War Between Worlds

Glow in the Dark Stars

After dropping off Lily at her house, Chris drove me to mine- where we spent the rest of the day on the couch, surrounded by food and comfy blankets.

I woke up the next morning and I didn't want to get up, so I stared at my ceiling. The ceiling was dark blue and had glowing stars. Even though I'm in my last year of high school, that doesn't mean I have to grow up, right?

A knock comes against my door and my mother pops her head through the c***k. “Hey, you’re finally awake. Me and your father are heading out for work. Remember that we are not going to be home early today. We are heading to Portland for a quick trip to the Planetarium. There's money on the counter for dinner.” My parents are Botany scientists, or plant scientists. They study plants and the environment. They sometimes work with architects because architects need to study the landscapes they wish to build on. My parents are pretty cool to me.

“O.K. Have a good day! Oh and can you bring me back a cactus?” She looked confused at my request. “We have every plant but a Cactus in this house and they are so cute.”

“Fine, just because I agree.They are pretty cute.” She laughs as she closes the door and walks down the hall. As I try to lift my head, a sudden sharp pain goes through my whole body and I yelp. It first started in my head and it made its way down my spine onto my shoulder blades. The pain then went down to my tail bone where it then spread to stab every muscle in my legs. It didn't feel like pins and needles, but something worse. The more I sat there, the more the pain would spread. Trying to lessen the pain, I clumsily stumbled off my bed and into the connected bathroom. I grabbed two Tylenol pills from above the sink and swallowed them down with some water from the sink. Waiting for the pills to take effect, I slowly sank to the floor of my bathroom and closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to disburse. When the pills took effect, I felt achy and my head was pounding. Like a hammer trying to break through an indistructable wall. I tried my best to get up, very cautiously and slowly, worried that the pain would return and drag me back to a pit of pain once again. I slowly walked into my bedroom to start my day.

Once Chris came and picked me and Lily up from our houses, dropping us at school, I lost sight of him. I was in my fifth block about to head to lunch when I realized that I hadn't seen him since he had dropped us off this morning. Where could he possibly be? I walked to the door to exit the classroom, but quickly got stopped by Bossy Brittany. Brittany is one of those b***h barbies in High School.

"Hey nerd, where's that super hot football player that always hangs around you? Did he finally realize he was not hanging around his own people?" Before I could say anything, my phone buzzed. Speaking of the devil and he shall appear. I answered my phone. I hold up my finger to Brittany and I hear her huff when I pick up the phone.

“Dummy, meet me in the science room in the west wing.” Then he immediately hung up. I turned to face Brittany, but discovered that she was no longer standing there and was walking down the hall towards the west wing. I hurried into a jog to catch up and surpass her towards the science room. When I came to the door, I heard a loud thump, like someone was being thrown down to the floor or against a wall. I rushed through the door to find Sam, one of Brittany's girls all over Chris on the floor, her hands in his shirt. At that moment, I didn't know what I was feeling anymore. I felt confused, but at the same time I felt hurt or even betrayed. I couldn't keep watching so I turned and ran, hearing Chris calling my name in the distance.

I spent the rest of my day in the library, avoiding Chris and Lilly or anyone else who tried to talk to me- my phone had been over-run with unread texts and calls from both. I made an attempt to attend the last class I had for the day, which was gym. As I ran the laps that were given to all of us. The loudspeaker came on to make an announcement. "Ms. Gabby Heart main office immediately." Ms. Presto isn't one for calling names and when she does, it can't be for anything good. I made my way to the locker rooms, with aohsnd ahhhs following my every step, changed my clothes and headed straight to the office. I walked to the main hall and when I got there Chris was standing in front of Ms. Presto, giving her his signature smile. I walked around him to Ms. Presto, not letting my eyes drift from her old wrinkles around her eyes that were starting to seem more interesting than Chris being there.

"Yes, Ms. Presto?" She looks me up and down, then looks back at Chris, gives him a nod and then sighs all the way to her office until the door is shut behind her. Chris turns to me and grabs my wrist and drags me to the science room with no words of explanation. The room was dark and some beakers were still on the floor. I didn't want to be in the same room as him, but I did miss being near him and it had only been 3 hours. As he continued to the back of the room, I made my way to one of the stools that had been turned over and picked it up. Once he reached the back of the room and turned to me, I sat down. I look at him as he looks at me without saying a word.

"You are very hard to track down." I looked at him with no emotion visible on my face, or so I thought. "It’s not that hard to find me. It’s not like I’m hiding in a dark classroom with someone’s hands all over me," I sounded pissed, but that’s not what I felt. I felt hurt for some reason, someone having their hands on him felt wrong. I didn't mean to hurt him, but the look on his face tells me that I have. He looked conflicted and hurt about what I had just said to him.

"Look, that was a misunderstanding. Sam came in and started to get too touchy. She got too close and I tried to get away and ended up knocking things over.” As he explains what happened, he closes the distance between us and rests his forehead on mine, caging me in with his arms resting on either side of me.

“The one question I have is: Why did you run?" I looked into his vibrant blue eyes. He smelled like autumn and the forest, a mixture of sweet and earth. The more I breathe in, the more I am drowning in it. My hand started to move out of its own accord and brush the small pieces of hair that had fallen into his eyes. He then turns and touches his lips to the palm of my hand. I let out a sigh. I watched as my other hand started to make its way up his clothed chest and hook around his neck, pulling him closer.

I don't know what I’m feeling or doing, but I do know that you’re not supposed to feel like this towards a friend or a best friend. I looked back at his eyes and saw that they had darkened into a stormy hue. He takes his right hand and places it on my cheek. He runs his thumb on my chin and slowly makes its way to my bottom lip. I realized that with every stroke of his thumb, the closer we got. Before we could get any closer, my phone disturbed the silence. He steps back and I take out my phone from my back pocket. I picked up the phone.

" Mom?" The line was quiet on the other side. “Sweetheart, our trip is going on longer than we expected. Me and your father will be in Oregon for the remainder of the week. Something happened to the environment of the plants and we have to replant the whole planetarium because of the possible toxins that have been released into the water. It can bring harm to other plants in the environment. I'm going to transfer money to your card for the week when we finish this call. Just wanted to let you know before we go, you can invite Lilly and Chris over if you want, maybe have a sleepover.” She sounded out of breath and nervous, but I can just presume it's because of the stress she's under.

“Sure, I’ll probably do that. Have a nice trip!! Don’t stress too much!!Bring back my Cactus!!” I heard my mother’s laughter as the call ended and I put my phone back in my pocket. I looked up at Chris and saw him staring back at me. "Mom and Dad are going on a trip. Not coming back till Saturday." Everything was silent. I heard the final bell ringing in the hall very distantly. "I have to go, Lilly's probably looking for me." I had to get away from him.