Stay Fierce

So you’re alone today?

I sighed upon reading the text, flipping my phone open and already working the keyboard; my hands in my locker so that the hall monitors didn’t catch me and take away my cell phone. I couldn’t live without the thing.

Yeah; again. It sucks.

Pursing my lips, I closed my phone and put it on my top locker shelf. Brent sucked. He informed me yesterday after the dinner that he would go to practice today and go somewhere with the guys. I figured that somewhere was probably a bar or pub or something.

I raised my hand to pat my still damp bun and make sure it was stable. Harsh buzzing made me jump and snatch my phone from its shelf. A blush rose to my cheeks and I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed before flipping the phone open and scanning the text.

Sucks!? WTF is wrong with you? Partay all night long, bitch!

I rolled my eyes, but a smile curved my lips. Sophia would. The one minute bell rang as a warning to get to class and I dropped my phone in my bag, slamming my locker shut and holding my books to German, which was the class right to the left of where my locker was.

I walked into the full room and took my seat. Right as I set my books and bag down, the bell rang and our teacher sashayed into the room.

“Halo.” The teacher made her way into class, grumbling and sluggish as always.

I sighed, dropping my head and doodling random hearts on the plain notebook paper in front of me, mumbling back a greeting with the rest of the class. Just one more period to go, I told myself.

“Wie geht es dir?” She then asked, sounding as if she could care less.

How am I? Indifferent.

“Amelie?”

Damn it. She would call on me.

I looked up at the teacher, smiling sweetly, “Ich bin sehr.”

She must’ve been satisfied with my reply, because she just blinked at me, turning to ask someone else the same question.

She then sluggishly made her way over to the chalk board in order to start our new lesson. Food and drinks. Yay.

Fifteen minutes later, the teacher set up a talking activity, yet again, here you have to turn to a partner and practice the words. Because yet again, she didn’t feel like teaching. And since every time we did it so far, I’ve been paired with the kid who seriously stinks. Like, reeks of shit. I wasn’t so excited.

Which is why I was so surprised when Tessa sat down in the empty seat next to mine. She must’ve seen my questioning glance because she launched right into explanation.

“I didn’t think you would want to pair with Eugene ‘I eat onions and garlic for fun’ Jacobs. So I figured you’d want to pair with me. Because I’m not so fond of Ashleigh being prissy and bitching me, or in her words, ‘the freak’, out.”

I bit my lip, not really knowing what to say. And Tessa made it easy by not saying anything further and pushing a strand of the red hair that fell out of her low ponytail behind her ear and looking down at the book, already practicing a sentence in German.

She finished her sentence, asking me what I would want from the menu in the book, and I took a couple moments piecing my sentence together before responding, “Orangensaft, bitte.”

Tessa smirked a little, still looking down at her text book and even flipping a page to read through it. “So you’re one hell of a swimmer.”

My jaw slacked open; it’s been happening a lot lately. Maybe I should get it checked out. “Uh. Were you at, the meet?” I swallowed.

Tessa chuckled slightly, fixing the glasses that I had never noticed she wore. They framed her face nicely. “I would never spend my time in a closed up space with the sound of thousands of voices and the humidity of Sub-Saharan Africa.”

My face grew hot and I looked down, felling stupid.

“I’m with the school announcements. We were supposed to be recording tomorrow’s video announcements today, and the news of our Girls’ Swim Team victory from Friday was on my page of the script.”

“Oh.”

Frau Noble, or Mrs. Noble in English, muttered out that we were doing a good job and went back to sitting at her lap top.

“She’s too enthusiastic about life.” Tessa muttered, sarcasm dripping from every word.

A smile stretched across my face, “Yeah.”

“So you’re on Varsity, huh?”

“Yeah.” I stated again, no enthusiasm in the statement.

She looked up at me, eyebrows raised. “You don’t seem so happy about it.”

I shrugged, sighing. “It’s complicated.”

Tessa nodded slightly, “So why don’t you sit with us anymore?” She questioned, referring to lunch.

I bit my bottom lip, chewing it slightly. “Well, I’m just not really hungry now-a-days.” I knew it was a lame and crappy excuse. And with Tessa’s smirk, I knew that she thought it was lame and crappy too.

“Now that was just a terrible lie.” She laughed. I laughed along with her, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It was actually the first time I’ve heard her laugh.

“I just don’t really,” I paused, looking for a word to complete my thought.

“Fit in?” Tessa finished and I nodded, looking over at her with a frown.

She sighed, adjusting her glasses, “It’s because they’ve known each other for a while. I’m surprised they took you in like that though; they were pretty much the popular kids back in middle school. And still are.” She finished after a pause, her face twisting into a frown.

“I figured that much; I didn’t fit in at all. I mean, you guys were being nice and all. But it was plain awkward.” I admitted.

Tessa simply nodded once and smoothed out her ruby red pony tail.

