Tailspin.

(Madison’s POV)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

My new patent leather flats absolutely gleamed in the sunlight as I walked up the peeling stairs towards what I guess was the choir room. My first day of eighth grade had gone by pretty smoothly, for the most part. I just did what came naturally: fade into the background. Loud voices poured out of the heavy wooden doors in front of me. It almost made me not want to go in. But I sucked it up and entered what, unbeknownst to me then, would become my safe haven.

Backpacks lined the floor of the hallway leading to the main classroom. The entire building was like its own little enclave. There were a couple older kids in the small room to the left of me laughing. On my right was an even tinier room where a round, bearded, and balding man sat at his desk sipping a tall cup of Starbucks. I threw my baby pink backpack among the other thirty and made my way to the main classroom. I peeked my head into another small room where a worn but comfortable looking leather couch sat and another small chair. I finally walked into the class only to be completely overwhelmed by what I saw.

There were kelly green risers stacked four levels high with children occupying almost every seat. The sea of faces was mostly white but there were a couple brown ones sprinkled about. I scanned the room looking for one free seat until a very loud, very…sassy voice called out amongst the chaos.

“Now I know it’s the first day of school but don’t think for one second I won’t go upside each and every last one of y’alls heads if y’all don’t shut the hell up.” A tanned man of average height and build snapped from his spot at his laptop at the very back of the room. Mr. Armand Dillards, otherwise known as my new choir teacher, was more than a handful. The loud voices turned into laughter at the seemingly empty threat. He snickered a bit. “Don’t act like I won’t either. Let me take roll. Amanda?” Deliciously flaming, I didn’t quite know how to respond to his spunk at first. At this point, I was still looking around for a place to sit. Before I knew it, Mr. Dillards had gotten to me.

“Madison Mills? Madison?” The volume in the room had increased yet again. All it took was a quick glare from him for the room to become essentially silent. “There. Much better. Now. Baby is that you standing there looking like one of those puppies from the SPCA commercials?”

The class roared in laughter. I blushed furiously but couldn’t help but laugh myself. I nodded softly.

“There is no need to be scared. I don’t bite…unless you want me to. But I still won’t because I prefer my meals of the male variety.” We chuckled. “My name is Armand Dillards and it’s a pleasure meeting you today. I’ll try not to freak you out too much on your first day.” He turned to the class. “I love how I’m telling her this after I offered to bite her. But seriously. Welcome to the family, sweetheart. Why don’t you go sit up there at the top with Mr. Romaniello? He’s the one with the Jew-Fro and the braces. Go on. Shoo.”

I scampered off to my newly found spot and took a seat. To the right of me was a black girl with long black hair and almond shaped dark brown eyes. She was wearing a hot orange Aeropostale t-shirt and electric blue jeans and her hair was half up-half down with a ponytail at the very top of her head. She was the one I remember hearing laugh the loudest when Mr. Dillards was talking to me, actually. On my left was a boy of average height, very lanky, with bright green eyes hidden behind black framed glasses, braces, and wild sandy brown hair in a mop on his head. ‘I guess he’s Mr. Romaniello.’ I thought to myself as I gave him more of a once over. His green hoodie seemed very worn. It was probably his favorite. I noticed that he had on a pair of high top Converse with writing scribbled all over them. I was trying to read what it said when the girl sitting in front of me spoke.

“Hey! Don’t we have Cultural Geography together?” Christy was a chubby girl with long light brown hair, braces, freckles, and pretty green eyes. I was immediately jealous of the adorable tank top she was wearing.

I nodded. “Dr…Dr. Kessler right?”

“Yep!” She smiled. “She’s nuts isn’t she? Did you see her slap herself in the face in the middle of our lecture?”

I tried to hide my smile behind my hand. “Maybe there was a bug in her face or something.”

She gave me a look. “Or maybe she’s just batshit crazy. I’m gonna go with my guess. Adia. Landon. This is Madison. I met her first period and told her that we’re gonna be friends. That means y’all are gonna be friends with her too, just so you know. Say hi.”

Adia laughed a bit before turning to me. “Hey girl! I’m Adia. How’s your first day at Parkview so far?”

“It’s been fine.” I decided to leave out how they were the first people I’d talked to all day. To be honest, I found my first day at the ritzy Parkview Academy a little overwhelming as compared to my old tiny middle school.“I like my classes so far.”

“That’s good. Wait, Daphne! What the hell?!”Her attention was suddenly drawn to a girl sitting in the front row with whom she began a conversation with.

Christy shook her head. “Excuse her. She can be easily distracted but that’s Landon next to you.”
I turned to him. “Hi Landon.”

He was looking around to his left. I figured he maybe hadn’t heard me so I tried again. Still no response. At that point, I figured he maybe wasn’t up for conversation and I didn’t want to bother him so I stayed quiet. Christy shrugged and turned back around right as Mr. Dillards began to start class.

