“Charlie!”

I groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers up and burying my head under my pillow.

“Charlie!”

I managed to bury deeper into my comfortable, warm bed.

“Charlotte Marie Zimmerman!” My best friend, Natalie Chun, bellowed as she whipped back my covers and rolled me unceremoniously out of bed and onto the floor.

I muttered something unintelligible and cursed her as I prayed for no broken bones.

“Sorry to wake you, your highness,” She announced sarcastically, “But class starts in ten minutes.”

I jumped up off the floor and dove across my bed to pull my uniform out of my dresser. A minute later I was dressed and ready to go.

“Where’s your blazer?” Nat asked, raising an eyebrow.

I peered around my usually immaculately clean room and surveyed what now resembled the aftermath of a hurricane. “Erm, not sure. But it doesn’t matter. It’s Wednesday and McMullan isn’t going to care if I don’t have my blazer.”

Mr. McMullan was the most laid back professor at Klioton Academy, the boarding school I attended. Besides that, he was my journalism teacher and I was his favorite student seeing as how I was editor of the school newspaper, The Klioton Gazette.

“Yes, but Ms. Umbrage will care.”

“But it’s Tuesday, and I’ve got McMullan first.”

“But Homecoming is next Friday and we’ve got homeroom in,” Nat checked her watch, “three and a half minutes.”

I let out a choice word and dove under my bed, resurfacing with my blazer and my messenger bag full of books. Then I sprinted out of my dorm room, through the little living room we shared with four other girls and into the main school.

Klioton Academy had been around for a long time. Originally it had been Klioton Academy for Boys, but it had gone co-ed along with many local colleges a decade or so ago. The co-ed change had been accompanied with a remodel and addition of facilities. Now, it was simply the best boarding school in New York, possibly in the entire country. It was the place rich people seemed to send their kids when they didn’t want to take care of them anymore and housed students from the 8th grade to the 12th grade; I was currently in 11th. Nobody new ever came to Klioton and nobody ever stopped coming to Klioton over the summer.

I said that rich people send their kids here when they don’t want to take care of them anymore. Well, that’s not entirely true, but it’s not far off the mark either. The reason I attend Klioton (instead of the local Scottsdale High) is a long story. It started when I was about 12 and my mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. About a month before she died, my father introduced me to Allie, the woman he was having an affair with. Now, don’t get me wrong, Allie is a wonderful person, but my mother was dying and my father had just introduced me to his new girlfriend. They were engaged the day my mother died and were married three months after. It would have been sooner, but I refused to come out of my room for the first two months. Allie came and talked to me one night after I had had a huge shouting match with my father. She said she didn’t blame me at all for harboring hostile feelings toward my father and that she understood why I felt that way. She also said that perhaps, if I thought it would help, I should go to the boarding school that she attended for high school. And so, here I am at Klioton Academy, still harboring hostile feelings from my father and giving them the chance to have a new family, a real unstrained family atmosphere with their two perfect children, Mark and Marissa, the three-year-old angel twins.

Nat was here for a different reason entirely. Her father is very sickly and her mother is a doctor. Nat had been sent to Klioton in the 8th grade to get her out of the house and keep the noise down in the hopes of helping her father’s recovery. Unfortunately, he is making little to no progress and she is basically missing the last days of his life.

“Cutting it close Ms. Zimmerman?” Professor Umbrage asked as I slid into my seat in the back of the room just as the bell rang, I just grinned sheepishly in response and looked to Nat, who had probably gotten here at least a minute ago because she was a runner. I, sadly, was a journalist and running was, most definitely not, my forte.

Sure enough, Nat grinned at me from her seat beside my other best friend, Chris D’Avanzo, the drum major in the marching band. We were sitting in the same alphabetical order that we had been sitting in during homeroom since 8th grade.

“Forget about homeroom?” James Yardley asked me as Professor Umbrage started handing out the Homecoming Queen ballots. He was the starting quarterback, the star of the football team, not to mention the hottest guy in the school, but mostly he infuriated me to no end, and I was not about to admit to him that I had forgotten about homeroom and, essentially, Homecoming,.

“Naw, just wanted to make an entrance,” I replied sarcastically, setting my messenger bag on the ground under the desk and taking the ballot from Professor Umbrage. I didn’t bother to listen to her instructions and, instead, gazed out the widow at the cool fall day outside.

“I voted for you,” James whispered, jogging me out of my daydream.

“What?” I asked, snapping my head around to glare at him.

“For Homecoming Queen.”

I raised an eyebrow and laughed, “I believed you when you told me that last year, and I’m not falling for it this time. Do you make me out to be as stupid as you are?”

But instead of turning to gaze out the window again, I turned my attention to the slip of paper in my hand. I read the list of names: Cooper Johnson, Sarah Moore, Carson Rowe, all the girls that one expected to run for Homecoming Queen. But then I got to the last name on the list and froze. It read Charlotte Marie Zimmerman.

I looked up to see Carson Rowe, the shoe-in for next year’s Homecoming Queen and James’ girlfriend, glaring at me. Nat and Chris had both turned around and were gaping at me. I was in shock.

“What- I- didn’t- me-” was the intelligible sentence that came out of my mouth. Nat and Chris both turned back around, satisfied that I was just as shocked, if not more, than they were. I put down the ballot and banged my head into the desk.

“Told you.” James sang.

My only response was to repeatedly bang my head onto the desk in an attempt to knock myself out or at least give myself a minor concussion.

o0O0o

“But, there has to be some sort of mistake! I can’t be running for Homecoming Queen!” I protested to Ms. Anderson, the dance teacher who was also in charge of the Homecoming Queen elections.

“I’m sorry Miss. Zimmerman, but when we didn’t get a response we assumed that you were okay with the nomination. It’s too late to do anything about the election now.”

“But I never got the notification!” I protested.

“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t worry about it too much; it’s usually a 12th grade girl that gets elected anyway.”

“Thanks anyway,” I muttered as politely as possible, leaving the room to walk with Nat to our first class of the day, journalism for me, chorus for her.

