~Peter and Michelle~

Chapter 3

Michelle followed Peter and Ned into the gym and sat down beside them on the benches, pulled out her book and continued to read.

When everyone had gathered and coach walked in, Michelle looked up and waited for him to see her. When he did she gave him the look she usually does in gym, one that's says, 'I'm going to read, you know the drill, it's still school related'. Her and the coach had practiced this many times. Coach was a much more carefree teacher, and since the start of the year could see that Michelle's strength wasn't sports, it was reading, and they had come to a bit of an agreement, Michelle gets to sit out and read, and she buys him a chocolate bar from one of the school vending machines after class. It's a win win situation, and it's worked so far.

While she was reading he did that usual lecture stuff before getting them all to start doing burpees. After everyone had paired up, obviously Peter went with Ned, Coach walked over to Michelle and sat down beside her. "What you reading today, Miss Jones?" Michelle showed him the cover. "Macbeth. I wanted to read as many of Shakespeare's plays before the term was up."

Coach laughed, but it wasn't directed at her, it was simply because it was so 'her' to do. Set a challenge for herself that others think is silly, and prove them all wrong. It was probably one of the things that made Michelle different, she did things most kids would prefer to die before doing, willingly as well.

"How many left?" He asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. "Four." They both grinned before he stood to go off and help some of the students, and when he did her eyes fell on Peter and Ned. My friends, I guess, she thought to herself. They were both doing burpees at the same time, Ned a bit slower than Peter. It took Michelle a minute to realise what it was that seemed so off about what she was looking at.

Peter isn't wearing the bandage anymore... and he looks perfectly fine...

It didn't make sense to her. How could have injured his foot the night before, come to school wearing a bandage, needing to go to class early to avoid walking on it, and then not even two hours later it's perfectly fine? Michelle rubbed her nose, it didn't make sense to her no matter how she thought about it.

She shook her head and pushed her thoughts away, diving back into the world of her book. After a few moments she felt as if someone was watching her. She lifted her head and for the 3rd time that day caught Peter looking at her.

What is up with him today? You are all sorts of weird, Parker. She forced her cheeks to not burn up under the feel of his gaze. He looked away and went back to talking to Ned, probably something about a movie or legos. She had never met two boys who loved lego as much as them.

Gym continued on and Michelle was speeding through the book. Coach had left her alone and she hadn't caught Parker looking at her again, but she had been watching him for any sign of pain, but of course he showed no indication of any. By the time the bell rang Michelle had already packed her things and was waiting by the door. She bought coach the promised chocolate bar, dropped it on his desk in his office, and rushed off to her favourite reading spot, the roof.

No one ever came up to the roof because it was quite dangerous. There wasn't really anywhere to walk, but that had never stopped Michelle. After spending hours among noisy teenagers she needed a place where she could be free. No body had ever discovered her spot, and she wanted to keep it that way. Even if someone did come up, the place she sat wasn't visible to the roofs entrance.

Her spot was beside a large vent for the schools air-conditioning, the only part on the roof that was flat. Over the past year she had brought a few things up here. A little fold out sunshade and a dog bed for her to sit on, both of which she would hide under a loose roof tile.

She made her way over to her spot, quickly set it up and sat down. A soft breeze greeted her, lifting her hair and caressing her face. She gazed down at the football field bellow, where students played sports during their second recess break. She started to read again, comforted by the silence of the wind and warmth of the sun as it heated the roof around her.

Just before the bell was to go, her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. No one except her mother and Jake ever called her, so she picked up with a simple "Yeah?". It was her brother, and when he greeted her his voice was cautious, and maybe a little afraid.

"Mitchie, none of my friends can bring me home this afternoon." She sighed and rubbed her nose again. "Really? None of them? Okay, well. You'll just have to come here and wait until decathlon is finished."

"Okay, I'll come as fast as I can after school," he promised. "You better," she replied dryly before hanging up and deciding she should pack her stuff up and get off the roof.

By the time she had made it back down to the normal halls of the school everyone was rushing off to their next class. She had English Literature and calculus left for that day, so she grabbed her things from her locker and went about her business, no one disturbing her and her liking it that way.

When school finally ended she left her calculus classroom and walked to the front of the school, sending a quick message to Ned, asking him to let everyone know that she may be a few minutes late. She waited for her younger brother to arrive outside the school for about ten minutes, before she saw him running with his bag nearly flying off his shoulders, approaching in the distance.

"You made good time. Come on, let's go," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder as he caught his breath, guiding him through the school to the classroom today's practice was being held in. When they arrived and they walked inside everyone was already waiting, sitting in random desks near the front of the room.

"Michelle, who's with you?" Flash asked, eyeing her little brother up and down, seeing if he was another loser he could pick on. She kept her tone flat as she said, "My brother, Jake." Flash coiled back in his seat, knowing he couldn't pick on Jake or he would suffer her wrath.

"He's just going to wait at the back of the room until we're finished so I can walk him home. Go wait back there," she said, pointing to a corner for Jake to sit and hopefully do his homework in. He did as she asked and sat down, saying hi to a few on the way, Peter and Ned being two of them.

When everyone had settled and stopped staring at her younger brother, she stood up. "Right everyone, I set you a task and it should be complete." A few people looked nervous, *cough* Flash *cough cough*.

She looked everyone in the eye and just for dramatic effect made her voice lower. "Let's see who has the best poster..."

A/N - Hey guys, here's another chapter. Hope everyone us enjoying so far, because the story is just getting started.

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