Love In Between : Part 1

This is a short story that will be broken up into different parts! : ) Enjoy and please leave a comment!

In my life there has been more pain and sorrow given to me than any other thing on this planet. Nothing I do can be seen as profound or extraordinary. I'm basically just... ordinary. My skin is pale, my eyes are dull and my hair is bland. I am the most boring 17 year old girl anyone could ever meet. I have never had a boyfriend, because I can't even talk to a guy that I find even moderately attractive. My best friends are my books that I carry with me everywhere I go. Not school books, oh God I would never carry those. I mean my story books. Each one containing a different world for me to run away to during the hours I am trapped at school or home. The only place in this world I feel safe is the library. The librarian, Mrs. Thurma, even gave me my own key. I have a room in the back of the library that she allows me to stay in on nights when my parents are fighting. She says I can stay as long as I re-shelve all the returned books that she wasn't able to get to that day. 

"Emma?" I looked up to find I was the only one left sitting in Mr. Brents classroom. School had been dismissed for the day and of course I was too lost in my own thoughts to notice the bell ringing. "You know Emma. I have half the mind to take your books away during class so maybe you can actually participate in class discussions." 

"I'm sorry. I will start paying more attention, but you will see that no one in this classroom wants to hear from me except you." He stared at me in shock as I walked out of the room.

School was a cruel punishment to my mere existence. There was no one here that even noticed me or even cared to know me. I was just that girl in the corner who would always be alone. Maybe when I went to college things would be different. Until then all I had was...

Something slammed into me and knocked me into the ground. "Would you please watch where your going?" I said as I stood to discover what, or who, had bumped into me. 

"I'm really sorry. I didn't see you." A guy with eyes as blue as the sky and a smile that seemed to light up the room was in front of me, handing me the books he had knocked from my arms. 

"Umm.." Of course, no words came out of my mouth. 

"Are you okay?" I stared at him with wide eyes. He had to think I was the ugliest girl he had ever seen. My hair was in a curly frizz on top of my head, I never wore make up and I was not the most fashionable girl alive either. 

"Uhh. Yeah. I'm fine." I grabbed my books from him and quickly walked down the hallway. Another day full of humiliation and off to the library I go.

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"How was school today?" Mrs.Thurma asked as she brought me a plate consisting of a bologna and cheese sandwich and a bag of cool ranch doritos. 

"Oh you know. The usual hallways that are embodied with hormonal teenagers. Guys who think they have to make crude and demeaning comments about girls to fit in and girls who think they have to give their innocence up to guys to fit in." I smiled at her and kept reading the old copy of "Pride and Prejudice" that I had found in the back of the library. 

"They can't all be that bad sweetie. Have you ever tried making any friends?" Mrs. Thurma always had this "all-knowing" aura about her.

"Yeah. Sure. I talked to a guy today actually." She gave me a stern look as if she knew I was lying. "Well...Okay I didn't really talk to him. He bumped into me and knocked me on the ground. I mumbled that I was fine and walked away." She stared at me. "Okay I know that doesn't count." She laughed quietly and turned to walk away. 

"Don't forget to lock up when you leave." She waved over her shoulder and made her daily walk out the front door of the library. 

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After finishing my reading and cleaning up the library for Mrs. Thurma just a little bit, I started making the dreadful walk home. My mom was nothing but a drunk while my dad was an amateur drug dealer who was way in over his head. Of course that is a lie. If only my life were that interesting. My mom is a sales representative for some toy company and my dad is an architect. They both go to work from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. Most of the time they spend their weekends locked up in their home office. Separate offices of course. Their marriage has been over for quite some time now. Mom basically lives upstairs with me and dad occupies his time downstairs and in the garage. The two are usually too busy trying to avoid each other to acknowledge my existence. They give me money to use for whatever I want in return for all the chores that I don't do. Our maid takes care of everything, but even she doesn't know I am alive. 

As I continued walking I noticed a moving van in the driveway of the house next door to us. Of course, new neighbors to terrorize me. Guess I need to put the curtains back up on my window. As I walked into the house I heard laughter from the kitchen. A sound that never rang throughout the halls of this house. I sat my bag down and heard my mother laugh again. As I made the corner I was shocked to find the boy from school and, who I assume to be his parents, sitting at the kitchen table with my mother. 

"Oh honey I am so glad your home! Meet our new neighbors. Sally and Tom Walker and their son Jensen." My mother stood and ushered me further into the room. "This is my daughter Emma." 

