced the two.

"Nice to meet you," Elena said nodding towards Joe. He looked slightly familiar, so she was sure she had seen him around before.

Joe nodded back and began to eat his lunch.

"So, Patrick, how is your first day thus far?" Elena asked.

"It's alright," he nodded as he held his sandwich in between his hands.

"Just alright?" Elena asked.

"Well, it is school," he admitted.

"I hear ya," Joe said shaking his head with disgust.

"School isn't that bad," Elena said shrugging.

"It's bad," Joe said with wide eyes.

Elena laughed at his sincerity in that sentence.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Joe, it's kinda bad," Patrick nodded.

"Well, maybe I'm just easy to please," Elena said laughing at the two boys.

-----

Elena stood at her locker with a smile on her face. After her first day of sixth grade she was pretty excited for the school year again. She had met two nice guys who didn't care if she was a smart girl who liked to read.

"Hey Elena!" Patrick said happily walking up to her locker.

"Hey Patrick," she said shutting her locker door.

"Are you done for the day?" he asked walking with her towards the door.

"Yeah, you?" she asked looking over towards him.

"No, I've got piano lessons. I hate them, but my mom insists," he said shrugging.

"Piano lessons? Really?" Elena asked looking over at Patrick.

"Why do you sound so shocked?" Patrick laughed slightly.

"I don't know, you just don't see too many guys who play the piano," she said shaking her head slightly.

"Well, I'm hardly athletic, so I guess I should stick with what I'm good at," he said nudging her slightly.

Elena nodded and smiled over at Patrick.

"That's my brother and neighbor," Elena nodded towards two boys standing outside of the high school.

"They look thrilled to be here," Patrick joked at the boys looking overly bored.

"They like school about as much as you do, if that's possible," Elena joked.

"Well, maybe we will get to be great friends then, being that we have so much in common," Patrick offered.

"Maybe," Elena said absentmindedly.

The two walked up to Adam and Pete who were discussing how much they despised their sociology teacher.

"Hey El," Pete said and nudged Adam as she walked up to them with a boy.

"Hi Pete, Adam. This is Patrick. He's new to town. Patrick, this is my brother Adam and our neighbor, Pete," she said introducing the boys.

"Hey," Patrick said shyly.

"Sup," Adam said.

Pete just nodded his head.

Elena looked at all the boys very curiously. Why were they acting all macho all of a sudden?

The group of kids stood staring at each other and not really saying anything.

"So, I've got to go. See you in science tomorrow," Patrick said to Elena.

"Yeah, bye Patrick," she said as he waved walking away from the group quickly.

"What was that?" Pete asked immediately.

"What was what?" Elena asked shocked by his reaction.

"You got a boyfriend on the first day of school?" Pete asked.

"Whoa, that dude is your boyfriend?" Adam asked upset.

"What? You guys are crazy! No one said anything about Patrick being my boyfriend. He's just a friend," Elena said looking at Pete and Adam as though they had lost their minds.

"Good, because you are too young for a boyfriend," Adam said leading the other two towards home.

"Ugh, he's just a friend," Elena said irritated.

"Well, I don't like him," Pete said simply.

"You don't even know him," Elena practically shouted.

"I don't need to," Pete said and walked ahead of Elena with Adam.

Elena practically stopped in her tracks. Why were these two boys acting so peculiar?

-----

"Dude, I'm not too keen on Elena hanging out with those two guys all the time," Pete said as he and Adam hung out in Adam's room playing video games on a nice Saturday afternoon.

"What ever," Adam mumbled concentrating more on the game than on Pete.

"Are you saying that you don't care that your twelve year old sister is hanging out with two guys?" Pete asked upset.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Those guys are completely harmless. Both of them have been to the house and I don't sense any danger for Elena," Adam said still looking at the screen.

"You're nuts. Of course they are a danger. They are boys!" Pete said upset.

"Why the hell do you care so much anyway? She's my sister, not yours," Adam said irritated by Pete's behavior.

"Well at least someone is caring for her. She's twelve and hanging out with two boys. Aren't you the least bit worried about her?" Pete asked.

"Jesus, Pete. You sound like my father. Chill out," Adam said standing up to stop the game.

-----

Elena sat under her tree grasping the last bit of sunlight as she possibly could. She heard Pete yell bye to Adam as he walked through the yard. His footsteps slowed down as he saw her sitting under the tree.

"Hey El," he said entering the tree.

Elena put her book down and looked up at Pete.

"Hi," she said simply and sat up.

Pete took that as an invitation and he sat down next to her crossing his legs under him.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

"Nothing special," she shrugged as Pete grabbed the book from her lap.

"Discovering Egypt," he read out loud. "Sounds boring," he said placing the book aside.

"Maybe to you," Elena laughed at Pete's reaction to her leisure reading material.

Pete just shrugged and laid down on his back staring up into the weeping willow. Elena watched him cautiously and decided to do the same. Pete started to absentmindedly hum a tune that was in his head.

Elena wasn't much into music. She was far too busy reading about all the wonders of the world.

"That's pretty. What is it?" she asked quietly.

"Otis Redding. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," Pete explained.

"I like it," Elena said closing her eyes.

Pete sighed and Elena looked over towards him noticing him smile with content. Pete had his eyes closed and was now whistling the tune that was in his head.

"Do you ever think of the future?" she asked out of the blue.

Pete stopped whistling and scrunched up his face at the interruption of silence. He kept his eyes closed and thought.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Elena sat up and looked down at Pete.

"I mean, like what you want to be when you grow up. Do you have any dreams of the future?" she asked.

"I guess," Pete said sitting up and looking back at Elena.

"Do you?" he asked quietly.

"Oh yeah. I'm going to go to college and study History. I know that's what I'm going to do," she said enthusiastically.

Pete sat thinking for a moment. He never really put all that much thought into his future.

"What about you?" she asked watching Pete search his mind.

"I don't know really. I guess I've always wanted to make history," he said shrugging.

"Make history?" Elena asked curious.

"Yeah. You know, become famous and go down in history," Pete said simply.

"Well, how do you plan on doing that?" Elena asked watching Pete stand up.

"I haven't figured that out yet," he said leaving Elena sitting under the tree vastly confused.

AN: Hey Peeps! Thanks so much for the warm reviews for this story. It's got a slightly slow beginning, but things should be heating up soon. Smooches!