Untitled (NaNoWriMo) Part 2/?
So. I doubt very many people who go to UCSC will be reading this, but the plays that Rainbow Theater is doing are all very good. Stop Kiss (a lesbian love story), Saint Lucy's Eyes (about Black women in the 60s and abortions), In The Time of the Rosalia (about a group of Honduran women) and Poet's Corner (basically a bunch of slam poetry).
And now, the next part of my still untitled story (when I come up with a title I'll go back and edit all of this).
This consists of my writing from days 3 through 6.
As soon as Cammie was home, she headed straight to her room and flopped backwards onto her bed. Who knew the first day could be so tiring? Trying to find someone who would talk to her (no bites) and avoiding Greg (which was a success following lunch), not to mention the academic aspect of high school was wearing her out already, and it was only her first day! How was she going to stand through four more years of this?
“Cammie, how was school?” Allison asked from the kitchen downstairs, from where the smell of spaghetti and meatballs wafted into Cammie’s room.
“Good. No friends yet.” Cammie called back down without stirring from her bed.
“I’m sure you’ll make some in time, sweetie.” Allison called back, trying to be reassuring but, being the preoccupied mother she was, utterly failing at it. “For now, there’s spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I’m making a batch for Becky before her soccer practice, but yours will be ready in an hour.” She paused, as if waiting for a response that never came. “I’ll also be making garlic bread.” Cammie could practically see Allison’s knowing smile. Garlic bread was one of her favorite foods, and Allison was one of few people who could make it right. Most places either burned it to a crisp or made it too soft, while Allison managed to give her garlic a crunchy, comfortable middle.
“Thanks Allison.” Cammie called back after another silence, this time with a smile on her face. She got up from her bed and locked her door before taking a seat at her desk. She opened the top drawer, but instead of reaching into it, she reached under it to where a USB was taped. After removing it, she slid it into the USB drive of her laptop. She opened it and turned it on and, once she was logged in, opened the one Microsoft Word document, titled “Essay #4”. However, anyone who had read its contents knew that the document was not an essay, but a diary.
Cammie was immediately brought to the first log in her pixelated diary, titled simply “September 13, 2026”. It was a description of her twelfth birthday, and all the things her friends had given her. Her mother had just bought her a laptop computer. Since that date, she had decided to keep a diary, which she “wrote” in every Sunday religiously. She scrolled down, skimming through the other entries, but avoiding the December entries, as that was around when her mother had died.
Cammie continued scrolling, reading about her difficulty trying to live with her father. Then, when she reached around July, the text changed color. Before it was red, but from here on, it was black. To anyone else, it would be insignificant, but to Cammie, it was very significant. You see, most people don’t notice details, but Cammie did. One such detail was the date. The last entry written in red was titled “May 16, 2027”. The next entry and the first black one was titled “May 20, 2007”. Others might regard this as a typo, but scrolling further, it was clear that this was no typo. “May 27, 2007” and “June 3, 2007” followed, going further and further into the 2009s. This USB contained the only hints of her life as it was before May of 2027.
Cammie knew that she needed to keep this USB well hidden. If anyone found it and read its contents, she was fully aware that they would know that she was from the future, and most likely find some way to send her back. Sure they didn’t have time machines in this time, but Cammie had managed to get hold of one for her trip here, and they would send her back just like she came. Then she would return to her father and continue living a life of trying to make up for all the bad he has done.
Even though Cammie normally updated her USB diary every Sunday, she decided to wait till Monday this week so that she could write about her first day of high school. So rather than reading much further, she skipped to the end and titled her next entry “August 24, 2009”. She then proceeded to write out her entry, skipping the “Dear Diary” formalities and getting right to the meat of it, just like she usually did.
It’s my first day of high school and, unlike I anticipated, I don’t have any friends yet. So not only am I a little freshman girl, but I’m also a total loner. Wonderful. Nobody sat with me at lunch. Actually, scratch that, someone did. Greg Isaacs. He’s annoying. Yup, first day of school and dear ol’ Dad is the only one who finds me vaguely interesting. Granted, he doesn’t know he’s my dad because technically, he isn’t yet. Not to mention that he won’t even meet Mom for a few more months. Anyway, how sad is it when the only friend at school you have is your father? Ha ha, well it’s not too bad. My lab partner in Biology seems pretty nice, although I forget her name. There’s a guy in my English class who seems interesting. He keeps speaking out in class a lot. He sits on the other side of the room, but we don’t have assigned seating so maybe I’ll sit next to him tomorrow. My other classes are alright. Math is pretty boring. Computers is going to be easy, I can sense it already. PE may or may not be fun, depending on how much it rains, and Spanish… well I’ll probably be sleeping in that class anyway.
Other than my first day of school, nothing much happened in the past week. Getting ready for school, back to school shopping and all that... it was pretty fun I guess, because Allison finally acknowledged that I needed some new clothes. There’s a new shoe store at the mall but I didn’t get to check it out.
That’s all for now, Cammie Morgan
After saving the Word document, she pulled the USB drive back out before taping it safely to the bottom of her drawer and unlocking the door. Some might say she was being paranoid and setting up too many precautions, but with the amount of information that was on that USB, she couldn’t be too careful. She had enough to hide as it was, being a girl with powers. Add on top of that the fact that she was from the future and well, that was a lot to hide for a single fourteen year old girl. Most girls could spill all their secrets to a best friend, but Cammie could not, for fear of what would happen to her.
Now that she thought about it, perhaps it was a good thing that she didn’t make too many friends too quickly. One, it would draw attention to her, and she needed to blend in. Two, she knew she was going to have to return to her time eventually. She didn’t want to get too attached to the people in this time, or returning to her own time would be that much harder on her. She didn’t want to be missed too much, yet at the same time, she couldn’t exactly be a friendless loner, or she’d be picked on, and would get negative attention drawn to her. Plus, everyone needed friends, whether that meant a clique to hang out with or just one person who you do everything with. All this added up to quite a dilemma.
Suddenly, Cammie was knocked out of her thoughts by a voice. “Cammie, dinner!” She had completely lost track of time, and found herself staring at her laptop’s desktop screen as she drowned in her own thoughts. She shut down her laptop and closed it.
“Coming!” she called, standing up and heading downstairs to eat.
***
Cammie was just about to dig in when she heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll get that.” She said, standing up before Allison could finish sprinkling parmesan cheese on Josh’s pasta. Heading over to the door, she immediately looked through the peep hole, surprised to see a familiar face. She unlocked it and swung it open. “Todd!” she exclaimed, giving him a big hug before he could react. He just chuckled and patted her head.
“Hey. How’s my favorite sister?” Cammie giggled at this. Sure she wasn’t really his sister (but close enough, really) but between Becky and Cammie, it was obvious that she was his favorite. Becky and Todd never really got along for some reason.
Cammie pulled away and grinned. “I’m good. First day of high school was today, you know. And I didn’t see you anywhere.” She made a face. Todd laughed.
