Charlie is a Girl

Chapter 01

“Charlie!!! Oh my baby I missed you so much” Olivia engulfed me as I got off from the car into her embrace correction life-threatening hug which left me barely enough to breathe.

“Can-you-miss-me-later? I think..I-I can’t breathe…” she finally gave me the space. Oh gosh when was the last time she hugged me? She’s becoming stronger.

Olivia Anderson is my childhood sweetheart. We’ve never been separated not even once and attended the same school together. I don’t really remember how we became friends but she’d always considered me like a family since her mom died when we were barely 5. She had strawberry blonde hair just like her mom, blue oceanic eyes and a model like body with a height of 5’7”.

“I just hope we’re in the same class” she looked down towards me. Well I am shorter than Olivia; my height is average 5’3” (sigh). I know…I haven’t been growing much lately since middle school.

“Look at you young lady; you’ll forget about me once you find Benjamin in the same class as you”. I smiled teasing her.

“Ben goes to Aethon High?” she looked surprised; I thought she knew.

“Yeah, Dad told me this morning…you really didn’t know?” I asked confused.

“No, I thought he might be enrolling in a school in New York, but you know what I’m so happy Charlieee” she squeaked and gave me that life-threatening hug once again.

You ask who the hell Benjamin is. Buckle up lads. Benjamin Taylor is the childhood crush of Liv. Once in kindergarten he stood up against some bullies who were troubling me and Liv and since then Liv has completely fallen for Benjamin. We go to same school and Benjamin is not the gentleman type; he was a trouble maker; always gets into a fight and also the heart throb of almost every girl in the school and now he’s in Aethon High. If you ask me, I personally don’t really like bad-boys and especially for Liv but she was too blinded by his love that nothing make sense to her when Mr Trouble-maker is in front of her. End of story.

“What is so good about that trouble-maker that makes you forget about yourself?” I glared at her.

“Kid you’ll know once you’ve fallen in love” she patted my head like she was an adult. What?

As we were about to check our respective classes, we both noticed the massive crowd in the hallway and went towards it to take a peek on what was happening and it was a show going on between the devil himself (Benjamin) and someone who also seemed like a trouble-maker. By show I mean…they were having a fight. The trouble-maker was on top of Benjamin giving him punches and Benjamin used his hands as shield against the trouble-maker’s punches.

A big build man in his late 30s headed towards the show and stopped the fight. He held both of them by the back of their collars.

“I don’t want any trouble on the first day itself and what are you people waiting for? Go to your assigned classes” he shooed us and took both the trouble-makers with him.

“Charlie is he gonna be okay? Maybe I should just you know take a look” she starts to follow them but I grabbed her hand in time.

“Liv he’s probably getting what he deserve…creating a scene on the first day of school and I’m pretty sure they’ll let him go with just a warning” I gave her a reassuring smile gaining another smile from her.

Can luck get any worse? Ugh! Liv and I weren’t in the same class and what’s worst? That trouble-maker was in my class. Why god? Why do you have to do this? Why me?!

“I wish I could be you right now” Liv sighed heavily.

“And I wish you were here instead of the trouble-maker” I sighed with her in a rhythm.

“You don’t know how lucky you are babe. But it’s okay; I’ll come visit you frequently” she smiled so brightly showing her pearly teeth.

I went inside the classroom to be met by stranger’s eyes. I hated attention. Why don’t they just treat me like a fly on the wall? Ignoring the stares, I made my way into the seat beside the window and marked my territory. I was so happy with my spot and I’ve always loved window seats but you’ve got to share the spot with someone else who you call the bench-mate/desk-mate. Everyone seemed to be pairing up with their desk-mates and mine was empty…no actually there was another girl too who was yet to find her bench-mate and that was when realisation hit me. Oh crap! Benjamin is yet to come. Maybe he’ll sit with the other girl. Yeah, OF COURSE he will “don’t you worry Charlie” he always sits with the most beautiful girl; so it was obvious. Haha.

The bell rung and no sign of Mr. Trouble-maker instead a tall man in suit who was in his late 20s made his way inside the class.

