Untitled (NaNoWriMo) Part 5/?
I know, it's been a while. In all honesty, I had to stop NaNoWriMo because of finals. I only got to around 20k, but I will continue posting this story as I continue to write it. I also intend on posting another story, this one significantly shorter. More on that in another post.
Also, I'm thinking about titles, since not having one really bugs me. I'm wondering if something in Latin would be too cliche. I'm thinking Tempore Abeo, which means In The Time Of Change. Sounds cool and fits with what it's about, yeah? Gimme your input.
Screw what days it was, you all know I was miles behind where I was supposed to be anyway. This is like, two days worth of work.
Cammie sat at her desk reading a book for her English class. It was Fahrenheit 451. Not a bad book. She liked books about dystopian futures, especially since she knew the future wasn’t actually like that. As she was getting to a pretty exciting part, she heard her phone vibrating on her desk. Picking it up, she flipped it open and held it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Hey it’s Kirsten.”
“Oh my god, did you get a call? I swear I fixed it… maybe I did it wrong…” Cammie said, immediately thinking of the worst case scenario.
“No, actually I didn’t. I talked to Tina and Jaime and they didn’t either. So whatever you did, it worked.” Kirsten said.
“I told you I-“
“No, you must have done something else. Mrs. Harris was in the room. I saw.”
There was a silence, and then Cammie spoke again. “I can’t tell you over the phone and when I tell you, you can’t tell Tina and Jaime, alright?” she checked the clock. It was 4:00. “If you want, you can come over now and I can explain everything.”
Kirsten hesitated. “Alright.” She said. “I’ll be over in a few.” Kirsten hung up and, putting down her phone, Cammie sighed. Of course, since Kirsten was her aunt, she knew about powers. Actually, Kirsten and Amanda both had powers. Having powers was a genetic thing. Greg also had powers, which he used when he became evil. Because of this, Cammie knew that if Amanda, Greg, and Kirsten knew about her powers, it would be alright. However, she didn’t know whether or not anybody else had powers, so she decided she wouldn’t risk it.
Kirsten didn’t live too far from Cammie, so it was only a few minutes before Cammie heard the doorbell ring. She heard Allison open the door. Cammie rushed to the top of the stairs. “Kirsten! I don’t believe you’ve met Allison.” Cammie trotted down the stairs. “Kirsten, this is my foster mother Allison. Allison, this is my friend Kirsten from school.”
“Pleased to meet you Miss…”
“Oh just call me Allison, dear. Everybody does.” Allison told Kirsten with a smile.
“Allison, I’m gonna take her up to my room, alright?” Cammie told Allison.
“Alright. If you two get hungry, we have cookies, chips, peanuts…”
“We know. Come on, Kirsten.” Cammie lead Kirsten upstairs to her room.
“Hey Cammie, why haven’t you brought us to your house before? It’s nice.” Kirsten asked as they went upstairs.
“I dunno. I like your guys’s houses better. And my house isn’t nearly as nice and well designed as yours.” Cammie said. She opened the door to her room. The girls entered and Kirsten sat on the bed. Cammie sat on the chair by her desk.
“So…” Kirsten started, biting her lip. “you wanted to explain something to me.”
Cammie sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this… but I’m a technopath.”
“I knew it!” Kirsten blurted, her reaction more one of triumph than of surprise, like Cammie had expected. “I mean, I guessed that that’s how the song skipped on the bus yesterday and how you fixed the attendance record. And that’s probably why you’re so into electronics and technology.” Kirsten grinned. “I was right.”
Cammie chuckled. “So you have powers too, I’m guessing?”
Kirsten nodded. “I’m elastic.” She stretched her arms above her head and they got longer and longer until her fingertips touched the ceiling. She them returned them to their normal size.
“Sweet.” Cammie said. She let out a breath of relief. “Finally, I have someone I can be real with.” She said with a smile. Well, not completely real. She’d never tell Kirsten the truth, about her being from the future. But having a friend who knew about her powers took a bit of the weight off of her shoulders.