“So.”

“So.”

“You’re running for Homecoming Queen. Congrats.”

“Thanks.” I returned, my voice completely void of any emotion.

o0O0o

As I walked into journalism, the room went completely silent, which was not something that usually happened, so basically I knew that they had just been talking about me. Which was really to be expected if you thought about it, I mean honestly, of course I was the center of gossip in the journalism room right now.

I crossed the room to my desk-- yeah, the editor gets a desk, how cool is that? -- and then I tossed my messenger bag of books onto the floor. Then I pulled off my blazer and hung it on the back of the chair and sat down.

“They put my name on there without my consent, so stop staring and get to work!” I announced and everyone immediately made themselves look busy. They weren’t fooling me though, because I had yet to give any of them their assignments. “And stop pretending to work because I know that not a single one of you has received their assignment for the week.”

The room’s flourish of activity halted and they all sat down and looked to me expectantly.

“There’s really no point in waiting for McMullan, so I guess I should hand out assignments.” I pulled a notebook out of my desk and flipped through to find my page before turning to the large calendar of activities on the wall which is where the assignments were posted.

“Okay, for the Academic Team this Saturday, Alexis can you cover it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good, because I think you are the only one who can sit through one of those matches. Jeremy, I want you to cover the chorus performance at United Methodist Church on Sunday.”

Jeremy saluted.

“Lewis, I want your review for whatever community event you’re going to this weekend turned in by Tuesday. Everyone else’s articles are due on Wednesday. All the rest of you are sticking to your normal columns.” I turned to face the newspaper staff. “This brings me to my next point. Obviously, I can’t cover Homecoming Queen Elections this year. So, Marina,” I indicated my second-in-command, the assistant editor, “it’s up to you. I’ve been covering Homecoming since the 9th grade, so it’s going to be a little strange, but it’s up to you to carry on the tradition of being as unbiased as possible.”

Here every occupant of the journalism room let out a snort of laughter, for one thing that had helped me be so successful in the journalism department was my total lack of concern about being unbiased. I had written the reviews of local community performances before I was named editor at the end of last year. Now Lewis had taken over my column and I have to admit, the kid was doing a wonderful job.

“Okay, so everyone knows what they’re doing now, so I guess we can really get to work instead of just pretending this time, huh?”

Everyone grinned sheepishly and walked off to start on their assignments.

“Charlie, I need to take Brie with me for the Homecoming assignment.” Marina announced as she sat in the chair on the other side of my desk.

“Okay,” I said, pulling out the badges that would allow Marina and Brie full access to the school grounds, “Are you planning on going for the rest of class?”

“Probably, I think Carson Rowe and Elisabeth Church are in the same chorus class this period, so I’ll interview them both today.”

I nodded, “Hey Brie, get your camera equipment, you’re going with Marina on assignment.”

Brie grinned and gathered her camera equipment. She was a 10th grader who loved photography and she was by far our best cameraperson. Usually Marina and I claimed her for our own assignments because she was also a fun person to be around. A minute later Brie and Marina were leaving the journalism room to start on the Homecoming assignment.

I then turned to the stack of articles on my desk that I needed to look through and approve so that they could go to be printed early tomorrow for Friday’s edition of the Klioton Gazette. I sighed and wished I had been on time for once in my life so that I wouldn’t have missed breakfast that morning. My stomach rumbled in agreement.

o0O0o

“So, basically you’ve just got to run then?” Chris asked as he, Nat and I sat eating dinner that night.

“Yep, there’s no way to pull out.” I sighed, taking a bite of my hamburger.

“Everyone is telling her that they voted for her.” Nat added, “I think she has a shot at winning.”

I snorted, “Whatever, you know that a senior always wins. Besides, they just want to suck up to me to get their picture in the Gazette or whatever. After all, it’s not like I’m outstandingly pretty or anything.”

Nat and Chris both shook their heads in response. Both of them had been trying for years to make me think I was pretty. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty and I know it, but I’m not the kind of pretty that a guy wants to date. I’m just not drop-dead gorgeous, and that’s fine by me. With my pin straight brown hair with the slightest bit of natural highlight, I wasn’t your typical blonde beauty Homecoming Queen. In fact, the only particularly outstanding feature I owned were my eyes, which ranged from dark chocolate colored if I had been crying or very angry to a pure honey color. I took great pride in my eyes, thank you very much.

“Are you going to eat that?” I asked Chris, pointing to his slice of apple pie, knowing fully well that he hated apples.

“What do you think?”

“No? Good!” I scooped the pie onto my own plate before Nat could even think of asking for half of it.

o0O0o

“What the Hell was that?” James Yardley asked me on Thursday right before lunch.

“I know it’s hard for you to comprehend, but you aren’t supposed to open that abnormally large mouth of yours in class,” I hissed. We were in Ms. Umbrage’s English class and I really didn’t want to give her any bigger reason to hate me and/or give me detention.

“What was that?” James repeated a little softer, “That odd growling noise? It sounded a little like a constipated dog.”

“That ‘constipated dog’ was my stomach,” I replied, blushing slightly, “I didn’t have breakfast this morning.”

James raised an eyebrow and smirked, “You never have breakfast; you’re always late.”

“Yeah, well I missed dinner last night too.”

“You can’t avoid your own reporters for very long, you know.” James pointed out, “After all, you have to see them first thing tomorrow morning.”

I glared at him; it was common knowledge that I was dodging anything that had to do with homecoming elections. I was often seen ducking behind bushes or diving into fountains to avoid my inevitable interview with Marina and Brie about the Homecoming Queen elections. Although the fountain was a last resort kind of escape, one that I didn’t plan to use again.

“I’m not avoiding them,” I stated, “And since when did you develop stalker like tendencies and memorize girl’s schedules?”

