Possible writing

[ivybgreenflower]

Cherry ran down the halls as fast as she possibly could. She had never before been late to school in her life and was trying desperately hard not to break her perfect record. She knew how disappointed everyone would be should she walk in after the bell had rung. Thankfully, her energy held out until she burst in the door of classroom 1A just as the late bell began ringing. Her teacher turned around and as he saw her, he smiled. "I was worried," he said. "I thought you weren't coming in today." She could only pant and crawl over to her desk in reply. She sat down next to her best friend and tried to catch her breath. "What happened?" Anna, her best friend, asked. "You're usually the first one here." Cherry, usually the master of timeliness, merely shrugged and continued trying to catch her breath. She was not athletic at all and couldn't imagine how anyone could like sports. All they did was wear you out and make you sweaty, and today's sprint did nothing to change her opinion of them.
The rest of the day she spent with her mind in a haze. Try as she might, Anna just could not get her best friend to come back to Earth. Cherry was usually a star student; she was the one who had the best notes, the prettiest handwriting, and, of course, the best grades. Everyone, at some point or another, had relied on her to help them pass a particularly hard test or complete a tricky assignment. But today, Cherry barely took her usual perfect notes; they were unorganized and rather messy. For once, Cherry had not been concentrating on schoolwork and being perfect. Instead, she was thinking about something many girls her age thought of all the time: boys. For Cherry, it was one boy in particular who was occupying her thoughts and would not leave.
He had been the reason she was late to school; she had stayed up much later than usual the night before talking to him online. In fact, she had spent the whole weekend talking to him for hours and hours, as she had promised she would. The weekend before they had met on a message board for the school she attended, and spoke all week while she did her homework on her computer. She had hoped that she could meet him soon; his first day at the school was today, but the day was nearly over and she still hadn't found him. Anna and Cherry had their lunch period as the period before the last period of the day, and sat down at a wooden bench outside to eat their lunches. Cherry was still thinking about her problem when a blonde boy came up to their table and broke in on her thoughts. "I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Alan, and I'm new." Had Cherry been a cartoon character, an exclamation point would have been very visible over her head, but this boy didn't look very much like the image of her friend online that she had in her head, and she was immensely disappointed. "I'm Anna," Anna said, holding out her hand and smiling very widely. Cherry knew that smile; Anna always smiled that way when she thought a boy was cute... which was almost always. "I'm Cherry," Cherry said. They shook hands as well. He sat down opposite them. "That's an interesting name," he said. "I guess so," she answered. "Nice hair," he added. "It goes with your name." Cherry was wearing her long brown hair in high pigtails behind her head. "What does that mean?" She asked, feeling offended although she didn't yet know if she should be. Alan shrugged. They sat in silence for a few moments, Anna still smiling and Cherry still wondering. Finally Anna broke the silence and asked Alan where he came from, why he moved here, and all the other questions one might ask a new student. Cherry's thoughts returned to her online life. The bell rang and Cherry got up absent mindedly and swung her backpack over her shoulder. Alan looked at her. "You have a pink backpack too?" He asked. "What's wrong with pink? And what do you mean, 'too'?" She demanded. "Well, a pink backpack, pigtails, and a name like 'Cherry'. You're like a little kid!" Cherry was offended at this accusation. No one, in her entire life, had ever questioned her maturity. "I am not!" she said. "Are too," he replied.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"I am not!"
"You're acting like one now."
"Only because you started it!"
"Just to prove my point," he answered coolly. "See you," he added, nodding to Anna, who just about swooned and waved. As they walked to their last class, Anna said, in a dreamy voice, "Isn't he something?"
"Oh, he's something alright," said Cherry, feeling a bit murderous.
"Oh but he is! He used to be a track star, and he used to volunteer at the animal shelter!" Had Anna been a cartoon character, there would have been hearts where her blue eyes should have been. "He didn't seem all that nice," Cherry said. "He was just teasing you." Cherry shrugged. She didn't want to think about Alan anymore.
That night she logged online as soon as dinner was over. Her parents, accustomed to her doing her homework, didn't question why she was spending so much time in her bedroom on her computer. She decided not to tell her friend online about Alan, in case Alan's thinking polluted her friend's. Instead, she told him about how he nearly made her late to class for the first time ever. She pretended to be angry, but her friend saw right through her, however, and their instant message was soon populated by many smiley faces, and the acronym "lol" cropped up with amazing frequency. She was careful to log off earlier than she had the night before, although she didn't want to; she liked her online friend and didn't like leaving him. As she crawled into bed she realized she had completely forgotten to ask him about his first day of school, and she felt horrible. She'd make up for it tomorrow, she promised herself, and fell asleep thinking about him. The next day she was again the first one in her classroom. In fact, she was early and had to wait outside. Alan passed her and stopped to talk to her. "Hi, pigtails," he said. "That's not my name," she answered. "I know," he said. They stood in an awkward silence for a few moments until he said, "Where can I find your friend?"
"She'll be here soon, we have this class together."
"Oh, ok. I'll wait then."
"Okay."
"Does she have a boyfriend?"
"Who, Anna?"
"No, that old guidance lady with the weird thing on her chin. Of course I mean Anna!"
"No, Anna's single... and not looking," Cherry added.
"You sure?" Alan asked. Cherry shrugged. She didn't know why she said that. The truth was, Anna was always, always, always looking.
"Well, I'll wait for her anyway." He stood next to her and stared off across the grounds. As Cherry looked at his profile, she felt her heart beat faster. But why? Alan wasn't attractive, at least by her standards. And she had her friend online- whose real name she didn't know- to think about. Still, she could sort of see why Anna might think he was cute. Sort of.
The day passed by with Alan popping up occasionally to talk to Anna and tease Cherry. Cherry found, to her horror, that she didn't really mind him so much; after he'd say something mean to her, he'd smile as if to say "You know I don't really mean it" and she'd forgive him instantly. She was still on the lookout for any new boys, but so far hadn't found anyone else unfamiliar. She felt highly disappointed.

