Chapter 1

A Chapter by FleetingReveries

Water splashed over her purple sneakers as Wren ran through another puddle. She halted on the edge of the sidewalk, rain falling down around her, as a blue car whirred by splashing more water over her purple sneakers. The next moment, someone was holding a green umbrella over her head. Wren’s eyes followed the line of his arm; she was looking into dull blue eyes, eyes that reminded her of a sad song. His right eye was surrounded by a symphony of color. He was a fighter. He didn’t smile.

His dark brown hair was beginning to stick to his forehead like a melting music bar, “Here,” he said extending his arm farther towards her. Wren looked back down at the green umbrella’s handle. “Well, take it,” he repeated still unsmiling. She gingerly took the umbrella from the boy’s hand.

As soon as she had relieved him the duty of holding the umbrella over her head, he put his hands in his pockets and crossed the street. Another car splashed by her as she tried to look around it as she watched him go. She looked up at the green umbrella the boy had given her, when she looked back at the street he was gone. Suddenly she remembered how late she was.

When she finally made her way to school it was between classes. She hung the green umbrella in her locker and tried to fix her chocolate hair in her tiny mirror. When she closed her locker, Mattie was leaning up against the next locker. “Hey sleepy head,” he grinned.

“That’s so funny, Mattie. Why didn’t you wake me up?” Wren snarled.

He shrugged, “Sorry, Bonnie, I’m so used to Russ getting you up. Apparently he left early though. At least I called Mom for you,” he chuckled.

“Yeah. Thanks,” she said coldly.

“I’ll walk you to class my dearest, Bonnie?” Mattie asked her still grinning.

Wren smiled, “Sure, Mattie.” They began walking through the small hallways of �" High School. She looked up at him with her big candy blue eyes. He smiled down at her, brown eyes blazing. She smiled back up at the fire headed boy. His freckles danced across his face like little embers.

“You are so lucky you got to sleep though,” Mattie yawned. Wren shoved him. “What?” he asked innocently.

“At least this is the only time I’ve been late,” she reassured herself.

“And you missed math class!” Mattie added, “I know how you hate math class, Bonnie.”

“Yeah, but now I’ll be even more lost than I already was. But I do have art now,” she said perking up a little.

“Alright, see ya,” he grinned.

“Bye, Mattie. See you for lunch?” Wren asked before he walked away.

“Yup.”

Wren walked into the highly decorated classroom. Students’ artwork hung on every inch of wall. Wren scanned the room for a seat. She saw the back of Liesel’s lemon blonde hair at the table in the corner. “Hey, Lies,” Wren said as she sat down.

“Wren! I thought you were sick!” the girl said.

“No, nobody woke me after I shut off my alarm,” Wren laughed.

“Wren, what’s wrong with your hair?” Liesel asked scrunching up her nose.

“Does it look that bad?” Wren asked trying to smooth it. “I had to walk in the rain.”

“Here, I have a brush in my purse!” Liesel said digging into her gigantic purse.

“Thanks,” Wren said as she finally got her hair in order.

Liesel waved past Wren to someone standing in the hallway. Wren knew who it was before she turned around; it had to be Liesel’s boyfriend, Jaimy. And it was. Liesel walked over to the teacher. She impatiently waited for her hall pass. When she finally received it, she almost ran out into the hallway after him. Wren watched her go and turned back to the sketch she was working on. A picture from one of the scenes in a book she had once read.

The art teacher was called out into the hallway by the guidance counselor. Wren hardly noticed, absorbed completely by her work. The teacher came back with the strange boy in tow. The woman indicated that he should sit at the table with Wren. Wren hardly noticed him sit down. In fact she didn’t notice him at all, and when he spoke to her it startled her.

“What are we supposed to be doing?” he asked as Wren jumped. “Sorry, she told me to ask you.” It was no secret that the art teacher was far from enthusiastic.

Wren recognized him immediately as the strange boy and completely ignoring his inquiry, “You are the boy who gave me the umbrella! You were like my knight in shining armor!” Wren said eagerly. “I’m Wren by the way,” she smiled.

“I’m Jack,” the strange boy said.

“Jack, thank you so much for the umbrella!” Wren said enthusiastically. He grunted in return. “You are new here?” she half asked half stated.

“Yeah, today was my first day,” he said coldly. “So what are we doing?” he repeated.

“Oh, we are pretty much just sketching whatever we want,” she almost whispered, embarrassed by her previous enthusiasm. She was never that way with complete strangers, yet she felt like she knew him, somehow. Wren refocused herself on her sketch. She was soon completely absorbed by her vision.

That is, until Jack startled her back to reality once again, “That’s really amazing,” he said it coldly, almost like sarcasm.

Somehow she knew he was sincere, and she could guess he rarely gave out compliments. She smiled, blue eyes shining, “Thanks. Not many people complement my art,” she admitted.

“Really?” he asked in disbelief.

She laughed softly, “Yeah, they do, but I can tell they don’t mean it. Only one person used to compliment my art, my dad…” Wren said letting her voice trail off.

“They are probably just jealous,” he said interrupting her reverie.

“What?”

“Everyone else is probably just jealous, because you are better than they are.”

“Thanks,” she said rather sadly. Jack returned to grunting and scribbled around on his paper. Wren smiled.