James proceeded in raising an eyebrow, “You’re the editor for the Gazette, I don’t have to memorize your schedule to know that you have that class first on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

I opened my mouth to retort when Ms. Umbrage called me out, “Miss Zimmerman, do you have something to share with the class? No? Then I suggest you shut your mouth. Just because you are naturally gifted at English doesn’t mean that everyone is.”

I banged my head onto the desk as James’ face sprouted its annoying smirk next to me. He always started everything and I always got in trouble for it. Now he had to rub that in because he leaned over and hissed, “I’m not saying I didn’t memorize your schedule; I’m just saying that I didn’t have to.”

“Shut up.” I muttered darkly, still facedown on my desk.

“Miss Zimmerman, I am not telling you again!” Ms. Umbrage warned just as the bell rang for lunch.

I immediately stood up and grabbed my books before hurrying to escape from James Yardley. Although I had a horribly giant crush on him, like the majority of the female population of Klioton Academy, James Yardley was still the most infuriating person I had ever met. I was just as likely to scream and yell at him as I was to bash the local interpretive dance society’s latest performance in the Gazette. But anyways, Chris was waiting for me and I fell into step beside him.

“Oy, shove off D’Avanzo, I want to borrow Zimmerman for a minute.” James announced as he caught up to me and fell into step on my other side.

“Who says I want to be borrowed?” I retorted, “Because I really don’t want to be borrowed.”

“If you talk to me, it’ll give you a reason not to be interviewed by Hurst.” James replied, gesturing to the oncoming Marina who looked as if she was attempting to corner me. “You ditch D’Avanzo all the time for newspaper stuff but she won’t bat an eye if you don’t want to stop talking to me.”

“A little full of ourselves aren’t we?” I muttered sarcastically, “Fine, but don’t think I’ll always respond to blackmail, just ask Chris and Nat.”

“She really doesn’t,” Chris assured from my other side, “I’ll see you in a minute, you want Nat to save you a seat?”

“It’s not like you have to really worry about our table being full,” James spoke up before waving Chris away. “God, your friends are like parasites, you can’t get rid of them.”

“Reminds me of someone else I know,” I retorted, “What do you want Yardley?”

“Come off the offence Zimmerman,” James said impatiently, “I don’t mean any harm, at least not yet.”

“That sounds promising.”

“I want to know about your friend, Natalie Chun.” James continued as if I had never spoken up.

“Excuse me?” I asked, turning to him with my mouth open in shock, “You’re asking me about Nat? Are we talking about the same Natalie Chun?”
“No, I want to know about the other Natalie Chun,” Yardley replied sarcastically. Then he threw up his hands in defeat. “You know what? I don’t know why I even bother. There’s no way you can get past our old rivalry.”

“You don’t know what I can and cannot do,” I informed him coldly, giving him a glare that could freeze Hell over. “Why do you want to know about Nat?”

“Well, she’s hot for one thing. And for another, I’ve got a friend that wants to date her.”

So he was using the old ‘friend’ excuse. I honestly have to say I expected better from James Yardley.

“Who?”

“That I can’t tell you, so don’t even bother.”

“Well, I can’t decide if I should tell you or not if I don’t know who it is that wants to know.” I retorted.

“I told him this was a waste of time.” James grumbled.

“Oh, so now Nat is a waste of time? You know what? If your friend wants to know about Nat then he should go and frigging ask her himself!”

“You know what? I’ll tell him you said that! You are impossible Zimmerman, you know that?”

“Yeah, well maybe that’s just because you’re an incorrigible prat. Now go right ahead and look that word up, because I’m positive that you don’t know what it means!” And with that I turned and stalked off up the hallway, no longer hungry for any lunch.

“Go screw yourself Zimmerman!” was the ever intelligent reply. I just flicked him off in response.

o0O0o

“Have a run-in with Yardley then?” Chris asked as I slammed my lunch tray down across from him and Nat.

“That, urgh!-- I can’t even think of a word that is bad enough to describe him!” I responded, stabbing at the pasta on my plate vehemently.

“What did he do this time?” Nat asked; it was fairly common for me to show up at lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays fuming mad at James Yardley.

“He had the nerve, no the audacity, to ask me about you, pretend that one of his friends liked you, not tell me who it was and then call you a waste of time. And then he called me impossible.”

Chris looked like he was about to choke on his pasta when I said the thing about the friend liking Nat. He looked positively livid about the calling Nat a waste of time and then broke into a grin when I said he had called me impossible.

“He’s got it bad for you.” Chris observed.

“And you’re deranged,” I snapped back, “I wish you had choked on your pasta.”

“No you don’t, because you hope it’s true.” Natalie said pointedly.

“Uh, oh yeah, I am definitely in love with James Yardley. You can tell by the thinly veiled terms of endearment that are screamed frequently down the hallway during our daily shouting matches.” You could practically taste the sarcasm dripping from my voice.

“Take a deep breath Charlie.” Chris soothed, “You’re going to die from high blood pressure before the age of eighteen.”

“Good, then I wouldn’t have to put up with my family next summer.” But venting to Chris and Nat had served to cool me down and I finished my lunch in thoughtful silence.

o0O0o

“So I heard about your fight with James,” Carson commented that night as we sat in our shared living room working on homework.

Nat and I shared a common living room with Carson Rowe, Cooper Johnson, Samantha Addams, and Celia Bell. I got along well with Celia and Sam, but Carson, Cooper and I had never been the best of friends. But I also didn’t have shouting matches with them like I did with Yardley.

“Heard about or heard?” Cooper muttered.

I ignored her, “Yeah, we exchanged words again, what about it?”

“Don’t do it again. He isn’t himself after you two have a shouting match, and I would really rather not have a lousy date for the Homecoming Dance next Saturday.”

“Well, I’m sorry if my screaming at your boyfriend is inconvenient for you. But you might want to tell him to stop provoking me and then I’ll stop responding. Perhaps then he won’t be feeling sorry for himself when you two lock yourselves in an empty classroom.”

“Fine, I’ll tell him,” Carson responded icily before she and Cooper stalked out of the room.

“Charlie, did you have to go and wind her up too?” Nat groaned, banging her head onto the open book in front of her.

