A Town Called Prairie: Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Movies With A Clown

At school, a few of the drama unlimited kids saw me. I tried to get away, but one of them, who happened to be in my class, stopped me as I ran out of the classroom to get home.
"Hi, I’m Edward." it was one of the louder, jokester kids that bugged me so much. You know those irritating people who pull ridiculous pranks in class because they want to be popular, but just end up busting everyone and getting detentions passed out? Yeah, that's Edward.
I kept walking, pretending I didn’t hear him, that is until he poked my shoulder and I instinctively turned around.
“hi.” He smiled meekly.
“hi.” I stated blankly. I had other things to worry about than talking to some obnoxious-
“are you doing anything this Friday?” he asked, looking down then glancing back at me.
Just a night of homework and reading and drawing… what should I say…?
“why?” I asked. I didn’t want to reveal all my cards lest it be something I would never want to go do.
“I was just wondering if you wanted to go see Paranoia 2.”
O.M.G. Paranoia 2?!? I was expecting ‘do you want to come TP someones house. If I didn’t go, I would be insane. If I did go however….
“nah, I’m not doing anything.”

Edward came by my house around 5 on Friday night. I didn’t have to tell him my address, most people knew where I lived anyway. I had just finished putting on my black “Paranoia or Go Home” shirt when the doorbell rang.
I grabbed my purse with the stashed candy and microwave popcorn and ran down the stairs where Edward was standing in the hallway. Oh yeah, I forgot he was coming… oh well. Paranoia 2, here I come!

At the theater in George’s Creek, Edward bought my ticket and offered to buy me some candy but I refused. “Why give these Georges Creek scoundrels more money that we have to?” I flashed the items in my purse. Edward nodded knowingly and we walked ot the theater.
The lights dimmed as I whipped out a bag of popcorn and began eating away. I was so absorbed in the movie that I didn’t notice Edwards arm around me until a creepy part where a zombie arm stuck out of the ground and when I glanced away from the screen I saw his hand and screamed louder than anyone in the theater. He pulled away and an embarrassed look went across his face. I noticed the humiliated look on his face and handed him a box of skittles as an apology.
The movie came to an end like the first one, with everyone dying in a zombie apocalypse that was really obvious from the get-go, but it was still pretty decent. As we walked out of the theater, Edward blushed. “Sorry about that, in the theater,”
“It’s ok, stuff happens.” I shrugged. “The movie was good.”
He nodded in response. “Yeah, when they all got trapped in that closet…”
“Like I didn’t see that coming!” I laughed. He laughed with me as we walked out the doors to where his mom’s car was sitting. He opened the door for me and I slid in before he got in and shut the door. his mom was silent and had a resigned look on her face, keeping her eyes on the road ahead of her as we drove home.
“Thanks for inviting me.” I spoke after a fairly long silence.
“No prob, I’ve wanted to see it, but no one else wanted to go.”
I nodded, “same here, my parents thought it was a waste of money.”
Another long silence followed. when we pulled in front of my house, Edward opened the door for me and I got out. “thanks again, I had a great time.”
“same here. Good night.” He smiled. Beneath the streetlight, I noticed he had pretty eyes that reflected the night sky.
“goodnight” I replied, walking to my front door and going inside, glancing back before I gave a small wave and closed the door.
I dashed upstairs and went to my room, closing the door and leaning against it.
Was it just me or did my heart jump around a bit when I looked into those eyes?

That night, I went through the shaft and into the attic, whipped out a piece of paper and tried to draw those eyes, scrunching scores of papers trying to perfect them.
What’s going on with me? how can one person do this to me? hes just an annoying card, a joker,a juvenile delinquent. Why does he make me feel this way? I must be mad or going into some wonderland delusion. Snap out of it Florentine!I scrunched up the piece I was working on and tossed it into the box that existed as my trashcan, now filled with circles and irises that traced the stars. I held my head on the desk and looked at the cardboard, tracing the packing tape that was opened and hastily replaced. My watch said the time was closing in on 1:30 AM. Glancing at the sky for some kind of solace, I stood up and pushed in the chair, wandering over the wooden boards I knew by heart back to the shaft that was covered by a ceiling tile. Moving the ceiling tile, I slowly slid down the shaft, watching the attic window slowly slip away.