Childhood Crushes

Chapter Forty-two - Living Off Peanut Butter

For the past week, every time I tried to call Bale, he was either working or in the shower. Then when he tried to call me back, I was sleeping heavily or in class. College has been very stressful and long. Day in and day out, I was writing, taking notes, doing homework, running from class to class! I barely had time to eat or sleep anymore.

Then, as if things couldn't get more busy; I had to get a job. The first sign was when I couldn't even afford to buy peanut butter sandwiches anymore. I didn't want Mom to worry, and so I didn't tell her, and only applied to jobs around the campuss. Mellisa had to as well, and we both found ourselves sitting in the middle of the floor at three in the morning, spoons in peanut butter jars, looking at applications. "We could work at that sub place down the street..." She yawned.

I shook my head, shoveling another spoonful of peanut butter dipped in chocolate sauce into my mouth. "Nah, I can't be trusted there. I'd gain to much weight..." I flipped the newspaper page, looking for another posibillity. "Plus; I don't want to know what's really in the meatball subs."

"True." She winced. We both scanned the pages until even our eyes started getting paper cuts.

"I can't look anymore." I sighed, crawling to my bed and climbing up to lay down.

"Me neither." Melissa didn't even bother going to her bed; she just laid out in the middle of the floor and began snoring lightly before I could even mumble goodnight into my pillow.

It felt so good to have my eyes closed...bright sunlight filled the room, shining lightly on my face. I was still in my jeans from yesterday, but I didn't care. Comfortable didn't really matter right now; I just wanted to sleep. Sleep until classes started...

Wait.

I shot upright, my hair matted to my face. I had to at least poke holes into my hair to look at the alarm clock sitting beside my bed. "HOLY CRAP!" I screamed, leaping off of my bed. Mellisa sat up, looking like I had, still lying in the floor.

"What, what's going on?" She slurred. I grabbed my backpack and started cramming papers and books and pens - or whatever else I could find... They could have been pizza boxes for all I knew - inside the pockets.

"It's 11! We missed almost half of our classes already!" I shouted. How could we have slept that long? It's only been a month; we can't be skipping classes already!

Mellisa didn't seem to worry too much about the fact we had skipped three of our classes; she only stood up and stumbled over to her bed, laying down again and hugging her pillow. "Annabelle, I'm sure they labeled us as sick by now. Just go back to sleep..." She muttered.

When she said that, I stopped. She was probably right. What was I getting all ralled up about? It's just for one day, it's not like I'm gonna do this every week. Just one break day. Maybe I could find a job today... I slowly nodded my head after having that mental conversationw with myself and walked back over to my bed. "Sounds good." I said, and laid down. It didn't take long for me to fall back asleep.

We both slept for another three hours or so before getting up and taking showers, washing some clothes and catching up on homework. Checking the clock every five seconds, I counted down the minutes until Bale's usual shift ended. When the time finally came, I walked downstairs with my cell phone in hand, walking outside to the courtyard. I found an empty bench and sat down, feeling the breeze try to get through my turtle neck. It was beautiful outside, but I had to admit, it wasn't like Tennessee weather.

The phone rang a few times before that special voice answered. "Annabelle, hi, baby." He sounded excited to hear my voice, almost as excited as I was to hear his.

"Hey, Bale. Listen, I'm sorry I haven't called in a while. Things have been so hectic since I-" I began, but he cut me off with a simple chuckle.

"Annabelle, I know things are gonna be crazy for a while. Hell, I can't believe you've gotten this far. I would have cracked. After I read your e-mail, I was inspired, I must say." I could hear the smile in his voice.

I smiled to myself, "Yeah? Ugh, I have to get a job." I groaned.

"Why? You've already got so much going on."

"I know, but Mellisa and I are out of food now and are living off of peanut butter."

"Oh, wow. You need me to send money?" He asked. I was touched by how concerned he was, but he has little money as it is. I'd ask Mom for money way sooner than him.

"No, I don't want you to do that. I'll just get a job and see how long I can go without sleep before I collapse." I giggled.

"That's not funny." He frowned.

I shrugged, "I thought it was... Oh well, I'll be fine. I promise; if things get really bad, I'll tell my mom...okay?"

He seemed reluctant, but finally agreed. We talked a little bit about how things were going for him; trying to catch up. We talked for hours, until my phone started beeping, saying it was about to die. "Ugh, my phone is dying." I said.

"Alright, Beaver. I love you; call me tonight and I'll tuck you in." He smiled.

"Will do," I giggled. "I love you, too. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and slid my dead phone into the pocket of my sweater before going back up to my room. I was smiling like a fool as I walked down the hall; just happy that I heard Bale's voice. I played with the little pearl, dangling around my neck, as I smiled and smiled. I didn't notice the guy walking down the hall, too, whome I bumped into. "Oops, I'm sorry!" I quickly said, jumping back.

"It's alright." The guy said. When I looked at him, he was smiling down at me. He looked alright; shaggy blonde hair, green eyes, tan skin. He was tall, but not as tall as Bale...or maybe I'm just short. Either way; he wasn't Bale. "I've seen you around here before. What's your name?" He asked.

"Annabelle. I go here, ya know... I live in that room, actually." I pointed to my room. He looked back and nodded, then cocked his thumb to the door right next to us. "I'm Craig, this is mine." He said.

I nodded, not really sure what I should do next. I decided just to go back in the room and search for a job. "Well, sorry again, Craig. Nice meeting you!" I sqeezed around him and ran to my room, wondering where the less gross place would be to work...

A/N: yet another short chapter, but trust me, this chapter is important. For reasons you probably won't like me for, but whatever. Deal with it, honeybunny! :)