Engraved

Ch. 7) Buds

Stephanie's Point of View:

As I sat there, in class, once again, waiting for Professor Magg to be quiet, I stared blankly out the classroom window. It was finally Friday.

Do you ever just stare at something and ignore the object's surroundings? Well that's what I did at the classroom window. As I snapped out of my gaze, Eli tapped my shoulder with his pencil again;

"What are you staring at? Is there something going on outside?" he said as he tried to look at the window.

"You got to stop tapping me with your pencil. And no. Theres nothing going on outside." I said, annoyed.

"Okay, okay. Gosh didnt know you get irritated so easily." Eli laughed.

I rolled my eyes,

"Stop talking. You're going to get us in trouble." I said.

Eli started to talk louder,

"What? I didnt hear you. You're whispering too low!" he laughed out loud.

I put my face in my hands out of embarrassment, Professor Magg looked over.

She was coming towards us, I knew she was about to lecture us.

The bell rang! We were free. I grabbed my bag and walked out. Saved by the bell.

I was going to eat lunch with Ryan again but I felt someone's pencil - once again, tapping my shoulder. I knew who it was.

"What the hell is your problem? And you gotta stop tapping me with your damn pencil, Eli." I said as I began walking again.

Eli chuckled, "It's funny how you get angry over small things." he said.

"Well, you're annoying in class. I know I'm going to get tapped by a pencil by you every single day. And since you sit behind me, every time you talk, your warm breath tickles my ear and it gets me sooooo annoyed!" I said.

I surprisingly began to laugh and I couldnt stop laughing and so did Eli.

Eli's Point of View:

She was just staring. I didnt know what she was staring at. Was there a fight going on outside or something? I decided to ask her. She got annoyed of me.

There was no fight outside.

I was bored out of my mind and I was about to throw my pencil at Professor Magg.

I wanted to talk to Stephanie more; so I could find out about Hawaii, I wanted to hear about the waves.

I caught up to her after class and she talked about how my "warm" breath tickled her ear. I bursted out laughing and so did she. Our conversation carried on.

Stephanie's Point of View:

After we contained our laughter, Eli asked me about Hawaii.

It was a surprise to me because I had totally forgot that I lied to the class about where I came from; I didnt want to tell them that I came from poor, Sherwood City.

"I'm thinking about going to Hawaii for spring break with my family. How are the waves in Hawaii? I surf a lot." he asked.

I gulped because, I didnt know how the waves in Hawaii were, I have never even been to Hawaii.

I made something up,

"Yeah, they're rad. Some are intense."

"Cool. Do you surf?" he replied.

"Sometimes." I said confidently. It was another lie, I've never surfed.

Just then, I was so busy talking to him, I forgot he was Andrea's brother.

"Wait, if you're Andrea's brother, why are you guys the same age?" I asked.

"We're fraternal twins." he responded.

I felt like I should have stopped talking to him there, but I couldn't we got along so well and he was such a nice guy. I was actually making a friend.

He started talking again,

"So where do you sit at lunch anyways? You've gone here for three weeks and I never see you around except for class." he said.

"This sounds kind of lame, but I eat with my younger cousin."I said as I looked at my shoes. I always looked down when I was embarrassed.

Eli looked at me,

"No. Thats not embarrassing at all. I eat with my sister and her friends sometimes. Sometimes I just steer clear of them. They like to look at me when I eat, I could hear them talk about how 'cute' they think I am and how my biceps are too big for my shirts. It's funny because they think Im the next best thing after Jeff. Im so tired of him." Eli said as he started to look around.

"What's wrong with Jeff? He seems cool." I said as I thought back to the first day I met Jeff. I was mesmerized on how handsome he was. I promised myself that I would try to avoid Jeff because I didnt want drama with Andrea or any other 'popular' girls.

"Other than dating my sister, I dont like him because he took my place as captain on the varsity water polo team. After that, I quit." Eli said.

I noticed that we were half way around our big school, we had spent this whole time talking and our conversation was still going. I didnt get bored of him, and he didnt get bored of me. It was great, having someone my age to talk to. I mean, I talked to Ryan a lot but talking to an 11 year old wasnt always entertaining. Eli and me spent the whole lunch, just talking, yapping and yapping about a lot of things. I told him about Ryan and how he missed his dad and how he use to play catch with him.

"My aunt tried to teach him how to pitch a baseball, but she wasnt a good example." I said with a laugh.

"Well, if I ever have time, I can go over and teach your cousin how to pitch a baseball." Eli said politely.

"Yeah, that'd be nice, thanks." I said with a slight smile.

Just then, we found ourselves walking passed Andrea, Jeff and their friends. I saw Jeff but I quickly just went back to talking with Eli.

Eli waved to his sister but looked away when it came to Jeff.

It was awkward, but Eli and I just went back to our conversation.

I did not tell him about the whole situation with my mom and why I was living with my Aunt Lori yet.

I guess we were friends now, I guess we were buds.