“She started it,” I muttered.

“Yeah, but you should’ve just ignored her.”

“That’s what Sam and I have learned to do,” Celia added and Sam nodded her agreement.

“Carson likes to cause excessive amounts of drama,” Sam agreed.

“But you just had to pick a fight, didn’t you Charlie?” Nat asked, “You weren’t content to leave well enough alone, were you?”

I sighed and slammed my book closed. We hated to wear our uniforms any longer than necessary and didn’t have to outside school hours so I was wearing a pair of jeans and white sweater instead of my normal plaid skirt, blazer and white blouse.

“I’ll go apologize, shall I?” I asked as I shut the door behind me.

“Good luck!” All three girls called after me, having achieved their goal of getting me to apologize to Carson and Cooper, even though I hadn’t actually done anything to Cooper.

I walked along the hallway thinking dark thoughts and complaining to myself. I hadn’t actually said anything nearly as bad as some of the things that the two had said to me and the other girls in the past. I was about to give up when I turned the corner and ran right into James Yardley. He grabbed me to keep me from falling.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked as I pulled out of his grasp.

“I could ask you the same thing. Isn’t it after your bedtime? You’re going to be cranky tomorrow.”

“Not like it’s any of your business, but I’m out looking for Carson and Cooper. I’m supposed to be apologizing to them.”

James’ eyebrows shot way up, “You apologize? Seeing as how I’ve never gotten an apology out of you, you must have said something really bad to them.”

“Not really,” I replied still glowering, “But if I don’t apologize, it’s going to be Hell on earth in the dorm for the next couple of days.”

“Well, I’m actually looking for Carson too, so let’s go together.” James replied; I just stared at him. “What?”

“I know you’re dense, but I didn’t think you were this dense.” I replied, “Have you forgotten the exchange this afternoon already?”

“Oh, that,” James waved his hand in dismissal, “It was just a stupid shouting match. You and I, we fight, that’s what we do. It was nothing personal.”

“You called me impossible!”

“And you called me incorrigible, which, by the way, I didn’t have to look up.”

I laughed disbelievingly, “So we’re just going to let it go, like that?”

“I won’t tell if you don’t. We can always claim that we tried to drown each other in the fountain.”

I shuddered involuntarily, “No thanks, I am never climbing into that fountain again. Anyways, Carson is your girlfriend, where do you think she is?”

“Probably on the roof, she loves it up there.”

“Good make-out spot?” I shot without missing a beat.

“It’s pretty quiet, so yeah.” James was refusing to respond to my attempts to rile him up and it was strange, he never hesitated to return fire.

“Where’s the roof entrance?” I asked.

“I’m surprised you don’t know where it is, you’ve done your fair share of rule breaking.”

I shrugged, “I’ve been on the roof to cover various events, but they’ve always been approved trips to the roof for the Homecoming Dance and all that crap.”

“You have to be the only girl in the school that would use the words ‘Homecoming Dance’ and ‘crap’ in the same sentence. Do you know how much hype they put on it?”

“No, I’ve only reported on it for three years now since I helped with it in 8th grade.” I replied sarcastically, but it wasn’t the same sarcasm that I normally used with him, it was more along the lines of the sarcasm I typically used with Chris and Nat.

James laughed, “Sometimes I wonder how you can be so much the center and lifeblood of this school and yet so isolated at the same time.”

I looked at him questioningly but we had arrived at our destination and he didn’t elaborate on his previous statement. Instead he opened the door to the roof and we started up the stairs. He motioned for me to be quiet as we reached the door at the top of the stairs. We walked through together to see Carson. Cooper, however, was nowhere to be seen. But, unfortunately, Carson wasn’t alone. And she appeared to be fairly preoccupied and didn’t hear us come through the door.

James cleared his throat and the couple that was making out on the roof split apart in the blink of an eye.

“James,” Carson gasped, “It’s not what you think.”

“Isn’t it?” James asked in a tone that I knew was dangerous. Even I rarely dared to push him when he was using that tone.

“No, James, I’m not cheating on you.”

“You’re not?” James replied in the same tone, “Because it sure looked like you were to me.”

“Well, I was, but it was a one time thing. I made a mistake, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well I made a mistake and I’m sorry too Carson. I made the mistake of dating you in the first place.”

“No, James, don’t go!” Carson called, but James had already turned and disappeared. She rounded on me. “You! You brought him up here! This is all your fault!”

“No, this is entirely your fault! And for once I wasn’t the one to mess up, you were. I was looking for you to apologize to you for what I said earlier, and you know what? I’m sorry for saying it, but not because of what it implied of you. I’m sorry because what I said hurt James who doesn’t deserve this. Sure, he infuriates me to no end, but he still didn’t deserve this, no one does. Tell Cooper that I came to apologize.”

And with that I turned and stormed off the roof, slamming the door behind me. I reached the bottom step and nearly tripped over James who was sitting there, slumped over with his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry.” I said as I sat beside him.

“Why? You didn’t do anything.”

I shrugged, “Contrary to popular belief, I do have a heart and I’m sorry that had to happen to you.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“Would you rather I screamed at you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, “Cause I’m quite good at that, if I do say so myself.”

James managed a small, shaky laugh. “Thanks.”

“I didn’t do anything.” I stood up, “You might want to leave before some teacher comes to investigate the slamming of the door to the roof. I know I’m not really looking for another detention.”

I watched as he stood up and then we walked through the door into the main hall of the building and walked towards the dorms. I went down the hallway to the girls’ dorms and he went towards the boys’ dorms. I ignored the questions of the other girls as I walked into my own dormitory, picked up my things and proceeded to shut myself in my room. I hoped that I had been right about a teacher coming to check on the slamming of the door to the roof.

The next morning I was pleased to hear through the grapevine that Carson was in detention and that she and James had broken up. I was told this at breakfast, the first breakfast I had attended since school started that year. This fact caused several people to do double takes as they walked by the table where I sat with Chris and Nat.