Alan walked with one of his friends, a boy in one of Cherry and Anna's classes named Brian. "What do they teach in 1A?" Alan asked. "That's Flagston's room. He teaches all the hard math. This year he teaches mostly Calculus, except 7th period when he does remedial algebra."
"So the girl with the pigtails takes Calc?" he asked, quite surprised.
"What girl with the pigtails?" Brian asked. "You mean Cherry?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I think she takes Calc because there's no higher math class."
"What?"
"That girl's a walking calculator. I think instead of a brain, she has a textbook in her head."
"No way. Really? She seemed kind of dumb to me."
"'Kind of dumb'? Are you crazy? It's because of her that I managed not to flunk Spanish."
"She speaks Spanish?"
"Practically fluent!"
"Wow. I never would have guessed."
"I dunno how you couldn't. She practically emits intelligence. I think instead of sweat, she just produces smarts."
"She's kind of cute."
"I never looked at her that way. I've always been too busy copying her paper."
"She lets you copy her work?"
"Only if I promise to do my own next time."
"Interesting." Alan frowned a little, lost in thought. He and Brian walked to their next class in silence.

That night Cherry logged on to talk to her friend online. She asked about his first day, and apologized for not asking the night before. Her friend sent her a smile and said "It's alright! And I had a good first day, I met some new people I think I could be friends with."
"I'm sorry we couldn't meet each other," Cherry typed back. "But I'm glad you have friends."
"Yeah, where have you been hiding yourself?" he replied.
"I dunno, where have you been hiding yourself?" Then they both laughed and continued talking. Cherry looked at his screen name, which contained numbers.
"What do those numbers mean? Do they mean anything special?"
"That's my record in track." Cherry gasped at her computer screen, then scolded herself for jumping to conclusions...
"If I ever break it, I'll have to get a new screen name, lol," he typed again. Cherry blinked at the computer.
"Are you there?" The screen blinked.
"Sorry, I just got caught up in something. But that looks like a good time."
"I guess so, yeah."
"Personally, I hate running. Maybe that's why I'm always on time."
"What do you like?"
"I'm in the Young Author's club at school. I'm the president."
"Wow, I've never been friends with a club president before."
"I've never been friends with a track star before."

