English Composition II Blog
Hey everyone! Down below is about 10 pages of a story that I've been working on. Feel free to leave any comments as to whether you liked it or not. Thanks!
I was fourteen when I met Finn. I met him in algebra class in our freshman year of high school. Both of us were social outcasts of sorts, so we decided to stick together. It was almost like a marriage ceremony really, we stuck together through better and worse, thick, and thin, sickness and health. Death....well, that was a different matter. Freshman Year: October There was a speck of dust in my eye. That damn speck of dust made it feel as if there was a dagger digging into the center of my pupil. I rubbed my eye gently, attempting to alleviate the stupid pain. It wouldn’t go away. Now my eyes were watering and everyone would think I was crying. The plastic chair that pressed against the back of my thighs was so slick with sweat that I slid whenever I adjusted how I was sitting. Why was it ninety degrees in the middle of October? Wasn’t it supposed to feel like fall by now? Damn global warming. Or climate change. Whatever it was called nowadays. That stupid piece of dust, dirt, whatever it was. God damn my eyes hurt! I pressed the heels of both my hands into my eyes. It was only eight a.m. Still had seven hours to go until school was over. I probably wouldn’t make it at this rate. Luckily the bell to signal the beginning of class hadn’t rung yet. I still had about five minutes to get my eyes cleared up before the teacher started lecturing. We were working on factoring methods already and I had absolutely no idea how to solve any of the problems. It seemed as if for once I had to actually pay attention. That was, until the new guy showed up. He entered the classroom walking on the tips of his toes. Whenever he took a step he seemed to bounce. His school bag was way too large, that was plain to see. It was so big that he almost had to hunch over to carry it. His wire-framed glasses were slipping down his nose and his brow was slick with sweat. He looked over the top of his glasses at the seats arranged before him. Every single one was occupied except for the one next to me. I sat in the back-left corner of the room, as far away from people as I could get. Well, in truth, no one ever deigned to sit next to me. He slowly ambled over, stopping right next to me. I stared at the white board in the front of the room. “C-can I sit here?” Damn. Guess I should look at him. I looked over. His watery green eyes were staring at me, so wide and white on the edges. My elbows rested on the desk. I rested my chin on my hands. “I guess.” “Thank you” His school bag dropped to the floor with a clunk. He stretched his skinny arms into the air, joints cracking. I winced. I hated that sound. Then, he moved his neck from side to side causing that to crack. God, how utterly disgusting. He pushed his glasses up nervously, his hands visibly shaking. “I’m Finn, by the way.” He turned in his chair to look at me, his bony knees in the aisle. I continued staring at the whiteboard, trying to avoid conversation as much as possible. “Cool.” My tone was short, clipped. “And…what’s yours?” “What?” I finally turned to face him, exasperated. “Your name?” he raised his eyebrows quizzically. “Who shoved a stick up your ass this morning?” I smiled despite myself. “Ha.” I let out a quick breath of air. “No one.” I extended my hand. “Stella. Nice to meet you, Finn.” He grasped my hand tightly, with more force than I thought he was capable of. “Ah…so I see being an asshole is the way to get your attention.” “More like having a sense of humor.” “So, you think I’m funny?” he grinned, still holding onto my hand. “I wouldn’t go that far.” I yanked my hand back, wiping it on my leather jacket. “Are your hands always this sweaty?” I wrinkled my nose. He nodded vigorously. “Usually, especially in situations like this.” “Like what?” I questioned. He gestured around the room. “Well you see, I’m in a new school, in a new state, with no friends whatsoever. I’m going to be a little nervous starting off, obviously.” “Well you picked the wrong person to talk to.” I huffed, turning back to face the front of the classroom. “No one really likes me anyway.” “You seem, pretty A-Okay to me, Stella.” He smiled at his little jest. Rolling my eyes again, I replied, “That’s a first.” “Why doesn’t anyone like you?” he questioned. “Why would I tell you?” I snapped, frowning. “I just met you, stupid.” “I thought we were getting along famously.” “Just because I said hello and talked to you doesn’t mean I actually like you.” I reached down to my knapsack and pulled out my textbook, copybook, and a pencil. “Now leave me alone, before you catch Stella cooties.” I saw him narrow his eyes, but he finally left me alone. