Chapter 1 (Maddie)

“My life is so boring! I want more excitement! ”

“Fine, you can take Ballet lessons.”

“Ballet lessons! I want something exciting not dull like ballet lessons! Like…oh…moving away from here!!”

Maddie stormed off to her bedroom. Fights with her mom were rare, but sometimes she just blew up. “My life IS boring. My mom NEVER listens.” She thought. Of course, living in a small neighborhood was not very exciting, even more boring if you don’t have anything better to do than take walks, passing the same old things everyday! New houses weren’t put up very often and when they were some snooty rich couple moved in. Maddie always hoped that someone her age would move in and she could have more friends in her neighborhood, but it never quite worked out that way. There was her friend Kelsey, but it’s nice to have more than just one friend. Still, there was art, wonderful art. Madeline could always count on her art; really it was the only thing keeping her going right now. Sure she had a lot of nice things, but everything gets old after a while. She wanted something more, but nothing could fill the void inside her. “I guess I’ll call Kelsey.” She thought. Kelsey was her best friend, and she was involved in art too. Kelsey didn’t draw and paint though, she is, not is going to be, IS a photographer. She has the nicest cameras around, and pretty much everything she wants, but she still knows the true value of friendship, and that why she and Madi are such great friends.

Maddie picked up the phone and dialed Kelsey’s number “Hey.” She said in dully. “Why so sad, Mad?” Maddie hated it when she called her Mad, it was such a stupid nickname.

 “Want to hang out? I’ve got nothing to do. My mom and I had a fight.”

Kelsey was always joking around, “What was it about this time? What shampoo to use on the dog?”

“No, and I hate that dog. It doesn’t even like me. Why should I care whether it’s clean?”

“Ok, ok. You want to meet at my place or yours?”

“Uh, yours I guess since my mom is having a party.”

“Ok, see you then.”

Chapter 2 (James)

“Moving again! I hate this! Distant family embers popping up everywhere and bad school experiences, that’s what my life consisted of. I always tell myself things will be different, but they never are.” James thought. “Where are we moving anyways, mom?”

“Oh, Texas. No point in saying which town.” She replied hastily.

James perked up. It was nice that his mom kept moving for him, and he had a lot to be thankful for.

“I can’t wait.” He said with a forced smile.

Chapter 3 (Maddie)

Madi told her parents she was going on a walk, she did this often because of the sheer boringness that was at home. At fourteen she couldn’t drive, so she took walks to pass the time. On these walks she thinks about things that are happening in the world around her. Madi seemed to think about these things lot. She mainly thought about her own life, but sometimes about her friend’s lives, or just the problems in the world.

    “I wonder if anyone is ever going to move into that house.” Madi thought. There was a new house in the neighborhood and it had been there for a while.  Her neighborhood was quiet and not very many exciting things happened in it, so new neighbors were quite an ordeal. Well, for her at least. As she walked passed it, she peered into the garage. “Are those what I think they are”, Madi wondered, “Yes! They’re boxes! Someone is moving in! I know who they are, but I’m still excited! I’ll get to meet them soon. Hope there’s someone my age. Ah, I know! I can make something so I can go over there and meet them. Madi was excited. I get to meet the new people she thought.”

 She rushed home and told her mother she was making something in the kitchen and got to work.

   One hour later, the brownies were done and she was off again. After about 15 minutes of walking, she finally made it to the house and rang the doorbell. She saw someone move inside, so she waited, and waited.

“Are they ever going to go to the door?” she thought. A few minutes later a boy came to the door and opened it.

“Hello, sorry about taking so long, I had to finish something really quickly.

So what d-”

 Maddie wasn’t very happy about him taking so long, so she replied sharply “I just brought some brownies for you and your family.”

“Oh they aren’t here, they’re rarely ever here, and I practically live by myself.” That’s odd, she thought, he looks about my age, my parents would never let me stay home alone.

 “Ok, well do you want the brownies?” He looked at her oddly and replied, “Oh, yeah. Would you want to come in and have some with me?”