“Where’s Yardley?” I asked Chris; they shared a living room area.

“Are you kidding me?” Chris asked, raising his eyebrows, “He comes to breakfast as much as you do.”

I banged my head down on the table, “Dammit! I could be sleeping right now and be accomplishing the same thing I am by being at breakfast.”

“Don’t tell me you’re making a move on James Yardley with the majority of the female population of Klioton Academy.” Nat groaned, “I know you like him, but that’s ridiculous.”

“Are you kidding me?” I replied, still face down on the table. “I wanted to rub her cheating on him in his face this morning. You know, start the day off right.”

“Don’t give me that crap,” Chris informed me, “I know who was with him last night when he found out that Carson was cheating on him. I know you did something nice for him.”

I sat up and narrowed my eyes, “What did he tell you?”

“He came in and looked like walking death last night and I asked him what was up. He said to me ‘you’ve got a good friend D’Avanzo’ I asked ‘who, Natalie?’ and he replied, ‘no, Zimmerman.’”

I banged my head back down on the table, “I hate my life.”

“Spill,” Nat commanded, I sighed and sat up.

“I didn’t do anything other than to make sure that he didn’t kill himself. Well, I didn’t do anything that he knows about other than that. I did tell Carson off, but I doubt he could have heard that. Oh, and I slammed the door which resulted in her receiving detention.”

Nat and Chris exchanged knowing smirks over my head.

“What was that look for?” I demanded, glaring at the pair over my oversized coffee mug.

“Nothing,” Chris and Nat chorused, sharing the smirk again.

“Whatever, I’m off to journalism then, I’ve got a newspaper to run if you don’t mind.” I drained the rest of my coffee, wished the cafeteria lady didn’t know better than to give me a refill and left the room to go to my first class.

As I neared the room I saw a figure leaning up against the wall. He appeared to be waiting for someone. I got closer and realized that it was James.

“What are you doing here Yardley?” I asked, turning to see that the journalism room door was shut and locked, something that was hardly unusual on Friday morning.

“Waiting for you.” He replied, watching as I pulled the brick out of the wall to reveal a hollow space where McMullen kept the key.

“Once again I ask you, what are you doing here? If you want pity, I’m sure as Hell not the one to give it to you, you know that.”

“That’s why I’m here, because you’re the only one who won’t give me pity.”

I snorted, “Don’t you have some friends or something? I mean I wouldn’t voluntarily spend time with you, but there are some that do I guess.”

James once again refused to let me make him angry. “What’s got you so royally ticked this early?”

“I got up for breakfast for the last time,” I replied, unlocking the door and replacing the key in the hollow.

“Ah, aren’t you the one that’s only allowed one cup of coffee?”

“I could use about five,” I replied, going into the classroom and going over to my desk. “You got a game tonight?”

I only asked because I knew it would keep him distracted and talking about something that I didn’t have to listen to in order to make the proper reply.

“I’m not playing. I dropped football.”

I had picked up a stack of today’s papers that were sitting on the floor next to my desk, but I dropped them back where they had been in surprise at that statement.

“Wha-?”

“I dropped football; I’m resigning as of this morning at the end of the first class.” James replied bluntly.

“Are you completely sane? Never mind, don’t answer that I already know you’re not sane. But did you hit your head on something last night? Are you feeling all right? I bet you’re burning with a fever.” I reached my hand out and felt his forehead which felt perfectly normal, temperature-wise I mean, because it seemed weird touching his forehead.

James grinned. “No, I didn’t hit my head, and yes I’m feeling all right. I just don’t want to play football anymore.”

“Um, yeah, I’m taking you to the nurse. Come on Yardley.” I started out of the room, but he didn’t follow me.

“I said come on, let’s go!” I grabbed his arm and started trying to drag him out of the room, which didn’t work very well seeing as how he was a tall, large football player and I was an average height, fairly skinny, journalist with little to no muscle.

“I don’t need to go to the nurse.” James informed me.

“Okay Yardley, listen to me, you clearly need to go to the nurse because you are clearly not feeling well.”

“I’m not sick. I feel perfectly fine. Listen to me Charlie.”

It was the use of my first name, my nickname, that caused me to stop trying to drag him to the nurse. I froze, dropped my hold of his arm and looked at him.

“I figured you’d be the only one that could understand. I’m tired of being something I’m not. I’m tired of impersonating the perfect son when that’s not who I am. I knew you could understand because you’ve never tried to be someone you’re not; you’ve never tried to hide your opinions. Not even from your dad. I heard D’Avanzo telling one of the other guys about it one time. About how you tell your dad exactly how disgusting you think it is that he cheated on a terminally ill woman and brought his fiancée to meet both of you at the hospital. If someone didn’t like you, then you never gave a damn. You don’t even realize that you are the most respected person in this school, and even if you did it wouldn’t change you.

“Truth be told, Charlie, I’m jealous of you. I’d always pick a fight with you because when we fought, it was like my opinions mattered, like I was more than just a star football player. I could let my façade of the perfect son slip and be a real person for once. And so I picked fights with you, and I loved doing it. Occasionally you would say something that would really get to me, and it’d give me something to think about.

“I don’t want to be the football playing son anymore. I want to be more than that. I want to leave a mark on this world, a worthwhile mark, not just a record touchdown pass. And so, I’m quitting football.”

I stared at him for a second, one eyebrow raised. “You love football, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are you giving it up, you idiot?” I bellowed, “If you’re tired of pretending you’re someone that you aren’t, then why are you quitting football? It’s part of you! You don’t have to quit football; all you’ve got to do is change the way you act in the other parts of your life. Football isn’t the problem, dating people like Carson and not telling others what you think is the problem. Dropping football isn’t going to fix the problem, not really.”

James just stared at me for a second and I vaguely became aware of the fact that the three fourths of the journalism class had just filed into the room and the three minute bell rang just as I finished my speech. I cleared my throat and surveyed my staff members, who were all gazing at me with looks of the utmost respect.

