A strange event…
After speaking to everyone on the phone that afternoon, it was clear that Millie, Blake, Jack and I were all excited to perform at grad and we decided to meet at Blake’s house for a rehearsal on the weekend. Being asked was such an honor and as well it was a really cool way to end the year. But we were aware that we had a lot of practice to do, especially as the event was only four weeks away.
Four weeks until summer break! That thought filled me with mixed emotions. We had so many plans for the summer, it was going to be the best break ever! But what I found hard to believe was the simple fact that we were almost at the end of middle school and then we’d be moving to senior high. That was such a crazy thought. While it was an exciting one, it was also a little scary and even sad in a way.
It was the end of an era, the end of being a kid. That’s the way I looked at it. High schoolers seemed so much older than us and the thought of moving on to the local high school which had over three times the number of students as our current school, was a daunting one.
We only had four weeks left and probably for the first time, I stopped to really appreciate our little school and the years we had spent being a part of it. Knowing we should definitely make the most of the time remaining, I reminded myself to enjoy it as much as possible, because I was sure that high school was going to be very different.
Although I felt a mixture of both nerves and excitement about the thought of what was ahead.
Millie had no fears whatsoever. “Imagine all the new cute guys we’ll meet. I can’t wait!”
Thinking about her comment made me laugh. I swear all she thought about was boys. Maybe that was why she was reluctant to become attached to Jack. Perhaps she had her eye on someone else and just wasn’t telling me. I was sure that wouldn’t be the case though. We were best friends and told each other everything.
As I sat in the living room chair early that evening with the TV blazing in the corner of the room, thoughts of the graduation ceremony flooded my mind. The fact that we’d be performing for everyone in our grade as well as their families and also our teachers, made it quite a big deal; so much so, that I found it hard to concentrate on the show on the screen, even though it was one of my favorites and I always found time to watch it.
Perhaps my distracted state had caused me to glance out the nearby window. I’m really not sure what drew my attention that way but the street lamp that stood in a prime position almost dead center in front of our house, cast a bright glow onto the road as well as the pavement surrounding it. And in the midst of that shining light was a lone figure, one that definitely seemed out of place.
Of course it was not unusual to see people walking by during the early evening. Some of our neighbors walked their dogs at night, and there was also the occasional jogger who would pass by, taking the chance to fit in an evening run before dinner. However, something about the hesitant movement of the person on the street outside, caught my attention. And when I realized that he had paused to stand stock still and was looking directly towards our house, I was filled with sudden concern.
Moving towards the edge of the window frame, I peered cautiously out, wondering who he was and what he was doing. In the spot where I stood, partly hidden by the curtain that hung at the side of the window, I was able to get a clear view. And when the boy’s face came into focus, I recognized him immediately.
With a frightened gasp, I quickly grabbed hold of the thick curtain and pulled it roughly across, blocking any view of the street beyond. I could feel the beat of my racing pulse.
Perhaps I was mistaken, but I didn’t dare risk another peek. And returning to my seat on the couch, I tried to ignore the uneasy sensation that had taken over.
The new kid…
“Something really strange happened last night, Millie!” I looked intently at my friend, while at the same time glancing around to make sure no one else was within earshot.
“What?” she asked curiously. The tone in my voice had quickly gained her interest.
“You know that new boy, Ryan Hodges? The one who went psycho yesterday? I caught him standing on the pavement outside our house last night. I’m sure he was staring into our living room. It was so creepy!”
“That’s really weird!” Millie exclaimed, frowning with disbelief.
“Yeah!” I replied. “But when he realized I’d spotted him, he took off. I told my brother about it, but he said I’d probably just imagined it. He was too busy messaging his girlfriend on Facebook though and wasn’t really interested in what I was saying.”
“But according to my mom,” I continued, “A couple of weeks ago a new family moved in just down the road from us, so I’m guessing it’s probably him. It’s actually quite disturbing, especially after seeing him staring into our house. But Mom kind of shrugged it off as well. She thinks I was making a big deal out of nothing.”
Regardless of what my mom and brother had said, I was struggling to come to terms with what I thought I had seen. Unless of course they were right and I really had imagined it all.
But then, just as Millie and I headed up the steps leading to our classroom, I became aware of a strange prickle at the back of my neck and the hairs on my arms stood on end. It was the oddest feeling.
Then, turning abruptly, I realized that immediately behind us was the boy who I had just been discussing. My stomach took a wild dive and I desperately hoped that he hadn’t overheard.
The deep set intensity of his eyes made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it was my imagination and I was creating an issue where there wasn’t one, but the way he stared at me caused me to definitely think otherwise.
Quickly following Millie into the classroom, I made my way towards our row of desks and sat down in my chair. Our teacher had already started speaking and was frowning at us for being late. As I searched for my Math book, I reminded myself to be grateful that Ryan was not actually in our class. That was certainly something to be thankful for, especially after hearing about his outburst the day before.
