234Chapter Two
Maddie's first two classes the next day went by uneventfully. But then she had chemistry, which was one of her least favorite classes, for one simple reason.
"Hey, Maddie!"
Rebecca. She was a bubbly, blonde, skinny girl that had, for some reason, attached herself to Maddie. Without knowing it, Maddie had gotten sucked into her circle of friends, which was the last place she really wanted to be. Unfortunately, they had been assigned lab partners.
"Maddie, did you do the homework?" Rebecca asked, leaning across the counter towards her.
Maddie wanted to lie, but that would mean not turning it in and getting a zero, so she just nodded.
"Oh, great! Can I borrow it really quick?"
Maddie wanted to say no, but she found herself reaching into her bag and handing Rebecca the homework. Rebecca had it copied before the teacher even came into the room. In class they had a lab, which Maddie knew meant that Rebecca was going to yap at her incessantly.
"Hey, have you seen the new kid, Noah?" Rebecca asked as she measured out the pop rocks they were using for the experiment.
Maddie nodded. She did the next step in the procedure herself.
"He's pretty hot, right?"
Maddie didn't think so, but she usually didn't notice things like that.
"Everyone thinks so. So many girls are already going after him. But I think I have a chance. Right?"
Maddie nodded absently.
"Maybe I'll try talking to him at lunch today. You'll come with me, right? I'll be too nervous alone."
Rebecca continued blabbering on for the rest of the class. Maddie was able to tune her out, for the most part, and basically did the lab herself. After class, Rebecca followed Maddie to her locker, and then dragged Maddie along to her own. They went to the cafeteria together. Rebecca did a quick scan of the crowd. "Okay, he's not here yet. Let's get our food and sit down quickly."
So they did. Maddie started eating, and Rebecca stared at the doors, waiting for Noah to come. When he did, she waved a hand and hailed him over.
"Hey, its Noah, right?" Rebecca asked with a giggle.
"Uh, yeah. And you are…."
"I'm Rebecca. Oh, and this is my friend, Maddie."
"Ah, Maddie," said Noah with a nod. "I finally get a name for the face."
Rebecca looked over at Maddie, and then back at Logan, confused. "So anyway, I'm on the student council welcoming committee and I just wanted to say hi…and well, welcome. You want to eat lunch with us?"
"Uh, sure. Let me just go get something to eat. I'll be back."
Rebecca let out a nervous sigh after Noah had left. "That wasn't so bad. You think I gave a good impression?"
"Mmhmm," Maddie hummed, still chewing on her sandwich.
At that point Rebecca's two best friends, Arlene and Monica, joined them. They were both blond as well, although Monica was bleach blond, and just as bubbly. Rebecca warned them not to sit in front of her, and then told them that Noah would be joining them. They were just as giddy and ridiculous about it as Rebecca was. Maddie hated them all.
"Hey," said Noah as he set his tray on the table and sat down.
Rebecca immediately started pestering him with questions. He answered everything with a kind smile. Maddie wondered how he managed to bear it. She couldn't stand a minute with Rebecca when she was actually listening to her.
Maddie was glad when lunch was over. She had only one more class for the day, and it was her favorite, photography. Mr. White taught it, which was half the reason. That day they were working on developing pictures they had taken on a trip to downtown. Maddie was surprised to find that Noah was in her class. Although, once she thought about it, she figured it made sense. He probably wanted to take a class from his brother so that he'd get an A.
The class went into the red room to work. It was fairly quiet, which Maddie liked. She had already decided what pictures she was going to make prints of. She quickly got to work.
Maddie ended up being one of the last to finish, and when she brought her film out into the classroom to hang them to dry, most of the other students had already hung theirs. Maddie took a few minutes to look over the work of the other students. She found a set of pictures that surprised her. They were actually quite good. The contrast of black and white, and angles and the lines, were all very intriguing. Maddie leaned in closer to get a better look.
"I'm thinking this one's my favorite."
Maddie jumped in surprise. She hadn't heard someone else approach. She looked to her right to see Noah standing just behind her. He pointed to one of the pictures that Maddie had been looking at. "Although, I really wish I had zoomed in a little more. Where are yours?"
Maddie was surprised. Noah had taken these? How and when?
"My brother told me about the project," Noah said, as if reading Maddie's mind. "I went into town yesterday and took some pictures so I'd be caught up. So where are yours?"
Maddie pointed over to where she hand hung her own pictures. Noah walked over to them and looked them over. "Not terrible. But you're letting in too much light. It makes it look all gray and grainy. You might try overexposing the photo paper a bit to fix it. But the photo would still be a little dull…."
Maddie frowned. Why was he putting down her work? Like he was some photography god. She turned and went back to her seat, determined to ignore all that Noah had said. What an arrogant jackass, she thought.
The bell rang, and Maddie grabbed her bag and quickly left the room. She wanted the day to end, so she could go to the art room and work on what she had started yesterday. But the day went by slowly, probably because Maddie wanted it to end so badly. When it did end, she rushed to the art room and set up her easel and supplies right away.
"Hey, Maddie," Mr. White said absentmindedly, coming out of the storage room. He was looking over a sheet of paper and didn't even look up at her.
Maddie ignored him and continued working.
"Wow."
Maddie jumped, startled. She looked behind her and found Noah there. Why did he keep coming up to her and scaring her like that? She was getting more annoyed with him every time she saw him. She turned her back to him and continued working, although she was nervous now, with someone watching her.
"That's really good," said Noah. "Drawing is obviously your thing. Why are you even taking photography?"
Maddie ignored him and continued working.
Noah moved to stand next to her and looked closer at the charcoal drawing. "Its strange. Its like it draws you in, but at the same time, you don't want to look at it. There's a darkness there. I can't wait to see it finished."
Maddie wondered what made him think that he would ever have the chance to see it finished.
"Oh, no," said Mr. White from his desk. "Maddie never lets anyone see her finished stuff."
"What? Why?"
"I keep telling her she should take a class, or enter a contest, something. But she won't."
"Why not?" Noah asked Maddie.
Maddie just gave a shrug.
"Okay, I'm done," said Mr. White.
Maddie packed up her stuff and the three of them left the classroom just like the day before. Maddie wished again that this wasn't going to become a habit. Noah was quickly becoming a big nuisance to her.
Okay, so...I'd love to hear what you guys think. Is this worth continuing?