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Chapter Six

Addam and I look at Thelma questioningly.

“I’m Drake.” Mr. Sullivan says.

Addam and I exchange a look and nod “Oh.” is all that comes out of my mouth.

“You can call me Drake outside of the classroom, just please not while in class, I don’t want other students thinking it’s ok.” He says.

“How long have you and Thelma been locking lips?” I ask.

Mr. Sullivan looks at me with amusement “since last summer.” He says as he looks at Thelma lovingly.

“I see, are you coming along with us on our road trip?” I ask.

“More than likely!” Thelma chimes in as Anderson comes into the library.

I roll my eyes as I see Anderson come into the library. “Looks like I would’ve owed money if I bet against him actually showing up.”

“Let’s get this interview bullshit over with.” He says in a growl.

“First of all, you will not growl at me Anderson, and secondly, don’t worry about it. Ms. Morgan said I could interview Addam instead. You can interview Meghan.”

He huffs “are you fucking kidding me?”

I just shrug in response and go back to my conversation with Addam, Thelma, and Drake. “So, in light of recent news, what are we thinking? I think if we can buy an old bus, we can convert it into a boho style RV type thing.”

Thelma smiles and nods enthusiastically “That is an awesome idea! Maybe we can talk Freyja and Berik into joining us, what do you think?”

“I was thinking the exact same thing to be completely honest!”

Thelma jumps for joy and smiles at me “This is going to be an amazing summer!”

I nod in agreement, “Well, now that we’ve got those details taken care of, we’ve got a speech interview to do.”

“Okay hon, you two have fun, I’ll talk to you later.” Thelma says.

We nod and sit down at a computer and start going over the interview questions.

“I was born here in Portland, on Friday, May 13, 2005,” I say

“I was born in Phoenix, AZ on Tuesday, November 15, 2004.” He replies

“So you’re six months older than me?” I ask.

“Seems so, but if you’re only 17 how are you a senior?”

I smile “I skipped the fourth grade and got bumped to fifth, I excelled academically. I am actually slated to be valedictorian.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” He exclaims

I smile “Next question, what do you do in your free time?”

“I used to go out and play a game of soccer with my friends back home. I don’t really know what to do around here, but I also enjoy playing video games on my PC and PS4.’

“Nice, Nik and I usually play video games on PC and PS as well, we play Diablo, COD, Back4Blood, games like that, what games do you play?”

“Those along with The Sims4 and a few others.”

“I play The Sims too!” I exclaim excitedly. “I guess we’re a bunch of nerds.” I laugh.

He smiles and reads the next question “What are your life goals?”

“I want to become a Paralegal,” I reply

“That’s awesome, I want to be a criminal detective.”

“That is really admirable, I like to do research and other things, so I figured a position in the legal field would suit me perfectly,” I say.

“I just like how the movies make detectives look cool.” Addam laughs.

“Mmmhmm, what does a typical Friday night look like to you?” I ask while reading the next question.

“Sitting at home either playing video games or watching movies by myself.” He replies sadly “at least, now, it used to be a party every Friday night with my friends.”

I put my hand on his shoulder in a comforting way “I’m sorry, but if you want, you can hang with me on Fridays, usually it’s me, Nik, my sister Freyja, and her friend Cherie, there’ll be times when my mom is actually home and able to hang with us.”

He looks at me with confusion “I thought your mother passed on?”

“Oh, sorry, I should have been more specific, my biological mother and father passed on when I was ten years old, Berik was my nanny until she adopted me after they passed,” I explain.

“Oh, wow! You lost both of your parents?” He asks, his voice filled with sympathy.

I sigh “Yeah like I said it’s not really something I enjoy talking about.” I replied. “Please don’t put that in your speech.”

“I promise, I won’t!” He says honestly.

We continue the questions and by the time we’re finished doing the Q&A the bell signaling the end-of-school chimes, just after the bell the end-of-day announcements come on. We sit and talk a little longer until Nik enters the library.

“Hey, Falencia! What are your plans for your birthday?” Nik asks as he joins Addam and me at the librarian desk sitting in the middle of the huge library.

“I don’t actually know, I didn’t really plan anything, but knowing Freyja and Berik, I’m sure there’s a surprise of one sort or another just waiting for me.”

Addam looks at us in confusion “You don’t plan anything for your birthday?”