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. Finally, the teacher arrived. Mrs. Bolt, her name was. She of course had Finn go up to the front of the room to introduce himself to the class. He stumbled on his way up and everyone snickered except for me. “Hi…everyone.” He mumbled. “A little louder, honey.” It looked like Mrs. Bolt hadn’t even attempted to brush her beehive of a hairdo this morning. “HI!” he exclaimed a little too loudly. “Um…. I’m Finn.” He went back to mumbling. “I’m from Orlando, Florida, and I moved here because…. I had to.” “Thank you, Finn.” Mrs. Bolt smiled tightly, and clapped her hands together. Finn shuffled back to his seat, face as red as a tomato. “You’re from Florida?” I hissed at him as Mrs. Bolt began lecturing. “Yeah.” He whispered back. “I’ve always wanted to go down there. Never had the chance though.” Up in the small New Hampshire town I lived in, Florida seemed millions of miles away. “It’s pretty nice.” He admitted. “Too humid though, I like it better up here. Doesn’t feel like I’m breathing through water all the time.” I tried not to smile. “Wait until it gets cold around here.” I widened my eyes dramatically. “Then you’ll be begging to go back to Florida.” “Yeah, we’ll see.” He chuckled. After that we sat in silence. I dutifully took notes and attempted to learn how to do the complex algebra problems on the board. When the bell finally rang, I gathered up my things and made my way to the door. “Hey!” I turned around. Finn had donned his backpack, and was hunched over, again. “What class do you have next?” “Uh…world history, why?” “I was just wondering. I have biology next and I have no idea where it’s at.” “The science wing is on the third floor to the left. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it.” I began to walk away. “See you at lunch?” he called. I rolled my eyes and continued walking without so much as a glance backward. Lunch was at 12:05 every day. So far, I had been in this school for a month, and so far, I hadn’t been able to make any friends. To make myself look as normal as possible, I sat on the end of a table of nerds. They didn’t talk to me, and I didn’t speak to them. It was a sort of silent agreement. I sat on the end of the table and they left at least two chairs on either side empty so I could have space to myself. Every single day they played some sort of magic card game. It looked and sounded ridiculous. They were constantly screaming about how their wizard just got demolished by a troll, or a gremlin, or something equally as stupid. I tried not to pay attention, but sometimes they were so loud and obnoxious I couldn’t help but overhear what they were screaming about. Other than that, for the most part I was left alone. That was, until today. Today, Finn decided to plop himself down next to me, exactly as he had done in algebra class that morning. I was sitting peacefully, munching on a tuna sandwich, with The Hobbit propped open on my schoolbag. I was just reading up on details about the Shire when I heard his voice. “Hiya, Stella!” he sat down next to me. I didn’t look up from the book. “Hi.” “Watcha reading?” “A book.” I took another bite. A piece of tuna fell on the plastic top of the table. “Well, I can see that.” I nodded, continuing to read. Finn was like a wasp, if you ignored him he hopefully went away. At least that’s what people hoped. It never really worked out that way though. The wasp would sting you anyway, just because wasps are incredibly and indescribably annoying. He stung again. “So…. what book is it?” I sighed loudly. “The Hobbit.” I intoned. “Hmm. Interesting.” He mused. “I could never read that, can’t get used to the old English language.” Finally, I rose my eyes to meet his. “Wow, Finn. That’s fascinating. Now, as you can tell, I’m a little busy, so please for the love of god almighty, leave me alone.” I kept my voice as calm as possible. “Busy?” he raised his eyebrows. “You’re sitting by yourself, which I’m guessing you do in every other class you have as well.” “And if I do?” I challenged. “Don’t you want someone to talk to?” “Everyone here is an idiot. Why would I want to talk to them?” “You didn’t answer my question.” “Of course, I would like someone to talk to. But who? You?” I scoffed at the last word. “You might not seem like an idiot, but I’ve never met someone so annoying.” Rolling my eyes, I turned back to my book. After a few moments of silence, I snapped, “And once you get to know me, you won’t want to be friends with me anyway. No one ever does. Why do you think I sit by myself?” I gripped the book tightly and forced my eyes back on the page, slightly embarrassed by my outburst. Why had I said all that? Finn never replied to my rant. From that day on though, he sat next to me in the cafeteria. Most days we never even spoke a word to each other. I continued reading my books. One day, near the end of October he brought in a book. I was curious, so I peeked to see what the cover was. It was the Hobbit. Freshman Year: Halloween Day October 31st, possibly my favorite day of the year. It was Halloween time, and the school showed it. Paper skeletons lined the walls of the hallways, and orange and purple lights were strung up in various classrooms. No one was required to decorate their classroom, but the “cool” teachers often did it. Since Halloween fell on a Monday that year, school