The next day Cherry wore her hair down. Alan stopped by before the day started again, and asked about Anna as he had done the day before.
"She'll be here soon," Cherry said.
"Hey, what happened to the pigtails? You didn't stop wearing them because of me, did you?"
"What?" Cherry looked confused. "Pigtails aren't my signature style or anything. I felt like wearing my hair down today, so I did."
"Oh, ok. You look better without them. You look... older." His smile was mischievous. "Hmph!"
"So why are you always so early?"
"I don't know, I guess I just hate being late." She ran her hands through her hair. He looked at her.
"Wish there was something to do after school. This town's kind of boring."
"I'm never bored after school. I have a club to go to."
"Which club is that?"
"The Young Author's club," she answered. "It's for people who like to write. Every year one of us gets published in a book of short stories."
"Have you ever been picked?"
"Yeah," she said, looking both guilty and shy. "Every year since I joined."
"Wow. The other members must not like you too much."
"Well, maybe in secret. But they have to like me at least a little bit, because they elected me president."
Alan stared at her, with a look of dawning comprehension. The second to last bell rang, and he jumped. "I'd better go, or I'll be late."
"Mm-hmm, better hurry. Bye bye."
"See you later."

Alan couldn't focus in class. Was the pigtailed girl really the same one he spoke to every night? He felt guilty for teasing her, if she really was the same girl. But then he felt sad: apparently he hadn't made much of an impression on her, because she hadn't mentioned him during their conversations, even though she talked about such trivial things as breaking a nail or almost forgetting to add a plus sign to an equation. He felt stupid for even thinking that the girl he talked to every night could end up being anything more than just someone he talked to online.

When Cherry logged on that night, she told him about a calculus test she'd taken that day and how it was quite possibly the most difficult thing she'd ever done.
"But I'm sure you did great, you're really smart."
"What makes you think that?"
"Lucky guess?"
"But I only got a 95 on the last one!" At this, he burst out laughing, or at least that's what it looked like; he merely typed "roflmao" back to her, with a colon and the letter P.
"So I think I might have seen you today."
"You don't know what I look like!"
"But I think it was you."
"Was the girl you saw a brunette?"
"Yeah, she was."
"Standing next to a twittery blonde girl?"
"Yeah."
"Then you did see me. That's my friend Anna. She doesn't look very smart, but she is. She nearly matches me in English and Spanish and she's okay in Calc too."
"Sounds like you're quite the pair of smarties."
"Smarties? Sounds like candy."
"You like candy?"
"I love candy. Anything with sugar I like. Anna and I used to have nicknames for each other, I was Sugar and she was Cupcake."
"Well, okay. I'll remember that, Sugar."

The next day Alan was running late and didn't have time to tease Cherry. Cherry was surprised at herself; she actually missed seeing him. She shook her head and instead occupied her thoughts with the fact that her online friend was around her somewhere, and she just had to find him. Or maybe he'd find her? Now that he knew what she looked like he might find her. Her heard pounded at the thought. She yelled at herself mentally; who said this guy felt that way about her? And she didn't even know what he looked like or what he was like in person.
She passed Alan in the hall and nodded to him; he handed her two tiny packets and said "For you and Anna" before running away.
They were two packets of pastel candies.
"See, I told you he was something!"
"Yeah, he's... something. Or... Someone..."
"What?"
"I mean, that was nice of him."
"Sure was! Do you think he likes me?"
"Maybe."
"Oh, I hope so! I love candy! I bet if I was with him, we'd get candy all the time!"
"Somehow, I don't think so," Cherry said, laughing. Anna laughed, too. But soon Cherry was again lost in her own thoughts.