“Does Allison know about your powers?” Kirsten asked.
“Yeah, Allison has powers. She has a super sense of smell. My foster brother Joshua’s power just manifested the other day. He has super speed. My foster sister Becky can make green slime, but she’s had it for as long as I’ve known her.” Cammie said.
“Wow…” Kirsten said. “That’s pretty cool.” They sat in silence for a while before Kirsten spoke again. “Oh! Remember that guy Austin that Jaime mentioned?” Cammie nodded. “Well Tina said she’s going to try and get Jaime to pursue a relationship with him.”
“Seriously?” Cammie said. If she had been eating or drinking something, she would have probably choked on it. Kirsten nodded.
“Yeah, I know. I keep saying she should get to know him better as a friend first.” Kirsten said. “Of course Tina won’t listen.”
“Well Tina is just stubborn like that.” Cammie said. “What did she say when you gave her your Friends First rant?”
Kirsten giggled at the mention of her Friends First rant. “She said that Jaime needs it. Which I guess I can understand. Jaime can be a bit out there sometimes, and this Austin guy sounds like someone who can keep her grounded.” She said. “Sometimes all you need is a special someone to keep you from going totally crazy.”
Cammie laughed. “Very true.”
It was at that moment that they heard Allison’s voice calling from downstairs. “Girls, are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?”
At the mention of food, Kirsten’s stomach grumbled audibly. “I haven’t eaten since Fresh Choice, and that was earlier than I normally eat lunch.”
“Yeah, we’ll be right down!” Cammie called back down. She turned to Kirsten. “Come on, we have homemade chocolate chip cookies, and I’m pretty sure Joshua will finish them off if we don’t get down there soon enough.” She said, and the girls disappeared down the stairs.
***
A woman with stick straight strawberry blonde hair sat at the kitchen table, across from a man with ruffled black hair. They both sat in silence, hands folded in front of them, each hoping the other would speak first. Neither noticed a young girl with hair like her mother’s peeping in, hiding behind the door.
“I just can’t do this anymore, Greg.” The woman spoke first. “Part of me wishes I could help. Another part of me wishes I saw it coming, so I could have avoided this whole predicament.” She sighed. “I should have seen it coming. I should have seen this coming from the moment you told me you wanted revenge on the people who killed your parents.” She said. “Maybe even from the moment you told me your parents were dead. I should have known this whole thing was going to be hopeless.”
“Amanda, you can’t say that.” Greg replied, his eyes pleading. “You honestly can’t wish to undo all that we’ve had… the past thirteen years I’ve known you have been amazing… you don’t regret the whole thing… do you?”
Amanda sighed again. “I honestly don’t know. Part of me might.” She unfolded her hands and cupped her forehead in them. “By the time I got to know you, it was too late. Your parents were dead, there was no changing that. I really wish I could have helped you but by the time I knew anything about what was going on, it was too late…” she shook her head. “Greg, I know Cammie is still young, but I don’t want her growing up in a house with a villain.”
Greg snapped his head up to look at Amanda. “You’re leaving?” He visibly drooped. “Well I guess I knew this day would come.”
Amanda shook her head. “No, you are leaving. Cammie is staying with me, and I can’t just drag her off somewhere.” She paused. “You can leave tomorrow morning, when she’s at school. I’ll explain when I bring her home. Take what you need with you and I can send anything else that’s yours.”
“But…” Greg sighed. “Alright. I should have seen this coming. But I want what’s best for Cammie. I may not seem like I do, but I do.” He shook his head. “So am I sleeping on the couch tonight?” he asked with a small smile.
Surprisingly, Amanda shook her head. “No you can sleep in the bed with me.” She paused. “Greg, I still love you. I love Greg, just not… this Greg. And I don’t think you’re going to change.”
Greg nodded. “I understand.” He stood up, tucking in his chair. “I’m going to start packing.” He walked over to Amanda’s side of the table and planted a soft kiss on her forehead before heading off towards the living room. And for the first time, Cammie watched a tear slide down her mother’s cheek.
