Sad Sound - Ch. 1 pt 1/1

I haven't posted a novel on here in awhile, but novel writing isn't only my favorite type of writing but it's also what I'm best at, so I decided to give it another shot. Hopefully I'll at least get some comments on all the chapters I post if not some followers. I'll give a recap so it will be easier to understand what's going on if you haven't read the rest :)

You'll have to forgive me if this doesn't look pretty; I'm not used to the new layout of the site yet.

Chapter One

When people looked at me all they saw was the small and awkward freshman that always seemed to be doing something stupid. As it was kind of true, it didn’t mean I liked being labeled. If they were to look deeper they would realize I was more than just that. Someday I planned to do something great; show them all up. Maybe I would become a doctor or a lawyer. I might even become president. It was a long shot, but I needed something.

I sat down at lunch, alone, as usual, and started to eat. A girl suddenly came up to me. She was fairly pretty, with very long hair and a completely flawless face. “Elliot, just the man I wanted to see,” she said with a smile. I gave her a weird look. Why would a girl like her want to see me? No one ever wanted to see me, let alone a pretty girl. “We’re having a bake sale for the cheerleaders, but unfortunately none of us really know how to cook. We have our mothers, but I was hoping you would pitch in. I mean everyone knows you’re a great cook.”

I helped with the lunch a couple times when the staff was short and the food turned out great so now everyone thought I was this amazing cook. As it was true I cooked with my mother all the time and knew a lot about it, I didn’t think my food was all that great.

“Stephanie,” I said, knowing her name like I knew a lot of the names in this school, “I’m not sure I can help you. I’m not all that good with cooking.”

“Elliot, do you realize what type of opportunity you’re passing up here? I mean you get the chance to work with the cheerleaders for an entire week. For a boy such as yourself, this will be great. And be assured some of the girl hit on any boy they see.”

I wasn’t stupid. She totally just insulted me, whether she tried to or not. “No, thanks, Stephanie. Either learn to cook yourselves or have your mothers help. I can’t.”

And with that I got up and left. I wouldn’t let anyone walk all over me. I was smarter than that.

When I got home I wasn’t in the best mood, and my mother must have sensed it. “Welcome home, honey,” she told me with a smile.

I didn’t return it. Home was my haven away from that awful place they called school. As it was true I enjoyed learning and got along great with my teachers, everyone wrote me off as some loser. I had been offered a spot on the national decathlon a couple times, but I always declined. The last thing I needed was for the school to think I was an even bigger nerd than they already thought. Not that I was one to care about what people thought, but I didn’t really want to do it anyway. It didn’t seem worth it to me.

I remember when I brought home my first straight A report card. I was nine, and my mother was ecstatic. “Just look at this,” she told me with a smile as she put it on the fridge. “My son is super smart, and someday he’s going to become something amazing.”

“Like an astronaut?” I had asked.

She laughed. “Of course, honey. You can do anything you want to do, and it will be something great.”

I nodded, pondering the thought. Anything?

“Your father would have been proud,” she added with a smile.

I nodded, no longer thinking about the astronaut idea. My mother had told me he could see me from wherever he was now, and he was always watching. What did he want me to be? I wanted to make him just as happy as I was making mom, but I didn’t know how to do that. I would do anything to make my parents happy.

“What’s wrong?” she asked me as she turned from her afterschool snack making and came over to me.

“It’s just been a long day,” I told her.

She knew I didn’t really have any friends, and so she always tried to make the most of my time at home and told me daily friends weren’t as important as family, and family would always be there when nothing else was. I sure hoped she was right. After losing my father the rest of my extended family slowly started to disappear, either voluntary or by force. The only people I had left were my mother and my aunt and uncle. I didn’t like them, so I actually just considered my mother my only family I had left. I had some other distant relatives, but I didn’t talk to them very often if ever, so I didn’t really care for them.

“Well, I know what will make you feel better,” she said with a smile. “I made your favorite, marshmallow on graham crackers. I know you like to call it a more.”

I didn’t like chocolate, so when I was little I had fallen in love with smores without the stuff. My mother would tease me it wasn’t a smore without the chocolate, so I told her it wasn’t called a smore anymore, rather a more because it was missing something just like the word more was missing an S. she thought it was cute and reminded me how smart I was. I was getting a little old for it, but she continued to call it that, thinking I still liked it.

“Yeah,” I said with a smile. I took the plate from her and headed upstairs.

“Where are you going?” she asked me, looking rather upset.

“I just have a lot of homework to do,” I told her. She nodded as I headed upstairs.

My mother wanted me to reach my full potential, and as a result she put me in all these advanced classes and told me I was getting a head start on something great. She went off about how these two years were crucial and if I kept my grades up I would have college classes in high school on my side. In all honesty I didn’t like the harder classes. I was smart, but I hated having to do so much homework every night. Some nights I would spend all night doing homework just to fall sleep on my desk and my mother had to wake me up and help me to my bed I was so tired. And sometimes I had to do homework on the bus, and that wasn’t only annoying but also embarrassing. Plus sometimes people would throw things at me and I didn’t want to risk them ruining my textbook. My mother didn’t make enough money to replace it. I wasn’t even sure how she would afford letting me take college classes. Once I turned sixteen I planned on helping her, but for now I just needed to focus on what mattered the most.

Ever since my father passed away my mother has been holding on to me. For as long as I can remember she’s been very protective of me, but she didn’t start getting clingy until after he passed away and she thought I was the only one she had left. I could say the same thing about me, but I wasn’t quite as bad. We were fairly close, although there was a lot she didn’t know. It was my dad I was always best friends with. I knew they couldn’t have any children so they adopted me. That wasn’t a secret in my house. It never made me think less of them. I figured my biological parents gave me up for a reason, and if I ever met them I would probably thank them, because in my opinion I had a great life. I had no complaints about the family I ended up with. At least my birth mother didn’t abort me. If there was one thing she gave me it was life, and that was enough for me to thank her.

