Chapter 11-The News

            I stepped into the school hallway before first period. Krystal and Tiana hadn't been at the flagpole. It was actually becoming pretty normal for them.

           

"Hey, Eva," someone said from behind me. I turned. It was that guy I met at the ice cream parlor....What was his name? Bryan.

           

"Hi, Bryan," I said. He smiled. He had a nice smile, it was very genuine.

           

"So I was wondering if we could hang out after school," he said, looking carefully at my expression.

           

"Sure," I said.

           

"Cool. I'll text you," he said, "Heads up, your non-brother is coming your way." He melted into the crowd. I started to walk the other way. Eric always had to get in the middle of everything. Someone grabbed my arm.

           

"What do you want?" I said, not looking at him.

           

"To talk," he said, "I don't know why I said those things at the park, but I did break up with Danielle. That's why I went to the ice cream parlor."

           

"Yeah, but you didn't have to do it in the middle of the meet," I said stubbornly.

           

"I knew that they were just going to be arguing for the first half hour or so. I thought it was no big deal," he said in his defense.

           

"I really don't care," I said, "Tell that to Krystal." He let go as we walked into homeroom. Krystal and Tiana were already there. It looked like they were arguing about something. I sat down slowly.

           

"Eva, Tiana thinks it's time to make her move on Eric," Krystal said, "But she barely even knows him and he just broke up with his girlfriend yesterday. Do you think that's ethical?"

           

"No," I said immediately, "But I don't really care. It's her decision."

           

"Thank you, Eva," Tiana said, and flipped her hair at Krystal.

           

"You don't have to be so rude, she was just trying to help," I said at Krystal's hurt expression. She just huffed and turned away. I looked at Krystal. She signaled that she didn't know what was going on, either.

           

After class, Krystal caught up to me and thanked me for standing up to Tiana for her.

           

"That's what friends do Krys, you don't have to thank me," I said, laughing.

           

"Yeah, but I kind of pushed you too hard about Eric. No hard feelings, right?" she asked.

           

"Right, best friends forever," I replied happily.

           

Once I stepped into physics, I saw Danielle talking to Eric.

           

"I just don't understand," she was saying with wild hand motions, "How could you just dump me like that? I thought we were meant to be together!" Eric hadn't noticed me yet.

           

"Look, it was good, but it's over now," he said, "I'm just not interested anymore."

           

"What did I do wrong?" she wailed.

           

"It's not you, it's me," he said. I let out a snort. That was so cliché. Eric whirled around. He looked so surprised to see me, I started getting nervous. I shifted my weight to my other leg.

           

"Did I interrupt something?" I asked innocently.

           

"No. No, not at all," Danielle said, "I was just asking my ex-boyfriend why he broke up with me, but obviously, he doesn't have a good reason." She huffed.

           

"Okay, I do have a reason," he said, "I like someone else." She gasped.

           

"Who is it?!? How is she better than me?" she screeched. "I am getting to the bottom of this Eric! No matter what it takes!" She took a few deep breaths and turned to me. "Please excuse my behavior, I don't usually get out of control like this." That was a nice way of putting it.

           

"Sure, no problem," I said, looking at my nails. She walked back to her seat. "That is a sure way to make a girl mad," I said, my eyes following her. She looked so angry and...unkempt.

           

Eric sighed. "I didn't mean to," he said.

           

"I'm sure you didn't, but you're going to have to make it up to her somehow or else she's going to ruin your life," I said matter-of-factly. He glanced at me as if he were going to say something, but then closed his mouth.

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            After school I told Bryan that we could meet at the ice cream parlor at four thirty because there was another meet.

           

"Okay! What are we going to do today?" Tiana asked, sidling next to Eric.

           

"I have an idea," Steve said, "Let's see who can climb the spider structure the fastest." I smiled. Krystal looked at him like he was crazy.

           

"You know that Eva's had years of practice, right?" Krystal said.

           

He looked confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

           

"Maybe you were too busy arguing with Justin and Tiana, but she's been climbing it every time we come here." He looked incredulously at her. "Didn't you see her climb that tree yesterday?" she asked.

           

"Fine. We all get ten second head starts, then" he said. I grinned. This was going to be a piece of cake. I made it to the top in a matter of seconds. It was actually a mistake to let me go last, because I could plan out all the footholds first. No one was at the top yet, so I sat there and listened to my iPod. Someone tapped me and I nearly fell off the structure. I turned around to yell at Krystal or Tiana. I was surprised to see it was Eric.

           

"How'd you get up here so fast?" I asked.

           

"I just climbed where you climbed," he said, smiling.

           

"What? I didn't even notice you were still down there," I said.

           

"I know," he said, "You don't notice a lot of things."

           

Krystal came up next. She glared at us, then pointed at me, "You must have given him lessons!" she shouted mock playfully.

           

"He followed me," I told her.

           

She looked at him strangely, "That was pretty smart of you," she said seriously.

           

"Thanks," he smiled at her.

           

"Soooo....," I said awkwardly. "I think I'm going to go back down now."

           

"But Tiana, Steve, and Justin aren't even here yet," Eric said, looking at me curiously.

           

"Oh. Right," I said, "Let's make a plan for what we're going to do when they get here." We decided that we would have to say something about ourselves that people didn't know yet, which was basically like truth or dare.

           

I went first. I said that when I was eleven, I had accidentally stapled my own finger. Steve said that he was attacked by a dog and couldn't fight it off when he was thirteen. It went on like that until I realized it was four twenty.

           

"I've got to go, guys," I said, standing up. I had forgotten that we were on the spider structure, so when I stood up, I nearly fell down. "Whoa!" I sat down again. "I have to be somewhere," I started climbing down.

           

"Bye! See you tomorrow!" Krystal said.

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I met Bryan at the ice cream parlor ten minutes later. We got our ice cream and then sat down. We talked about everything and nothing. Soon, I realized that it was already six. I stood up. This time, I didn't fall. We said our goodbyes and I started walking home. I looked in a few shops and saw Eric and Danielle. She was smiling up at him. I guessed that he had taken my advice. Danielle saw me and waved. I smiled back at her.

           

When I got home, Michael's car was in the driveway. I cautiously opened the door and looked around. I didn't see Michael or Lily so I went to make a snack. Ice cream wasn't really filling. I made a turkey and lettuce sandwich and headed upstairs. I knocked on Lily's door.

           

"Lily? Are you in there?" I asked. She swung the door open.

           

"You're finally back. What do you want?" she asked. Michael came up behind her.

           

"Hey there, Eva," he said, smiling.

           

"Hey," I said, "I just wanted to say 'Hi' to you guys" I said, quickly retreating.

           

"Sure you did," Lily said, about to close the door again.

           

"Wait! Keep the door open in case...in case I need to talk to you," I finished lamely. She raised her eyebrows at me but left the door open. I went to my bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

           

Michael had dinner with us that night. As it turns out, he had been to our house more than twice, so he already knew where the dishes were and everything. We watched a football game and chatted about school. I felt like a third wheeler. Mom saved me from more time of that by making an announcement that we were going to visit her cousins in Hawaii. We were going to have to take a few weeks off school, but she'd talk to our teachers. Mom said that we could bring a few friends if we wanted to and their parents let them. I immediately texted Krystal and Tiana. They had come once and loved it. I started packing. Hopefully they could come.

Author's Note

I made it to Chapter 11! Overall, I'm not satisfied with this chapter. It was scatter-brained and short. Also, there's something weird about the spacing when I hit enter. I'll try to fix that, but there's no guarantees. I promise the next chapter will be better, because I have it all planned out in my head! Until next time! -Eva