“Well I went off campus for lunch and because I don’t have a second period, I went back home after first. Didn’t have to go back to school until after brunch.” He answered with a chuckle. Cammie’s jaw dropped.
“Lucky! Do all seniors have such cushy schedules like that?” She couldn’t believe it. She was taking six classes, and he only had to take five!
“Some seniors have even less. I know some people who are taking four classes and a couple who are taking three.” Based on the look on Cammie’s face, it was obvious that she didn’t believe him. “No, really! You can ask Sarah. She’s taking all six classes, but most of them are electives.”
“You brought her?” Cammie asked, making a face. She wanted it to be just her and Todd and the happy family all together again, but he had to ruin that by bringing his girlfriend.
“Yeah I did. She’s running a little late, had to get an errand done.” Todd frowned. “Please be nice to her. She already suspects that you don’t like her, even though you keep insisting to everyone that you do.”
“I do like her! I do, she’s nice. I just wish you would come over by yourself every once in a while.” Cammie said with a sigh. “You know, it could be like old times… and I miss having you as a brother…”
Sarah chose that moment to appear in the doorway. “Hey sweetie!” She said. Her shining bright blue eyes made it obvious that she was completely oblivious of the fact that they had been having a serious conversation about her only moments earlier. She gave Todd a peck on the cheek. “Hello Cammie, Allison, Joshua.” She greeted the family, giving them a nod of the head as accompaniment. “So, are we all gonna stand in the doorway, or can we come in?” she asked jokingly.
“That’s right, Cammie dear, let Todd and Sarah in.” Allison said. Cammie turned around and gave Allison a look before turning to Todd and Sarah, replacing that look with a sweet smile.
“Yes, come in. We were about to eat dinner actually. Spaghetti and meatballs, Todd. With Allison’s awesome marinara sauce. Please tell me you still remember how awesome her cooking is.” Cammie teased. Todd hadn’t visited them in a while, so she often made fun of him, saying stuff like how he never had home cooking anymore because he lived on his own. Which was partly true; when she visited his apartment, she noticed his freezer was full of microwave meals, and his kitchen table was covered in coupons for Chinese and Mexican restaurants and pizza places. Obviously, home cooked meals were something Todd hadn’t had in a long time.
Todd and Sarah followed Cammie inside, each taking a seat at the table. Since Becky had gone to her soccer practice and Allison ate dinner after everyone else, there were just enough chairs for everyone. Todd sat across from Cammie with Sarah next to him.
“Hi Todd!” Josh piped up suddenly, a grin spreading across the six year old’s face.
“Hey little buddy. High five.” Todd reached diagonally across the table and Josh gave him an enthusiastic high five. “So, you started first grade this year?” Josh gave a grin and a vigorous nod. “How is it?”
“It’s so fun! I can use the big kid monkey bars now. I mean, in Kindergarten we had our own monkey bars, but they were really low. Now I can use the big kid ones. Well not quite because the fourth and fifth graders and sometimes the third graders get the REAL big kid ones… their monkey bars are even higher up than ours…”
Cammie stopped paying attention as Josh rambled on about monkey bars, tag, and drawing in the tanbark. Instead, she focused on eating her spaghetti. Peeking up at Todd and Sarah, she noticed that they too seemed to not be listening. Sure they pretended to, by nodding and saying things like “Oh wow” every once in a while, but ask either of them exactly what Josh had just said and they would probably draw a blank. They seemed to be more focused on eating their food, yet they managed to look up every few moments to smile and nod at what Josh was saying. In other words, a typical dinner in the Morgan household. Josh was always the one blabbing about his day while everyone else nodded and pretended to listen. Well, everyone but Allison, who was probably the only one who actually listened to every word. Then again, she was his mother.
“I met a guy today.” Cammie said suddenly, completely interrupting Josh in the middle of one of his rants about school lunches. When she spoke, he stopped talking and turned to look at her. Cammie looked up and noticed everyone else was looking at her too. Todd raised his eyebrows when she caught his eyes. Immediately knowing what he was thinking, she said “Eew, don’t even think that. He’s an acquaintance at best.” She sighed. “He’s a junior, his name is Greg Isaacs, and he’s annoying. Any questions?”
“Why did you bring him up if you didn’t want to talk about him?” Todd asked. Everyone else remained silent.
“I didn’t want to have to sit through his rambling anymore,” She jerked her head towards Josh. “and nothing else really important happened. Other than him sitting with me at lunch, I had little to no conversation with the other students outside of class.” She sighed.
“He sat with you at lunch?” This time it was Allison who asked the questions. Cammie had never mentions boys as anything more than friends before, so each time Cammie brought up meeting a new one, Allison became a little more protective.
“There were no other empty tables, Allison. It doesn’t mean anything.” Cammie lied. Well technically it wasn’t a total lie; there were really no other empty tables left. But she had conveniently failed to mention that Greg had moved from his table of one to sit with her.
“So what’s he like? Is he cute?” Sarah teased, grinning as she spoke. Cammie shot her a glare that made Sarah shut her mouth.
“No. He’s annoying as hell.” She heard Josh next to her gasp at her use of ‘the H-word’ but she continued anyway. “He insisted on sitting with me because I was alone. He wouldn’t listen when I told him to go away. I wanted to eat alone.” She told them. “Also he listens to his music really with the volume up really high so everyone around him can hear it too… I hate people who do that.” She shook her head. “But yeah, that’s it.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Josh asked. Cammie turned to look at him and made a face. “…never mind.” Josh said quickly, realizing he had said something wrong.
Cammie stood and lifted her now empty plate. “I’m gonna go put this in the sink, then go up to my room. I have a lot of homework to finish.”
“Homework? On the first day?” Allison looked surprised.
“Yeah, I was surprised too. You have no idea.” Cammie rolled her eyes. “It’s mainly forms and stuff, but we have twice as many problems as our usual load for math because our teacher wants to get through the review chapters quickly.” She sighed before heading to the sink to dump her plate. On her way back, she grabbed Todd around the shoulders, giving him a quick hug. “It’s been great to see you. Maybe I’ll see you around campus or something.” She told him.
“Yeah. See you later. Good luck with school.” Todd said, obviously stunned at her sudden leave. Cammie gave them all one last wave before disappearing upstairs.
***
It was eleven o’clock at night, and Cammie couldn’t sleep. She lay awake in bed, hair spread out over her pillow, staring at the ceiling and thinking. Just thinking. Thinking of whether her lab partner’s name was Tara or Tina. Thinking of why it took her so long to answer number fifteen on her math homework and whether there was a better way to do it. And, of course, thinking of Greg. Greg, her father. This boy had half of the same DNA that she did. Sure they didn’t look alike (Cammie got most of her looks from her mother and her parents) but they had the same eyes, and some of the same elements of their personality.
