Suddenly Chapter 8

A Chapter by LizzySilverthorn

Adrian’s POV
I still can't believe Richard ate a piece of paper straight-faced in front of Breidenbach. Felicia and I were laughing about it all the way to my history class. After she left, I sat in my chosen seat, alone in the corner. Mr Shepherd started class just as the bell rang.
“Alright class, since I don't trust any of you naughty children, I'm assigning you all seats!” Over half of the class groaned loudly. He smiled evilly. He seemed like a decent teacher, but he sometimes acted like his soul purpose was to make us miserable. I looked around the room to see if anybody looked decent enough to sit by. I couldn't even see half of the class because I was so short… Damn it.
Over half of the class got called before he said my name. He was on the second to last row when he did. I was the fourth seat back, but still no one I knew sat by me. As I made sure I had all of my stuff with me, I only half listened to the names to see who sat next to me. Just when Mr. Shepherd got to the fourth person’s name, he paused.
“Sorry if I say your name wrong… Misha Collins? Are you here?” Misha stood up slowly, gathering all of his things with one hand raised.
“That'd be me, sir.” He gave the teacher a small smile.
“Well, get on over here. We don't have all day, Mr. Collins.” He smiled in a joking manner as Misha rushed over and sat down quickly. I glanced over and gave him a quick smile. He smiled back briefly and waved as Mr. Shepherd finished calling names. Then he walked nonchalantly to the front of the class and told us to take out a notebook for notes. I heard paper tearing next to me and saw Misha scrawl a messy “Hey :)” onto a piece of paper and slipped it onto my desk. I'm a quick note taker, and was able to reply right away since I was already finished. I scribbled down a rushed “Hey ya, what's up?” And slipped it back to him just before Mr. Shepherd turned back around. He took a few seconds to finish the notes for class before switching over to our single sheet to write “Been thinking about what you said to me the other day before you got onto the bus, I told you not to worry about what those cheerleaders say, and you said it means a lot coming from somebody like me. What did you mean?” He passed it back to me quietly. When I finished reading it, I looked back at him. He tilted his head to one side questioningly. That was adorable… Wait what?
I wrote down some more history notes before replying. Eventually I replied with “oh, I just meant you're a popular kid. A lot of people like you since you're so devoted to drama and theater.” I saw Mr. Shepherd looking over here so I pretended to continue to write until he looked away. Then I passed it. I watched him read it as a smile crept onto his face. He looked up at me and smiled brighter. I smiled back shyly as he turned back to his notes. I took the last of the day’s notes on the board and quickly turned to the sheet being passed to me from Misha. The note read “wanna work on the worksheet together?” I was confused until I saw that a worksheet was being passed down the columns of desks. Instead of writing down my reply I just smiled and nodded my head. I saw other people move their desks together to work in pairs, so we did the same. HOLY CRAP I'M MAKING FRIENDS… This is not a common thing.
We finished the assignment relatively quickly, which was expected seeing as it was our first real assignment. So, we talked the rest of class about nothing in general.
“So, the violin, huh? How's that going for you?” He asked curiously, pointing toward my violin sitting underneath my desk.
“It’s really great. The teacher’s nice, and almost everyone in the class is pretty chill. How about theater?” I asked.
“It’s fun, sometimes the pressure’s really rough though.. It's all worth it though.” He smiled.
“I know how that is. The pressure of performing arts.” I said rolling my eyes.
“I bet you're really good at playing that violin. You should play for me sometime.” He winked at me.
He winked at me. I started to blush.
“I'm alright I guess. Not sure how I would play for you alone though.” I chuckled
“We could meet in the theater after school maybe?” Misha suggested. That was actually a pretty good idea though except..
“I take the bus though… otherwise that's actually a pretty good idea. Maybe if I asked my mum to pick me up later? I could tell her I'm doing extra studying at school!” I was getting really excited, it's not every day you get to hang out with new people.
“I think that'll work.” Misha replied happily.
“Maybe at some point I come visit a rehearsal of yours?” I asked hopefully.
“That sounds awesome! We could even walk down there together right after this!” He said excitedly.
“That sounds great,” I say, looking at the clock.”speaking of which…” I say as I hold up my hand, slowly putting down each finger. After I put down my last one, the bell rung and we both laughed.
“Real smooth.” He said
“Thanks, now let’s hurry up. I'll text my mom on the way down.”
“Okay!”