“Um, Yardley, you’d better be getting to class,” I said quietly.

He stared at me for a second, processing my speech and then he blinked, “Zimmerman, you’re right, I can’t quit football. But I’ll be late to class if I don’t go right there and then I’ll be in detention tonight instead of at the game.”

I sighed and grabbed my press badge, “Oy, guys, you know the drill. Work on your assignments. Marina, I’ll catch you for that interview after I get back. I have to go interview the star quarterback about this rumor of his resignation.”

And with that I turned and strode out of the room, James trailing somewhere behind me on our way to the football coach’s classroom.

o0O0o

“I hear you saved the football team from losing its biggest star.” Natalie commented, coming up to me as I was selling the Gazette at lunch.

“I suppose you could say that.” I replied, handing an 8th grade boy his change and newspaper.

“You’re falling for him.” Nat commented.

I ignored her and handed the next kid in line their newspaper. Suddenly it hit me and I grinned evilly. “Look who’s talking, Mrs. D’Avanzo.”

Nat’s eyes widened and she turned blood red. “Is it that obvious?”

“Not to him,” I replied, “But then he was never the most observant when it came to anything other than band.”

“Or you,” Nat muttered darkly.

I shot her a look that could have caused, and frequently did, boys twice my size to cower. Nat immediately looked apologetic. “That was rude and uncalled for and, most of all, you know that it’s not true. Sure he wants me to be happy, but he has never once thought of me that way and you know it. He’s basically my brother.”

Nat looked guilty, “I’m sorry I’m being such a bitch.”

“Yeah, well, since you claimed this week, I call next, unless it’s Chris’ turn.”

“My turn for what?” Chris asked, coming up to get a newspaper. “I heard you finally grew up and stopped dodging your own reporters.”

“Yeah, it’s slightly hard to dodge your own assistant editor when you have to spend an hour with her in the morning.”

“Hey, listen, I was thinking about asking someone to the Homecoming Dance next week, but then I remembered that you’d have to have a date since you’re on the Homecoming Court. So, d’you need me to escort you? Or can you nab yourself another date?”

“I think I can manage, go ahead and ask her already. I think she’s going to say yes.” I waved my hand as if to dismiss him.

“But you don’t even know who-”

“Chris, I’m not dense. Now hurry up and ask her. I head that one of Yardley’s friends is after her.”

Natalie looked from one of us to the other, very confused about our exchange. Chris scowled at me for a second before he turned to Natalie.

“Hey Nat, can I talk to you for a second?”

I sighed as I watched the couple walk off, knowing that my life was about to get a lot more lonely. Or, perhaps not…

“Hey Charlie.” James moved the 8th grader out of the seat next to me and sat down. “How are sales coming?”

“They’d be coming indescribably better if you hadn’t shown up,” I replied coolly, standing up and giving the 8th grader my chair. My shift was long over and I didn’t feel like sitting around any longer.

“Where are you going?”

“It’s a little thing called class.” I grabbed my stuff and walked off, unwrapping and biting into an energy bar as I went.

“Stop,” James grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. We were standing, ironically, right beside the fountain that he had once suggested we could claim we had tried to drown each other in.

“What the Hell do you want Yardley?” I asked, my eyes the chocolate color that most people knew meant to leave me alone. James, however, had never been big on boundaries.

“I want you to be civil to me,” James replied, not lessening his tight grip on my upper arm, “I want us to be friends. No more of this ridiculous feud that we’ve got going.”

I looked away.

“Charlie, I’ve always been in love with you. But you’ve been too afraid of getting hurt to take the chance. You think all guys are going to hurt you like your dad hurt you mom. And so, because of your rejection, I’ve annoyed the hell out of you. We’ve had more fights than the entire student population put together and each time we fought I let out all my frustrations by screaming at you.

“But Charlie, I’m tired of waiting. If you aren’t going to take the chance of getting hurt, then I can’t continue to wait for you my entire life. I love you Charlie, but if you think you’d be happier if I just disappeared, then I’ll do it. I’ll be miserable, but I’ll do it.”

I couldn’t look at him; I refused to look at him. So Nat and Chris weren’t the only two who could see right through my act. It turns out that all along the only one I was fooling was myself.

“Charlie, answer me, and dammit, for once in your life, answer me with a straight answer!”

I cleared my face of emotion, wiped my eyes blank and looked him in the eyes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I suggest that you take your hands off of me right now.”

I could see the hurt openly displayed in his face. He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. His lips lingering for a moment as he whispered, “Goodbye Charlie.”

And with that he walked away. I stared after him, my hand on my cheek where he had kissed me. I stood like that until the bell rang signaling the end of lunch and the three remaining minutes to get to class. Then I let out a single sob and walked off to class.

o0O0o

“Good God Char, you look like you’re suicidal.” Nat observed at dinner. I was surprised that she had torn her gaze away from Chris long enough to notice.

I didn’t answer but instead picked up the rest of my food and threw it away before going out to sit by the fountain. I had changed out of my uniform before dinner and was wearing a pair of jeans and a hooded white, long sleeve, v-neck jacket over a royal purple camisole. I gazed at my reflection in the fountain until it made me sick and I started to cry. My own tear dropped off my chin and caused the reflection to distort from the ripples which only caused me to cry harder.

“Charlie.” Suddenly Chris was there and he had wrapped his arms around me and pulled me away from the fountain which I had been leaning steadily closer to.

I turned and buried my face in his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. “Chris, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was doing and suddenly-”

“Shh, Char, it’s okay. Just promise me you won’t go off by yourself again when you’re this upset. Stay with me and Nat, okay?”

I nodded, crying even harder as I realized that I would have probably drowned myself if Chris hadn’t come along just then. I scared, and out of control.

“I’m taking you home tonight.” Chris announced suddenly. “Just you and me, we’re going to go home this weekend and talk to your dad.”

I looked at him, fear in my eyes. “No, Chris, don’t make me go home. My dad won’t let me come back if he found out and I’d be even worse if I stayed there.”