Cammie woke up with a start. Greg. She had forgotten Greg. She had been wasting all this time trying to lead a normal life and have friends when a normal life wasn’t what she was here for. Well it was, but not this normal life. The normal life she wanted was her and her married (not divorced) parents, in her normal time, living happily ever after. And sure she had met Amanda and gotten to know her a little, but in order to prevent Greg from ruining his - and her - life, she had to get to know him, get him to trust her, and prevent him from becoming evil.
Looking over at the clock, Cammie realized it was 3:00 in the morning. She’d have to go back to bed. But, she thought to herself, that day at school, she would eat with Greg. It didn’t matter what she had to do, avoid her friends or flat out ignore them, but she’d eat with him.
***
The next day at school, Cammie rushed to the cafeteria as soon as the bell for lunch ran. She hastily plopped some macaroni and cheese on her plate, next to some salad and a few strawberries. Grabbing a carton of milk, she stepped out into the dining area. Rather than sitting at the table that the Fearsome Four-o normally sat at, she sat across from Greg’s normal chair and waited for him to arrive.
While she was inspecting her food, Cammie heard a plate hit the table in front of her and a body hit the chair. She looked up into a pair of blue eyes that, outside of her bathroom mirror, she hadn’t seen in weeks. Greg raised a strong linear eyebrow. “Haven’t seen you around these parts in weeks.” He said.
“I’ve been sidetracked.” Cammie said simply. Greg nodded, and the two ate in silence.
“You’re friends with Kirsten and her friends now.” Greg stated.
“Yeah. Tina’s my lab partner.” Cammie paused. “You know Kirsten?”
“She’s Amanda’s little sister, right?” Greg asked.
“Yeah.” Cammie said. She looked at Greg, then looked over her shoulder at Amanda, who sat surrounded with her friends. There was a clear path from where Cammie and Greg sat to where Amanda always sat. Greg sat in the same chair every day, and likewise, Amanda sat in the same chair every day. Cammie could see Amanda’s smiling face in the crowd as she joked about something, lips moving but, with all the noise in the cafeteria, nothing audible coming out. Like a television on mute in a crowded bar.
“Wait, Greg, how do you know Amanda?” Cammie asked. Greg sat here alone every day, yet Amanda was surrounded in friends. If Greg and Amanda knew each other, than something was out of place.
“Er well… I don’t, really.” Greg admitted. Cammie raised her eyebrows, silently asking him to go on. “She was in one of my classes last year. I know her, she doesn’t know me.” He shrugged. “You know, one of those deals.
"And you sit here at lunch every day and stare at her while you eat?” Cammie asked, catching Greg off guard.
"Oh, well... yeah... kinda…. she's pretty… cool." Greg scratched the back of his head nervously. He swallowed a lump in his throat.
"So you're into the popular ones, huh?" Cammie asked again. She was obviously having fun bugging him about this.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I liked Amanda before she became popular." Greg replied, pointing his plastic fork at her.
"Did you also like Green Day before American Idiot came out?" Cammie teased, a small grin widening on her face.
"As a matter of fact, I did." He said stiffly. He paused. "Even though I was in sixth grade...." Cammie giggled.
“Well, why don’t you talk to her?” Cammie asked him. That was something she never understood; why people refused to speak to people they liked from afar. First Kirsten, now Greg?
But Greg just sighed. “She doesn’t know I exist…”
“Well of course she doesn’t, you haven’t tried talking to her yet!” Cammie exclaimed. Greg shushed her and she snapped her mouth shut. After looking around to make sure nobody had heard her, Cammie spoke again, this time in a whisper. “Look, if you don’t want to talk to her now, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just saying that you can’t expect something to just happen, you have to do something.”
Greg sighed. “Fine, fine. But can we talk about something else now?” He was obviously not very comfortable with talking to someone two years younger than him about a girl he had his eye on, especially since they didn’t know each other to well, and the advice Cammie had given him was good advice. He’d never admit it, but it was.
“Alright, like what?” Cammie asked.