I had asked about my birth mother once, just because I was curious. My mother didn’t seem happy that I was asking, but she told me regardless. She just told me my mother was very young and I was kind of a surprise so she didn’t feel like she could raise me. She wanted to give me a better life so that was why she gave me up. She assured me she was a very nice girl who she knew followed all the rules while she was pregnant and it was hard for her to give me up. I hoped she wasn’t just saying that to make me feel better. It sucked that I had just been an accident, but at least my mother wasn’t someone who just wanted to get rid of me or did drugs so I came out addicted like some babies did. I didn’t ask about my father. I figured he didn’t care, being that I was an accident.

I spent the rest of the night doing homework, but I refused to fall asleep. I had a test tomorrow that I had to do well on, and then I had a project due later this week. I was almost done, but I still had some things I needed to do that wouldn’t be simple little tweaks. I never did anything simple. Everything was always the best I could do, and depending on what it was that could be a lot or a little.

I went to school the next day and took my test. I felt fairly confident, being I stayed up all night studying, but I was really tired and was tempted to take a nap somewhere during lunch. But that was bad idea because someone would be sure to do something stupid while I slept, and I would end up with either something in my mouth or on my body. People at this school were both jerks and immature. I didn’t even know why they hated me so much.

Once school was over I headed out the bus like I normally did. I saw Jeremy come up to me. He REALLY hated me. I wasn’t sure what he had up his sleeve but it couldn’t be anything good.

“Hey, Elli,” he said with a smirk. I hated being called Elli, and he knew it. That was a girl’s name. He seemed to find it humorous, but I didn’t. “Don’t be so serious all the time,” he mumbled. “I don’t think it’s that bad of name. I bet your parents called you that when you were little.” No, they didn’t actually. They would never call me something that humiliating. But I wasn’t giving him what he wanted.

“I’m not finished with you yet,” he said as he grabbed my arm. “I’m in need of someone to do my homework.”

“Forget it,” I mumbled. “I’m so done taking orders from you.”

“That’s too bad,” he said with a smirk, “because you don’t have a choice.”

He hit me in the arm and I fell to the ground. A teacher didn’t see. They never did.

“Fine,” I mumbled, holding my arm and not wanting him to do that again. His homework was easy anyway. He was only in basic math and some remedial science class. It would take me an hour tops to do, and then I could get back to my own homework.

“I expect it down by tomorrow before school, or else,” he threatened. I nodded, seriously afraid of him. He then left. No one even bothered to look at what was going on.

I knew there was a bruise there. Not only was I a huge baby when it came to pain, but my skin seemed sensitive to bruising so I got them often. But I knew I couldn’t go home with a bruise. Every time I came home with one my mother called the school, or in some cases went over there, and yelled at the first staff member she ran into, even if it was a janitor. It was kind of embarrassing so I usually would prevent it if I could. But if I didn’t come home on time she would also freak out, afraid I was kidnapped or something. I don’t see who would want to kidnap me. My mother didn’t have a lot of money and they wouldn’t get much, if any, ransom. Plus my mother didn’t have a lot of enemies. Everyone seemed to love her. Since she knew I would be coming home on time today, I had no choice. But I noticed the bruise was on the top of my arm, so maybe that meant I could hide it.

My plan worked great for most of the night. I had my snack, did homework, and even ate dinner without her noticing a thing. After dinner I did more homework, and then came downstairs to get a glass of water. She was sitting on the couch watching a movie of some sort. She always seemed to watch romance stuff. I didn’t understand why she wasn’t remarried yet. My father passed away almost five years ago. She wouldn’t even look at other guys.

I stepped into the living room and she suddenly grabbed my arm. “Elliot, why don’t you take a break from your homework and watch a movie with me?”

“No thanks,” I said as I pulled away. “I have a lot of homework to do.” Frankly, I didn’t really want to watch one of her romance movies. Plus I had extra homework tonight since I had to do Jeremy’s homework as well.

“You always have homework,” she said as she shook her head. “It will still be there when the movie’s over. Take a break for a little while. You could use it. You look absolutely exhausted and I can tell you haven’t been getting enough sleep.”

“I’m fine, mom,” I told her. I attempted to walk away but she wouldn’t allow it. She forced me to sit down. Did I mention I was also weak? There was a reason no girl had ever shown interest in me.

“You’ll be fine for a few hours,” she told me. I had no choice but to sit there and watch it with her. On the bright side, it wasn’t as bad as some of the movies she made me watch.

I leaned into her and laid on her shoulder. I guess I was the only fourteen year old out there that still liked to snuggle with his parents, but I wasn’t ashamed of that. My mother did a lot for me. I must have doused off somewhere in the movie, because when I woke up it was dark and my mother was still up, watching me as I slept.

I awoke with a start. “What time is it?” I asked as I tried to get out of her grasp.

“Go back to sleep,” she told me. “I know you need it, you’re just too stubborn.”

“I have a ton of homework I still need to do,” I mumbled, only half awake.

“You’ve been working on it all night. Do your teachers honestly expect you to do this much homework a night? You’ll be fine.”

I didn’t want to tell her I did someone else’s homework as well, but I was too tired to fight. It was an accumulation of not getting a lot of sleep for the past three nights that finally hit me. I could always do his homework on the bus tomorrow…

That was the thought that went through my mind before I doused off again, this time with my mother gently stroking my blonde hair.