“Charlie, you have to go home, just for the weekend. Then I’ll bring you back here Sunday night, even if he doesn’t let you come back. I promise.”

“Nat isn’t going to like this,” I muttered as we started walking to my dorm.

“Nat will understand and if she doesn’t then she’ll get over it.” Chris replied. “Now go pack while I talk to her. And leave your door open so that I know you aren’t doing anything stupid.”

I listened to Nat and Chris’ hushed whispers in the next room as I packed. I couldn’t make out their exact words, but it was comforting hearing voices of the two people that I knew loved me unconditionally. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to be in my mother’s arms, having her assure me that everything would be okay. Nat walked in a minute or two later to find me crying silently. She came over and gave me a hug.

“Chris says he’s going to get a couple things and then he’ll be back. He wanted me to help you pack.” Nat looked at the fully packed suitcase lying on my bed. “It looks like you don’t need my help though.”

She hadn’t pulled away from me yet and she wiped the tear off my cheek. “Everything is going to be all right. Is there anything you want me to take care of while you’re gone? I know I’m just your friend and Chris is more than your best friend, he’s like your brother, but I could probably handle whatever you needed done here.”

I looked at her with my still chocolate colored eyes full of hurt. “You are my best friend Nat, and if you think for a second that you aren’t important to me-”

“Relax Charlie, I know. I’m just worried about you. But is there anything you need me to do?” Nat looked at me and I thought for a second.

“D’you think you could tell James that I’m sorry?” I asked softly after a minute.

“James Yardley?” Nat asked me and I nodded. “Sorry about what?”

“He’ll know what I’m talking about. But could you tell him that and ask him to meet me at the journalism room before class on Monday?”

“Of course Charlie,” Nat hugged me again as Chris came back into the room with his duffle bag.

“Ready?” He asked, picking my bag up off the bed.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I replied softly, ignoring the looks I received from Carson and Cooper as I passed them on the way out of the dorm.

Chris shouldered the duffle bags and followed me to the parking lot. We got in his car and I could’ve sworn I saw James standing on the roof, watching as we drove away.

o0O0o

“Charlotte Marie!” Allie exclaimed as she opened the door. “I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend.”

“I didn’t either,” I replied honestly as I hugged my step-mother. Then she hugged Chris too.

“Charlotte Marie,” My father greeted with a nod to Chris as he came to see who was at the door with one of the twins’ bedtime books in his hand.

“Hello Dad.” I replied with a slightly forced smile.

Allie looked from one of us to the other and sighed. “I’ll just go and make the tea then.”

That woman knew us too well. Whenever I came home unannounced on the weekends like this it meant that I needed to have a serious discussion with my dad, which regularly resulted in both of us needing a strong pot of tea.

Dad and I went into his office; Chris went upstairs to take over reading to the twins, assuring me on his way up that he was there if I needed him. I nodded and sat in the leather chair opposite my dad in front of the fire.

“Here you are. I’ll just leave you then…” Allie set the tray with the tea on it down and started out of the room.

“Allie,” I said suddenly.

“Yes?” Allie looked hopeful, like she wanted to be included in the discussion.

“Would you like… would you like to stay?” I asked, not daring to look up.

“Yes, I would like that very much, but only if you’re sure.” I nodded and Allie sat down in a third chair beside my dad.

“What are you doing home Charlotte Marie?” Dad asked bluntly, we were not subtle people, my family.

“I’ve been nominated for Homecoming Queen,” I replied.

“That’s wonderful,” Allie flashed me a genuine smile.

“Why are you really home?” Dad asked, looking at me sternly, Allie’s smile faltered and disappeared.

“Chris made me come.” I whispered. “I-I almost killed myself today.”

Allie gasped and set down her tea and even my father went remarkably pale. I gazed into the fire, waiting for the yelling I was sure would come from him, telling me that I was being ridiculous and childish, but it never came.

“I know things haven’t been good between us since your mother died Charlotte Marie…” Dad trailed off.

“I didn’t mean to do it!” I exclaimed, suddenly glad that I had come, suddenly relieved that I had my dad and Allie to talk to when things were overwhelming. Once I started, the whole story came pouring out and, to my surprise, Dad didn’t interrupt me a single time. When I was done talking, Allie sat on the edge of my chair and hugged me, alternating between wiping away my tears and her own and my dad stared guiltily into the fire.

“I didn’t realize you really felt that way,” He said finally, “I thought that you were just rebelling against my decisions and being difficult. You told me plenty of times exactly what you thought about my bringing Allie to meet you when I did and exactly where you thought I should go, but I didn’t really listen to you. I heard you, but I didn’t listen.”

Chris walked in right then, “The twins are asleep. Are you done talking then?”

I nodded and my dad stood up and turned to face Chris. “I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for Charlotte Marie. You are always welcome here.”

“Thank you for reading to the twins. If they knew Charlotte Marie was home, they’d never go to sleep.” Allie added.

“It was nothing. I’d do anything for Charlie, she’s like my sister.” Chris replied, shaking the hand that dad offered him. Then he turned to me, “If you don’t mind, I’m going to run home for the night and see my parents. They’d kill me if they found out I had come here with you and not driven the extra ten minutes to see them.”

“Go on, I’ll be okay by myself.”

“Are you sure?” Chris asked looking at me as if trying to make sure I wasn’t lying to him.

“Positive,” I assured him. He gave me a hug, “Thanks Chris.”

Chris just kissed me on my forehead and left to go home.

“So, I think we’ll come up for the Homecoming game on Friday.” Allie announced.

“Yes, I want to meet this James Yardley.” Dad suddenly sounded overprotective.

I raised an eyebrow, “Dad, you’ve never been overprotective before, so don’t you start now. But I’d be glad to have you come.”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now, I think we should all get some rest. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” Allie ushered me out of the office and up to my room, which, I was happy to note, was exactly how I had left it.

o0O0o

“You told him, right?” I asked Nat for the third time that morning.