I shake my head “Not usually, the only friends I actually have are Nik, Freyja, and Cherie, I don’t really hang out with many people due to the fact that I have major social anxiety and don’t like large crowds.”

“That makes sense.” He replies.

“Hey, Falencia! I figured I’d find you here.” Freyja says as she and Cherie come into the library.

“Hey, I’m gonna go use the restroom. I'll meet you out by the car,” I tell them and head towards the ladies’ room when I get a phone call, looking at the caller ID I notice that it’s my counselor calling.

“Hey, Sarah!”

“Hey girl, I was hoping that we could reschedule your appointment for a later day, something came up.”

I smile and do a mental fist pump “yeah, that’s no problem! When were you thinking?”

“I’m not near my calendar right now, I will give you a call later on today or tomorrow with a better time.”

We end our call and I finish heading to the lavatory and do my business, thinking about how awesome my day has been so far, with the exception of having to deal with Anderson and his stupidity. I walk out into the hallway to head towards the parking lot when I feel eyes on me again, I try my best to ignore it as I walk through the school and finally reach the doors leading to the parking lot. As I step out onto the lot, Anderson and two of his friends corner me, making me roll my eyes at their pathetic attempt to intimidate me.

“I told you that your little lap dogs wouldn’t always be around to protect you.” Anderson sneers at me.

I roll my eyes and square my shoulders getting ready for a fight. “And I told you, I don’t need anyone to fight my battles, especially against you, you pathetic excuse of a human.”

His fist flies towards my face, I sidestep making him miss me, I grab his arm and twist it lowering him down from his original five foot ten to just lower than me. “I warned you, you stupid egotistical son-of-a-bitch, don’t fuck with me.”

His friend with curly reddish-brown hair, and lanky figure comes running at me yelling, “AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH”

I roll my eyes and drop down to a crouching position, pushing Anderson away from me I do a backward somersault away from the kid, I pop up to a standing position as his curly-haired friend reaches me, he tries to grab my hair which I pull just out of reach of his fingers and round-house kick him in the ass making him stumble. “The funny thing is, I am alone, unarmed and of no real threat to you three boys, but you insist on having your friends help you to kick my ass, and two out of the three of you couldn’t even get your hands on me.”

I watch all three of them as they surround me, but I, unfortunately, don’t see Lance come up behind me, he wraps his arm around my neck, putting me in a chokehold. I close my eyes and take a deep breath in, step to my right and drop down, allowing me to flip Lance over my shoulder onto the pavement, knocking the air from his lungs. Anderson and his other two lackeys stalk towards me until I hear Nik speak “You should honestly leave her alone.”

Anderson smirks in a menacing way “And if I don’t?”

“I won’t hesitate to give you a reminder of what happened last summer,” I reply.

“You caught me off guard.” He roars.

“That’s hilarious, I was alone then too, you and the same three friends that are helping you today, obviously forgot the lesson I taught you about taking on a girl who knows what the hell she is doing.”

Anderson looks me dead in the face, his usually light gray watery eyes are replaced with a wicked black glint “I am going to beat you so bad that you’ll be begging me to give you reprieve.”

“If that is what you think, let's go, here and now! Stop being all bark and absolutely no bite, you desperate for attention toddler.” I can tell this strikes a nerve as he balls his hands into fists.

“Wait until I tell my father about this!” He exclaims wildly and storms off towards his sports car.

I roll my eyes and imitate his toddler tantrum “Just wait until I tell my father about this!” I screech in an unnaturally high pitch.

“What the hell happened?” Justin, Freyja’s boyfriend, asks as he comes up behind Freyja wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her into his chest.

“Anderson.” Freyja, Nik, and I all say in unison.

“Still?” He asks.

I shrug “He doesn’t know how to give up, and in all honesty, I think he’s thinking he’s being ‘romantic’ or some shit because ‘he likes me’ or whatever bullshit moms tell their kids when a boy is picking on them.” I replied making a face and putting sarcasm into the ‘romantic’ and ‘he likes me’ phrases.

“Anyway, we probably should get you to your counseling appointment,” Freyja says.

“Oh yeah! I forgot, Sarah called and had to reschedule the appointment, so I’m free for the rest of the day.” I say smiling as we head towards Freyja’s car.

“Oh, so what are your plans for the rest of the day, birthday girl?” She asks.

“I was thinking maybe have you take me home and I can nap or something,” I reply

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