“Good Morning class, I am John William, your homeroom teacher and I am here to inform you to head down the auditorium for the opening ceremony” he said in a formal tone and left.

As I reach the massive auditorium which seemed like a grand hall in palace; I was greeted by smiling Olivia among the crowd and I went straight for her. Surprisingly Mr Trouble-maker and the other trouble-maker were present too.

“Babe now tell who your new bench-mate is?” she was grinning and I know what she meant.

“Haven’t found one for now” I shrugged.

“Really? Umm…what about Ben? Who is he sitting with” she was getting all shy and girly. Eww.

“Liv I don’t know okay. I didn’t come here to spy on him and I’m only hoping these few semesters pass by smoothly” I was irritated by how much she was obsessed with him. The opening ceremony went by just like that and we headed back to our classes.

I seated in my place and saw the two trouble-makers entering inside the classroom. Wait what? The other one is in this class too. So now I have to share a seat with one of those two? Are you kidding me right now? I was so busy debating with my subconscious that didn’t realise they were already fighting over the seat next to that girl. Mr Trouble-maker is really fond of creating scenes in front of people; maybe that’s just his hobby. Poor girl she’s stuck between the two.

“Why not go and sit somewhere else. I came here first”. The ‘who-I-don’t-know’ said in a threatening tone to Benjamin.

“Are you a girl, because you talk too much” counter-attack by Benjamin Taylor. The two guys are now standing one-on-one and at this moment everyone knows where this was going. They had a competition of ‘who-can-glare-the-longest’ which was interrupted by Mr William.

“What’s going on class? Back to your seats all of you” and saw Benjamin standing there.

“What’s wrong mister? I thought I made it clear that you should return to place” he raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t have one Sir” he sounded like it was something so cool. I came back to reality when Mr William settled his eyes on the seat next to me. I so wanna bury this man 6 feet underneath the ground.

“You have one over there. A vacant seat” pointing towards me and what happened next was Benjamin Taylor becoming my bench-mate (Yipee! My dream came true) **note the sarcasm**. I didn’t realise but I felt so small in front of this huge guy. He must be at least 6’2”, muscular, short-brunette hair, greenish-blue eyes and sharp jawline. God must’ve given extra attention while creating him and me on the other hand would trade anything just to become tall. Well except for my height I am pretty good-looking not as much as Olivia. My hair is wavy midnight black reaching above my waist, hazel eyes, nose and lips were small just like me and I’m pretty thin like very thin for which people sometimes confused me for a middle-schooler because of my height and baby face.

We were told to introduce ourselves and most of them were kids of the members just like me.

“My name is Evelyn Moore. I passed the scholarship to enter Aethon High and I am from Texas and recently moved to Florida. I’m hoping we get along well. Thank you” it was the girl the trouble-makers were fighting for, I mean for the seat next to her. It seems like she was the only scholar student this year.

“I am Caleb Miller” so that’s his name. The trouble-maker who fought with Benjamin. He was just as tall as Benjamin. Both their physique were almost same except for their faces and hair colour. Caleb had short-messy dirty blonde, blue eyes and chiselled face. I hate to say but he was a Greek God. It was my turn and everyone looking at me is the least I would ask for.

“Hi everyone. My name is Charlie Scott” and Benjamin just ‘pfft’ in my intro.

“Charlie? That’s a very odd name for a girl” Mr William asked with confusion masked all over his face.

“My great grandfather was a fan of Charlie Chaplin” at this point everyone burst into laughter. Yeah I know it was always like this; I’m used to it and every time someone ask about my name I have to tell them about my great grandpa that’s not because I like it but because my family respected great grandpa James and in every thanksgiving and Christmas they’d tell the story behind my name and instruct me repeatedly to remind people whenever the reason was asked. Mom always told me my name was a gift from Grandpa James and it was a sign that I was his most favoured grandchild. I sighed.

“I thought you were gonna say that you’re a fan of Charlie Puth” someone joked and everyone burst even more than before. I sighed even heavily this time. You seeing this grandpa James? Are you finally happy now?