She sighed and looked up from her seat on my bed. “Calm down Charlie. Everything is going to be all right.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “That was a yes, right?”

Nat grinned at my slightly nervous appearance. “Yes, I told him. Now stop worrying and go already.”

I took one last glance in the mirror and grabbed my stuff before leaving the room. As I neared the journalism room I got less nervous instead of more nervous, but as I rounded the corner and nobody was to be seen my heart dropped. I went and unlocked the door slowly and went into the journalism room, wishing that I’d never have to come out. I sat down at my desk and lay my things on the floor. Then, after struggling to hold it in, I turned around so my back was to the door and started to cry.

I didn’t hear anyone come in, so I was startled when a pair of hands took mine in theirs and pulled them away from my face. I opened my tear filled eyes to find James crouching in front of me. I threw my arms around his neck and he stood up, pulling me out of the chair with him.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” I managed to say between sobs.

“I wasn’t going to, but then D’Avanzo explained everything to me.” James pushed me away so he could look at me. He wiped the tears off my face. “I ran all the way here.”

“I’m sorry about-”

“Charlie, don’t apologize. I understand now. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I tried to force you to stop being afraid when I should have shown you how not to be afraid. Did you really…”

I nodded into his chest, knowing he was meaning the incident at the fountain.

“Thank God for D’Avanzo,” James whispered, pulling me as close to him as he could and kissing my temple. I wrapped my arms back around his neck and didn’t want to ever let go because I felt safe in his arms.

“I’d better go to class. But I’ll find you before lunch.” James let go of me reluctantly and started for the door.

“James!” I called after him and he turned to face me. “I love you.”

That smirk that used to drive me absolutely insane spread across his face. “It’s about time you admitted it.”

And with that he walked out of the door, the paperweight I threw at his head for his response bouncing harmlessly off the wall. Well, actually, I think it dented the wall, but it would have done a lot more damage if it had actually hit his head.

o0O0o

“This is retarded,” I announced to Nat that Friday night at the Homecoming game as we sat in the stands near the rest of the Homecoming Court. “There’s no way I’m going to win, and it’s cold.”

“I don’t think your boyfriend, the star quarterback, would be very appreciative if you just walked off before halftime of his Homecoming Game.” Nat replied. “Besides, you have to stay with me.”

“Yeah, because watching as Chris flaps his arms around is really a very productive way for me to spend my Friday night.” I retorted.

“Turn off the bitch switch Charlie.”

“I don’t have to; after all, I called this for my bitchy week after you were being a bitch last week.”

Nat rolled her eyes but laughed as she looked at my outfit again. “You do realize that you are going to look completely ridiculous down there next to the other girls in their nice skirts and dresses.”

“I don’t have a skirt other than my uniform and my only dress is the one I’m wearing to the Homecoming Dance tomorrow night.” I replied. “Besides, it’s cold and I don’t see the problem in wearing sweat pants so that I don’t freeze to death.”

Nat laughed again, “Allie seemed to think it was an amusing choice of wardrobe too.”

I stuck out my tongue, “James thought I was cute, so I really don’t care.”

“You could be wearing a muumuu and James would still think you were cute,” Nat pointed out. “But at least you have more sense that Carson and Cooper. I’ll give you that much.”

The two aforementioned girls were huddled together in their matching strapless dresses and short sleeve sweaters. Carson was in blue and Cooper was in purple. I laughed as they jumped up and down and made quite a spectacle of themselves.

“Oh, time for you to go. Good luck,” Nat gave me a hug and hurried off to sit and hear the announcement of Homecoming Queen with Chris.

I followed the other girls onto the field and stood there, not really paying attention as they announced and read off each girl’s information. I noticed that every single one said they liked to shop, hang out with their friends, and spend time with their boyfriend and felt a tinge of pride when mine was read out; it was the only one that was not identical to the others.

I shifted the way I was standing and pretended to care as they announced last years’ Queen and the principal as the ones that would be crowning the Homecoming Queen. Last year’s Queen was Jordan Ashcraft, a girl that I had never seen eye to eye with and one that Carson and Cooper tried to be exactly like. I smirked at her as she sent me a disapproving look about my wardrobe and my mere presence in the Homecoming Court.

First they announced Carson Rowe as being Maid of Honor, which was basically like getting second place. She beamed and smirked at me because, of course, she still had another year to claim Homecoming Queen and it was pretty much assumed that either Sarah More or Amber Markov, the two seniors, would be getting the Homecoming crown in a minute.

So I watched as Carson hugged Jordan and had the Maid of Honor tiara placed in her perfect hair. I felt a tiny pang of disappointment that I had not been able to beat Carson, but then I remembered that I hadn’t wanted to be standing here in the first place.

And, since a senior always won, I stopped listening again; after all there was really no point. And so, one of the younger girls, a sophomore, was forced to get my attention; she elbowed me in the side.

“Ouch, what was that for?” I muttered.

“You won,” The girl replied, staring at me incredulously.

“What?”

The girl on my other side gave me a little push, “You won.”

I looked around at the rest of the Homecoming Court and saw, just by looking at Amber and Sarah, that it was true. They both glared at me with an emotion deeper than hatred and the other girls looked scandalized. I turned my back to them and walked up to Jordan to be crowned, sweat pants, messy ponytail and all.

I smiled sweetly as Carson glared daggers at my head, knowing that there was going to be Hell to pay later, but at the moment I didn’t really care. I, who was editor of the Gazette instead of a cheerleader, who was wearing sweatpants instead of a strapless dress, who was a junior instead of a senior, I had just been crowned Homecoming Queen. And let me tell you, for as much as I hadn’t wanted it, it sure felt pretty damn good.

Especially since James came out to congratulate me a second later by hugging me, twirling me around and then kissing me, right in the middle of the football field at our Homecoming game. Oh yeah, life was good.

Haha, hope you enjoyed my delve into a little bit darker things than my norm. Let me know by clicking the little button and leaving me a little review!

Oh, and that story was for you Kelsey!

Love From,

MotherCrumpet