One thing they didn’t have in common was that she was going to make sure that unlike him, she did things right the first time. This is why Cammie came to this time in the first place; to find her dad and prevent him from screwing up his life. You see, in Cammie’s time, her father was bad at best and a villain at worst. From her mother, she had learned that it was the death of his parents that pushed him over the edge. He became vengeful and would stop at nothing to kill those responsible for the death of his parents.
Eventually this killing turned into killing innocent people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Granted, any killing was bad, but the fact that it was her own father doing it really affected her. She knew that what her father did was wrong, but she loved him and didn’t want to turn him into the police. After all, then it would be off to Kansas to live with her grandparents, and there was no way that she wanted to get shipped off to Kansas. People there didn’t even believe in evolution, much less super powers.
Cammie, being a technopath, knew a lot about the technology of her time, including time machines. If she hadn’t been a technopath, she probably wouldn’t have been able to use the time machine at all. Unfortunately, after staying hidden for two years, it wasn’t exactly in great condition. She’d have to fix it before her return, which may become a problem considering nobody here knew how to make one, much less fix one. Although she knew she had to wait until after Greg’s parents died to do anything (she couldn’t prevent their death, only how Greg reacted to it), she wanted to get things done fairly quickly, so she could leave and go back to her own time. That plus the fact that the time machine was getting worse as it sat unused made the job feel rushed, even though she had not much to do for the time being. Really, all that she could do now was get him to trust her. She’d have to try and blend in to everyone else, and she’d definitely try not to get attached to anyone (leaving would only be that much harder) but at the same time, he had to know her and trust her. Which kind of sucked considering how annoying he was, but this was her father and she loved him. It felt weird seeing him as a teenager, but she loved him all the same.
Cammie then wondered if she’d see her mother at high school. She knew her parents hadn’t met yet, but they did go to the same high school. Because Cammie got most of her looks from her mother, she wondered if people would think the two were sisters, especially considering the fact that Cammie being a foster kid wasn’t exactly a secret. Granted, not all of Cammie’s physical traits came from her mother, but they shared the same hair and body structure, and for most people, that was enough. Cammie’s other physical features came from her grandparents. Cammie’s personality, however, was more of a mix. She had similar interests and fears as her father, but general personality traits seemed to come from her mother. She began to wonder about what it would like to meet a younger version of her mother. She really missed her mother, and meeting her again, even if it was her teenage self, would definitely help her feel a little better. And as she began pondering whether or not she’d get along with a younger version of her mother, she began drifting off to sleep.
***
It was really too bad that the class Cammie had right before lunch was so far away from the cafeteria. It meant not only that she got to eat only out of what remained, but also that, once again, she found herself looking across the cafeteria, looking for a table to sit at. Well she could sit with her lab partner and all her friends… the group seemed to be the type who knew each other since elementary school and had all sorts of inside jokes and traditions. So maybe not. She could also sit near the guy from English, but Cammie didn’t feel like being the only girl in a group of guys. Her eyes settled on Greg, who sat alone, just as he had when they met. Sighing, as she didn’t believe what she was just about to do, Cammie walked up to Greg, standing next to the chair across from him. “Is anyone sitting here?” she asked him.
Greg pushed the chair out with his feet. “Well, you are.” He said. He was once again leaned back, clad in a black jacket, white shirt, and jeans. In comparison to Cammie’s dark red knee socks, denim capris, and yellow shirt, he looked very bland. Pulling the chair out a little more, she sat down. “So, what prompted you to return?” he asked, cutting to the chase.
“I have no friends.” She said simply. If she had other people to eat with, she would have. Granted, learning to get him to trust her so she could complete her mission was another reason, but she wasn’t about to say that.
Greg just nodded at her reply. “Fair enough.” He said. There was a short silence, then “What, the others couldn’t handle you?” he teased. Cammie rolled her eyes.
“I’m not exactly the most social person, if you haven’t realized that by now.” She shot back. “I don’t exactly go out looking for friends. Which provides a dilemma since seventy-five percent of the things you do in high school require having friends.” She sighed. “One of those things being eating lunch.” She made a face as she looked down at her ravioli. At least the food was, once again, edible. She wasn’t sure how long that was going to last though, seeing as the rumor had it that the food here was horrible. Sure it was nothing compared to Allison’s home cooking, but she didn’t expect it to be. As long as she could eat it without puking, all was well.
“I’m quite the loner myself, actually.” Greg said. Cammie looked up at him in surprise. The father she knew had many friends, in college at least. Cammie’s mother had told her that since she and Greg met, they had many friends. Granted, Cammie’s parents didn’t meet until senior year, when they were in the same class and later, learned that they would be going to the same college. They didn’t even start dating until later in their first year in college. And to think, they would have been such a perfect family if Cammie’s mother hadn’t left Greg when Greg refused to end his villainous ways. By then Cammie had already been born, and her mother refused to raise Cammie in a household with a villain.
Cammie shook her thoughts out of her head. That was in the past now. Well, technically in the future, but it was in her past, and with some gentle prodding and a little magic, she’d make sure that didn’t happen at all. In her ideal future, her parents would stay together and Greg would have never been evil. He would never have killed anyone, and although she couldn’t prevent his parents from dying, she could make sure that she returned to a happy family and not a broken one.
***
When the bell signaling the end of Biology rang, Cammie let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. All this time she had been staring at the clock, while the teacher ranting about the plasma membrane played in the back of her mind, she focused on the clock, begging it to go a little faster, but to no avail. Unfortunately, analog clocks never listened to her technopathic pleas.
As she packed her things, she heard a voice behind her. “Hey Cammie?” Turning around, she saw her lab partner; whose name, as she now remembered, was Tina. The two had been passing notes in class in their boredom and found that they had a good number of things in common.
“One second, Tina.” Cammie said, lifting a finger before turning back around to finish packing her things. After she finished, she turned to face Tina again, tucking in her chair with her foot. “Yeah?”
“Are you doing anything after school? A few friends and I were going to go hang out and grab coffee after school and I was wondering if you wanted to join us.”
A small smile spread on Cammie’s face. “Yeah, sure I’ll come.” She said as the two began to walk out together. “Thanks for inviting me, by the way. I never have anything to do, so I usually just surf Facebook after school.” She added with a laugh.
Tina laughed in response. “Yeah, no problem.” She paused. “You’re a pretty cool girl Cammie, just a little shy is all. I’m always surprised to see you alone all the time.”
“My friends all went to Caldwell.” Cammie said. She shrugged. “I sort of have to make friends all over again. It sucks, but hey, I’m getting to meet more people, right? Slowly but surely. I mean, I’ve already met you.”
“Yeah I know what you mean. I moved here in seventh grade and had to start over as the new girl.” Tina admitted. “But at least you aren’t seen as the new girl like I was. So many people are new here that it doesn’t really matter all that much.
“True, true.” The two walked in silence down the hall until they found themselves just outside the building. Cammie followed Tina to a patch of grass and the two sat down. They waited for some time for Tina’s friends to show up.