“Is that your natural hair color?” I suddenly blurted, embarrassment riding my cheeks as soon as I realized what I had asked.

She looked over at me with a slight smirk, “This fire red beast? Oh hell no. It’s dyed.”

I nodded, “It looks really good.” I offered.

“Well, that’s kind of why I dyed it.”

My cheeks flushed. I went to look back in my book, but the bell rang. Eyebrows scrunched, my eyes looked at the clock. 2:50 already

Tessa grabbed her books and slung her bag over her shoulder, adjusting her glasses once more. “Get ready for second period announcements tomorrow; because trust me; they’re pretty much centered around you.”

My throat felt dry from terror as I watched her walk out, bidding her goodbyes to the teacher. Not only would the whole school tomorrow know I was on varsity and attention would be brought to me; but someone was most likely going to connect my last name to my brother’s.

-.-.-.-

It was bad. It was horrible. I wanted to die.

Not only had Karissa completely bitched me out during lifting weights in the fitness center in the morning today, but Tessa was right. The whole fucking announcements were based on me. Nobody wanted to be friends with me when I first came to this damned school; and now people were literally popping out of nowhere and introducing themselves.

Mikey, one of the creepiest kids EVER managed to locate me at my locker and point me out before sixth period.

“Hey, Seabrook!” He called out obnoxiously, standing so close that I pretty much felt like slapping him.

“Do you know your last name is the same as Brent Seabrook’s?”

Holy shit. My breath hitched in my throat and I felt my world stop. “Who’s that?” I finally choked out, my voice shaky.

He ignored my weird behavior, “Only my favorite Blackhawk ever.”

Playing stupid would get me out of it, I decided. “What are the Blackhawks?”

He gave me a look which implied I must’ve been stupid, “You know, you’re pretty fucking oblivious.”

I sneered at him, grabbing my Algebra book out of my locker followed by my calculator and slamming my locker shut. “Just shut up and leave me alone.”

He rolled his eyes and muttered a low “bitch” before walking away.

I sighed harshly and walked into room 129, my math class. Naturally, I walked past Nathan and Mark, who were talking amongst each other, and to my seat near the far end of the room. The one minute bell rang, and then as I finally got my books and spiral out, then the final bell rang, signalizing the start of class.

“Good afternoon everyone; take out your homework.”

Since my spiral was already turned to my homework, I sat back. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I jumped a little at the feeling but calmed down and took it out of my pocket upon seeing that the teacher was standing back turned to me and standing at the other side of the room.

Hola, Jailbait!

My mouth pressed into a deep frown and my eyebrows scrunched at the unknown number. But they didn’t make it a secret to finding out who it was. I sent one more look towards the teacher to make sure he was still turned around, checking people’s homework, and flipped my phone open under the table, typing out a response.

What the hell do you want?

The teacher made his way over to my area and I slipped the phone into my pocket again, only to feel it vibrate. Exhaling through my nose, I crossed my arms.

“I heard your name in the announcements this morning, Amelie.”

I smiled politely and handed him my spiral, letting him scan it over to make sure I did my work and mark it in the grade book.

“Thank you, Mr. Kaposi.”

“No problem; and congratulations on making state.”

As if my day wasn’t bad enough already, pretty much everyone’s head turned towards me. I resisted the urge to groan. Maybe they had forgotten about announcements, and now he decided to pretty much exclaim it out loud.

Mr. Kaposi went to teaching the lesson and I slowly pulled my phone out of my pocket, making sure it was hidden.

Should I tell Seabs you text in school?

I resisted the urge to growl and flipped open the phone;

Shut up and leave me alone!

I furiously managed to type out on the keyboard, jamming it shut and pressing the power button on my phone, holding it until the phone turned off. Stuffing the black device into my bag, I huffed and grabbed my pencil, determined to take notes on whatever we were learning for once.

-.-.-

I lugged my heavy swim bag and school bag on my shoulders, managing to open the locks with the keys.

I pushed open the door with my foot and dropped my swim bag on the floor, kicking it to the side and closing the door behind me, twisting both locks.

“Hey, Amelie.”

I turned around, a bit shocked to head the soft voice, but smiled seeing the dark haired brunette walk out from the living room, smiling at me. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing black yoga pants and a white tank top, a hot pink zip up Victoria Secret’s Pink sweater completing the look.

“Hi, Elina.”

The smell of something nice and juicy steamed from the kitchen and I inhaled it, closing my eyes momentarily. The delicious scent had bugged me on my way up to the apartment, and now it was even stronger. “What is that?”

Elina’s smile turned into a worried look, “Does the smell bother you? Because I thought that a home made meal would be nice since I figured Brent doesn’t cook, but we can always go out or somethi-”

“No, no. It smells amazing.” I cut her off, smiling.

A relieved expression fell across her face. I smiled at her again and set my book bag down, stretching my arms over my head.

“Do you want to eat now?” Elina questioned slightly, looking a bit hesitant as to what my answer would be.