Millie, who was aware of my distracted state whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry about him, Julia. He’s a weirdo. Just ignore him.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right!” I replied with a small smile.
I wanted to believe that avoiding him was all I needed to do, but the prickling sensation continued to bother me and would not go away.
It took some effort and I picked up my pencil to begin writing. I found it difficult to focus, and it was several minutes before I actually managed to start the work that Miss Watson was waiting for us to complete.
Regardless of my efforts though, thoughts of Ryan Hodges remained at the back of my mind and I was unable to shake them off.
Change of subject…
I was still thinking about Ryan’s strange behaviour later that morning when I glanced out the window and spotted Blake entering the school grounds. He had been at a dental appointment and I was relieved to see him arrive in time for recess.
By the time I made my way towards the paved area where we usually sat, he had already been to the office for a late pass and was heading to our lunch area to meet us.
I was so happy to see him and had to stop myself from rushing over. I hated the days that he was away. School seemed to drag by when he wasn’t around. Thankfully though, his appointment that morning had not prevented him from missing the whole day of school. And as usual, the sight of his handsome face and beautiful smile caused a familiar tingle to run down my spine.
But then I noticed Ryan walking past and I instinctively nudged closer to Blake. It was an automatic reaction, particularly when I saw that Ryan’s gaze was focused directly on me.
“Isn’t that the new kid?” Blake asked curiously as he watched him make his way to the canteen.
“Yeah,” I replied. “He’s really weird!”
Not wanting to dwell on something that I really did hope was imaginary, especially because no one else seemed to have noticed that anything too out of the ordin
ary was going on, I decided to change the subject completely.
I certainly did not want to create a problem when there didn’t need to be one. And besides that, graduation was something we had to plan for, in particular some regular rehearsals so that we’d definitely be ready. We had four weeks to prepare and something told me that we were going to need every spare minute.
The note…
The week was filled with constant reminders about end of semester tests. Every lesson was spent revising past work and we were continually being asked to finish projects and assignments that were also due. It didn’t seem fair that our teachers expected so much of us all at once. Tests and projects and assignments, all due at around the same time. It made me anxious just thinking about it.
At one point we almost agreed to skip band practice on Saturday as all of us, particularly Millie and I, knew that we had a huge amount of work to complete. Why we always left assignments and class papers until the last minute was beyond me, but then the boys insisted that a rehearsal was essential if we weren’t going to make fools of ourselves. And to them, our performance in front of all the other kids in our grade was much more important than spending time on school work. They also admitted that they’d probably complete their projects on the night before they were due anyway.
When Saturday finally arrived, I spent the morning working on a geography task that I had been putting off. It was probably my least favorite subject but I needed a good mark if I wanted to improve my overall grade.
Report cards would be handed out during the final week of the semester and everyone at school was talking about that. Some kids were promised as much as $50 for every ‘A’ they received. But when I mentioned that fact to my parents, they simply laughed.
“I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous, Julia!” my mom exclaimed. “What are those parents teaching their kids?”
Her look of disgust at the concept clearly told me that there was no chance on Earth I could expect any similar type of reward, especially not from her. And when I looked towards my dad in the hope that he might be a little kinder, he just shook his head in denial and laughed.
“Yeah, real funny!” I moaned under my breath, thinking of all the money that I was missing out on.
In particular, I knew that Sara was famous for earning heaps when report cards were sent home. She was a pretty good student and always managed to get several A’s. She was already given a huge weekly allowance and if she ever needed anything…her mom always paid for it. So the extra money for her report card was just an added bonus.
No wonder she was able to buy so many gorgeous clothes and bags and shoes and had all the accessories any girl could wish for. She was always wearing something new to school and I couldn’t help but feel envious.
Ever since the incident at the swimming carnival where she almost drowned, she had been so nice to me, and for a while I actually thought we might become good friends. But that hadn’t lasted long. She soon seemed to lose interest and I realized that we were just too different to ever be close.
Sadly, she had begun to focus her attention on another girl, and definitely not in a good way. Angela had a quiet personality and very few friends. She pretty much kept to herself but Sara appeared to get a kick out of teasing her about one thing or another. As well as saying mean things to her face, I even heard that she’d sent Angela a nasty text message. Poor Angela was so upset.
I felt really sorry for her and did try to speak up a couple of times by putting Sara in her place. But it didn’t work. Sara just gave me a hard look as if to tell me to mind my own business, and I knew that whatever I said was not going to help. In actual fact, it seemed to make things worse.
I’d been in Angela’s situation myself and knew from experience that she needed to stand up to Sara. But that was easier said than done and somehow I could not see her doing that on her own.