“SILENCE” Mr William made everyone shut up and the introduction session goes on. Girl’s just ‘ooooed’ in Benjamin’s part.

Class’ sessions continued and luckily Benjamin wasn’t a disturber at all, he minded his own business and so did the other kids. Most of the teachers are strict and very professional in their subjects but some looked scary enough to make innocent kids cry. They were all fine as long as we don’t piss them off.

**LUNCH-BREAK**

We stood in line in the cafeteria along with other students and breaking the line meant breaking one of the rules.

“Honey you look like your life was sucked out of you” Liv gave me a questioning look

“Don’t ask” I said dryly.

“You know I won’t stop unless you tell me?” she c****d her eyebrow.

“Why don’t we sit down first, bite the lunch and talk” I said calmly and she just nodded.

I told her everything leaving out some details which were not so important like Benjamin and Caleb fighting for the same seat next to Evelyn and etcetera. Her reaction was something I never expected; she went from ‘it’s bad to laugh at people because of their name’ to ‘yeah your name is funny, even I laughed the first time we met’ and that’s because I told her about how Mr Trouble-maker ‘pfft’ at my name.

“You’re a betrayer” I glared at her.

“Oh come on, we both know I’m not” she laughed in a sarcastic tone. I shook my head in disbelief.

Peaceful moment doesn’t last long. Yes, it was Caleb and Benjamin again; continuing their show from the class to the cafeteria along with the presence of the scholar student and the reason was same as before ‘seat-next-to-her’. How more of an immature can they be? And why were they always on each other’s nerves? Don’t you usually ignore people who irritate you to prevent commotions? Poor girl, she’s the one suffering again. Everyone’s attention was all on them.

“Could you just stop following me?” Caleb said to Benjamin.

“Stop with your wild imagination PRINCESS. I can sit wherever I like” this seemed to piss off Caleb.

“Really? Cause I happen to want this spot too” Caleb was staring straight into Benjamin’s eyes

Evelyn seemed troubled by both and was about to get off from there when-

“And where the hell do you think are you going?” Benjamin grabbed her hand which made her jump.

“I don’t follow orders and you don’t own me mister” Evelyn finally stood up holding her tray storming off. Wow this girl was something else.

She was making her way when I saw one of the girl slowing stretching her leg to make Evelyn trip. She must’ve seen it. I bet she saw through the girl. Her fate of tripping and falling on her face was nearing her. God did she not see? And I don’t know what got into me that moment; my body moved on its own “WATCH OUT” was what came out of my mouth…when Caleb pushed Evelyn beside and I tripped on HIM which made him lose balance and the both of us fell together staining our shirts with the red curry sauce that fell from Evelyn’s tray.

Now the star of the show shifted from Evelyn to “ME”. Just greaAT!

“Are you alright” that was Liv and Evelyn. They both looked at each other and Liv slapped Evelyn’s hand away from me and started helping me up. Everyone ‘wooooed’ at us because it was a dramatic fall and all I want is for the ground to open up and swallow me that instant.

“The water is not helping at all” I said rubbing the stain part of my shirt inside the bathroom.

“Of course it won’t. It’s not some magic water” Liv was pissed.

“Care to share?” I said continuing with what I was doing.

“Why on earth would you bother with someone else’s business? I mean it’s not like you to butt in other’s problem” she was definitely mad

“I don’t know either; my body moved” I tried to sound convincing.

“That Caleb guy pushed her aside and there was no need for you to do that” for a moment she sounded like mom.

“Well I didn’t see him coming okay. Or why else would I want to become the curry victim” I said almost whispering the last part.

“She’s planning to seduce Benjamin which must be why she was acting smart and dumb at the same time. She must’ve planned all of this but instead of Benjamin the other guy came to save her and you happened” sometimes I wonder how she deduce such cases in a short amount of time.

“Liv I bet she didn’t see it coming. She must’ve been surprised too” I tried to sound positive but nothing could convince my dear best-friend when it comes to Benjamin. Lost in thoughts, I was on my way to the class when I bumped into something that fell like a wall and look up to be met by two midnight black orbs staring back into mine. I took a step back and saw this gorgeous tall guy (6’2”) with short-messy black hair, pink beautiful lips although he looked very masculine.