“Yes!” I practically cried, briskly skipping past her and into the kitchen, the smell so absolutely amazing, my mouth could drop open and I’d start drooling.

I grabbed two plates and some silverware, turning around to smile at Elina, who now stood in the doorway, looking happy.

“I’ll set the table.”

She looked happy about my request, and agreed. I danced around to the living room, setting the plates down onto the table at the two seats across from each other and pulled out some napkins, placing them down next to the plates, the silverware placed on them.

Right as I placed the last piece of silver ware down, Elina walked out with a plate which held two pieces of amazing looking grilled chicken. My mouth jarred open and I just stared. Elina laughed and set it down on the table, walking back into the kitchen and grabbing mashed potatoes along with a bowl of salad.

I skipped into the kitchen again; despite the fact that my legs felt heavy and that my mind just wanted to shut off and sleep. I grabbed two glasses and filled one for myself up with water.

“Hey, Elina, what do would you like to drink?” I called out.

“Water’s just fine!”

Pouring water into the second glass, I put the Brita filter back into the refrigerator and grabbed both glasses, one in each hand, and walked back into the dining room.

Elina smiled softly at me, thanking me as I placed a glass of water in front of her. I just smiled back and walked my way around the table to my seat.

Once settled in, I took my fork and stabbed at one of the pieces of chicken, licking my lips as I placed it down on my plate. Elina followed my actions, and we silently scooped our meals onto our plates.

I finally cut into the chicken and brought the piece to my mouth, chewing it. I savored the taste. The chicken pretty much melted in my mouth. “This is delicious.”

Elina blushed, “Oh it’s not that great. I’m sure it just tastes great because you haven’t had a decent meal in the month that you’ve been here. The beginning of August right?”

I chewed another piece along with some mashed potatoes, thinking it through, “Actually, yeah. I arrived August 2nd, and today it’s...” I trailed off.

“September 2nd.” Elina filled in, smiling slightly.

“So I’ve been here a month exact.” I mused. “And by the way, the fact that I haven’t had decent food in a month isn’t the reason this is delicious. You’re an ah-mazing cook.”

Elina blushed again, “Thank you.”

I grinned, “No problem. I don’t understand how Brent could find someone like you.”

She laughed slightly, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” I chose my words carefully, “he’s kind of been… a bitch.” I finished quietly, raising my glass to take a sip of water.

“Why’s that?”

I looked up at her and met her eyes, thinking she’d look taken back or angry. But she didn’t. She looked genuinely curious.

“He only really cares about himself, you know?”

She nodded slightly, silently urging me to keep going with her eyes.

I sighed, setting down my fork. “He’s just… I don’t know. It’s weird. He doesn’t care about my swimming at all, he rarely talks to me. And we’ve never bonded. My first day here, he promised me he’d take me out to dinner at the Hancock and then around Chicago, but he never kept that promise.”

This time she sighed, looking down at her plate and using her fork to play around with her food, moving it around. “He hangs around with the guys a lot, doesn’t he?” She asked more to herself before straightening up to look at me and continuing, “I guess that what you get for dating a hokey player.” She smiled sadly.

“Well, I’m not really dating him…” I inserted, hoping to make the mood a bit happier.

She laughed, a loud bell like, happy laugh this time. “I guess you can’t really help being related to one, huh?”

A comfortable silence flooded over us and we both continued eating. I swallowed and looked at Elina again, “So why did you do all of this? I really love this; but why did you take the time to do it?”

She shrugged, “When Brent told me he would be gone for the night, my thoughts went to you and the fact that’d you’d be alone.”

My cheeks warmed up as a heat crawled up my neck, a happy, fluttery feeling inside my stomach at the fact that someone actually cared about me, “Thank you.”

Before Elina had time to respond, my phone buzzed loudly from it’s place at the end of the table. I jumped slightly before reaching to get it, opening a text from a number which I had encountered during the day.

I like oranges.

I sighed loudly, holding the phone up to Elina so she could read what it said. “Kane has been texting me all day long.”

She laughed upon reading the text, “Thousands of girls would kill to be in your position.”

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t see why.” I muttered, pushing my chair back and standing up. “I’m just going to refill my glass.”

She smiled at me, “Alright.”

I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing the Brita filter and filling my glass up with the delicious cold liquid, taking a sip immediately. Damn, water is amazing.

I put the filter back and walked into the living room, only to see Elina put my phone back down to the spot in front of my plate and smile at me. I was suspicious, but didn’t let it show.

We finished eating shortly after, and Elina took the dishes, walking into the kitchen. I quickly grabbed my phone, checking sent messages.

You should try bananas; they’re more fun ;) –Elina

My eyes widened and I slapped a hand to my mouth, trying as hard as I could not to burst into laughter; and that was hard. Instead, a huge goofy grin spread over my face and I looked in the direction of the kitchen. Patty hadn’t texted me since the thirty minutes ago that it was sent.

Elina was a genius.