“Hey, there they are!” Tina said, waving over to a couple of girls. One was tall and athletic with curly blonde hair and the other was a curvier brunette. The two walked over and sat on the grass with Cammie and Tina. Tina immediately started introducing everyone. “Hey guys, this is my lab partner Cammie. Cammie, this is Kirsten,” she pointed to the blonde “and Jaime.” She pointed to the brunette.
“Hey.” Cammie said simply with a smile and a small wave. It seemed the three had been friends for a while, and Cammie felt like she was intruding. But then again, Tina had invited her… maybe she’d stay and see what they were like, she thought to herself. So far she knew Tina was a nice girl, so she assumed her friends were just as nice.
“Hey, Cammie, is it? Is that short for Cameron, by any chance?” Jaime asked. Cammie just nodded. “Thought so.” There was a silence, and then she spoke again. “So, we were going to get coffee, and hang out before heading over to Kirsten’s place to see a movie, since she lives within walking distance. That okay with you, Cammie?” Cammie just nodded again. Jaime was obviously the leader of the group, and Kirsten seemed to be the shyest. Tina and Cammie were somewhere in the middle.
The group stood up and began walking down the street to where Starbucks was. As Jaime started going on to Tina about some boy in her PE class, Kirsten and Cammie remained silent. Cammie figured she might as well speak to the girl, but wasn’t sure how to initiate conversation. She looked the girl up and down. Compliment her clothing, Cammie, she thought to herself. Kirsten wore a white peasant skirt with black and red trim, along with black ballet flats and a red tank top. “Cute skirt.” Cammie said. Cammie didn’t normally like skirts, but she had to admit, that one was nice.
Kirsten, who had been looking at her feet this whole time, gave a small smile before looking up at Cammie. “Oh, thanks. My grandmother sewed it for me.” There was a pause. “I mean, she bought the skirt, but it was just plain white, so she sewed the trim on. She knows I don’t like things that are just plain white.” She said with a smile.
“Well you’re really lucky. I don’t know anyone who can sew.” Cammie said. “I mean, my mother can cook really well, but sew? No way.”
“My grandmother can’t cook, so I guess that makes us even.” Kirsten said with a laugh. “When my mom was growing up, my grandfather had to cook so that she and her three brothers would have something edible to eat.”
“Oh, your mother was one of four kids? So am I. Granted, we’re all foster kids, but still. Big families are hectic, but a lot of fun.” Cammie said with a grin, picking up the pace without realizing it.
“Wow, four kids… I only have one older sister, Amanda. She’s a junior.” Kirsten said with a sigh. “She’s way more outgoing than I am though. She’s popular too. It’s kind of annoying.” Kirsten frowned.
“Hey, I know what you mean. My older foster brother Todd is a senior. He has a girlfriend and because he turned eighteen, he moved out and now he lives in his own apartment. He’s independent, had lots of friends, is very smart, and he’ll probably go to a really good college next year.” She frowned. “I’ll admit, I’m a little jealous. Not to mention I wish things were the way they were before he had moved out. We used to be really close, but now, not so much.” Cammie bit her lip. “Wow, I’m sorry… I don’t know where that came from.”
“It’s alright.” Kirsten said with a smile. “It sounds like you just need someone to listen, that’s all.” She paused. “I’ll listen.”
Cammie gave a small smile. “Thanks.” She said. “I’d appreciate that.” But before she could say any more, she looked up and realized they were already standing outside Starbucks. “Later, though.” She said, and Kirsten nodded.
The four of them stepped into Starbucks and immediately the scent of the coffee filled their nostrils. Granted, it was warm outside, so the corporate coffee shop was rather cool. The tables were littered with half empty Frappuccino cups, paper bags, and laptops, all belonging to what looked like high school and college students. Tina and her friends weren’t the only ones who would come here after school every day, it seemed.
After standing in line and ordering an iced caramel macchiato and a chocolate chip cookie, Cammie followed the girls to a table outside. They all sat down and, after munching on their food a little, started to talk. Jaime initiated the conversation again. “So Cammie, you met anyone interesting around here yet?” she asked.
“Well…” Cammie started to shake her head, and then stopped. “There’s this guy Greg, he’s a junior… he’s kind of annoying but he’s the only one who will eat with me.” She said with a frown. “I don’t like him or anything,” she quickly added “but he’s… interesting.” She shrugged. “That’s it really. Him and this super opinionated guy in my English class.” Cammie unfortunately hadn’t had a chance to sit next to him today, since she was late to class after getting lost in the Math wing.
“Oh my god, you have Peter Moore in your class?” Tina asked with an amused grin. “He went to middle school with us. He is so…”
“…amazing.” Jamie finished Tina’s sentence for her, also grinning, but hers was more one of happiness. “He’s an atheist, totally cares about the environment…”
“Jaime used to have a crush on him. We think she still does.” Tina said. “And actually I was going to annoying…”
“I do not!” Jaime interrupted. “Not since I found out he was against abortions anyway.” She paused. “Well he’s not exactly against them, but he thinks they should be controlled. Which, in my opinion, means you might as well be against them.” She sighed. “But he’s so awesome, provided that you’re not as political as I am.”
“Politics is interesting.” Cammie said simply. “But I don’t exactly live for it, you know? I have other interests.” She shrugged. She stayed quiet about abortion. In her time, abortion was no longer as big an issue because most people were pro-choice. Then again, there was also a female president, while in this time they had had enough trouble electing Barack Obama.
“Jaime does.” Tina said. “She’s probably going to end up majoring in Political Science. At Cornell or some other really good school like that.”
“Political Science or Feminist Studies.” Jaime corrected Tina. “Although I might just minor in Feminist Studies. And I highly doubt I’ll get into Cornell.”
“Well your sister goes there, and you’re way smarter than she is.” Tina said. “Jaime’s sister Page is a Literature major at Cornell.” She told Cammie. “She’s in her freshman year.”
The girls continued talking about colleges while Cammie just listened, munching on her cookie. It wasn’t long before she was finished. “Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go toss this.” She said, gesturing to the empty bag the cookie was once in. The girls nodded and continued their conversation and Cammie stood and walked into Starbucks once more, to toss her trash in the trash can by the door.
When she was about to turn and go outside, she noticed a familiar tuft of black hair, hiding behind a laptop near the window. “Greg?” The laptop screen was lowered and sure enough, there he was. Cammie gave him a look. Had he… followed her there? They had only come here a few minutes after school was let out, after all…
“I’ve been here since before you got here, honest.” He said. “And besides, ask anyone, I’ve been here since after fifth period.” He told her. Then, with a smug grin, he added “Because I don’t have a sixth period.” Cammie narrowed her eyes. Oh he could be so exasperating at times. And yet, he was her father. How was it that he was so annoying as a kid? What had changed? Oh right… his parents’ death made him evil. Cammie wiped the thought out of her mind and silently turned around and left, heading back to the table where the girls sat, still chattering away.