 “Umm, sure. Why not? I’ve got nothing to do at home anyways.” He opened the door wider and let her in. Madi noticed that the house was very handsomely decorated. “My mom is an interior designer, she’s actually kind of famous.”

“That’s neat”, Madi said. “I was I really staring at the decorations that much? I only glanced at them.” she thought. They arrived at the kitchen and the boy went to the fridge. “Oh, I almost forgot, my name is James.”

 “That’s a nice name.”

“Do I need to tell him my name? I am so bad at manners”, Madi thought.

“…So, do you want some milk Ma-…umm…would you like some milk?”

“Sure, by the way, my name is Madeline, but people call me Madi.”

“ So, Madi, where do you go to school?”

 “I go to James Madison High, freshman” “That’s where I am going to go, I start Monday. I’m a freshman. Do you ride the bus?”

 “I will, I told you my parents are like never home, I can’t drive!”

“Oh, right. Sorry, forgot.”

She took a bite of her brownie and a sip of her milk. “Whoa, is he staring at me? This is awkward”, she was thinking. She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh my goodness! I have to get home! It’s nice meeting you James, Sorry I have to leave, but I told my mom I would be home at six.”

 “Ok, I’ll walk you to the door.” They walked to the door and James got in front of her and opened it. “Well, I’ll see you on the bus, Monday”

“Ok. See you then!”

    She ran halfway home. Wow, she thought, he is so nice, not to mention good looking. I wish this wasn’t such a long walk home. She walked the rest of the way while thinking about him, HIM. The more she thought about him the more she liked him. They had only spoken for a short while, but she could tell. She waked up her driveway, and into her house. She told her parents she was home, and then got on Myspace. She loved Myspace; her friends were always in contact. She scrolled down to find that she had a new friend request, from a James Ralcom.

 “Hmm, is that the guy from down the road? No, it can’t be. He couldn’t have found me that fast. Hmm, maybe he could.”

 She accepted him and got offline. She didn’t want to deal with her friend’s problems right now. She got up and went to her closet to find something decent to wear to dinner tonight.

       The rest of the afternoon was quite boring. She ate dinner with her mom and one of her mom’s friends at some fancy restaurant downtown. She brought her pocket sketchbook like always and didn’t listen the whole time. Her sketches consisted mainly of people. She liked to draw people because they were so complex, and it challenged her. After a while, drawing people in the restaurant was boring. Her thoughts shifted to him, James. I shouldn’t think about him so much, she thought, I barely know him. But she couldn’t help it, she tried to fight it but it was no use. “Could it be love?” she thought, “no, love at first sight wasn’t real. Its just like Romeo and Juliet, it could never happen like that, but what if it could! He’s so…so…so wonderful.”

“Oh stop it!” she whispered to herself. Her mother looked at her.

“What dear?”

“Oh nothing, I…uh just dropped my fork.” She replied quickly. “Shut up, Madeline!” she thought “ If Mom ever knew about this she’d freak! Not that she’s really involved with my personal life, but still. Boys were friends nothing more, so that’s what we’ll be, nothing more than friends. “We’re ready to go now, Madeline.” Her mom said.

 “Alright, I’m coming.”

    The drive home was worse than the dinner. Her mom wouldn’t shut up about how her friend was so exciting and adventurous. “Why does she get all the excitement? Well, her view of excitement was much different than mine, but still.” She was thinking. Finally, they made it home, and Maddie went to her room.

“Oh, my life is boring!”

 

 Chapter 4 (James)

“I have to admit, she is so interesting. No, no she isn’t! You can’t get attached, we might just move again.”

James was at his house alone, watching football. He didn’t particularly like football, but there wasn’t much else on.

“No, nothing more than friends.”

He paced back and forth in front of the TV. Girls were always fawning over him, he was used to that kind of behavior. James wasn’t used to be talked to like a friend instead of a pet. Though talking once over some brownies about basically nothing wasn’t much of a conversation, but he had a feeling she was different.

“Maybe we won’t move, maybe everything will work out…Well, tomorrow’s Monday. I guess we’ll just wait and see.”

 

Chapter 5 (Maddie)

“I’ve never been so nervous in my life!” Maddie said.