So, we gathered all of our stuff together and set off to the other end of the school. We walked slowly, and stayed out of everyone else’s way. We weren't in any rush. I wonder what Matty’s doing right now…
Just as I was going through the possibilities, I got a text message back from my mom saying that she didn't care if I stayed, just to tell her what time to pick me up.
“What time should my mom come and get me?” I asked.
“Does 5:30-ish work?”
“Yeah, that's cool.” I texted my mom “5:30” and continued walking, duct-taped handled violin in hand, history textbook in the other. I didn't feel like putting it in my backpack, so I've just been carrying it the whole time.
“Do you need any help carrying any of that?” Misha asked, looking down at my hands.
“Nah, I'm good. It's not much farther from here.” I smiled.
“Well then, it wouldn't be too hard for me.” He chuckled, holding out his hand to hold my violin.
“Well, if you insist…” I slowly slid the weight of the violin into his hand. He seemed surprised by the weight.
“It's a little heavier than it looks…” I laughed.
“It's alright, we have to move around props and such all the time.” He said lightly. He adjusted his grip as we entered the theater.
“Alright, no one is gonna be around until about 3:30. So it's just you and me.” Misha smirked. We both laughed. We set down our stuff then I looked up as I heard footsteps at the doorway.
“Adrian?” Damn. I can't have one good day, can I? It was Ben.
“Get out of here, Ben. No one invited you in.” I scowled. Misha just looked confused. I remembered he hasn't known me long enough to know what I looked like if I was mad.
“Are you going to play on your violin? Can I watch?! I bet you sound awesome.” This asshat had one thick skull. Apparently kneeing him in his crotch wasn't enough.
“Actually, no. You can't. This is a private performance.” I folded my arms crossly.
“Why are you so interested in Adrian anyway? She clearly doesn't want you.” Misha stood next to me. I smiled softly at his support.
“I love her! She could at least give me a chance!” He whined. God, I hated that. It's so annoying…
“Because she's mine, kid.” Misha said smoothly, wrapping his arm around my waist. I was shocked at first but played along and smiled up at him. Ben looked horrified.
“Seriously, Adrian?!” He started to walk towards me. Misha got in front of me protectively but I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Watch this.” I said quietly, and smiling evilly.
I walked up to Ben.
“You know I've met some weird persistent people in my life, but you take the cake, sir. After countless rejections, a knee to your damn nuts, and my friend beating you up for grabbing me, you still won't leave me alone? You have some serious mental issues, kid. Nobody likes you. No one is ever going to like you. You're just a stupid loser from a spoiled rich family who thinks he's got it all figured out. DUDE YOU ARE A JUNIOR IN ALGEBRA 1. LOOK AT YOURSELF,” my voice was getting increasingly louder, which I'm not used to doing. So I lowered it again, and took a deep breath to compose myself. “Leave me alone, or I'm getting a restraining order on you. I'm done with your bullshit, Ben. No more fooling around.” I figured I was done, but Ben looked like he was about to say something, so I backhanded him with as much force as I could. He stumbled a bit so I took the opportunity to shove him out the door and close it.
“Well, I hope I never get on your bad side…” Misha said as I turned around to face him. We both laughed for awhile after that.
“Don't worry, that's about as bad as I get. And you'd have to really push me to get into that kind of trouble.” I assured him, smiling.
“Okay, that's good. I was worried I had claimed to be a crazy person’s boyfriend.” He laughed even harder, and I just kind of blushed and stood there awkwardly.
“That was pretty awesome though. I would not have expected that from someone as shy as you.” He smiled that adorable smile. I smiled back and walked over to my precious violin.
As I opened the case, I roughly applied rosin to my bow, making sure not to miss a spot. I tightened it the set it down gently to the side. Then I gently ran my fingers over my violin. I loved the feeling of the carved wood under my fingertips. I slowly eased it out of the case, and put my shoulder pad on it. I could sense Misha watching intently. I adjusted everything to fit nicely, then set it all down to get out my music.
“You wouldn't happen to have a stand for my music would you?” I asked sheepishly.
“Yeah, one second…” Misha ran up behind the stage and came back a few seconds later with a large grey stand in hand.
“Awesome, thanks!” I looked through my folder for a good song to play. I knew just what to play. Ashokan Farewell. A Civil War song by Jay Ungar. One of my personal favorites actually. I set it up carefully and picked up my instrument. I looked over to Misha nervously. He smiled and nodded encouragingly. And I started to play.
I started out kind of shaky, and quiet. But already by the second line I was playing louder, more confident. I smiled as I swayed with the beat. I reached the highest note and pulled a fabulous vibrato. After that, I slowly and quietly continued to play the lower notes.