You know, at this point I don't care so much about whether or not I finish. What's more important is that I've already written more than I've ever written before (19 pages on Word!) and that I already know what's going to happen in my mind.
I should turn RP plots into stories more often...
And now, the next part of my still untitled story (when I come up with a title I'll go back and edit all of this).
This consists of my writing from days 3 through 6.
As soon as Cammie was home, she headed straight to her room and flopped backwards onto her bed. Who knew the first day could be so tiring? Trying to find someone who would talk to her (no bites) and avoiding Greg (which was a success following lunch), not to mention the academic aspect of high school was wearing her out already, and it was only her first day! How was she going to stand through four more years of this?
“Cammie, how was school?” Allison asked from the kitchen downstairs, from where the smell of spaghetti and meatballs wafted into Cammie’s room.
“Good. No friends yet.” Cammie called back down without stirring from her bed.
“I’m sure you’ll make some in time, sweetie.” Allison called back, trying to be reassuring but, being the preoccupied mother she was, utterly failing at it. “For now, there’s spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I’m making a batch for Becky before her soccer practice, but yours will be ready in an hour.” She paused, as if waiting for a response that never came. “I’ll also be making garlic bread.” Cammie could practically see Allison’s knowing smile. Garlic bread was one of her favorite foods, and Allison was one of few people who could make it right. Most places either burned it to a crisp or made it too soft, while Allison managed to give her garlic a crunchy, comfortable middle.
“Thanks Allison.” Cammie called back after another silence, this time with a smile on her face. She got up from her bed and locked her door before taking a seat at her desk. She opened the top drawer, but instead of reaching into it, she reached under it to where a USB was taped. After removing it, she slid it into the USB drive of her laptop. She opened it and turned it on and, once she was logged in, opened the one Microsoft Word document, titled “Essay #4”. However, anyone who had read its contents knew that the document was not an essay, but a diary.
Cammie was immediately brought to the first log in her pixelated diary, titled simply “September 13, 2026”. It was a description of her twelfth birthday, and all the things her friends had given her. Her mother had just bought her a laptop computer. Since that date, she had decided to keep a diary, which she “wrote” in every Sunday religiously. She scrolled down, skimming through the other entries, but avoiding the December entries, as that was around when her mother had died.
Cammie continued scrolling, reading about her difficulty trying to live with her father. Then, when she reached around July, the text changed color. Before it was red, but from here on, it was black. To anyone else, it would be insignificant, but to Cammie, it was very significant. You see, most people don’t notice details, but Cammie did. One such detail was the date. The last entry written in red was titled “May 16, 2027”. The next entry and the first black one was titled “May 20, 2007”. Others might regard this as a typo, but scrolling further, it was clear that this was no typo. “May 27, 2007” and “June 3, 2007” followed, going further and further into the 2009s. This USB contained the only hints of her life as it was before May of 2027.
Cammie knew that she needed to keep this USB well hidden. If anyone found it and read its contents, she was fully aware that they would know that she was from the future, and most likely find some way to send her back. Sure they didn’t have time machines in this time, but Cammie had managed to get hold of one for her trip here, and they would send her back just like she came. Then she would return to her father and continue living a life of trying to make up for all the bad he has done.
Even though Cammie normally updated her USB diary every Sunday, she decided to wait till Monday this week so that she could write about her first day of high school. So rather than reading much further, she skipped to the end and titled her next entry “August 24, 2009”. She then proceeded to write out her entry, skipping the “Dear Diary” formalities and getting right to the meat of it, just like she usually did.
It’s my first day of high school and, unlike I anticipated, I don’t have any friends yet. So not only am I a little freshman girl, but I’m also a total loner. Wonderful. Nobody sat with me at lunch. Actually, scratch that, someone did. Greg Isaacs. He’s annoying. Yup, first day of school and dear ol’ Dad is the only one who finds me vaguely interesting. Granted, he doesn’t know he’s my dad because technically, he isn’t yet. Not to mention that he won’t even meet Mom for a few more months. Anyway, how sad is it when the only friend at school you have is your father? Ha ha, well it’s not too bad. My lab partner in Biology seems pretty nice, although I forget her name. There’s a guy in my English class who seems interesting. He keeps speaking out in class a lot. He sits on the other side of the room, but we don’t have assigned seating so maybe I’ll sit next to him tomorrow. My other classes are alright. Math is pretty boring. Computers is going to be easy, I can sense it already. PE may or may not be fun, depending on how much it rains, and Spanish… well I’ll probably be sleeping in that class anyway.
Other than my first day of school, nothing much happened in the past week. Getting ready for school, back to school shopping and all that... it was pretty fun I guess, because Allison finally acknowledged that I needed some new clothes. There’s a new shoe store at the mall but I didn’t get to check it out.
That’s all for now, Cammie Morgan
After saving the Word document, she pulled the USB drive back out before taping it safely to the bottom of her drawer and unlocking the door. Some might say she was being paranoid and setting up too many precautions, but with the amount of information that was on that USB, she couldn’t be too careful. She had enough to hide as it was, being a girl with powers. Add on top of that the fact that she was from the future and well, that was a lot to hide for a single fourteen year old girl. Most girls could spill all their secrets to a best friend, but Cammie could not, for fear of what would happen to her.
Now that she thought about it, perhaps it was a good thing that she didn’t make too many friends too quickly. One, it would draw attention to her, and she needed to blend in. Two, she knew she was going to have to return to her time eventually. She didn’t want to get too attached to the people in this time, or returning to her own time would be that much harder on her. She didn’t want to be missed too much, yet at the same time, she couldn’t exactly be a friendless loner, or she’d be picked on, and would get negative attention drawn to her. Plus, everyone needed friends, whether that meant a clique to hang out with or just one person who you do everything with. All this added up to quite a dilemma.
Suddenly, Cammie was knocked out of her thoughts by a voice. “Cammie, dinner!” She had completely lost track of time, and found herself staring at her laptop’s desktop screen as she drowned in her own thoughts. She shut down her laptop and closed it.
“Coming!” she called, standing up and heading downstairs to eat.
***
Cammie was just about to dig in when she heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll get that.” She said, standing up before Allison could finish sprinkling parmesan cheese on Josh’s pasta. Heading over to the door, she immediately looked through the peep hole, surprised to see a familiar face. She unlocked it and swung it open. “Todd!” she exclaimed, giving him a big hug before he could react. He just chuckled and patted her head.
“Hey. How’s my favorite sister?” Cammie giggled at this. Sure she wasn’t really his sister (but close enough, really) but between Becky and Cammie, it was obvious that she was his favorite. Becky and Todd never really got along for some reason.
Cammie pulled away and grinned. “I’m good. First day of high school was today, you know. And I didn’t see you anywhere.” She made a face. Todd laughed.
“Well I went off campus for lunch and because I don’t have a second period, I went back home after first. Didn’t have to go back to school until after brunch.” He answered with a chuckle. Cammie’s jaw dropped.