That day at lunch the lunch ladies had extra ice cream, so they gave it away to everyone who bought a lunch. Anna bought lunch every day, but Cherry usually just bought a bag of chips because she brought a sandwich from home. But Cherry, unable to resist the thought of pizza and ice cream, succumbed to the lunch ladies and bought a school lunch. She'd take the sandwich to her club after school and eat it there.
After Anna and Cherry had finished their lunches and were working on their ice cream cones, Alan came over and sat across from them again. "Hey, Sugar," he said to Cherry. He nodded to Anna, too. Cherry opened her mouth to question him but it was Anna who cut her off and said "Why did you call her that?" Those nicknames had been top-secret since childhood, and even today when they wrote notes in class they still used those names or their initials.
"'Cause she's eating sugar, and her name is Cherry, and she likes pink."
"Oh." Anna smiled at him, convinced Cherry hadn't spilled their secret. Truthfully, Cherry hadn't thought she was spilling anything to the person she talked to online, who was nothing more than a computer screen to her. But as she looked at him, she was afraid she really had broken her promise to her friend. She managed to convince herself it was just a coincidence, using the same reasons he had given Anna.

That night when she got online she told her friend about the candy.
"Someone gave me and Anna candy today."
"Oh? That was nice of them."
"Yeah, it was."
"Did you like it?"
"Yeah, I told you, I love candy."
"Maybe when I meet you I'll bring you some."
"You don't have to."
"But I want to. I'd like to."
"That's really sweet of you. That guy who gave me the candy, he's not really sweet at all."
"Maybe he is and he just hasn't shown it yet?"
"Maybe. Anna probably thinks he's sweet."
"Maybe you should think more like Anna."
"Maybe."
Cherry wondered why he was telling her that. She thought again of Alan and her online friend being the same, but denied it to herself and went to sleep absolutely positive that they weren't the same person.
The next day Alan was again late and again Cherry didn't meet her friend. The week was almost over, and she was afraid she wouldn't get to be a part of her friend's first week of school. She felt weird about asking him what he looked like; he often seemed shy and she didn't want to pressure him into meeting her when he wasn't ready. Yes, that had to be why he hadn't found her yet; he was shy and just wasn't ready to meet her yet.
After school she went to her Young Author's club and took her place at the podium in the front of the classroom. Anna sat next to her, acting as her second-in-command. Theoretically she would have taken over for Cherry should she ever be absent or need to go somewhere after school, but Cherry's attendance both to regular school and her club was perfect, and so Anna had very little to do outside the normal club activities.
Alan walked in the door as Cherry was setting up her papers on the podium. She looked at him and dropped them all to the floor, startled. Alan rushed over and helped her pick them up. "Hi," he said, picking up one last sheet. "Hey," she said. "Am I on time?"
"Yep, we haven't started yet. What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd join."
"Do you like writing?"
"Sort of."
"Today I'm reading something I've been working on, and then some of the others will share theirs. It'll give you a good feel for the club, you picked a good day to join."
"Great. Where should I sit?"
"Wherever you want," she said. By this time the whole club had come and there was one seat left, the one right in front of the podium. Alan took it.
Cherry's story was about a fish in the ocean who made new friends when he went to a new school, and how happy he was to find people he liked. Alan's first thought was that a talking fish was rather childish, and he did say that to her, smiling his typical teasing smile. But he also said that there was nothing wrong with it, and that maybe it was more childlike than childish. Cherry was surprised at this statement, and told him that she considered childlike to be a compliment, since it connoted innocence and purity, something she hoped her characters had. He told her that he felt her story had real symbolism and he was sure it was full of meaning, even if he didn't understand what it all might be yet.
Cherry was touched that he put that much thought into a silly story about a talking fish she had written in about an hour.

She told her online friend about the success of her story at the meeting that day.
"I'm glad everyone liked it. May I read it?"
"Sure. It's called 'Fish School.'"
Her online friend told her that he liked it, but was careful not to repeat anything he may have said before.
Their conversation degenerated into a whole new topic, as instant message conversations are prone to do. She was talking about how her horoscope was nearly always wrong, and how the one for today had been particularly absurd, so he gave her one of his own. He didn't mention that he made it up.
"Something unexpected but very good will happen to you tomorrow."