I’d hoped that Landon would warm up to me more as class went on, but he didn’t. He actually made it his point to say nothing to me the entire time. He even went as far as talk around me to other people. That treatment went on for the first two weeks of school. After having him treat me so poorly, I was convinced he hated me. But suddenly, something changed.

One day at lunch, I sat with my new choir mates regularly at this point, we were talking about our 8th grade class trip that was coming up.

“Yeah it’s called Kanuga and we’re gonna go on a 3 day hike in the woods. We can’t bring deodorant either!” Christy filled the entire table in with what she’d heard.

Adia almost choked on her food. “Oh hell no! I’m not about to spend 3 days in no wilderness smelling like a musty fool. You can’t even bring unscented?”

Christy shook her head as she ate her chicken nugget. “Nope, because it attracts bears.”

“Bears?! Shut the front door!” I exclaimed.

Adia whipped her head around to me as Christy snickered. “Wait pause. Did you just say shut the front door?”

I blushed a bit and nodded. “Yeah…why?”

She laughed her characteristic laugh. “Why didn’t you say shut the fuck up?”

I laughed a bit too. “It’s because I don’t like to curse. My friends and I didn’t curse at my old school and would use little phrases like that.”

That made Adia and the rest of the table laugh even harder. “That’s so strange!”

“We’ll break you out of that soon enough.” Christy laughed.

“I happen to think it’s cute.” Landon smiled at me before taking a bite out of his cookie.

My head whipped so fast to his direction I thought I had whiplash. “Really?”

He nodded. “I mean, yeah! It’s not every day that you find someone who doesn’t curse. I think it’s admirable. I know I couldn’t do it. I find it especially awesome that you came up with little alternatives for curse words too. I say keep doing it. Don’t let these bitches try to stop you. See what I mean?” He winked at me.

My cheeks flushed for the umpteenth time that day as I smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He smiled back. “No problem, Madison.”

“Now look here, Landon. Don’t call me a bitch.” Adia pointed a spoon at him. “You must want me to stab your ass.”

Christy rolled her eyes. “With a spoon? Nice try, idiot.”

“Shut up Christy!” Adia yelled before eating her ice cream.

Although it was very brief, I have to say that talking to Landon for the first time was awesome, especially since he was defending me. It turns out that that would be an ongoing trend in our relationship.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

We’d just finished our last day of hiking on our 8th grade camping trip. We made it back to the main campground and were exhausted and disgusting. Christy and I really bonded pooing together in the woods. We were returning the gear that we rented when I spotted Landon. We’d begun to talk more leading up to the trip but were still getting to know each other. I was debating whether or not I should go talk to him when he came running over to me.

“Hi.” He breathed. He reached his arms out for a hug. “I missed you.”
I was caught off guard about his greeting. I didn’t have much of a history with boys and affection, something I was coming to see was going to be a huge component in our relationship.

“Wait, don’t hug me. I’m gross!” I tried to hold my arms up but grabbed them and pulled me in anyway.

“You and I both so shut up and just take it.” He held me for a moment.

“Campers! You have 30 minutes to wash up before dinner!” One of the counselors yelled in the distance.

“Oh. As much as I’d love to stay here like this, I kinda need to shower.”

I laughed. “Yeah me too.”

“See you at dinner?” I nodded.

“Awesome. See you later.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Today was the white water rafting portion of the trip. We ate breakfast at the mess hall and loaded up a coach bus to head over to the river. Landon and I sat next to each other. Since the ride was supposed to be about an hour long, we decided to use that time to find out more about each other. We were heavy into a game of twenty questions when I asked about his family.

“Yeah family means the world to me. Even though I’m adopted, I can’t imagine my life without my parents.” He adjusted his glasses before he turned to me. “What about you?”

“You’re adopted?” I was shocked. He even looked like his parents in my opinion.

“Yep. I was adopted as a baby though. My birth mother was a teenager and couldn’t take care of me like she wanted. My parents had trouble having kids so when I came into the picture, it worked out perfectly.”

“Wow.” I shook my head in disbelief as I glanced out the window. The bus was winding up the mountain we were on. As beautiful as the lush autumn trees looked, I felt my head begin to spin. “That’s crazy. Have you ever thought about her? Or wondered what it would be like if she didn’t give you up?”

“Yeah. Who wouldn’t? I thank her for giving me life but I know that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my parents. I know her giving me up was the best thing she could do for me.”
I nodded as I closed my eyes. I felt an all too familiar feeling take over my body. I was feeling car sick. Whenever I get carsick, it always ends up the same way: with vomit everywhere. I was trying to avoid that at all costs.

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Madison, are you ok?”

I nodded which only made me feel worse. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Keep telling me about yourself.”

“Are you sure? I can call a teacher.”

