Chapter 3
"Um, uh, um…" Kris was at a loss for words.
"Hey, should I go?" Noelle filled in, grabbing her shirt from the front seat.
"Yeah, I guess." Kris reluctantly took his shirt from underneath him and put it on. They each heard a car door slam loudly, and they figured that Mrs. Hart was mad. "Duck." Noelle did as she was told.
The two teens sat there in the space between the front seat and backseats of the car. Kris was leaning against the door on his side, while Noelle was on hers. She looked around aimlessly and found her jeans.
"Finally!" she declared, struggling to put them on.
"Noelle, shut up!" Kris snapped. Noelle gave him a glare, then continued putting on her pants. She heard shoes clicking on the pavement by her door, followed by a SLAM! on the roof. Noelle covered her head with her arms and brought her knees to her chest.
"What was that?!" she exclaimed quietly. Kris put his pointer finger to his mouth, telling her to be silent. Noelle obeyed, burying her head in her knees once again. After a moment, she looked up at her friend and gave him a sad-yet-mischievous look. Kris rolled his eyes and squashed up against the driver's seat, making room for Noelle to sit next to him. Feeling successful, Noelle smiled and moved over to her new position. She leaned her head on Kris's shoulder. Kris stroked it gently, looking down at her. The footsteps were long-gone, and they each felt that the coast was clear.
Standing up as best he could, Kris got up and sat in the middle backseat. Noelle got up shortly after and to the seat next to him on the right. She gently kissed him. Leaning back, she smiled at him. He smiled back.
"So what now?" Noelle asked loudly, attempting to lay her head down on Kris's lap.
"What do you mean?" Kris asked, bewildered.
"So are we going to go out? Are we going to just stay friends? What are we gonna do?"
"I don't care. Whatever." Kris still looked a little stunned from his experience.
"Alright. Well, I've got places to go, people to see and date. You probably have about the same agenda, so let's just stay friends." Kris agreed. "Let's kiss on it." Noelle and Kris brought their lips together in a hungry kiss, which lasted a shorter time than it seemed.
"Well, that was…cool…" Kris said. Noelle laughed.
"Hey, ya know what we should do?"
"What?"
"We should tell Becky what we did, all the details. That would really piss her off. Then she might back off of trying to get you and you'll be free to do whatever. Do you know why no girl has given you the slightest hint that she's attracted to you?"
"No…"
"It's because Becky threatens every girl in school. If they so much as say a flirty 'hi' to you, she'll keep asking them for their last words every day until they apologize never to say another word to you ever again. She made every girl in the school take that death wish/oath, even me. Well, look how that turned out." She and Kris laughed a bit, though the laughter soon faded away to serious thoughts.
"Ya know," Kris said. "We shouldn't have done this. I mean, what if it gets out in the open and people start spreading rumours about us?"
"That's not going to happen because neither of us are going to tell, right?"
"Yeah, right, but still…"
"How else could they find out?" Kris didn't answer.
"Hey, I think that maybe you should go home now," he said, changing the subject.
"Ok. I'll walk."
"Alright. See ya."
"Yeah, see ya." Noelle reluctantly opened the car door and stepped out.
Noelle walked down the driveway and into the street, turning slightly to wave goodbye to Kris. That was cool, she thought. Pretty good for my first time. Veering the corner, Noelle broke into a girlish skip, continuing that all the way to her house.
_______________________________________________________________
"I don't care, Celia! You made the decision and I don't think that our sons and I should have to suffer!" Kris walked into his once-peaceful family room to find it full of chaos, including both the mess of dirty clothes, eating materials, and the scene occurring between his mother and father.
"Brian, the only reason I did what I did was because I felt like you were neglecting me!" Celia replied to her husband's outburst.
"Neglecting you? Neglecting you! Why have I come home from work early practically every day for the past 10 years? To be with you! And now you're talk about me neglecting you?!" Brian flailed his arms around in the air, causing the bathrobe he was wearing to shift positions on his body.
"I just…I don't know…I didn't feel too loved."
"I swear…" Brian put his hands on his head. "You know, now I don't care that you're moving out. Leave. Just go. Now!"
"Brian, honey, please."
"No! You don't feel loved, so get out! Go somewhere where you do feel loved!" By this time, Greg had come out of the bathroom to get a glimpse of the argument. Kris was slowly moving towards the steps, but also felt drawn to the bickering between the two adults.