When the song was finally over, and the sound of my instrument quieted to nothing, I rested my violin at my side and looked over at Misha. He sat there, open-mouthed. I smiled sheepishly. I went to go put my instrument and music away.
“That was… Amazing.” he said in awe.
“You think so?” I laughed.
“Yeah, it really was.” he walked up behind me and watched me put away my things.
“Could I maybe, hold it? Please?” He looked at me and tilted his head slightly.
“Sure, why not?” I shrugged, carefully taking only my violin and bow back out.
“Here, rest this part on your shoulder, and you have to nestle it into your jaw area right here.” as I said this, my hand brushed over his jawline. I blushed.
“Like this?” He asked.
“Exactly! You got it! Then you have to hold the bow like this, watch carefully. Pointer finger wraps around like spaghetti, middle and ring fingers together on the black, and your pinky holds the balance. Your thumb is going to have to be squared off though.” I chuckled. This was actually really fun. I had to reposition his hands a bit but he got it eventually.
“There! Now you have to hold it up like this.” I said, and pretended I was also holding a violin up as well.
“Perfect! Now let me show you how to play a few notes.” I smiled. I struggled to show him how to play because he was taller than me, but I managed.
Within ten minutes, he knew how to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” I congratulated him and asked for my instrument back.
After I had gotten everything put away, we sat down waiting for the other theater kids to start arriving, though it was only 3:00, so we had some time yet. We just sat there relaxing for a few minutes in peaceful silence together.
“Hey, you seemed pretty cool when I pretended to be your boyfriend back there.” Misha laughed and smiled down at me. I blushed really bad.
“Well you're a nice guy, and I'm thankful you helped me back there with all of that.”
“Thanks, it was no problem pretending someone as talented and beautiful as you as my girlfriend.” He smirked. And of course, I blushed even worse, if that was even possible. He laughed when he saw how much I was blushing and I punched him in the shoulder lightly, laughing.
“I'm just being honest.” He laughed. Then he kind of just stared at me smiling.
Oh God, what is he thinking?
I stared into his brilliant blue eyes, and he stared back. Before I knew it, he was leaning in towards me, and I was leaning towards him. He reached his hands up to hold my face. I closed my eyes and felt his lips touch mine. They were so soft, it felt nice. Our lips moved in sync for a few seconds before he pulled away. I slowly opened my eyes again to see him still close to my face, smiling brightly.
“Look at that, you're smart, beautiful, and a good kisser.” he smirked and leaned in to kiss me again. I used one hand to pull him closer to me. I've kissed a couple of guys before, but nothing like this. No one of them have ever felt as meaningful as this.
I was enjoying the blissful moment when we heard a knock at the door, and someone asking for the theater instructor. We broke away slowly, with flushed faces.
“That was… Amazing.” I said quietly.
“I agree wholeheartedly.” Misha smirked at me and then quickly went to get the door. I quickly composed myself before a couple of theater kids walked in, asking what in the world Misha was doing here so early. He simply said he was practicing his lines in front of me. I smiled and waved casually toward the group. Misha told them to get the stage set up before Ms. Knight got there, and walked back over to me.
“I'm probably going to be up there most of the time, so I hope you don't get too bored down here…” He said.
“Don't worry, I’ll enjoy watching, you're in it after all.” I laughed. He chuckled before pecking me on my cheek, then running up to the stage. I watch everyone running through their lines with enthusiasm. A few minutes later Ms. Knight came around and ran through a couple of scenes.
I could get used to this.

Eventually 5:30 rolled close and the theater kids were released. After everything was cleaned up, Misha came down from the stage.
“How did I do?” he asked nervously.
“Are you kidding? Awesome!” I laughed and gave him a hug. He thanked me and hugged me me back.
“Let's get our stuff and go, my mom is probably waiting outside for me.” I said, frowning slightly.
“Already, huh? Yeah, I guess. You want me to walk you out?” He asked.
“Such a gentleman,” I laughed. “My mom would probably s**t bricks if she saw me with a boy, but you can still walk with me until we hit the parking lot if you want to.”
“That sounds great.”
As we were walking, Misha slung his arm around my shoulder, smiling. I looked at him and made a goofy face. He laughed his adorable laugh. I took out my phone and texted Matty.
No answer. Hm, that was unusual for her. I hope she's okay…
Misha must have noticed my uneasy face, because he asked me what’s wrong.
“My friend Matty, she isn't answering her phone. That's not normal for her.”
“I'm sure she's alright.” He reassured me.