“Lucky! Do all seniors have such cushy schedules like that?” She couldn’t believe it. She was taking six classes, and he only had to take five!
“Some seniors have even less. I know some people who are taking four classes and a couple who are taking three.” Based on the look on Cammie’s face, it was obvious that she didn’t believe him. “No, really! You can ask Sarah. She’s taking all six classes, but most of them are electives.”
“You brought her?” Cammie asked, making a face. She wanted it to be just her and Todd and the happy family all together again, but he had to ruin that by bringing his girlfriend.
“Yeah I did. She’s running a little late, had to get an errand done.” Todd frowned. “Please be nice to her. She already suspects that you don’t like her, even though you keep insisting to everyone that you do.”
“I do like her! I do, she’s nice. I just wish you would come over by yourself every once in a while.” Cammie said with a sigh. “You know, it could be like old times… and I miss having you as a brother…”
Sarah chose that moment to appear in the doorway. “Hey sweetie!” She said. Her shining bright blue eyes made it obvious that she was completely oblivious of the fact that they had been having a serious conversation about her only moments earlier. She gave Todd a peck on the cheek. “Hello Cammie, Allison, Joshua.” She greeted the family, giving them a nod of the head as accompaniment. “So, are we all gonna stand in the doorway, or can we come in?” she asked jokingly.
“That’s right, Cammie dear, let Todd and Sarah in.” Allison said. Cammie turned around and gave Allison a look before turning to Todd and Sarah, replacing that look with a sweet smile.
“Yes, come in. We were about to eat dinner actually. Spaghetti and meatballs, Todd. With Allison’s awesome marinara sauce. Please tell me you still remember how awesome her cooking is.” Cammie teased. Todd hadn’t visited them in a while, so she often made fun of him, saying stuff like how he never had home cooking anymore because he lived on his own. Which was partly true; when she visited his apartment, she noticed his freezer was full of microwave meals, and his kitchen table was covered in coupons for Chinese and Mexican restaurants and pizza places. Obviously, home cooked meals were something Todd hadn’t had in a long time.
Todd and Sarah followed Cammie inside, each taking a seat at the table. Since Becky had gone to her soccer practice and Allison ate dinner after everyone else, there were just enough chairs for everyone. Todd sat across from Cammie with Sarah next to him.
“Hi Todd!” Josh piped up suddenly, a grin spreading across the six year old’s face.
“Hey little buddy. High five.” Todd reached diagonally across the table and Josh gave him an enthusiastic high five. “So, you started first grade this year?” Josh gave a grin and a vigorous nod. “How is it?”
“It’s so fun! I can use the big kid monkey bars now. I mean, in Kindergarten we had our own monkey bars, but they were really low. Now I can use the big kid ones. Well not quite because the fourth and fifth graders and sometimes the third graders get the REAL big kid ones… their monkey bars are even higher up than ours…”
Cammie stopped paying attention as Josh rambled on about monkey bars, tag, and drawing in the tanbark. Instead, she focused on eating her spaghetti. Peeking up at Todd and Sarah, she noticed that they too seemed to not be listening. Sure they pretended to, by nodding and saying things like “Oh wow” every once in a while, but ask either of them exactly what Josh had just said and they would probably draw a blank. They seemed to be more focused on eating their food, yet they managed to look up every few moments to smile and nod at what Josh was saying. In other words, a typical dinner in the Morgan household. Josh was always the one blabbing about his day while everyone else nodded and pretended to listen. Well, everyone but Allison, who was probably the only one who actually listened to every word. Then again, she was his mother.
“I met a guy today.” Cammie said suddenly, completely interrupting Josh in the middle of one of his rants about school lunches. When she spoke, he stopped talking and turned to look at her. Cammie looked up and noticed everyone else was looking at her too. Todd raised his eyebrows when she caught his eyes. Immediately knowing what he was thinking, she said “Eew, don’t even think that. He’s an acquaintance at best.” She sighed. “He’s a junior, his name is Greg Isaacs, and he’s annoying. Any questions?”
“Why did you bring him up if you didn’t want to talk about him?” Todd asked. Everyone else remained silent.
“I didn’t want to have to sit through his rambling anymore,” She jerked her head towards Josh. “and nothing else really important happened. Other than him sitting with me at lunch, I had little to no conversation with the other students outside of class.” She sighed.
“He sat with you at lunch?” This time it was Allison who asked the questions. Cammie had never mentions boys as anything more than friends before, so each time Cammie brought up meeting a new one, Allison became a little more protective.
“There were no other empty tables, Allison. It doesn’t mean anything.” Cammie lied. Well technically it wasn’t a total lie; there were really no other empty tables left. But she had conveniently failed to mention that Greg had moved from his table of one to sit with her.
“So what’s he like? Is he cute?” Sarah teased, grinning as she spoke. Cammie shot her a glare that made Sarah shut her mouth.
“No. He’s annoying as hell.” She heard Josh next to her gasp at her use of ‘the H-word’ but she continued anyway. “He insisted on sitting with me because I was alone. He wouldn’t listen when I told him to go away. I wanted to eat alone.” She told them. “Also he listens to his music really with the volume up really high so everyone around him can hear it too… I hate people who do that.” She shook her head. “But yeah, that’s it.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Josh asked. Cammie turned to look at him and made a face. “…never mind.” Josh said quickly, realizing he had said something wrong.
Cammie stood and lifted her now empty plate. “I’m gonna go put this in the sink, then go up to my room. I have a lot of homework to finish.”
“Homework? On the first day?” Allison looked surprised.
“Yeah, I was surprised too. You have no idea.” Cammie rolled her eyes. “It’s mainly forms and stuff, but we have twice as many problems as our usual load for math because our teacher wants to get through the review chapters quickly.” She sighed before heading to the sink to dump her plate. On her way back, she grabbed Todd around the shoulders, giving him a quick hug. “It’s been great to see you. Maybe I’ll see you around campus or something.” She told him.
“Yeah. See you later. Good luck with school.” Todd said, obviously stunned at her sudden leave. Cammie gave them all one last wave before disappearing upstairs.
***
It was eleven o’clock at night, and Cammie couldn’t sleep. She lay awake in bed, hair spread out over her pillow, staring at the ceiling and thinking. Just thinking. Thinking of whether her lab partner’s name was Tara or Tina. Thinking of why it took her so long to answer number fifteen on her math homework and whether there was a better way to do it. And, of course, thinking of Greg. Greg, her father. This boy had half of the same DNA that she did. Sure they didn’t look alike (Cammie got most of her looks from her mother and her parents) but they had the same eyes, and some of the same elements of their personality.
One thing they didn’t have in common was that she was going to make sure that unlike him, she did things right the first time. This is why Cammie came to this time in the first place; to find her dad and prevent him from screwing up his life. You see, in Cammie’s time, her father was bad at best and a villain at worst. From her mother, she had learned that it was the death of his parents that pushed him over the edge. He became vengeful and would stop at nothing to kill those responsible for the death of his parents.
