THE MINUTE Bert emerged into my room, I knew he was trying to mislead me. I don’t know why, because he seemed nice enough. I went along with his play anyway. He seemed familiar, too. Like I had gotten a glimpse of those ice-blue eyes in town or something. His dark hair was surprising in contrast to his pale face and was styled on one side with a nice wave. Clearly, this fellow needed to get more sun; whoever he was. If you compared him to Peter, however, he was hardly what you’d call handsome. Wait, no! Peter was NOT handsome. Neither was Elbert. They were just normal boys who… were… friends with me. Yeah, that’s it. I thought to myself. Just friends, and if they want something more, they’ll have to deal with it. After I showed him around (he seemed to know where he was going already) and took him to Zarola, I left him and got on with my duties. My thoughts wouldn’t stay steady. Why was he lying? Is he a bandit? Was he looking for me? Why? Did he mean to barge into my room? What is his true name? I can’t even begin to comprehend why he was lying. I probably never will. I don’t even know if he was lying. Maybe my instincts are failing me. I plunked my rag into the dirty water obstinately. I was cleaning the fireplace in one of the classrooms. My eyes filled. I miss home! I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined that I was home. One got by, but I continued with my thoughts. I don’t care. I thought. I don’t care that Elbert was lying. I’m glad to have found a true friend amongst the rag-tag maids and janitors cleaning Wildwood Prep after the messy lads and lasses have gone home to their loving families. I grinned as I wiped my face with my apron. My face was soon filthy with ashes from the fire. I was making a spectacle of myself. Weeping and sooty, I was probably messier than the students at the school. A noise in the corner startled me. I crept over. It was just a big gray rat. Its fur was limp and matted, and the tail was curled up beside it on the floor. “All alone too, huh?” I asked stupidly, “Welp, welcome to the club.” I plopped down next to it. “What? You think I’m crazy for talking to you like you’re a human?” It stared at me for a spell, then started to go back into the hole from which it came. “That’s just what I get for talking to a rat.” An hour later, at 9:00, the bell rang and students filed into their classrooms. Unlucky enough for me, I was caught in a classroom, I was cleaning the fireplace. The students looked at the rags I was dressed in, and instantly laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I must have been a sight for sore eyes. Tears welled in my eyes. I blinked them away. I felt my head droop, and the corners of my mouth pulled down. I lifted it and smiled confidently. Father’s words rang once again in my ears, “The only way to get persecutors to stop hurting you is to show them you aren’t afraid if they tease you.” I continued to smile as they continued to tantalize me and my rags for a dress until the mistress of them walked in. She sent me away with a sympathetic smile. I didn’t need sympathy. I had dealt with many bullies in the past, I knew how to handle myself. Walking the corridors, listening to the children in their classrooms made me homesick. I missed the way Frida would stomp around when she was woken too early. I craved waking up to Sammy and Tammy’s cries. I yearned for Peter’s warm - what was I saying? Peter is just a friend! I shook myself out of the thought. I am going to have to forget about him sooner or later. He’s a haunt to my memory at this point. I don’t want to be anything but his friend. Nothing but his best friend. I can’t help but wonder whether he thinks of me as - My thoughts were interrupted by a coughing sound behind me. I turn around slowly. “Bert, how did you get there?”
Read ^ first ------------------------------------------------------------------------ “I um… I…” He stared at me anxiously. “You…” I was getting impatient. Not a very common feeling for me, but I knew what to do. I took a deep breath and slapped the most convincing smile I could manage on my face “I- I didn’t mean to startle you.” “It’s fine. I was just thinking…” I trailed off. “About what?” He asked. I couldn’t see what he was thinking, but there was an ingenuine look in his eyes. Elbert didn’t want to know what I was thinking about, so I gave him an ingenuine answer. “Oh, it’s nothing,” I said, still grinning as truly as I could. “Are you sure? If you needed I could-” “How long have you been following me?” He turned a bright red. How swee- um… perfectly normal. I barely even know Bert, why am I having these thoughts? “Since after you came out of that last classroom. There were tears in your eyes. I was following you to make sure that you were alright.” “Well, I am.” My thoughts furiously raged. Peter! Elbert! I don’t want a beau! I’m fine just by myself! WHY CAN’T BOYS JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!?!?!? “Are you sure?” His voice wavered. I must have him worried. Tears were streaming down my face; I wiped them away. “I just miss home.” I whimpered, thoughts furiously emerged in a burst of tears. He obviously didn’t know what I needed, he didn't understand what I was going through. I tried to smile. “It’s fine. I was just joking!” Bert didn’t seem amused. “Look, I’m smiling!” I was being overenthusiastic. He sighed. “I’ll just… leave you alone.” He led me into my room, stared at me for a second, and left. He evaded me for the rest of the day. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to see him either. That thought was unkind. I did want to see him, but not at the moment. Plastering another smile on my face, I mustered to get a few bites of my mid-day meal before feeling squeamish. Maybe it was the milk, maybe it was the stale bread. I don’t know, but I felt sick. I didn’t call in sick the next day; the food I had eaten at breakfast sloshed around my stomach like a dead bug in the weekly wash. My head pounded and throbbed with the images of home, and Peter. Home, and Elbert. I had felt this way before. I searched my memories to find out when. Is it when I yelled at Frida for teasing me and Peter? The image ran through my mind. I was standing in my small little house. It was my 14th birthday. Peter was standing beside me. His breath felt warm on my neck and hair. Frida was 15 at the time and was teasing me that I would be with Peter when I grew up. That wasn’t it. I thought again. I continued to search through my memories while I worked with the other maids in the laundry room until I found the one I wanted. I had told the bullies in Stonedocliffe that I had the most money out of everyone in my family. I was only 7. I told them that I had billions and billions of Rona. Rona was the name of the first and original queen of Kemar and was our currency. Even though they didn’t believe me, I felt nauseous, and my head throbbed until I finally told the truth. This opened my mind to the other times I had lied. I had felt terrible about it each time. Maybe I should tell the truth to Elbert, no matter how insignificant my fib was. I looked for him everywhere, aimlessly wandering the halls of Wildwood Prep. Left this way, peeking into classrooms in this hallway, up the stairs, and searching the classrooms there, too. The thought of leaving him on a loose end like this made me shudder. I wandered back into my room to collect myself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- And... that's a wrap! Chapter 4 of my book was extremely hard to write and even harder to edit. There were so many components trying to come together in this chapter that I didn't want to come together yet! Like, Peter wanted to come back in, but I don't want him in the story at this point! The emotions in this chapter feel very real to me in the sense that I've elaborated on them quite a bit. D.W.B.H! -Oreo ------------------------------------------------------------------- Next chapter: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/480372684/ Previous chapter: part 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/469372507/ part 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/469375555/ © @OreoTurtleBear © Please give me credit if you use my writing for any purpose. The time it took to write: About... 3 days. Maybe more, maybe less. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits: Some of the names: https://www.name-generator.org.uk/