Greg hesitated, trying to think of a topic to bring up. “Well… have you seen any good movies lately?”
A small smile crept up onto Cammie’s face. “As a matter of fact, I have…”
Also, I'm thinking about titles, since not having one really bugs me. I'm wondering if something in Latin would be too cliche. I'm thinking Tempore Abeo, which means In The Time Of Change. Sounds cool and fits with what it's about, yeah? Gimme your input.
Screw what days it was, you all know I was miles behind where I was supposed to be anyway. This is like, two days worth of work.
Cammie sat at her desk reading a book for her English class. It was Fahrenheit 451. Not a bad book. She liked books about dystopian futures, especially since she knew the future wasn’t actually like that. As she was getting to a pretty exciting part, she heard her phone vibrating on her desk. Picking it up, she flipped it open and held it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Hey it’s Kirsten.”
“Oh my god, did you get a call? I swear I fixed it… maybe I did it wrong…” Cammie said, immediately thinking of the worst case scenario.
“No, actually I didn’t. I talked to Tina and Jaime and they didn’t either. So whatever you did, it worked.” Kirsten said.
“I told you I-“
“No, you must have done something else. Mrs. Harris was in the room. I saw.”
There was a silence, and then Cammie spoke again. “I can’t tell you over the phone and when I tell you, you can’t tell Tina and Jaime, alright?” she checked the clock. It was 4:00. “If you want, you can come over now and I can explain everything.”
Kirsten hesitated. “Alright.” She said. “I’ll be over in a few.” Kirsten hung up and, putting down her phone, Cammie sighed. Of course, since Kirsten was her aunt, she knew about powers. Actually, Kirsten and Amanda both had powers. Having powers was a genetic thing. Greg also had powers, which he used when he became evil. Because of this, Cammie knew that if Amanda, Greg, and Kirsten knew about her powers, it would be alright. However, she didn’t know whether or not anybody else had powers, so she decided she wouldn’t risk it.
Kirsten didn’t live too far from Cammie, so it was only a few minutes before Cammie heard the doorbell ring. She heard Allison open the door. Cammie rushed to the top of the stairs. “Kirsten! I don’t believe you’ve met Allison.” Cammie trotted down the stairs. “Kirsten, this is my foster mother Allison. Allison, this is my friend Kirsten from school.”
“Pleased to meet you Miss…”
“Oh just call me Allison, dear. Everybody does.” Allison told Kirsten with a smile.
“Allison, I’m gonna take her up to my room, alright?” Cammie told Allison.
“Alright. If you two get hungry, we have cookies, chips, peanuts…”
“We know. Come on, Kirsten.” Cammie lead Kirsten upstairs to her room.
“Hey Cammie, why haven’t you brought us to your house before? It’s nice.” Kirsten asked as they went upstairs.
“I dunno. I like your guys’s houses better. And my house isn’t nearly as nice and well designed as yours.” Cammie said. She opened the door to her room. The girls entered and Kirsten sat on the bed. Cammie sat on the chair by her desk.
“So…” Kirsten started, biting her lip. “you wanted to explain something to me.”
Cammie sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this… but I’m a technopath.”
“I knew it!” Kirsten blurted, her reaction more one of triumph than of surprise, like Cammie had expected. “I mean, I guessed that that’s how the song skipped on the bus yesterday and how you fixed the attendance record. And that’s probably why you’re so into electronics and technology.” Kirsten grinned. “I was right.”
Cammie chuckled. “So you have powers too, I’m guessing?”
Kirsten nodded. “I’m elastic.” She stretched her arms above her head and they got longer and longer until her fingertips touched the ceiling. She them returned them to their normal size.
“Sweet.” Cammie said. She let out a breath of relief. “Finally, I have someone I can be real with.” She said with a smile. Well, not completely real. She’d never tell Kirsten the truth, about her being from the future. But having a friend who knew about her powers took a bit of the weight off of her shoulders.
“Does Allison know about your powers?” Kirsten asked.