 Maddie was waiting for the bus to come. It was late, as usual.

“Oh, but thank goodness I get on before him. I can imagine that being slightly awkward…” She sighed. She wanted the bus to come, but she wouldn’t admit it was because James was riding. She saw the bus coming down the hill and she was the next stop. Her bus came to a jerky stop and it’s doors opened. She got on and saw that Kelsey wasn’t on the bus. She sat in her usual spot and texted Kelsey to see where she was. “Oh my god. I have to sit here by myself…with him. Just Great.” She thought. James’s house was next. The bus stopped and he got on, looking as gorgeous as ever…ever being the one time she had seem him. Maddie could hear all the girls on the bus. They were all overwhelmed by his handsomeness. He almost reached her when an arm reached out of the seat 2 seats in front of Maddie. The arm belonged to Bethany. Bethany was pretty much the biggest slut in the whole school. She was beautiful, but still a slut. She hit on everyone…well everyone up to her standards, and it appeared as is James was. “Oh, god. She ruins everything!” Madde thought. He looked up at her suddenly and then looked back at Bethany.

“Look, I already have someone to sit with.” He said calmly to her. Bethany’s arm jerked back out of view, and you could hear her pouting somewhat loudly. James continued walking down the isle until he arrived at the seat across from Maddie.

“Hey.”

“Hey”, Maddie replied. She was slightly shaken by the fact he just declined an offer to sit with the prettiest girl in the whole school just to sit with her.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m fine, just tired. Are you ready for your first day at the most boring school on earth?”

“Is it really that bad?”

“You’ll see. Hey, do you have your schedule yet?”

“Yeah, it’s right here” he took it out and handed it to her.

She looked at it, but she wasn’t really looking at it, she was thinking about something else. “He’s so easy to talk to…” her thoughts wandered “This could turn out to be an ok year after all…”

She noticed he was smiling. “Why is he smiling?” she thought. Suddenly his smile disappeared and he looked at her.

“What do you think?”

“Oh…umm…I have Barns first period too. Oh, and Cots fourth period and Jennings seventh. Wow, we have a lot of classes together. And wait, we have the same lunch too.”

“Sounds great.”


"Geez, this ride is long," Maddie thought, "Something to say...I need something to say! Why do my conversations always run dry?"

"So, how long have you lived here?" James said suddenly.

"All my life, practically. I moved here when I was about 5," she said. "How does he always know what to say? Now I really need to keep this conversation going."

"Where did you live before here?" she asked.

"Oklahoma." he said gloomily.

"Were you born there?"

"No, actually. I was born in Canad, but I'm no Canadian. My mom was traveling at the time"

"Good to know," she said and smiled.

"You have a really pretty smile," he said.

"This is awkward," she thought, "I'll just change the subject, I guess"

"Umm...wheres your mom, since she's not at home."

"Oh, she's visiting with my aunt in Austria."

"So, your Austrian?"

"No, actually I'm an American. My mom is origianlly from Colorado." he said. Then his voice went to a hushed tone, "What do you say we make this conversation a little more private, " and then even quieter, "that came out wrong." Then, he scooted across the isle to her seat. Maddie scooted over as far as she could becuase it was a little awkward.

"How's the house coming along?"

"Pretty good, pretty good. Well actually..." and the conversation went on without one awkward silence all the way to school. Maddie was shocked.
  

 

Chapter 6 (still Maddie)

The bus came to a stop and everyone got up. "Well, let's get you safely to your first class."

"Safely?" he asked. Maddie smiled and James smiled back.

"Let me see your schedule again."

James pulled out his schedule and handed it to Maddie.

Maddie looked at it quickly and said, "Ok, B126. That's upstairs B-hall. I have that class too."

"Lead the way!" James said smiling slightly.

They walked to room B126 and sat down. There was a short akward silence.

"Would you like to meet my friends?" Maddie almost blurted out.

"Sure." James said somewhat enthusiastically.

 They walked out of the room and headed to the cafeteria.

"This is going good, I guess. He's so charming. It's so weird we have three classes together...What do I say now?" Maddie thought.

"So, were exactly do you live inthe neighborhood?"

