my mother's shoving me out the door so... enjoy!
~Belles <3
Chapter One:
“Perfection and Loneliness are intimately related.”
~Unknown
I gazed out the window in Geometry class, bored out of my mind. I already understood what we were learning, but the other kids were having trouble. What I didn't understand was that, if they're having trouble, why were they in the Geometry Honors class?
Whatever. It didn't concern me. In fact their questions just gave me more time in which to what I do best, daydream. To fantasize about fantastical adventures in far off places with extraordinary people. In which, of course, I'd be pretty, popular, and all around amazing. And everyone would know me as Skye, short for Skylar. Which is my first name.
Of course as Skylar is my first name you would imagine that everyone already calls me that. But they don't. Everyone, even the teachers, call me by name middle name. Anne. It's such a boring name. (No offense to anyone else with that name.) I love the name Anne, really I do, It's just that I love the name Skylar more. But everybody started calling me Anne when I was younger and now I doubt anybody remembers that, that's not really my first name.
Whatever.
“Since Scott is having troubles....... Anne. Would you please enlighten the class as to what the answer is to the problem on the board?” Mr. Neiswinder, the math teacher, asked jerking me out of my little rant about my name.
I quickly scanned the problem on the board that I had conveniently overlooked before. “The shaded area is around 63.59 cm2.” I stated.
“That's right.” He replied and then continued to tell the class how I reached that answer.
As he explained it (All you had to do was find the area of the sector of the circle, then find the area of the triangle in the sector, and then subtract the area of the triangle from the area of the sector of the circle and you'd be left with the area of the shaded part. No biggie.) I thought about how much that irked me too. When teachers call on me when my hand isn't raised. They don't call on me because they think I'm not paying attention. They call on me because they know I'll know the answer. They just expect me to know it, no matter what the question is.
Gah, I hate being smart.
Ring, Ring, Ring.
Mr. Neiswinder stopped in the middle of his sentence and answered the phone in the room that connected him to the office (or any other room in the school if you want it to.)
“Uh huh...... She's right here...... Yep........ I'll send her right up then.” He hung up the phone and looked at me. “Anne. Up to the office. Take your books with you.”
I gathered my books and walked out of the room ignoring the immature comments coming from my classmates going, “oOoOo, Anne's in tRoUbLe.”
The walk to the office was a short one. I was slightly nervous because I had no idea what was going on, but other than that I was ok. I knew I wasn't in trouble only because.... well... it was me. I know that sounds conceited, but I just don't get in trouble. I'm just too goody goody for that. Too..... Perfect.
I walked into the office and the secretary sent me straight into the principal's office. “He's waiting for you.” She said.
She closed the door behind me and I sat down on a chair facing the principal's desk. I looked around the room and noticed that I wasn't alone. There were three other boys in the room, standing by the wall. They were dressed abnormally for the average teenage guy in my school and I had never seen them before, so I guessed they weren't students. But they might've been new students.
Maybe that's what I was called up for, I thought. To show the new guys around. Heaven knows it wouldn't be the first time the principal has asked me for help.
I turned my attention back on Mr. Jones as he began to talk. “So as you, of course, know your fund raising week is this week. And when we talked about the schedule and what you were planning you mentioned briefly that maybe a celebrity appearance might help raise more money.”
I thought about what he just said. He was right that this week was the week I was putting all my fund raising activities to work for the school. Because before you're allowed to graduate you have to complete a project that benefits the school. You can do something as little as changing the message board out on the front lawn when needed, to as big as what I was going to attempt to do.
I wanted to do the best project out there, because if I settled for less than the best that might make me, somehow, less perfect. So I had concocted a plan to have a whole week of fund raising for our school. And the principal had given the a.o.k. (of course). While talking out my plans with him I had (unintentionally) blurted out that a celebrity appearance might help. He had nodded, but seemed to brush it off while I felt complete foolish for even suggesting it.
“I remember that.” I replied, uncertain as to where he was going with this.
“Well, it just so happens that I'm really good friends with the father of a very popular band. So I gave him a call, explained the situation, and asked him if they'd be interested. They were. So may I introduce you to Nick, Kevin, and Joe. These guys make up the band the Jonas Brothers and they're here to help you with your fund raising activities all week.” Mr. Jones explained motioning towards the three boys in the office.
I just sat there and smiled. My smile becoming more strained and bigger than before. It was a bad habit I had picked up, I smiled whenever I was nervous or unsure of what to do. And right now I was really nervous. “Hi.” I said.
Mr. Jones smiled at all of us as if he just knew we'd get along great. “Well, I have a quick errand to run, so I'm going to leave you guys in here for a couple of minutes so that Anne here can explain the details to you guys.” He gave us one last look before walking out the door.
“So, uh.” I twirled a piece of my reddish brown hair in my fingers, smiling so hard it hurt. “I'm Anne. And you guys are....?”
“I'm Nick.” The boy with warm brown eyes and a mess of curly brown hair smiled, holding out his hand for me to shake.
I shook his hand as the boy with slightly less curly hair, intense hazel eyes, and sideburns spoke, “And I'm Kevin.”
I shook his hand too. There was only one boy left. He had sparkling brown eyes and straight shaggy brown hair. “Joe.” He stated simply.
I held out my hand for him to shake, but he silently refused, taking me into a big bear hug instead. I was surprised and uncertain as to what I should do. So I hugged him back awkwardly and stepped away from him. I could feel heat rushing through my face, a sure sign I was blushing profusely. “Um, so... I'm Anne. Wait. I already said that.” I laughed nervously, my smile getting bigger by the second.
“Are you a fan?” Joe asked out of nowhere.
“Joe.” Kevin hissed, “You don't go around asking people that. It's rude.”
“What?!” Joe exclaimed. “How is that rude? I just asked a simple question. She seems all nervous and she's smiling constantly so I was just wondering.” He said obviously forgetting the 'she' he was referring to was still in the room.
“It's still rude.” Kevin had the decency to whisper.
I could tell Joe was going to say something else and make everything worse, so I intervened, using my 'I'm in charge, don't mess with me' voice. “Hold up. Everybody chill.”
Joe and Kevin looked at me, waiting to see what I'd say next. I didn't disappoint them. “First of all, if you guys are going to start WWIII please do somewhere else and over something a little bit more important. Second of all, I am not a fan, basically because I have no idea who you guys are. I'm sorry, but it's true. I don't know anything about you. And third of all, if you guys are finished I think we should get down to business before Mr. Jones comes back. Okay?”
Joe stared at me shocked, while Kevin blushed at being reprimanded. Nick was the only one to speak up, “That's ok with us.”
“Please, sit down.” I said motioning to the seats in front of the principal's desk. They all sat down while I leaned against the desk facing them. “Ok, so today we're having a dinner event thing. People will come here and buy tickets to get served dinner in the cafeteria. They'll be tables set up and we're going to try our best to make the cafeteria look like a nice restaurant. They'll be waiters and bus boys and chefs and all that other stuff, so it's not like they'll have to serve themselves their own food. You guys just have to show up after school in the cafeteria and I'll let you know what you can do to help. After that, I'll let you know what's up for tomorrow. Does everybody understand everything?”
Nick nodded his head and so did Joe and Kevin.
“Ok, great. I guess that's it then. I'm going to go back to class. Just let Mr. Jones know that when he comes back, 'kay?” I asked, my hand resting on the door handle.
“Wait.” Joe said jumping out of his chair and walking towards me.
“What?” I questioned giving him my confused smile.
“I just..... uh.... how old are you?” He asked.
“18.” I replied without hesitation, opening the door and walking out.