“Yeah, Allison has powers. She has a super sense of smell. My foster brother Joshua’s power just manifested the other day. He has super speed. My foster sister Becky can make green slime, but she’s had it for as long as I’ve known her.” Cammie said.
“Wow…” Kirsten said. “That’s pretty cool.” They sat in silence for a while before Kirsten spoke again. “Oh! Remember that guy Austin that Jaime mentioned?” Cammie nodded. “Well Tina said she’s going to try and get Jaime to pursue a relationship with him.”
“Seriously?” Cammie said. If she had been eating or drinking something, she would have probably choked on it. Kirsten nodded.
“Yeah, I know. I keep saying she should get to know him better as a friend first.” Kirsten said. “Of course Tina won’t listen.”
“Well Tina is just stubborn like that.” Cammie said. “What did she say when you gave her your Friends First rant?”
Kirsten giggled at the mention of her Friends First rant. “She said that Jaime needs it. Which I guess I can understand. Jaime can be a bit out there sometimes, and this Austin guy sounds like someone who can keep her grounded.” She said. “Sometimes all you need is a special someone to keep you from going totally crazy.”
Cammie laughed. “Very true.”
It was at that moment that they heard Allison’s voice calling from downstairs. “Girls, are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?”
At the mention of food, Kirsten’s stomach grumbled audibly. “I haven’t eaten since Fresh Choice, and that was earlier than I normally eat lunch.”
“Yeah, we’ll be right down!” Cammie called back down. She turned to Kirsten. “Come on, we have homemade chocolate chip cookies, and I’m pretty sure Joshua will finish them off if we don’t get down there soon enough.” She said, and the girls disappeared down the stairs.
***
A woman with stick straight strawberry blonde hair sat at the kitchen table, across from a man with ruffled black hair. They both sat in silence, hands folded in front of them, each hoping the other would speak first. Neither noticed a young girl with hair like her mother’s peeping in, hiding behind the door.
“I just can’t do this anymore, Greg.” The woman spoke first. “Part of me wishes I could help. Another part of me wishes I saw it coming, so I could have avoided this whole predicament.” She sighed. “I should have seen it coming. I should have seen this coming from the moment you told me you wanted revenge on the people who killed your parents.” She said. “Maybe even from the moment you told me your parents were dead. I should have known this whole thing was going to be hopeless.”
“Amanda, you can’t say that.” Greg replied, his eyes pleading. “You honestly can’t wish to undo all that we’ve had… the past thirteen years I’ve known you have been amazing… you don’t regret the whole thing… do you?”
Amanda sighed again. “I honestly don’t know. Part of me might.” She unfolded her hands and cupped her forehead in them. “By the time I got to know you, it was too late. Your parents were dead, there was no changing that. I really wish I could have helped you but by the time I knew anything about what was going on, it was too late…” she shook her head. “Greg, I know Cammie is still young, but I don’t want her growing up in a house with a villain.”
Greg snapped his head up to look at Amanda. “You’re leaving?” He visibly drooped. “Well I guess I knew this day would come.”
Amanda shook her head. “No, you are leaving. Cammie is staying with me, and I can’t just drag her off somewhere.” She paused. “You can leave tomorrow morning, when she’s at school. I’ll explain when I bring her home. Take what you need with you and I can send anything else that’s yours.”
“But…” Greg sighed. “Alright. I should have seen this coming. But I want what’s best for Cammie. I may not seem like I do, but I do.” He shook his head. “So am I sleeping on the couch tonight?” he asked with a small smile.
Surprisingly, Amanda shook her head. “No you can sleep in the bed with me.” She paused. “Greg, I still love you. I love Greg, just not… this Greg. And I don’t think you’re going to change.”
Greg nodded. “I understand.” He stood up, tucking in his chair. “I’m going to start packing.” He walked over to Amanda’s side of the table and planted a soft kiss on her forehead before heading off towards the living room. And for the first time, Cammie watched a tear slide down her mother’s cheek.