"We actually met at school today. I actually accidentally bumped into her." Jensen smiled at me and I awkwardly smiled back. 

"Oh how nice. Maybe tomorrow Emma can show you around the town!" My mother looked at me with hope in her eyes. She was only the involved mother when people were around. It was all a show. 

"Umm...sure." I smiled and stared at my feet. 

"Honey why don't you show Jensen your library? I am sure he is bored with our adult conversations about politics." Oh god. 

"Umm. Okay. Its this way." We walked down the hallway in an awkward silence.

"So you have your own library here at home?" He looked at me with those pretty blue eyes and all ability to speak almost left me.

"Yeah. It is basically filled with every book that I have been given or bought throughout my entire life. I know my mom told me to show it to you, but I really don'y like for people to go in there. She should know that." We came to a stop in front of the door that held in it all the secrets I never wanted anyone to know. 

"That's fine. I completely understand." I looked at him with confusion. 

"You aren't even going to ask why?" 

"Well I am sure you have a completely logical reason, and even if you don't, is it really any of my business? When your ready to let someone in, I think it should be when your ready." Speechless, I continued down the hallway to the back door. 

"So...do you read?" Total nerd move, Emma. Gah, what is wrong with you? While silently kicking myself for that, I ushered Jensen to the patio that was in the back yard that also had a porch swing. 

"I actually do not read a lot. I do appreciate books though. I wish I could just sit down and read a book but I can't sit still that long." He smiled at me and I quickly looked away." So Emma, what do you do besides read?" 

"Well... I just spend a lot of time at the local library." I sat there staring at my feet. He had to think I was the most boring person in the world. 

"That is pretty awesome." I looked at him with a feeling of shock.

"Really? You don't even read." He laughed and shook his head. "What?"

"A girl with a brain is the most beautiful thing in existence." he said. 

We continued to sit outside while our parents conversed and carried on like they actually enjoyed each other's company. This neighborhood was full of snobs and rich people who took everything for granted. My mother was that one woman that had to have the approval of everyone. When there was company, she painted the image of me as bright as she could. Full of color and life and all of these traits that were the exact opposite of me. I just had to get through one more year with her and my dad. Then I could go off to college and be rid of this lifestyle. 

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To be continued....

Reviews

[Calibaster]

Dang. I wish I could meet a guy like that. At the beginning, I was thinking, 'me, me me me me me that't me!' I don't know you, right? ;) Jk. It's awesome. I don't like swearing, but that's because of my religion, so you don't have to change that if you don't want to. ;) but one mistake that is actually bothering me a little more than it should would be, would be when you are describing the dad as, 'way in over his head.' That just sounds a little unnatural to me, usually, you hear, 'in way over his head.' Just a two word swap, and you should be fine. But I do like it, and really look forward to reading more!

[ChikHaley64]

Thank you so much! I actually know there are way more mistakes than that in this particular story....lol. This is just one of those things I wrote at three in the morning out of pure boredom. lol!

[Calibaster]

I can completely relate. ;) :)

[Richard Knox]

Nicely-written. You really manage to convey Emma’s personality and style well through her internal dialogue. One minor point of grammar: you frequently write “your” when you should use “you’re”. For example, when Jensen says, “When your ready to let someone in, I think it should be when your ready.” That should be, “ When you’re ready to let someone in, I think it should be when you’re ready.”

[Dan Hiland]

Nice start. You established some background for the narrator and her family, and then moved the story forward with action and conversation. The narrator looks and sounds like a real person.
If this develops into a romance, though, I may not be able to make many constructive comments- as most of the romance I have written about has been sort of skewed and weird. This comes from many years of struggling with how to relate to the opposite sex without making a total jackass of myself.
But I digress.
My only recommendations at this time would be to cut out the excessive adverbs like "actually", "awkwardly" and "quickly", to name a few; also try to stick with contractions in conversation. "I will start paying more attention, but you will see" doesn't sound natural, and fortunately, you only leave out the contractions once in a while.
That being said, the story is engaging, and I look forward to seeing how it progresses.
Nice work- and welcome to the site!

[ChikHaley64]

Thank you! I love it when I get real constructive criticism! :)

[Dan Hiland]

Glad to be of assistance! I'll try to get back to more of your work as I "make the rounds". So much to read, but so little time! Argghh...

[ChikHaley64]

I know! I need to take just one whole day to read abunch of everyone else's stuff!