He coughed and I realised that I’ve been staring at him making him uncomfortable. To my surprise he took out a circular pendant which had hibiscus shape carved on it and a small diamond in the middle. Wait a sec- that’s my pendant; I checked the chain I was wearing and found the pendant missing.

“You dropped this in the cafeteria” he took my hand, handed me the pendant and left passing by me.

I just stood there trying to process what just happened and turn around to thank the guy but ended up following him instead. He went inside the storage room and I became curious as what this guy was up to. It was dark and I lost sight of him inside the huge dark room. Turning on the flashlight of my phone, I cautiously walked around the room when my eyes landed on wooden board which had the same hibiscus symbol (the one in my pendant) carved on its surface. To take a closer look, I moved forward when my foot got stuck and I tripped on a…PERSON.

“Ow” I directed my flashlight to see the same guy I met just a while ago.

“Could you put that away? Its blinding me” he covered his eyes with hands and I tried to get up putting the flashlight away but heavens…I had to trip again on top of him. He caught me this time which prevented me from getting hurt. And that’s not all; the wooden board fell from the top shelf and that was going to hit my head. The guy changed his position quickly embracing me tightly and was going to use his back as a shield. A heavy wooden board hitting your back is gonna hurt a lot. I shut my eyes clutching onto his shirt and after what felt like forever, my eyes slowly opened only to be blinded by the glimmer of light which seems to be coming from the wooden board. The light slowly faded and we saw a figure of a boy who was of our age wearing what seemed like a school uniform. I got up from my place to turn on the light of the room and I was not mistaken; the board turned into a boy. He stood up and came towards me.

“Charlie?” he seems to know me.

“What is this place? And what’re you wearing? You look younger…your eyes are different too, aren’t they supposed to be blue and gosh your hair, when did it grow so long?”  too many question at once.

I took a closer look at him. He was wearing black formal pants, white main shirt and black blazer which had Aethon high logo at the left pocket; his hair was midnight black neatly done which looked like your grandpa’s youth hairstyle, his eyes were hazel same as mine, he must’ve been 6ft and lastly I noticed something, he had a name tag written ‘JAMES SCOTT’.

“Grandpa?” I couldn’t believe my eyes…did my great grandfather just time travel?

“What? Charlie it’s me James your childhood sweetheart” now I was totally confused by his reaction.

“Could you please tell us the full name of the Charlie you are talking about?” the guy asked Grandpa James. Grandpa was looking at me totally confused and so was I.

“Now why don’t you tell him yourself Charlie?” I was dumbfounded at this point.

“It’s Charlie Scott grandpa; the name you cherished so much” he looked totally clueless at my response.

“What year is it?” the guy interrupted our trance.

“15th June 1933. Is that even a question?” grandpa scoffed. I was starting to understand the situation here; grandpa had no clue he time travelled, he is 16 years old plus he thinks I’m someone he knows whose name is also Charlie.

“Grandpa it’s 15th June 2015 and I’m your great granddaughter” he looked at me in disbelief as if waiting for me to tell him that it was all a joke.

“Mr Scott it is 2015, two generations have passed after your time Sir” the guy tried to convince grandpa.

“Wait you’re telling me those 82 years has passed while I was preparing a surprise for Charlie?” he was utterly clueless that he time traveled into the future.

“Who is Charlie guy you’re going on about?” I asked him.

“Charlie is not a guy…she um she is going to be my future wife” if I remember correctly, my great grandmother’s name is not Charlie but you see I don’t like bursting other’s bubble nor do I prefer them to live in their fantasy.

“I hate to break it but your wife’s name is not Charlie gramps” he was looking at me like I was an artifact placed in a museum.

“Of course her name is not Charlie; Charlie is a love-nickname that only I can call her” he said as he stood there like a mighty King…I can’t believe this guy.

My great grandfather who was rumored to be a fan of Charlie Chaplin, a great man who created a business empire on his own; whose favored grandchild was me and a man who loved his wife unconditionally is now a 16 years old boy who just traveled in the future god knows how.