"I can't go anywhere but here. My family is here!"
"No. As of now, you are no longer a member of this family. Go join the family with the person you really love. Be part of-" Don't say it, don't say it, Kris silently urged, "the Johnson family." Kris let out the breath he had been holding and sat down on the bottom step, staring at his parents with a blank expression. They obviously hadn't noticed his entrance to the house.
Celia stared at her husband, her lower lip and chin trembling. "Fine," she declared softly, with anger and sadness in her voice. "Just let me pack."
"If you still know where our bedroom is," Brian said, putting an accent on "our". Celia suddenly burst in to tears and went gliding across the floor to the steps. Only then did she notice Kris.
"Mom," he murmured softly. Celia only started crying harder, fleeing past Kris up the stairs. She noticed Greg at the top, who was staring at her in the same way as Kris. She quickly ran past him to the master bedroom. Greg followed her in, but was soon thrown out. He went sullenly back to the bathroom and continued getting ready for his date.
"Good, that little ho-bag is finally going to leave," Kris's dad muttered. He nonchalantly wiped a tear from his eye. Kris turned sharply to face him.
"You know you're going to miss her," he said matter-of-factly. "You know you're going to want her back and she's gonna want to come."
"That's not true and you know it!" Brian hollered. "I-nothing like that is ever going to happen!" His words were becoming slurred, due to the in-pour of tear. Kris looked at his father briefly, then ascended the stairs and went up to his room to cry.
_______________________________________________________________
Noelle made her way past her front yard without anyone noticing her. Silently, she stepped in to a semi-empty house.
Noelle lived in a beautifully ornate house, one of the largest in her neighborhood. When you walk in, you're inside of a gigantic indoor veranda, complete with flowers of all kinds. The floor was made of oak-wood planks, which creaked when you stepped on them. In a corner of that room was an old chair from the 17th century, one of Noelle's favorites.
Off to the right, there was a doorway leading in to the dining room, which was just a bit smaller than the first room you stepped into. There was an extremely elaborate table in the center with modern chairs all around it, so that it could seat up to twenty people. Up against the back wall was a glass cupboard where all the china was stored.
Going through the door on your left, there was-compared to the rest of the rooms-a tiny kitchen where almost every type of food you could imagine was stored. It also contained atleast three toasters, two ovens, four microwaves, and even a hibachi stove. There was a semi-large marble counter in the center of the kitchen, making everything a little more convenient.
Heading up the main staircase, a double one that came together in the middle (if you've seen "Clueless", you'll know what I mean), off to the right is the hallway leading to the den . To the left is the hallway leading to Noelle's mother's room , and straight ahead is the hallway leading to Noelle's room, the guest room, and also her sister, Lauren's.
Checking to see if the coast was clear, Noelle took off up the staircase, cutting off to the left, and going to her room.
Opening the door to her room, Noelle realized her surroundings.
Noelle's bedroom was the third largest in the house. It was covered with an aqua-colored carpet and lavender walls. Her bed was in the corner diagonal from the door leading to the hall, all the way in the back of the room. The frame was made of cherry wood, it had a feather-bed mattress, and feather-down pillows. The comforter was a daisy print, and came with matching pillowcases and sheets. Next to her bed was a half rollout, half computer desk with a telephone and Pentium computer on it, along with papers and pencils scattered here or there. Across from that on the other side of the room was a body-length mirror, and next to that was the door leading to her bathroom. On the wall where the door was, Noelle had a mahogany bureau where she kept her clothes. On top of the bureau were pictures of friends, family, and miscellaneous objects in which she had to photograph.
Walking over to her bureau, Noelle looked at all the pictures she had collected. I took pretty good pics, she thought. Suddenly, she came across a picture that brought back once-good memories, but now were filled with hatred.
"Becky," she said aloud to herself. The framed picture she held in her hands was one of the pictures her sister had taken when she, Noelle, and Becky were at the beach. Noelle and Becky were on the boardwalk eating some ice cream, looking happy, looking contented, looking like best friends. Now, Noelle had no urge to keep that picture. Her "friend" had betrayed her, and her same "friend" had a member of her family who had betrayed her other friend.
Noelle picked up the photo and held it high above her head.
"To peace, prosperity, and all that other crap," she muttered as she slammed the picture on the floor, shattering the frame into thousands of little pieces.
Links
Chapter 4
Stories
Home
Email: flyngtayls@aol.com