Eventually this killing turned into killing innocent people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Granted, any killing was bad, but the fact that it was her own father doing it really affected her. She knew that what her father did was wrong, but she loved him and didn’t want to turn him into the police. After all, then it would be off to Kansas to live with her grandparents, and there was no way that she wanted to get shipped off to Kansas. People there didn’t even believe in evolution, much less super powers.
Cammie, being a technopath, knew a lot about the technology of her time, including time machines. If she hadn’t been a technopath, she probably wouldn’t have been able to use the time machine at all. Unfortunately, after staying hidden for two years, it wasn’t exactly in great condition. She’d have to fix it before her return, which may become a problem considering nobody here knew how to make one, much less fix one. Although she knew she had to wait until after Greg’s parents died to do anything (she couldn’t prevent their death, only how Greg reacted to it), she wanted to get things done fairly quickly, so she could leave and go back to her own time. That plus the fact that the time machine was getting worse as it sat unused made the job feel rushed, even though she had not much to do for the time being. Really, all that she could do now was get him to trust her. She’d have to try and blend in to everyone else, and she’d definitely try not to get attached to anyone (leaving would only be that much harder) but at the same time, he had to know her and trust her. Which kind of sucked considering how annoying he was, but this was her father and she loved him. It felt weird seeing him as a teenager, but she loved him all the same.
Cammie then wondered if she’d see her mother at high school. She knew her parents hadn’t met yet, but they did go to the same high school. Because Cammie got most of her looks from her mother, she wondered if people would think the two were sisters, especially considering the fact that Cammie being a foster kid wasn’t exactly a secret. Granted, not all of Cammie’s physical traits came from her mother, but they shared the same hair and body structure, and for most people, that was enough. Cammie’s other physical features came from her grandparents. Cammie’s personality, however, was more of a mix. She had similar interests and fears as her father, but general personality traits seemed to come from her mother. She began to wonder about what it would like to meet a younger version of her mother. She really missed her mother, and meeting her again, even if it was her teenage self, would definitely help her feel a little better. And as she began pondering whether or not she’d get along with a younger version of her mother, she began drifting off to sleep.
***
It was really too bad that the class Cammie had right before lunch was so far away from the cafeteria. It meant not only that she got to eat only out of what remained, but also that, once again, she found herself looking across the cafeteria, looking for a table to sit at. Well she could sit with her lab partner and all her friends… the group seemed to be the type who knew each other since elementary school and had all sorts of inside jokes and traditions. So maybe not. She could also sit near the guy from English, but Cammie didn’t feel like being the only girl in a group of guys. Her eyes settled on Greg, who sat alone, just as he had when they met. Sighing, as she didn’t believe what she was just about to do, Cammie walked up to Greg, standing next to the chair across from him. “Is anyone sitting here?” she asked him.
Greg pushed the chair out with his feet. “Well, you are.” He said. He was once again leaned back, clad in a black jacket, white shirt, and jeans. In comparison to Cammie’s dark red knee socks, denim capris, and yellow shirt, he looked very bland. Pulling the chair out a little more, she sat down. “So, what prompted you to return?” he asked, cutting to the chase.
“I have no friends.” She said simply. If she had other people to eat with, she would have. Granted, learning to get him to trust her so she could complete her mission was another reason, but she wasn’t about to say that.
Greg just nodded at her reply. “Fair enough.” He said. There was a short silence, then “What, the others couldn’t handle you?” he teased. Cammie rolled her eyes.
“I’m not exactly the most social person, if you haven’t realized that by now.” She shot back. “I don’t exactly go out looking for friends. Which provides a dilemma since seventy-five percent of the things you do in high school require having friends.” She sighed. “One of those things being eating lunch.” She made a face as she looked down at her ravioli. At least the food was, once again, edible. She wasn’t sure how long that was going to last though, seeing as the rumor had it that the food here was horrible. Sure it was nothing compared to Allison’s home cooking, but she didn’t expect it to be. As long as she could eat it without puking, all was well.
“I’m quite the loner myself, actually.” Greg said. Cammie looked up at him in surprise. The father she knew had many friends, in college at least. Cammie’s mother had told her that since she and Greg met, they had many friends. Granted, Cammie’s parents didn’t meet until senior year, when they were in the same class and later, learned that they would be going to the same college. They didn’t even start dating until later in their first year in college. And to think, they would have been such a perfect family if Cammie’s mother hadn’t left Greg when Greg refused to end his villainous ways. By then Cammie had already been born, and her mother refused to raise Cammie in a household with a villain.
Cammie shook her thoughts out of her head. That was in the past now. Well, technically in the future, but it was in her past, and with some gentle prodding and a little magic, she’d make sure that didn’t happen at all. In her ideal future, her parents would stay together and Greg would have never been evil. He would never have killed anyone, and although she couldn’t prevent his parents from dying, she could make sure that she returned to a happy family and not a broken one.
***
When the bell signaling the end of Biology rang, Cammie let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. All this time she had been staring at the clock, while the teacher ranting about the plasma membrane played in the back of her mind, she focused on the clock, begging it to go a little faster, but to no avail. Unfortunately, analog clocks never listened to her technopathic pleas.
As she packed her things, she heard a voice behind her. “Hey Cammie?” Turning around, she saw her lab partner; whose name, as she now remembered, was Tina. The two had been passing notes in class in their boredom and found that they had a good number of things in common.
“One second, Tina.” Cammie said, lifting a finger before turning back around to finish packing her things. After she finished, she turned to face Tina again, tucking in her chair with her foot. “Yeah?”
“Are you doing anything after school? A few friends and I were going to go hang out and grab coffee after school and I was wondering if you wanted to join us.”
A small smile spread on Cammie’s face. “Yeah, sure I’ll come.” She said as the two began to walk out together. “Thanks for inviting me, by the way. I never have anything to do, so I usually just surf Facebook after school.” She added with a laugh.
Tina laughed in response. “Yeah, no problem.” She paused. “You’re a pretty cool girl Cammie, just a little shy is all. I’m always surprised to see you alone all the time.”
“My friends all went to Caldwell.” Cammie said. She shrugged. “I sort of have to make friends all over again. It sucks, but hey, I’m getting to meet more people, right? Slowly but surely. I mean, I’ve already met you.”
“Yeah I know what you mean. I moved here in seventh grade and had to start over as the new girl.” Tina admitted. “But at least you aren’t seen as the new girl like I was. So many people are new here that it doesn’t really matter all that much.
“True, true.” The two walked in silence down the hall until they found themselves just outside the building. Cammie followed Tina to a patch of grass and the two sat down. They waited for some time for Tina’s friends to show up.
“Hey, there they are!” Tina said, waving over to a couple of girls. One was tall and athletic with curly blonde hair and the other was a curvier brunette. The two walked over and sat on the grass with Cammie and Tina. Tina immediately started introducing everyone. “Hey guys, this is my lab partner Cammie. Cammie, this is Kirsten,” she pointed to the blonde “and Jaime.” She pointed to the brunette.
