Wishing: Chapter Two

Some might say it's absolutely crazy to go to school the day after witnessing your own father's death.

Well, then again, I've never been the most sane person in the world.

I was sitting at the kitchen table, fully dressed and nibbling on a bagel when my uncle walked in at seven o'clock. He was still wearing some incredibly stupid-looking pajamas, and it seemed he had just woken up.

"What are you doing up?!" he exclaimed as he saw me sitting there.

I stood up, fixing the green clip in my hair that pinned it back. "School. It's the last day before break, we're sure to get some big assignment or something." And then I shrugged, picking up a black book bag and throwing it over my shoulder. "See ya."

"Wait!" my uncle said as I turned to walk to the door. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow instead of speaking. "Are you sure you want to go? I mean, just yesterday you-"

"Just yesterday I what?" I demanded. "Watched my father getting shot? Dealt with annoying cops who didn't believe my story? Do you think that just because I've gone through that you think I'm suddenly going to have emotional trauma and not be capable of going to school?" I don't know why, but I was fuming now. Biting my lip to keep from saying anything worse, I exited the house, making a point to slam the door behind me.

Dramatic much? Maybe. But even though I just made it seem like what happened yesterday wasn't a big deal at all, it was still obviously the hardest thing I had gone through. Don't judge me.

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To say that the day just got worse from there was an understatement.

For one, it was a lot colder outside than I imagined it would be. Therefore, I hadn't brought a coat, only a really thin hoodie. Under that I wore just a plain blue t-shirt with matching capris, and converse sneakers, as usual. So I spent an hour on the bus, freezing to the point where I think my fingers turned blue.

Oh yes, and then my first class of the day. Math class. We had a test, which I completely forgot about, therefore I hadn't studied, and was far from ready for this. Actually, as the teacher handed out papers, I realized I couldn't even remember what this chapter had been about at all. Failing a test on the last day before break. Go figure.

And we had science right after that. Which, I didn't do the homework for. Drastic lower in my grade, probably dropping the A- I had before.

Then finally, lunch. What could go wrong at LUNCH? Apparently more than I thought.

I sat at a small circular table in the corner of the lunch room, a bottle of water and an apple sitting in front of me. I stared out the window near me, unable to eat. I got like this sometimes. I couldn't even manage to put food in my mouth and attempt to swallow it. My mouth just tasted incredibly dry, and drinking something wouldn't help either.

I was surprised as I heard a lunch tray clack down onto the table. I glanced over to see a girl who was pretty tall for our age, even taller than me, surprisingly. She had long brown hair, with bangs that covered her right eye. It was incredible how much she looked like me, minus hair and eye colors being different, and me being incredibly scrawny- I mean I couldn't even keep up in sports. This girl looked like she could run eight laps around the track without breaking a sweat.

She gave me a smile -strange enough, it seemed genuine- before plopping down on the bench just a few inches away from me.

I figured looking away and ignoring her might be rude, not like I really cared. So instead I looked over shyly, unsure of why this girl chose to sit HERE of all places.

Strangest of all, I didn't even recognize her. I had been attending this school since kindergarten, I would have noticed her before. And she couldn't be in a different grade, because 6th graders were the only ones in the cafeteria right now.

"Excuse me..." I started softly, before clearing my throat to sound confident. "But, why are you sitting here?"

To my ultimate surprise, she actually LAUGHED. "I saw you sitting here all alone, and I thought you would want company, silly!"

I sighed slightly, averting my eyes and staring down at the plain white table. She wasn't the first.

She started eating, blabbing on about something that I obviously did not hear. I didn't even know this girl's name! How could she talk for so long?

"I love the blue in your hair," she said finally, snapping me out of my trance and actually causing me to look at her. What was that supposed to mean?

And then I remembered, the blue highlights I had gotten. Just two, one on the right side and one on the left. I had gotten it done a little over a month ago, when Dad was on a different trip. He had been gone for five days, and of course my uncle didn't mind me getting highlights. And I didn't think Dad would either. He was just such a laid back person, letting me have my space and do what I wanted.

But this time, after returning from his trip -where was it this time? Switzerland maybe? - the first thing he noticed about me was the highlights. And he was so mad that for the first time in YEARS, he called me by my real name, instead of just "Storm."

"Myranda Ann Rush, you have no idea how disappointed I am in you. Seriously, highlights?" he spat the word as if it was something bad. "You claim that you despise attention, yet you go do something else that makes you stand out! Stand out, Myranda! You know how easy it is to tell you apart from everyone else now?" and then he stormed away to his room. Later, he apologized for making such a fuss out of it. It still confuses me why he did.

"Thanks..." I said softly, one of my hands entwining with the blue highlight without me even noticing.

"So, what's your name?" she asked cheerfully, changing subjects again. How could this girl be so...happy about everything? Was everybody like that, and I was just the depressed one?

I paused for a minute. "Storm," I said eventually, giving her a look that just dared her to question it.

"That's a cool name!" she said bubbly. "I'm Megan! It's my first day here..."

"Yeah, because a really needed to know that..." I muttered, looking away.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothing."

One thing was for sure. People who were always happy got on my nerves.

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Chorus class didn't go over too well either. My voice kept cracking. The only place in the whole room I could stand and actually sound good was right next to Michaela. But today, I couldn't stand next to her, so I moved to the corner of the room. And I sounded terrible, my voice off-pitch and unable to hit any of the right notes.

So I left chorus a few minutes early with the excuse that I wasn't feeling very good and I needed to go to the bathroom. I practically ran to the middle school hallway. The more time I had alone, the better.

For ten minutes I just stood in the girls bathroom with the door locked, one of the sinks turned on. I just listened to the running water, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths.

When I was ready to leave, I knew there was about five minutes before I needed to be to my next class, which fortunately was art. But the second I walked out of the bathroom, I knew there was trouble. The bathroom I had gone to was in the seventh and eighth grade hallway.

There was a small circle of kids standing right outside the bathroom while everyone else was getting in their lockers and hurrying to class. Right in the middle of the group of kids, I managed to see two guys -one an eighth grader, and the other a seventh- fighting. Like, literally fighting. Shoving each other. Hitting. The taller one even jumped on the other at one point, but the younger one managed to take control again.

Where were the teachers? Sure, it was the last day of school before break, but certainly the adults shouldn't be letting this happen!

To me, the worst part about it was that the other kids were actually cheering them on. Somebody could get badly hurt if this continues, and these people would find the whole thing amusing.

I couldn't let it continue until one of them was injured badly. I had to do something. So, unsure of exactly what I was planning, I pushed through the circle of people. They went silent.

"Hey, STOP it!" I growled, grabbing the arms of the guys and pulling them apart. The younger one looked at me in surprise. When I turned to look at the older boy, a fist caught me right in the chin.

I stumbled back, running into one of the crowd members but not caring, just trying to keep my balance. The pain in my chin -well, maybe it was more like my cheek- was incredible, and I saw stars.

Then I bumped into one of the lockers, hit my head, and blacked out.

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Prologue -----> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1730006-Wishing-Prologue
Chapter One -----> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1730060-Wishing-Chapter-One
Chapter Two -----> You're here.
Chapter Three ----->
Chapter Four ------>
Chapter Five ------> http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1760789-Wishing-Chapter-Five