Cherry had gone out of her way to look nice today, since she thought today might be the day she got to meet her online friend. After all, that horoscope he gave her seemed to point in that direction, and even though she wasn't superstitious she had faith that this one might work out for her this time. She'd braided her hair the night before, and today it fell in soft waves around her shoulders and down her back. She wore more makeup than her usual cherry-flavored chapstick (which she used first because she liked the taste, and then continued using after it became a running gag in her circle of friends.) She took extra care to dress in a way that flattered her, with her best jeans and prettiest top. Even with all of this extra primping, she still managed to be quite early, although not as early as usual.
Alan walked up to her, but didn't say anything; he just looked at her, as though he'd never quite seen her properly before.
Finally, Cherry broke the silence.
"Morning!" she said, cheerfully. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but looking pretty did boost her confidence and, in turn, lightened her mood.
"Hey," he answered.
"Are you going to come back to the club today? I've got some prompts I thought we all might have fun with."
"Sure, sounds good."
"Good, I love having new members."
"And I," he said, getting a little closer to her, "Love being the new kid."
"Why?" she asked.
"I don't know, it's just fun to make new friends, have everyone pay attention to you because you're new, have all the girls be interested just because they don't know you if you're a jerk yet- it's just fun."
"I love doing well in class," she said.
"You're an overachiever."
"I am not! I just like having good grades. It's so nice, you know? To bring home a test paper with a sticker on it and put it on the fridge."
"Yeah, I guess so. I like being proud of myself, too."
"Yeah... I guess I just like having a reason to feel good about myself."
"You should have plenty of reasons. You're smart, you're a good writer, you're pretty..." he trailed off, realizing what he had said.
Cherry's face turned a color that went quite well with her name, and she looked away. She felt suddenly guilty; here she was talking to someone other than her online friend, who she had liked first. She had finally decided to admit to herself that she did, in fact, like Alan. And liking him wasn't turning out so bad after all.
"What else do you like?" she asked, changing the subject. Alan seemed grateful.
"I like that time in October, when Florida's summer is in it's twilight, you know? Where it's still hot but you can feel things changing, and it gets a little cooler, and it's perfect for sitting outside. And it also means Halloween is coming."
"I love Halloween! Probably because I love candy so much."
"I know something sweeter than candy. At least, I think it is."
"What?"
"That's my secret."
"Hmph, ok."
"What do you like?"
"Oh, I absolutely love getting a new set of pens and breaking them in by writing a story with them. And I love swimming, and walking in the woods."
"Wanna know what I love? Or at least, I think I do?"
"What's that?"
"The answer to the sweeter than candy question!"
"Tell me!" she demanded.
"There you go again. You're still kind of like a child."
"Well, it's only been a week since you first noticed, how much did you think I'd have grown? And tell me!"
He laughed. "Okay, if you really want to know..."
He leaned closer to her. By this time Anna had shown up and so had the rest of the class.
He leaned in a little more, and Cherry felt her eyes close as if it were a reflex. Her mind went blank and her heart practically pounded out of her chest.
Finally, after what seemed like both ten millennia and a nanosecond at once, Alan kissed her.
The class broke into applause and Cherry once again did her name proud, as did Alan.
They pulled apart rather slowly, and looked into each other's eyes.
"What's up, CherryLady?" he asked her, using her screen name.
"Nothing much, Astar624."
"I was right."
"About what?" She was smiling widely, more like Anna than herself. So was he.
"I was right about who you were. And I was also right in thinking that..."
She looked up at him expectantly. He pulled her into his arms.
"You are sweeter than candy. A thousand times sweeter."
-3:49 AM


I don't usually do this, but please please please read it and comment, please?

Comments

[oreohmygosh.livejournal.com]

Why did they kiss in front of a class???
I was a little confused by that part.

I thought it was very sweet (ZOMG! Like candy!).
Sorry it took so long for me to comment and read. It took me a million days to read it XD. Because I've been busy lately.

[ivybgreenflower]

Thanks for commenting. :)
I think they did it because they weren't paying attention to anyone else, you know like, they're so involved with each other they don't realize what's going on around them? I dunno, it was like 4 AM when I got to that part, lol :)
I'm really glad you liked it.