Maddie was about to answer when she saw a group of people up ahead. They were the populars, they were nice but very ignorant. They just don't get people who aren't like them. Half of them probably thought Maddie was mute.

"I live up the road by that pond in the middle of the neighborhood." Maddie said a little loud as they walked by.

"Wow, that's a big house!"

"Yeah, my mom is the CEO of a fashion company."

"Thats cool, my mom is an interior designer, but I guess you already know that."

Maddie smiled, " Yeah, here's the cafeteria." They walked in and James followed Maddie to a table where sopme girls and a few guys were sitting.

Chapter: I don't know right now. (Maddie)

It was Friday finally and Maddie was in her room painting. She knew she needed to wash up, but she couldn’t leave her paints just yet. She heard the doorbell ring, but had no intention of going downstairs to answer the door; her mother would get it she thought. It rang again and again and again and again.

 “If no one had answered to door, why wont they give up!”

The constant ringing was starting to annoy her, so she decided to go downstairs and see who the person was. Who could it be, but James? How did he know where I lived, she thought, that’s odd. She opened the door and greeted him, “Umm…hi.” He suddenly took her hand. “Come with me”, he said. At first, only bad thoughts cam to her mind after hearing this statement, but there was something about James that made him so trustworthy. “Ok, let me get my-“. “Why? It’s not cold.” “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight”. They walked away from the house, but not to the road, but more deeply into her property. They stopped at a huge tree that had not grown straight, it’s curve made quite a comfortable seat. They sat there in silence for a few minutes. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but I need to tell you something”, he said. “Um, ok” She tried to think of what could possibly be this important that he had to tell her after only meeting her a couple of times, but she couldn’t think of anything. “There’s no easy way of saying this without sounding crazy…so I’m just going to say it, I can read your mind”.

“Oh my god, he is crazy.”

“I’m not crazy!  It’s just that I can’t read every ones minds, just certain people. And it’s not very often that I come along someone whom I can read. And so far it has never been a girl, besides my mom, and it has never been someone who wasn’t in my family.”

“I really don’t know what to think of this, but I must say that there is something about you that seems…I don’t know…”

They sat there for a while, not looking at each other.

“Please don’t tell anyone”, he said, “I’d rather not let everyone know about this.” She looked up at him and said, “I won’t, James Ralcom, I promise”. He sighed with relief, “ Thank you”, he said, “but, how did you know my last name?” She smiled at him, “Your friend request.” Maddie said.

He smiled. “Oh, yeah.”

 “I’ve got to go”, thought Maddie, “I need to get ready for my mom’s party.”

 “Ok, I’ll walk you to your house” he said. She looked at him, shocked, “It’s going to take sometime to get used to this”. They both smiled and started walking back to Maddie’s house.

“Well, thanks for trusting me with your secret”, Maddie said once they got to the door. “Well, I can’t really tell anyone else”, he said arrogantly. Maddie looked at him with a look of disappointment on her face. “Oh my god.” she thought “that was really rude.”

“Oh my god, sorry! That was so rude, I’m sorry…I didn’t realize-”, he said quickly, “and I didn’t just say that because…you know.”

Maddie stood there for a while thinking about what just happened. I always think too much about things, she thought. “It’s no problem, we all do it at one point or another”, she said back to him. He looked at her directly in the eyes, “You know some people don’t think enough about things. Thinking makes you more aware of everything around you. “

She said back to him, “And you’re lucky because you have double the awareness”. “Why’s that?” James said. She stared at him.

“Oh, right…” He laughed, “Well, I’ll see you later. I have to go home and finish filling out some forms for school before tomorrow.” He started to walk off when she stopped him. “I’ll help you find your classes tomorrow, but if you get lost or something, here’s my number.” She handed a piece of paper to him. “Thanks, I’ll text you mine when I get home.”

“Ok, see you later.” He walked off down the road.

“He’s so nice”, she thought. “I heard that!” he yelled. She smiled and went inside to paint. She liked to paint, especially when she was happy with herself, and now she had a reason to be happy because he made her happy. I wonder if he can hear me, she thought, I hope he can.