“I hope so…” I said quietly.
As we approached the doors leading to the parking lot, we both stopped.
“Take care of yourself okay?” He said hugging me.
“Yeah, you too, Misha.” I said, hugging him.
When he pulled away, he leaned back in to give me a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Let’s not worry your mom.” He laughed.
“No worries, see you tomorrow in gym.” I smiled gently, opening the door.
“Yeah, see ya.” He said as the door closed behind me.
As I looked for my mom’s familiar car, I heard Misha shouting from the door, jogging toward me.
“How rude of me, but I forgot to give you my number. He smiled, handing me a slip of paper with numbers scrawled on one side. I gave him one last hug.
“Now go so my mom doesn't see you!” I urged him.
“No problem! Bye!” he said. I chuckled and looked around for my mother’s car. I had to walk a bit but I found it. I knocked on the window and saw her jump a little.
“About time.”
“I was getting my stuff together, and then couldn't find your car.” I explained.
“Fine, let's just go, ok? Your dad’s in a bad mood.”
“Of course he is.” I replied flatly.
Once I got in and had my seatbelt on I texted the number on the piece of paper from Misha. He replied almost instantly.
A: Hey! It's Adrian!
M: Hi! Now I can talk to you whenever I want :D
A: Within reason tho xD
M: Well duh lol
A: How are you getting home?
M: I drive myself.
A: Ok cool, well then you should probably stop texting me, for now. Drive safe! =^.^=
M: Thanks :D
“So, what were you possibly studying for this early in the semester?” My mom eyed me suspiciously before returning her focus to the road.
“Oh, well I figured I would study my new music for orchestra. I'm supposed to help teach it to the freshmen so…” I trailed off looking at her. She seemed unhappy, but convinced.
“You should have at least stayed for something important, like Trig. There's no reason to be wasting your time with orchestra. You're a junior now, and we still can't afford private lessons.” She stated. It was true, we couldn't pay for private lessons, but that just pushed me to work harder. Still, it bothered me that she couldn't understand how much it meant to me. I sighed quietly as the farmland came into view. Almost home.
When we finally got to the house, I gathered up all of my things and walked in the door. Once I had gotten my shoes off, I went straight up to my room before anyone could bother me. I set my backpack and violin next to my desk, and sat down. This was where I sketched, wrote down my feelings, did my homework and projects, stared out the windows, and sometimes even ate my meals. I decided to check my phone. Still no word from Matty. I hope she's okay… She’s never away from her phone this long unless she's either really upset, hurt, or sick. Just as my anxiety was causing me to assume the worst, Richard texted me.
R: Adrian, I don't know what's going on anymore. I feel this pain in my chest, and it won't go away…
A: Whoa, Rich what happened???
R: She chose him over me, Adrian. Him. And I got mad and said some things I shouldn't have. Now she’s probably never going to forgive me…
A: Richard? Are you going to be okay until tomorrow or do you want to meet up?
R: If we could meet up, that'd be great. Where am I going?
A: Woods. At the end of the dead end I live on. Can you make it that far?
R: Yeah, I'll take the car since it's dark.
A: Okay, drive safe, got it?
R: I'll do my best. See you in 10
A: Alrighty
I got up from my desk and grabbed my spare string backpack that contained an external battery for my phone, a bed sheet to lay on, a compass, a flashlight that could be used as a lantern, a pocket knife, some bandages, and a lighter. It was what I took into the woods with me. You never know what could happen. Sometimes I spent entire days in the woods and would pack a lunch and everything.
I crept slowly down the stairs, slipped on my shoes, and slowly opened the door.
“Adrian, what are doing? It's already getting dark out.” My mom said from the living room.
“Just going out for a little bit. These first few days of school have really taken a lot out of me.” I replied honestly, sort of.
“Fine, but don't be gone too long, got it?”
“Got it.”
I quickly closed the door behind me before she changed her mind. I dashed across the front lawn and ran down to the end of the road. I layed down the bedsheet in the grass and sat down with the lantern set up near my feet and waited.
After a few minutes I saw a dim glow from headlights grow slightly stronger as Richard’s car came into view. I stood up, holding the lantern up close to my face. Richard parked the car in the ditch on the right side of the road, shutting off his headlights as quickly as possible. When he got out of the car, I could tell he had been crying. He walked right up to me and hugged me. I'm not really a hugger but I could tell he needed it, so I hugged him right back, lantern still in one hand.
“Hey, it's okay Rich. Just let it all out…”
“I-I don't get it… I really care about her, why did I say those things..?” He sobbed into my shoulder.
