MARINA

Chapter 12 - The Contest

Cecelia found her class, and both Janani and Etta went home early.

Meanwhile, I was hanging out with Matthew, Georgia, Aurora, Venus, and one of Matthew's other friends.

It was lunchtime, and we were all sitting at a table far away from Ariyana and Reya.

"So, Marina, Aurora. This is my friend, Paxton. Paxton, Mar and Aurora." Matthew introduced, smiling softly as Paxton shaked my hand.

"I refuse to believe that you've known this girl since the 5th grade, dude!" Paxton laughs. "Can I take her to the winter dance?"

"Don't ask that question again." Matthew snaps in rashy voice, fixing her tie.

"Don't get all of your hopes on Marina, big guy. She's gotta date tonight with his mother!" Georgia laughs, nudging Paxton's elbow.

I chuckled nervously and put my head down on the table, letting out a sigh. "So, Matthew, I haven't seen your dog in a while." I murmer suddenly, and Matthew's face drops.

He puts his head down, and all of us start staring at him.

"Well, Maxi hasn't been the best... he... h-he..." Matthew sniffles, and I could see pain in his eyes.

I stand up and cup his cheek in my hand. "Hey, what happened? You don't have to tell me." Paxton asks, his hand on Matthew's shoulder.

"H-he got cut in the leg... with the s-star..."

My eyes widened as those words came out of his mouth. I remember one time on Monday, the 11th, when Ariyana said she threw a star at a dog.

But what if that wasn't her?

"Okay, let's not talk about sad stories! Um... Marina, Matt! How did you two meet each other?"

Matthew picks up his head and looks over at me, and I look back.

"Get your snacks, guys. It's quite a long story that only I half remember."

...

𝓕𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓽𝓸 ¹⁹⁹⁴

"First grade sucks!!" Etta starts to whine while Venus laughs.

Meanwhile, I'm just sitting aside from them and reading an old comic story. I then looked up to finally realize that both of the girls were staring at me.

"Marina, you're a bookworm!" Venus then says suddenly, squealing with Etta. "You guys... I-I just really like stories." I say shyly, tugging on my mitten with my teeth.

It was fall, but today was one of the coldest days of the week, according to the forecast.

"So, your Mom doesn't like the outdoors?" Etta asks suddenly, but I still answered her question because she looked curious instead of all of the other times when she looked dumb.

"Yup. It's a... religion! That... runs in our family." I explained in slow stammers. Just when I was about to say my next part, something hit the tree.

Etta and Venus screamed and fell to the floor while I stood up, observing the object and pulling it out of the tree.

I look at it closer and see what it was. A ninja star.

"Why? Just why did Sabrina not get scared?" A boy says from the distance, getting closer and laughing along with his...

Well, what would anyone prefer them as? Rats? Because that might be indeed the answer.

But I'll just say 'group.'

"What's wrong with you?!" Etta shouts as she stands up quickly. "You're not funny. Don't you have a class to attend?!"

"Don't you have a boring recess to attend?" One of them laughs. Etta didn't speak up after that.