Arrived (Book One)

Chapter 2: Dad's Idea

My school was like a majestic castle: it has over twenty windows, two huge doors, and a lot of stairs. The structure of the building reminded me of a cake's white frosting.

The lawn was perfectly trimmed to perfection and cars were pacing off and on the painted parking lot. My school is called Washington High, home of the Patriotic Eagles. Like the flag, we wear traditional red, white, and blue cheerleading outfits.

Kids, big and small, are wearing their traditional casual clothes. "Go Eagles!" someone cried. The noise hurt my eardrums. Other than politics and president seeing, this school is the center of Washington DC.

I was even told that George Bush once attended there when he was a kid. "Hey Cleo," Paige said. She wore a green diamond studded shirt, black jeans, and high tops. Harry Styles' face was plastered on her blue backpack.

She brushed away her neck length blond hair then blinked at me. Paige was my best friend since preschool. We used to do almost everything together, from debating on which One Direction member we liked, solving puzzles, and reading mystery books.

She was a lot like me and my mother, Paige hated skirts, dresses, and makeup as well as I did, we won every Spelling Bee in the state, and receive good remarks from our teachers.

"Hey Paige," I beamed. "Ready for another day of school?" "Yep," Paige exclaimed, hoisting her backpack. When the bell rang for first period, we both raced into the hallway and sat in our first Business Math classroom.

In front of us, was a huge green chalkboard and a small teacher's desk. The filing cabnet is somewhat wedged behind the corner of the room. There was nothing in the middle, only a field of chairs facing towards the teacher.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Paige tapping her foot very anxiously. She was waiting for the class to start. Just then, a boy came into the room.

He had curly dark hair, freckles, and blue eyes. He wore an olive green t-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers. Paige looked at him in disgust. "Hey Jared," she snorted. "Hey Princess," Jared snorted back.

She fished out a notebook from his backpack then threw it at his shoulder. "Ow!" Jared cried, clutching his shoulder. "That hurts, Sis!" "That hurts, Sis!" Paige mimicked. I rolled my eyes at them: those guys have been at this for several weeks now.

"Hey Cleo," Jared greeted nervously. His entire face is turning red. I could have sworn I heard his heart accelerating a bit faster. He had a huge crush on me since third grade.

"Hi," I greeted, not knowing what to say. "How are you doing?" "Great," he answered, scratching his head. Paige looked at me then at her twin brother.

She was starting to feel like the third wheel. Suddenly, Ms. Crabby came into the room with a huge frown on her face. Jared immediately took a seat next to me then rummaged through his backpack for his textbook. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered as he checked through his bag.

Sighing, I offered him my textbook. Smiling, Jared looked at me then took it from my hand. As soon as his finger touched mine, his face started to sweat. I gave him a small smile then flipped the pages until I reached to page one hundred and ten.

"Thanks," Jared said. "No worries," I shrugged. As the high school kids came into the classroom, Ms. Crabby clapped her beefy hands together then cleared her already scratched throat.

"Hello children," she rasped. "Welcome to Business Math. Get out your math homework so we can get this class started. Like Paige and me, most of the class got out their pieces of paper while the others started stammering excuses.

Ms. Crabby let out an annoyed sigh then told a few of my classmates to wait out in the hall. As soon as the last high school boy got out of the room, she closed the door then took out her answer book and blurted out the answers.

As usual, I marked a one hundred on my paper then stared at the grey numbers sitting on my page. When class was over, the entire class handed in their papers and left for Physics.

One by one, my class periods had gotten a bit easier: I aced my Physics test, turned in my English book report assignment, and I even did good on my U.S. History pop quiz.

After the bell ended History, I joined Paige at lunch and began discussing about our earlier tests. "Man," Paige whined. "It's a good thing I studied for that Physics test. I almost thought I had failed it!"

While the cafeteria line invaded the 'mystery meat' buffet, we thought it would be a good idea to pack a light lunch and sit together. It was what we always do when we were kids.

"I'm sure you did good," I insisted. Paige gave me a doubting look. "So how come you get straight As and help out your dad at the same time?" she asked. I sank my teeth into an apple then chewed its white flesh.

To me, juggling schoolwork and helping my father out with his work wasn't extremely hard. What I normally do is, I read my textbooks and write what I have read on a piece of paper.

"Photographic memory," I shrugged, taking another bite. "I got that from my father." "But, what does your father need you for?" Paige asked. "He wants me to draw some pictures," I answered. Paige looked at me curiously as she sipped her water bottle.

"About what?" she asked. I stared at the bite of my apple. "I don't know," I sighed. "I never asked him." That part was half true: since Dad's job has budget problems, he asked me to go to the eyewitnesses and draw the pictures about the people they have seen.

Dad thought it was a good idea because I was a talented artist and photographer. "What about your pictures?" Paige asked. "Are they still good?" I nodded as I reached into my backpack and pulled out the photos of the flowers that I took last week.

Paige's eyes brightened when she examined the pictures. "Wow," she breathed, gazing at the sunflower. "That is really good." "You can keep them of you want," I said with a shrug.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded very happily. "And besides," I added. "I have a couple of them in my bedroom." "Okay," Paige said unsurely. "Paige," I stated. "You can have them, I insist."

She gave me a shy smile then put the photos into her backpack. After lunch, I headed straight for the library to get started on my Yearbook photos. Just then, the announcement came on and said that I have been dismissed very early.

I halted in my tracks then tilted my head in confusion.