Chapter 3

The next morning Valdis entered school hearing Sang's laughter. Confused, she walked over only to be dumb founded that her best friend and Noland were hanging out. She walked up to the two completely silent. Noland looked at Valdis his face becoming serious and it soon spread to Sang. Valdis's hair was parted in a way that it mostly covered the left side of her face.
"Are you okay?" Noland asked concern and worry lacing his face
Valdis nodded but kept out of his arms reach. The bell rang and the new threesome departed for first period.
"Kara and Noland broke up." Sang stated, "It's a really funny story."
Valdis just nodded as she grabbed her books.
"You sure you're okay?"
Valdis nodded again and they walked to first period together.
Three and a half hours later it was lunch time. Valdis and Sang sat in their usual spot by the wall near no on else. They were eating when a third was added to the duo. It was Noland.
"Won't your friends make fun of you for sitting with the freaks in school?" Valdis asked almost inaudible.
Noland shrugged, "It's whatever. I don't care."
Sang almost snorted with laughter, "Yeah, right."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Noland looked completely hurt.
"All jocks care about their reputation. Befriending freaks with no intention of humiliating them will make you look bad."
"Only in his pack's minds." Valdis pointed out.
"True." Sang nodded
"My....pack?" Noland was completely lost now.
"It's not really yours." Sang informed, "Just the people you hang out with. We refer to them as The Pack."
"Oh." Noland watched the girls curious, "What do you call everyone else who isn't in that group?"
"Well...," Sang hummed trying to remember, "We don't really call them anything."
"Nothing? Nothing at all?"
"Yep, nothing." Sang smiled.
"Okay then," Noland sighed, "Makes perfect sense."
A few minutes of silence passed.
"Do you want to hand out after school?" Valdis asked shyly.
"Huh?" Sang looked at her sister, "Like, all three of us?"
Valdis nodded.
"Well now that's just -"
"Sure." Noland interrupted Sang
"Why not." Sang sighed.
Valdis smiled softly, she looked at Noland only to find he was staring at her with awe.
"Wh- what?" She stuttered
He quickly shook his head, "Nothing."
"Hey! Noland! What are you doing over there?" A tall skinny boy with the most unruly brown hair walked over.
Sang almost growled but both girls stayed silent at the new comers presence.
"Hey Jaxith." Noland greeted, "Talking to my friends."
"Your friends?" Jaxith looked at Valdis and Sang, looking at Sang the longest before back to Noland, "Since when?"
"Since when did it matter?"
Jaxith shrugged and flashed a charming smile for the girls, "I'm Jaxith."
Valdis leaned over and whispered in Sang's ear, "The Jolly Green Giant." At that Sang burst out laughing covering her mouth to try and stop.
Jaxith blinked confused his smile slipping, "What?"
Sang shook her head and smiled widely at the tall boy, "Nothing."
Jaxith's smile returned as he watched Sang, "Alright then."
The bell rang dismissing lunch and again the new group disbanded for fifth period.
Valdis walked into the slightly cold room and sat at her desk. It was at the front of class and it made her a little uncomfortable, she didn't complain though, she never did.
"Yo dawg." A girl suddenly called out before giggling. She was the whitest girl on the earth and still insisted on acting like some gang member.
"Oh my Gods." Valdis thought to herself but looked back. Noland had entered the room and was talking to the girl now. "What was her name?"
"Bells," Noland sighed, "that's very interesting."
"Isabell, that's right." Valdis yawned.
"Valdis change places with Isabell." The teacher looked at her. He didn't seem happy.
"What!? Why?!" Isabell whined.
"Because I don't want to deal with you today."
Valdis picked up her stuff and walked over to Isabell, who was slamming her books together angrily, before going to Valdis's desk. Valdis slipped into her new desk in front of Noland silently, she could hear him laughing softly. She sighed softly and wasn't surprised when a folded up piece of paper slid onto her desk. She took the paper and opened it silently, her amethyst eyes looking over the messy left-handed writing.
'Hey.' It said so she replied 'Hi.' in small neat hand writing before folding it back up and passing it back to him. She heard the crinkle of paper as it was opened and listened to the light tapping of a pencil on the wooden desk as Noland searched for a topic to talk about.
Again, the paper crinkled and Valdis leaned back to grab the paper from him. Their fingers brushed gently, Valdis felt a jolt shoot through her hand and she jerked forward quickly holding onto the not tightly, heart racing.
"You okay?" Noland whispered behind her, his voice seemed to have wavered slightly.
Valdis nodded and opened the note quickly but still quietly. Tapping her pencil on the desk to calm herself, she read the note which so happened to have a question on it this time. 'Where were you planning on us hanging out at?' Valdis bit on her pencil near the eraser pondering this, "It gets colder the longer you're outside." She didn't want to take them to her house though, her foster father could have stayed home again. Valdis sighed and scribbled down that they could walk to the park and figure out what else to do later. She leaned back against the desk chair almost laying back so she could see his face, even if he was upside down. Her hair fell from her face slightly and the happy grin Noland had been showing fell a little. Valdis moved back up quickly fixing her red bangs to block her left eye's vision.
Noland tapped her shoulder and she could feel his foot shaking on the metal rack of her desk, normally this would have annoyed her but she could tell he was upset. She looked over her shoulder and saw the note, Valdis took it slowly from him before looking at his face. He looked pissed.
Valdis turned her attention to the note unfolding it slowly to look at what it may say. 'The hell happened?! I swear Valdis, if he hit you I'll kill him!' Valdis's eyes widened and she scribbled onto the paper and handed it back.
"The f**k?!" Noland yelled out loud hitting the desk and making the quiet room jump in surprise.
"Noland, is there a problem?" The teacher looked up.
"This is bullshit." Noland looked at Valdis before storming from the class room.
"Valdis," The teacher turned his gaze to the frozen girl, "Would you like to go after him?"
Valdis nodded, grabbed bother of their belonging and walked out of the class her heart racing. Everyone was staring. He was upset. It was all her fault. It was always her fault. She closed Noland's locker and went to find him, she was sure.
She found him on the top of the bleachers in the gym.
"N-Noland?" She whispered softly to the boy who was staring up at the gum's ceiling as he laid there.
"What?" His voice was harsh and more commanding than questionable.
"I..." Valdis was freaking out, she didn't know what so say, "He didn't...I mean..."
Noland sat up slightly and looked at Valdis his cloudy blue eyes softening, "You're cute when you ramble."
Valdis blushed just slightly and looked away before talking quickly her words almost slurred, "I was hit with a baseball. My foster sister's threw it."

Reviews

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

Your characters have such a realistic spirit to them.
Im sure you could write a story about a guy mopping
a floor and it would be compelling reading.

The connection your characters have with the reader
is very special in my opinion. It's impressive.