was sadly in session. On the Friday before, the principal herself had made an announcement over the loud speakers. “All students will be permitted to wear an appropriate Halloween costume on Monday. Any student caught with a costume deemed disrespectful will be required to go home and change into suitable clothing.” I didn’t dress up, I hadn’t done that since I was at least ten years old. Finn had though. The idiot was wearing a batman t-shirt, black jeans, black army boots, and to top it all off, a cape with the batman symbol in bright yellow on the back. The cape was splayed over his enormous schoolbag, and as usual, he was hunched over as he headed to the seat beside me. Even though I hadn’t said much to him in the past three weeks I whispered, “Good lord, look at you.” “You like it?” he whispered back, grinning from ear to ear as he dropped his schoolbag to the ground. He made sure he wasn’t going to sit on his cape as he plopped down on the chair. “I made the cape myself.” “Really?” Genuinely surprised, I inspected it closer. From far away, one couldn’t tell, but up close it was obviously made from wool, the batman symbol was stitched into it ever so crookedly. Besides that, it was very nicely made. “Yeah.” He was still smiling. Even though he was extremely annoying, he had a nice smile. “I could make one for you too, if you wanted.” I rolled my eyes. As if. “What’s your favorite superhero? I know you have one.” “Hmm…” I toyed with the pencil in my hand. “Haven’t thought about that in forever. I don’t really watch superhero movies.” “What?” Finn yelped in mock horror. “What do you mean you don’t watch superhero movies? How do you live, Stella?” his eyes widened dramatically. Amused, despite myself I replied, “I just don’t. You know, I like reading more than watching things.” I paused for a second. “And besides, watching too many movies rots your brain. Guess that explains why you’re so stupid.” “Ugh. I missed having you make fun of me.” “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, forcing my attention back to the front of the room. The teacher had just arrived and he was placing his laptop down on the dark wooden desk. “So…any plans for tonight?” I glanced over at Finn. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. “No, just me, my cat and a book most likely.” I tapped my pencil on the desk. Rap Rap. Rap Rap. “What about you?” “Just myself and some movies. Wanna join me?” The pencil stopped. I stared at him blankly. “You want me to come over your house and watch movies with you?” “Yeah.” He smiled. “Do you realize-“ “It’s not like a date!” he exclaimed too loudly. “Just as friends of course. We are friends, right?” “I suppose.” I relented. “More like acquaintances.” “Fine, then just come over as an acquaintance. It’ll be fun, I could show you some superhero movies, and maybe you could bring over a book or two you think I’d enjoy. Plus.” He held up a bony finger. “There will be an immense amount of buttered popcorn.” “You think buttered popcorn will bribe me into coming over your house?” I scoffed. “It better be buttered and salted.” Finn displayed his white teeth in a grin. “Alright, then it’s a deal, Stella-bella.” I glared at him, pointing the pencil menacingly between his eyes. “You ever call me that again, and I will hurt you.” Freshman Year: Halloween Evening “Do you even know this boy, Stella?” my mom asked, flipping the ground beef over on the stove. The aroma made my mouth water. “Not really.” I admitted. “He’s in some of my classes. He seems alright.” “So…is this like a date?” “NO!” I exclaimed, slamming my book down on the rickety wooden table. “No.” I said softer. “We’re just hanging out as fr- as acquaintances.” “Just as friends, huh?” she raised a thinly penciled eyebrow. “Sure, sure.” I raised my eyebrow right back, staring her down. “Don’t make this out to be anything big mom.” I hissed. “It’s just exciting.” She smiled too broadly. I sighed as she opened the oven to stick the beef in. Looking at her I pondered at how two people could be so different from one another, even though they were related. My mom was the epitome of grace; she had long blonde hair and bright baby blue eyes. I, on the other hand, had frizzy brown hair and eyes that couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be green, brown, or gray. My hair hung slightly past my bony shoulders. My body still seemed to be at the awkward lanky stage. My arms and legs were too long for my body and I often tripped over thin air. I was hoping against hope that one day my body would straighten itself out and not look like a fricking stick figure all the time. Unlike my mother, I also had a smattering of light freckles across the bridge of my nose, spilling out onto my cheeks. She had said since I was five years old that I looked exactly like my father. But in girl form, of course. I wouldn’t know what he looked like; I had never met him. My father and mother had never been married. They met in high school and hit it off instantly. She was the head cheerleader, he was the captain of the baseball team. They “fell in love,” as my mom likes to say. In my father’s senior year of high school, he got my mother pregnant with yours truly. He stayed with her throughout her pregnancy until she went into labor. That was when he decided to bail. He cut her off from his life, transferring to an entirely different school and graduating from there. She never saw him again and she insists that she never wants to see him again. I don’t quite believe her about that. The way she spoke about him was always kind of…adoring. Besides hearing about how my parents had met, I never asked much about my father. He wasn’t here with me now, so I didn’t care much about it. No sense grieving over a lost cause I’d like to think. “Dinner will be ready in a half hour, probably. What time are you going over to…what’s this kids name again?” “Finn.” I replied, picking up my book again. I had recently begun reading Edgar Allan Poe and I was in love. “Hmm. Unusual name.” I curled my lip, not looking up from the small black print. “So’s Stella. All names are unusual if you think about it.” “I suppose.” She sat down at the table, causing it to shake. “Now listen, honey.” She steadied the table with her knee. “Could you please put the book down for a minute?” I held up a finger. “Let me just finish this story, real quick. I only have like, a page left.” Her hand blocked the print as she grabbed the book, gently lowering it to the table. I looked at her. “Listen.” She repeated. “If at any point you want to leave early and come home tonight, just give me a call okay?” “Yeah, mom.” I replied, rolling my eyes. “I think I’ll be okay. I’m pretty positive he isn’t a serial killer or anything.” “You know what I mean, Estella.” I cringed as she said my full name. “If he makes you uncomfortable in any way, come straight home.” “Okay, mom. Really, I get it.” “Alright. It’s just…I know you’ve had a hard time adjusting to high school and I want everything to go well.” She stood up, causing the table to shake on its uneven legs again. “I know you do.” I murmured, fingering the book’s cover. “This is me trying. You told me to at least try and make some friends. That’s what I’m doing.” “I’m glad you’re trying. I’m sure you and…Finn will be great friends.” She paused for a second before continuing. “Is he cute at least?” “Mom!” I exclaimed. “Sorry, sorry!” she laughed, dancing out of the kitchen, away from me. I snatched my book up, flipping to my dog-eared page and began reading again. Freshman Year: Halloween Night “Now, call me if you need anything, Stella.”’ My mom called as I stumbled out of the car. “Yeah, of course.” I mumbled, hoisting my bulky backpack higher up on my shoulder. It was filled to the brim with books. I was hoping that I could distract him from his superhero movies with a few good books. I heard my mom’s car rattle away, up the street. Finn’s house was a quaint single home with a wraparound porch. The windchimes sang softly as I treaded lightly to his front door. The porch light was on, casting a ghoulish yellow light on the front lawn. Perhaps that is what caused me to see what I saw that night. Perhaps not. I saw the man for a split second. He was there and gone so fast that later I attempted to convince myself that he wasn’t there. A man appeared on my left, about 50 feet away from me. He was dressed in a plain black button up shirt and black pants. His bare feet were milky white, and deathly pale. His hair was jet black and messy, curling around his ears. I wasn’t close enough to see what color eyes he had, but what scared me the most was his mouth. Or the fact that he didn’t have one. Where his mouth should’ve been was just skin, unbroken skin. As soon as I saw him he was gone again. I stumbled backwards. Maybe it was just a Halloween prank. If so, it was a good one. I should’ve rang Finn’s doorbell right there and then, but I didn’t. I needed to see who this man was. I dropped my backpack to the floor, and hopped down the steps. I had seen him on the front lawn…. maybe he had walked behind the house? The wind was blowing ever so slightly, enough to make me shiver. I clutched my flimsy jacket tighter around me. How could he have walked away so fast? No one moved that quickly. My breath was misting in the air in front of me. Jesus, why was it so cold?
1 Comment
Sabatino
4/19/2017 05:29:55 am
Thanks for posting this story! I enjoyed reading about these two characters and found myself wanting to read more about them. For me, this narrative comes to life in the descriptive writing. And, for what it's worth, I most intrigued during the parts of the story where we read about Stella's parents and get more insights into her relationship with her mother. Is this post an excerpt from a longer narrative you are working on or will this be a short story?
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AuthorHey everyone! This is my blog page for my English Composition II class. In here I will post assignments, thoughts, and drafts of current writing pieces I'm working on. Enjoy! Archives
May 2017
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