It seemed to me that Sara was desperate for power over the people around her, including her friends. I guessed for some reason, it made her feel good about herself. Although I still could not understand why that was necessary when she had so much going for her. But all the beautiful clothes in the world as well as the adoring fan club who constantly followed her around at school were obviously not enough. She needed more.
I just hoped that Angela could end the semester in peace. Spending the remainder of her days at middle school constantly being harassed by Sara would certainly not be a great way to end the year. It would be a terrible memory to have. I’d heard that Angela was planning on going to a private high school in the area though, so hopefully she would finally be free of the bullying.
That was unless Sara actually followed her there. Her family had so much money that they could afford to send her anywhere. Although, as far as I knew, she was planning to enrol at the local high school along with most of the other kids in our grade.
Thankfully, she had finally decided to leave me alone and this was something I was very grateful for. I’d spent enough time being bullied by Sara and was extremely glad that those days were over!
However, she was one person who in some ways, I still felt jealous of. For a grad present, her parents were flying her to Florida for the summer. Apparently her grandparents owned a holiday house on the beach there and she was spending the summer with them. She had already made sure everyone at school knew about her trip and I wasn’t the only one who was feeling envious. Talk about lucky! Although from what I knew about Sara’s parents it was probably a good way for them to occupy her for the holidays. They were rarely around, so I guessed it solved the problem of her being at home on her own for the entire break.
For a while, thoughts of Sara and the beaches in Florida were all I could think about but eventually, I managed to focus on the work in front of me. The Geography project spread out on my desk needed to be completed and I knew I had limited time to get it done. I was due to leave for Blake’s in a couple of hours, so if I wanted to finish the project, I really needed to start working.
I was also aware that our teacher, Miss Watson, always insisted on quality presentation. Those two words I was sure, were her all-time favorites.
“If you are expecting a good mark for your project, make sure you focus on high quality presentation! Remember, its quality, not quantity that counts!”
That was the last thing she said before dismissing us from class the afternoon before. But it wasn’t something new. She’d been saying it all year. And I knew that if I hoped for any chance of scoring an ‘A,’ I really needed to put in some effort.
Rummaging through my school bag, I searched for my pencil case but couldn’t find it anywhere. I remembered taking it from my locker the day before so that I could use my coloring pencils and felt pens over the weekend to complete my homework. Although it would mean extra time and effort, I was sure I would be guaranteed higher marks if I added colorful pictures and headings. But I would not be able to include those without finding my pencil case.
As a last resort, I checked the front pocket of my back pack, and was relieved to find that I had stashed it in there, probably in my absent-minded state before racing to the bus stop. Then, as I pulled it out of the pocket, I noticed a slip of blue note paper had also been shoved inside. Curious as to what it might be, I took it from the pocket, at the same time wondering where it had come from.
On it were two lines of untidy scrawl that had obviously been quickly scribbled onto the page. The writing was unfamiliar and at first glance I thought it must be a practical joke.
Frowning at the corny statement staring back at me, I rolled my eyes as I considered who the culprit might have been. It was obviously not Blake’s handwriting, I would recognize that anywhere. But I really had no idea who could have been responsible. Turning it over to search for more clues, I found that apart from the red scrawl, there was nothing whatsoever to give me any indication of who had written it.
Flicking it aside, I decided that perhaps it had been intended for someone else and had bee
n put into my bag by mistake. Or perhaps it really was a practical joke that some bored kid at school had decided to write in the hope of getting a reaction.
“Either that or I have a secret admirer!”
I spoke the words out loud and laughed, as I recalled the last time I’d received something of that sort.
It had been back in Third Grade when a boy called Tommy Jackson had put an anonymous Valentine’s note into my lunch box. I knew instantly it had come from him. I’d been aware of his crush for a while and although I wasn’t particularly interested in him, it had been fun to receive a Valentine.
When Millie confronted him later that day, he turned bright red with embarrassment and ran away. Millie and I had cracked up laughing but secretly, I felt proud that I was the only girl in our group of friends who had received a Valentine’s letter.
I actually still had the note tucked away in a drawer somewhere. It was hidden with a heap of other mementos from my childhood that I would probably always keep. But that note had been the one and only note of its kind that I’d ever received.
Remembering the occasion brought a smile to my lips. That was until I glanced once more at the blue note paper sitting in view on my desk, and another thought came to mind causing my smile to quickly disappear.
The face that flickered into view in my head was not one that I wanted to see and I abruptly grabbed the note, scrunched it into a tiny ball and threw it with disgust into the wastepaper basket alongside my desk.
Hopefully it was just a wild thought that made no sense at all. But if Ryan Hodges was responsible, I wanted nothing to do with it.
Then, determined to forget about the incident, I pulled open my Geography book and forced myself to concentrate on the unfinished project in front of me.
Julia Jones' Diary - Boxed Set - Books 2 to 6 Page 24