memories of high school..

*God, Summer! Alice is supposed to be nonviolent. She's really freaking today, isn't she? And how come all the ladies are crushin' on Nidge?*

Alice

Alice couldn't believe she'd punched Nidge. She practically ran to her locker and to Freewriting class. The bell rang, and Nidge hadn't popped up, so it was safe to assume that he did not share this class with her.

"Alright, dudes," Mr. Hertley said. "I'm so glad to see some of you back here. Alice, Jaclyn, Sierra... Oh, Sydney, I didn't see you there! This is just great. This year's Freewriting class will be a little different from last year. We'll start in on our Song Lyrics unit first thing, then we'll have a small Limerick unit, a couple of Prompt units, and then our novella project in the last marking period.

"Some of you may not be as great a writer as others. Some may have the scales of talent tipped toward poetrym or maybe you're great at writing funny stuff. It doesn't matter. This class is all about expanding your skill to reach out of your comfort zone, so that you can write anything you want to. That's the point of freelance."

They just freewrote for the rest of the period. Alice began to write lyrics--not her strongest point--and she got to the second verse before the bell rang.

Alice crossed her fingers that Nidge wouldn't be mad at her if he was at their lockers. Thankfully, he wasn't. She popped open her locker, only to see an unfamiliar notebook with a note from Nidge. She skimmed through. It was his artwork.

[Nidge Masterson]

The end of the day past by like an short autumn breeze, which happened to be blowing when I got outside for the buses. But before that, I had quickly stopped by my locker, forgetting a folder that had my English homework stuffed inside.

Alice wasn't there yet and I sighed in relief. I thought it'd be better if she got the present alone and could look over herself. Other students were piling into the hallways and I barely had to walk, a huge crowd of kids were pushing me as if they were a giant wave.

I glanced back and saw Alice at her locker, ours eyes met and it looked like she waved, but I turned away without a response. My lip thobbed again.

Paige

I walked with him through the halls. Hayley and Tanya soon joined our group, and we all laughed and chattered away. Suddenly Nidge turned away and almost bumped into a nervous little freshman. I looked and saw Alice wave a little, then turn back to her locker.

"C'mon Nidge, if we don't hurry the bus'll leave!" I urged.

He smiled and nodded, avoiding Alice as we all walked outside.

[Nidge Masterson]

"I still can't believe she punched you!" said Paige in astonishment, staring at my lip with wide eyes.

I shook my head and laughed, "It's nothing, really."

She laughed along, but still looked a little shocked. A little bluish-red dot was the marker, reminding me about what she had done. People asked what happened as if they were paparazzi and each one's jaw dropped when they heard the name Alice. There were swarms of whispering people, a new rumor started.

"Oh my gosh! No way, Nidge, she didn't!" one girl gushed.

"Dude, I never thought she had it in her..."

I laughed when I told them how the blood tasted sort of like rust, or something like that and the girls started going "Ew!" in unison. Paige sat beside me, quietly looking out the window.

Finally, I thought of something that would get her to start talking--or at least start blushing. It was funny when girls did that. "Hey, Paige, wanna watch a movie Saturday?" Her mouth practically fell to the floor.

Paige

I couldn't believe it! I thought for a minute so I could think of something smart to say.

"Uh, wow, that'd be great," I gushed. "What time?"

"I don't know, what time do you think we should go?" Nidge asked, grinning and leaning back in his seat.

"What about 7?" I blushed, timidly.

Nidge nodded and grinned wider.

[Nidge Masterson]

"Hey, Paige," I leaned closer to her, pressing my lips together in a thin line before I started cracking up again by the look on her face. "What do you wanna see?" I asked in a whisper.

She was totally quiet, mouth slightly ajar like she lost all of her motor skills just in that one moment. I leaned back again and gaver some room, but she still didn't move other than her eyes that followed me like some picture on the wall of a haunted house.

"Hm?"

"Oh! Um... I--"

"Don't be so shy! What do think I'm gonna do, bite?" she tried to laugh a little at the joke, but the look of pure and total shock was still striped against her face.

Through the window beside Paige, cars were passing by. We stopped at a red light, Paige still didn't answer my question yet. Then, I noticed a familar face in one of the cars. I pushed Paige a little to the side and waved out the window.

"Hey! Alice! What's up?" I shouted out, cupping my hands beside my mouth like a megaphone. "Hey, Alice!"

Alice

Alice gripped the wheel. She knew that voice.

There was a school bus beside her, and Nidge's skinny head was hanging comically out of the window. She couldn't help but crack up. He gave her a quizzical look that she didn't see.

"Alice, why'd you punch me?!" He yelled out his window.

"You called me 'baby'!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Al! I didn't mean it that way!"

"No crap! My brother used to call me his big baby! I thought you knew and you were making fun of me!"

"Nah, I--" Nidge began, but the light turned green, and Alice stepped on the pedal, and he was gone.

[Nidge Masterson]

My neck hit the other side of the window as the bus reeled out the lane and around the corner, making me bite down on my tongue. Quickly, I ducked back inside and stuck my tongue out to observe the damage. Nothing. Good. Paige was smiling and looked to be on the verge of laughing.

"Bwhat?" I asked, my tongue still out.

"N-nothin'," she giggled and snorted once, now I started.

Her face turned a bright pink and she turned the other way. The whole back of the bus was laughing along with us, but it didn't seem like they knew why we were laughing. I glanced out the window and caught Alice's car going the other way, our eyes met momentarily and I pouted out my bottom lip to show her the small bruise.

"So, Paige," I asked, wraping my arm around her shoulder playfully. "what did you want to see? Scary movie, action, fanstasy..." the bus rounded another corner I continued to rambled on through the list of titles that popped up in my head.

Paige

Nidge ducked his head back in and grinned.

"Gonna speak yet?"

She cleared her throat and thought of a movie off the top of her head. "What about that new Eagle Eye movie or something?"

"Sure."

"I mean, if you don't want to see that one there's others, but I don't really know what many other good ones are..."

"It's okay, Eagle Eye sounds good!" he smiled widely.

She couldn't help but grin too.

[Nidge Masterson]

"Or!" I exclaimed, jumping up suddenly, then lowering my voice to a spooky whisper. "We could watch Saw 5. You know, that new scary movie?"

"Sounds gory, but--"

I leaned back a little bit, then shook my head. "It's okay, you decide. Ladies first, right?"

"Well, I--"

Soon, the bus came to screeching halt. My stop. I gathered up all my things and randomly stuffed them into my back pack, strapped it to my shoulder, then waved to Paige. All eyes turned that way and I couldn't help but laugh alound. Strangely enough, no one seemed to think it was weird.

I stepped off and stood at the gate, staring up at the dark, red bricks, that was my house. A large rottwiler lumbered into the front yard to see who it was. When it's eyes spotted me, a big, sloppy tongue flopped out and he ran towards the gate, jumping up and eagerly awaiting me.

"Hey, Rex!" I replied to his bark as I stepped in.

Paige

She sighed as they sped off towards her stop, which was next. She had forgotten to get his number.

If she had gotten it, she'd have at least been able to call later and say which one instead of waiting until tomorrow.

Oh well, maybe she could ride her bike over to his house later or something, seeing how close he lived.

She got dropped off at the corner beside her house and she ran inside, to see the large house wonderfully empty. A large cockatoo squawked her name from across the room.

"Hang on Bonita, I'm coming!" she giggled as she ran to the bird, who was now dancing.

*Is this really going anywhere, summer, [jacob]? *

*I'm not sure. Are we still continuing?*