“You were angry, it happens to the best of us.” I said as I led him over to the sheet in the grass. We both ungracefully sat down.
“I know, but I was one of her best friends, and she was one of mine, and I cut her off. Just like that… I mean who the hell does that?” He said, a bit more steady with his breathing.
“I told you Richard, you were upset. Don't worry. The situation will fix itself with time. You both just need to take a breather,” I reasoned. “Come on, let's go do something stupid and fun. Let's climb the tree over there.” I said, pointing toward the tallest pine tree down here.
“Sure… Okay.” Richard said halfheartedly. I was planning on doing something a bit drastic, but it'll be funny. Hopefully it'll cheer him up. After we both stood up, I shook out the sheet and shoved back into my backpack. Picking up the lantern, I jogged over to the tree. I looked back to make sure Richard was following me, then I pulled myself up onto the first branch. Now this was my real home. Call me a tree hugger but it is awesome.
As I quickly climbed up the tree, I heard Rich following close below. I kept climbing until I almost reached the very top. I found a decent branch and sat down after making sure there were no huge patches of sap anywhere. Eventually Rich caught up and sat on a branch next to mine. We rested our backs on the tree trunk.
“See? It's not too bad up here.” I smiled faintly. I knew he was still upset, but this should at least help a little bit.
“Yeah, it's really nice to get some fresh air into my system for once. I guess that's a perk of living in the middle of nowhere.” He laughed softly. I smiled and handed him the lantern. Well, here goes nothing.
“You wanna see something cool?” I asked, trying to hold back and evil grin.
“Sure..?” Richard replied, obviously confused.
I'd only done this once before, but it was one of my favorite things to do. I stood up on my branch, took a deep breath, and jumped. I heard Richard yell out as I landed on a branch far below.
“How's the weather up there?” I yelled up to Richard. I could hear him trying not to laugh as he cursed left and right about how dangerous that was. I eventually climbed back up to where he was perched.
“You are insane.” He said, still trying to sound serious but failing miserably.
“I know!” I grinned wildly. This was my real home. Not back at that house.
“Well, we should probably get down eventually…” Richard started.
“Yeah, I'm not supposed to be out long after dark. And you should probably get going either way.” I said, kind of sad.
After we got finally got down, (Rich wouldn't let me jump again) I walked with him to his car.
“Thanks for this Adrian, I needed it.” Richard said as he embraced me in a last hug.
“Yeah, anytime Rich.” I said, hugging him right back. After he pulled away, he opened the door of the car. I smiled again as he looked back at me.
“You wanna race?” He smirked.
“Like I'm gonna be able to beat your car!” I laughed.
“Well at least I could see how fast you ran against Misha.”
“Fine, deal. But keep in mind I have a backpack, and I'm not exactly in athletic clothes.” I said as he closed the door and rolled down the window.
“Yeah, whatever. You're still gonna have to be pretty fast to beat him.”
“Let's go already!” I laughed. I positioned myself to start running as the car engine roared to life.
“After you!” He said. And I dashed off, adrenaline pumping. I heard the car speed up next to me in a few seconds. I ran for about fifteen seconds before my chest started to hurt, and the adrenaline was fading. I heard Rich shout out the window.
“Not bad!” And drove away laughing. I laughed as I walked the rest of the way, too tired to run any more.
When I finally got back to the house, I quietly raced upstairs so my mom wouldn't have time to ask questions. Once I got up there, like any other teenager, I checked my phone. I had three messages from Misha.
M: Hey, you home yet?
M: Heeeeey
M: you okay???
I felt bad for not answering. Thankfully the last text was only sent a couple of minutes ago.
A: Hey, sorry. I was cheering someone up so I didn't really look at my phone.
M: Oh, well at least you're okay. Is your friend feeling better?
A: Much better, actually, thank goodness.
M: Great to hear :)
A: Yeah :D He was stuck on a girl that he liked. So I hung out with him for a while to help him cheer up and get his mind off of things.
M: Oh? What sort of things? ;)
A: Nothing like that! Omg. We climbed a tree and sat up there for a while.
M: Wow. That's pretty cool.
A: Ikr! xD Hey I think I'm gonna sleep now. I'm beat.
M: okay, g’night! See you tomorrow ;)
A: right back at you =^.^=
I heard my kid brother Felix yell through the door that dinner was ready, but I yelled back that I wasn’t hungry, just tired. As soon as I set my phone down and plugged it in, my head hit the pillow and I was out.

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