Cammie woke up with a start. Greg. She had forgotten Greg. She had been wasting all this time trying to lead a normal life and have friends when a normal life wasn’t what she was here for. Well it was, but not this normal life. The normal life she wanted was her and her married (not divorced) parents, in her normal time, living happily ever after. And sure she had met Amanda and gotten to know her a little, but in order to prevent Greg from ruining his - and her - life, she had to get to know him, get him to trust her, and prevent him from becoming evil.
Looking over at the clock, Cammie realized it was 3:00 in the morning. She’d have to go back to bed. But, she thought to herself, that day at school, she would eat with Greg. It didn’t matter what she had to do, avoid her friends or flat out ignore them, but she’d eat with him.
***
The next day at school, Cammie rushed to the cafeteria as soon as the bell for lunch ran. She hastily plopped some macaroni and cheese on her plate, next to some salad and a few strawberries. Grabbing a carton of milk, she stepped out into the dining area. Rather than sitting at the table that the Fearsome Four-o normally sat at, she sat across from Greg’s normal chair and waited for him to arrive.
While she was inspecting her food, Cammie heard a plate hit the table in front of her and a body hit the chair. She looked up into a pair of blue eyes that, outside of her bathroom mirror, she hadn’t seen in weeks. Greg raised a strong linear eyebrow. “Haven’t seen you around these parts in weeks.” He said.
“I’ve been sidetracked.” Cammie said simply. Greg nodded, and the two ate in silence.
“You’re friends with Kirsten and her friends now.” Greg stated.
“Yeah. Tina’s my lab partner.” Cammie paused. “You know Kirsten?”
“She’s Amanda’s little sister, right?” Greg asked.
“Yeah.” Cammie said. She looked at Greg, then looked over her shoulder at Amanda, who sat surrounded with her friends. There was a clear path from where Cammie and Greg sat to where Amanda always sat. Greg sat in the same chair every day, and likewise, Amanda sat in the same chair every day. Cammie could see Amanda’s smiling face in the crowd as she joked about something, lips moving but, with all the noise in the cafeteria, nothing audible coming out. Like a television on mute in a crowded bar.
“Wait, Greg, how do you know Amanda?” Cammie asked. Greg sat here alone every day, yet Amanda was surrounded in friends. If Greg and Amanda knew each other, than something was out of place.
“Er well… I don’t, really.” Greg admitted. Cammie raised her eyebrows, silently asking him to go on. “She was in one of my classes last year. I know her, she doesn’t know me.” He shrugged. “You know, one of those deals.
"And you sit here at lunch every day and stare at her while you eat?” Cammie asked, catching Greg off guard.
"Oh, well... yeah... kinda…. she's pretty… cool." Greg scratched the back of his head nervously. He swallowed a lump in his throat.
"So you're into the popular ones, huh?" Cammie asked again. She was obviously having fun bugging him about this.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I liked Amanda before she became popular." Greg replied, pointing his plastic fork at her.
"Did you also like Green Day before American Idiot came out?" Cammie teased, a small grin widening on her face.
"As a matter of fact, I did." He said stiffly. He paused. "Even though I was in sixth grade...." Cammie giggled.
“Well, why don’t you talk to her?” Cammie asked him. That was something she never understood; why people refused to speak to people they liked from afar. First Kirsten, now Greg?
But Greg just sighed. “She doesn’t know I exist…”
“Well of course she doesn’t, you haven’t tried talking to her yet!” Cammie exclaimed. Greg shushed her and she snapped her mouth shut. After looking around to make sure nobody had heard her, Cammie spoke again, this time in a whisper. “Look, if you don’t want to talk to her now, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just saying that you can’t expect something to just happen, you have to do something.”
Greg sighed. “Fine, fine. But can we talk about something else now?” He was obviously not very comfortable with talking to someone two years younger than him about a girl he had his eye on, especially since they didn’t know each other to well, and the advice Cammie had given him was good advice. He’d never admit it, but it was.
“Alright, like what?” Cammie asked.
Greg hesitated, trying to think of a topic to bring up. “Well… have you seen any good movies lately?”
A small smile crept up onto Cammie’s face. “As a matter of fact, I have…”