“Actually, you don’t have to do that. I think I’m just gonna try to take a nap. I should be fine.”

“Are you posit—

Before he could even get the words out, I felt everything I’d eaten that morning rise up my throat. In an attempt to stop it, I put my hands up in front of my mouth. That only made the vomit flow up like a waterfall and all over myself and Landon. All of my classmates were stunned.

“Oh my God, Mr. Bates! Mr. Bates! She just threw up!” Landon yelled as he rubbed circles on my back. “It’s ok, Ashley. I’m getting a teacher and we’re going stop and you’re going to be fine.”

“Excuse me, sir. I think we’re going to have to pull over. A student just threw up.”Mr. Bates, one of our teachers, told the bus driver as he made his way back to Landon and I.

I’d gotten the majority of the mess on myself but Landon definitely got some of the waffle shower. I tried to use my jacket to wipe some of it off of him. “Landon, I am so sorry about this. I know you probably hate me. I won’t be angry if you don’t talk to me anymore after this.”

“No, no, no. You’re fine! It’s ok. I don’t hate you. I promise. Let’s just get you cleaned up.” He wiggled out of our seat and reached for the roll of paper towels Mr. Bates had just brought us.

“Are you ok, sweetheart?” He asked as Landon began wiping up as much as he could.

I nodded. “I just got car sick and I tried to stop it—

He patted me on my shoulder. “It’s ok. Don’t freak out. We’re going to stop at a gas station so you can get cleaned up and it’ll be fine.”

“Ok. Thanks so much. I am really sorry about all of this.”

“Like I told you, it’s ok. Everyone gets sick.” He smiled before he walked back up to the front. The rest of my grade was still staring at me in awe and began to whisper. “Alright folks. There’s nothing to see here. Continue on like before.”

I looked at Landon who’d gotten the majority of the vomit off of the floor and was now cleaning my backpack. “You really don’t have to do this. I can clean it.”

“Madison, you’re sick! Get some rest. I have it.” He smiled as he wiped my face.

It was at that exact moment that I knew we were going to be best friends.
-----
Present Day

I felt warm air fanning across my cheek. I brushed my face with my hand in an attempt to move it and snuggled deeper into the choir room couch. Then I felt something wet and soft slowly drag against the spot I just touched. “What the fuck?!” I mumbled as I opened my eyes only to see Landon laughing hysterically kneeling on the ground in front of me.

“Good morning sunshine.” He laughed.

I groaned and stretched. “Fuck you. I was in the middle of the best dream too!”

“You were dreaming about me pounding that pussy right? I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want to wake up from that either.” My back is a particularly sensitive spot for me so when he trailed his fingers down it, I got chills. I’m not going to lie; I felt a little tingle down below if you know what I mean.
I forced my face down into the couch so he couldn’t see what he was doing to me. “Oh my goodness, stooopp it.”

“Stop what?” I could hear the smirk in his voice. “This?” His nimble fingers began kneading the tight muscles at the base of my spine. It had to laugh to keep from moaning.

“Yes, you bastard.”

He laughed. “But why? It looks like it feels pretty good.”

It was my turn to laugh. If only he knew. “That’s exactly why you need to stop.”

“Am I making you wet right now? Oh my God, I am aren’t I? I can’t do this.” He laughed albeit a little awkwardly that time before he sat in the chair in front of me. “Anyway, what were you dreaming about?”

I turned my head to face him and grinned. “When we became friends.”

His face lit up instantly. “You mean when you threw up on me in 8th grade?”

“Shut up!” I laughed. “But yes. And when you refused to talk to me when I first started here.”

“What do you mean refused to talk to you?” He seemed genuinely confused.

“Exactly what I said. Whenever I tried to talk to you, you’d ignore me. I was convinced you hated me when I met you.” I sheepishly looked down at my nails.

He looked shocked, “Madi, that wasn’t the case at all! I thought you were absolutely adorable. I still do. And I apologize if I ever ignored you. It’s probably because I couldn’t hear you, to be honest.” We both laughed as I sat up to get a better view of him. “But seriously. If I ever made you feel like I hated you, I am truly sorry. I could never possibly hate you. Even then when I didn’t know you. You’re far too lovable for that.”

I smiled. “Awww! You always know exactly what to say. I love you!”

He reached his arms out for me. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and held him close. “I love you too.”

We stayed like that for a while until I felt his tongue dip into my ear. I smacked him on his arm. “Can you stop licking me for once, damn?!” He threw his head back in laughter. “And you know that if I did that to you, you’d have a fit.

“No I wouldn’t.”

“Oh really?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t.”

“Ok.” I nodded as I snuggled into his neck. I sat there for a moment before I bit him and gently tugged at the skin there.

He jerked away from me. “Madi, what the hell?!”

“My point exactly.” I laughed.

“Fuck you.”

“When?”

He rolled his eyes and laughed before pushing me onto the floor.