Goblin (Old and Unedited)

Chapter Ten; Plans

School the following morning was a bit alien to me. A day full of new discoveries of my life and my family had been unveiled to me, and the following day was supposed to be a normal day. It was hard to live a normal day when you were far from normal.

Embarrassingly enough my loss of vision had been getting worse. I stumbled my way through periods one to five, tripping, unable to read any class notes, and at one point I found myself sitting in someone else's desk in someone else's class. People were annoyed at first by my mishaps but then when they got word that I hadn't very good eyesight they began to pity me. By seventh period Chase Levinson had been carrying my books, and Sam Jamison was guiding me by hand to the remainder of my classes. He even was courteous enough to give Chase a ticket out and carried my books instead.

You'd think from his behavior that Samuel was always this nice, but the funny thing about it was he wasn't. Until freshman year Sam was a real jerk. And that is just an understatement. He was one of those name-brand-wearing, cocky, class clown jerks, who swore up and down they were the kings of their school. He used to hang with four other guys who acted like that too, and they'd always get into trouble together.

He and I were friends up until junior high when he first started acting that way, when he was still in his white and nerdy stage. I was about the only girl who didn't really take his nonsense. It shocked the hell out of him that night we had our 8th gradesocial, and I damn near slapped his face off. We'll just say he didn't know how to keep his hormones tamed.

But then, come freshman year, he was a whole new person. Dressed nicer, was more self-kept, and did his work. What he told me was that he realized that high school was whole different game, and he didn't have time to be a problem child. He dropped his old friends, who were quick to call him every name in the book that equated to coward. What happened to them? Simply put they got into a lot of stuff, and when they were found out, one got sent to boarding school, and the other three were sent to night school. Though I heard one dropped out and worked at the local gas station. Telling from that alone I would agree Sam made the right choice.

"Seriously, Sam, I can manage on my own," I chuckled uneasily, placing my hand on the row of lockers for support. I kept my eyes low, afraid that maybe the effects were kicking in sooner than later and my eye color was fading out. "You should get to class, I'm gonna make you late."

"I've seen you stumbling around long enough, Audrey," He laughed, and I could practically hear him smiling. I prayed he didn't see the blood in my face as it set my cheeks on fire. I wasn't all that good at accepting help, if that wasn't obvious enough.

"I'm not trying to baby you or anything," He went on. He knew how I was about that. "But I can't have you bumping into things. I'll leave you on your own when your eyes get better."

"No need, Sammy," Quinn approached the scene, her heels echoing down the hallway. "I got this one. I take care of mine, so you can go. M'kay?"

Quinn placed a hand on my shoulder, seeming to claim me. She didn't really like Sam much. It was one of those eternal elementary rival things. I guess she could never let go of that fateful day he stuck her pigtail in glue in kindergarten.

"Alright. Here's her books, then, since you've got this covered," Sam said casually, and I could see the blur of his body make a shrugging motion. Sam was always the nonchalant one.

" . . . On second thought, maybe youcanbe of some use." Quinn said, laughing weakly. "You can carry those to her next class, which is . . .?"

"Uhm, Chemistry." I began to chew at my upper lip, drumming my fingers against the locker I leaned against.

"Right. Chemistry. Come along Samuel." Quinn threaded her arm around mine, and I could feel Sam take his place on my other side, holding my books.

I would admit that it was far more pleasant than constantly bunking into people, trying to find the right classroom by sheer memory and senses alone. So long as I was at the center I was scarcely touched. Quinn didn't need to do much to steer people out of her way, and with Sam's brooding height of 6"3, people did everything in their power to avoid him. So with them, I was safe from bodily harm.