“Hey.” Cammie said simply with a smile and a small wave. It seemed the three had been friends for a while, and Cammie felt like she was intruding. But then again, Tina had invited her… maybe she’d stay and see what they were like, she thought to herself. So far she knew Tina was a nice girl, so she assumed her friends were just as nice.
“Hey, Cammie, is it? Is that short for Cameron, by any chance?” Jaime asked. Cammie just nodded. “Thought so.” There was a silence, and then she spoke again. “So, we were going to get coffee, and hang out before heading over to Kirsten’s place to see a movie, since she lives within walking distance. That okay with you, Cammie?” Cammie just nodded again. Jaime was obviously the leader of the group, and Kirsten seemed to be the shyest. Tina and Cammie were somewhere in the middle.
The group stood up and began walking down the street to where Starbucks was. As Jaime started going on to Tina about some boy in her PE class, Kirsten and Cammie remained silent. Cammie figured she might as well speak to the girl, but wasn’t sure how to initiate conversation. She looked the girl up and down. Compliment her clothing, Cammie, she thought to herself. Kirsten wore a white peasant skirt with black and red trim, along with black ballet flats and a red tank top. “Cute skirt.” Cammie said. Cammie didn’t normally like skirts, but she had to admit, that one was nice.
Kirsten, who had been looking at her feet this whole time, gave a small smile before looking up at Cammie. “Oh, thanks. My grandmother sewed it for me.” There was a pause. “I mean, she bought the skirt, but it was just plain white, so she sewed the trim on. She knows I don’t like things that are just plain white.” She said with a smile.
“Well you’re really lucky. I don’t know anyone who can sew.” Cammie said. “I mean, my mother can cook really well, but sew? No way.”
“My grandmother can’t cook, so I guess that makes us even.” Kirsten said with a laugh. “When my mom was growing up, my grandfather had to cook so that she and her three brothers would have something edible to eat.”
“Oh, your mother was one of four kids? So am I. Granted, we’re all foster kids, but still. Big families are hectic, but a lot of fun.” Cammie said with a grin, picking up the pace without realizing it.
“Wow, four kids… I only have one older sister, Amanda. She’s a junior.” Kirsten said with a sigh. “She’s way more outgoing than I am though. She’s popular too. It’s kind of annoying.” Kirsten frowned.
“Hey, I know what you mean. My older foster brother Todd is a senior. He has a girlfriend and because he turned eighteen, he moved out and now he lives in his own apartment. He’s independent, had lots of friends, is very smart, and he’ll probably go to a really good college next year.” She frowned. “I’ll admit, I’m a little jealous. Not to mention I wish things were the way they were before he had moved out. We used to be really close, but now, not so much.” Cammie bit her lip. “Wow, I’m sorry… I don’t know where that came from.”
“It’s alright.” Kirsten said with a smile. “It sounds like you just need someone to listen, that’s all.” She paused. “I’ll listen.”
Cammie gave a small smile. “Thanks.” She said. “I’d appreciate that.” But before she could say any more, she looked up and realized they were already standing outside Starbucks. “Later, though.” She said, and Kirsten nodded.
The four of them stepped into Starbucks and immediately the scent of the coffee filled their nostrils. Granted, it was warm outside, so the corporate coffee shop was rather cool. The tables were littered with half empty Frappuccino cups, paper bags, and laptops, all belonging to what looked like high school and college students. Tina and her friends weren’t the only ones who would come here after school every day, it seemed.
After standing in line and ordering an iced caramel macchiato and a chocolate chip cookie, Cammie followed the girls to a table outside. They all sat down and, after munching on their food a little, started to talk. Jaime initiated the conversation again. “So Cammie, you met anyone interesting around here yet?” she asked.
“Well…” Cammie started to shake her head, and then stopped. “There’s this guy Greg, he’s a junior… he’s kind of annoying but he’s the only one who will eat with me.” She said with a frown. “I don’t like him or anything,” she quickly added “but he’s… interesting.” She shrugged. “That’s it really. Him and this super opinionated guy in my English class.” Cammie unfortunately hadn’t had a chance to sit next to him today, since she was late to class after getting lost in the Math wing.
“Oh my god, you have Peter Moore in your class?” Tina asked with an amused grin. “He went to middle school with us. He is so…”
“…amazing.” Jamie finished Tina’s sentence for her, also grinning, but hers was more one of happiness. “He’s an atheist, totally cares about the environment…”
“Jaime used to have a crush on him. We think she still does.” Tina said. “And actually I was going to annoying…”
“I do not!” Jaime interrupted. “Not since I found out he was against abortions anyway.” She paused. “Well he’s not exactly against them, but he thinks they should be controlled. Which, in my opinion, means you might as well be against them.” She sighed. “But he’s so awesome, provided that you’re not as political as I am.”
“Politics is interesting.” Cammie said simply. “But I don’t exactly live for it, you know? I have other interests.” She shrugged. She stayed quiet about abortion. In her time, abortion was no longer as big an issue because most people were pro-choice. Then again, there was also a female president, while in this time they had had enough trouble electing Barack Obama.
“Jaime does.” Tina said. “She’s probably going to end up majoring in Political Science. At Cornell or some other really good school like that.”
“Political Science or Feminist Studies.” Jaime corrected Tina. “Although I might just minor in Feminist Studies. And I highly doubt I’ll get into Cornell.”
“Well your sister goes there, and you’re way smarter than she is.” Tina said. “Jaime’s sister Page is a Literature major at Cornell.” She told Cammie. “She’s in her freshman year.”
The girls continued talking about colleges while Cammie just listened, munching on her cookie. It wasn’t long before she was finished. “Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna go toss this.” She said, gesturing to the empty bag the cookie was once in. The girls nodded and continued their conversation and Cammie stood and walked into Starbucks once more, to toss her trash in the trash can by the door.
When she was about to turn and go outside, she noticed a familiar tuft of black hair, hiding behind a laptop near the window. “Greg?” The laptop screen was lowered and sure enough, there he was. Cammie gave him a look. Had he… followed her there? They had only come here a few minutes after school was let out, after all…
“I’ve been here since before you got here, honest.” He said. “And besides, ask anyone, I’ve been here since after fifth period.” He told her. Then, with a smug grin, he added “Because I don’t have a sixth period.” Cammie narrowed her eyes. Oh he could be so exasperating at times. And yet, he was her father. How was it that he was so annoying as a kid? What had changed? Oh right… his parents’ death made him evil. Cammie wiped the thought out of her mind and silently turned around and left, heading back to the table where the girls sat, still chattering away.
You know, at this point I don't care so much about whether or not I finish. What's more important is that I've already written more than I've ever written before (19 pages on Word!) and that I already know what's going to happen in my mind.
I should turn RP plots into stories more often...