Finding Faith Chapter 2

Chapter 2: After-School Thoughts

Nathan

I stepped into the house, closing the door and leaning onto the entrance hall wall, not that you could really call it a hall, and sighed, venting some annoyance over today.

Man, school really sucked. I think I could put the blame of annoying me first squarely on my stupid math teacher. If he just taught the class what we were supposed to learn, the average grade of the class wouldn’t have gone down. Actually, now that I think about it, every class that had him, no matter what year they are has had the average grade go down. Maybe I should get Mum to complain about this to the principal.

 I knew I should’ve skipped class like Belle did, but I would’ve gotten slammed by Mum if she found out, which she would. The school would rat me out. If Belles’ dad found out she been skipping maths for the past week, I think he’d blow a blood vessel. I guess being the kid of an overprotective dad had its cons, but it did have its pros however, as the Marsdens are know by everyone in the suburb.

“Nathan, you okay?” Mum asked from the family room, popping her brown and blonde highlighted head around the wall. Her brown eyes looked me over, checking to see if I’d done anything or if, like now, anything was wrong. Weird though, Mum’s never usually home this early. Maybe she had something to do. Oh well.

“Yeah Mum, I’m fine.” I replied as I walked to the left and into my room, dumping my bag on the dark green carpeted floor and collapsing on my bed.

My cat Milly got up from on top of my TV and jumped onto the foot of my bed, probably wanting to be patted, fed, let out or something. I gave her a quick pat, sat up and grabbed my lap-top, checking to see if there were any friends online. I checked the regular sites; Facebook, MSN, and even Youtube, but only found a couple of people I knew that I didn’t feel like talking to or no one at all.

I sighed, listening to the light rain that had started to fall on the tin carport roof next to my window. I heard rushed footsteps go past, but didn’t bother looking, since I had a feeling that would be one of my little brothers. They knocked on the door, which was strange given Sam and Jacob just barge their way in – One way to tell we’re related. Mum opened the door and I heard her talking before she stopped and opened my door a little.

“Nath, Belle’s here to see you.”

What? She didn’t tell me she was coming over. I jumped off my bed – slightly scaring Milly – and went to the front door to see Belle standing there, her uniform fitting perfectly over her slim frame. Isabelle, though she’d thump anyone if they used her full name, was about 5’7 with slightly tanned skin. She let her auburn hair fall just past her shoulders, her blue eyes shining.

“Hey Nath, can I come in?” She said with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. After all, this was Belle we were talking about.

“Yeah, sure,” I quickly replied, letting her in, and we both automatically went for my room.

“You two play nice now, okay?” I heard Mum ask from the kitchen, a hint of cheekiness hanging from her voice.

“Mum.” I moaned. God, parents can be so embarrassing sometimes. Belle giggled.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Rich, I’ll set him straight.” She gave me a wink before we both entered my room and closed the door. I followed her lead and sat down on the bed next to her. She shivered a little, even though she was wearing the bland, navy blue school jumper. Milly meowed as Belle gave her a pat.

“So,” I began. “What’s up?”

“Dad isn’t home from work yet, and I didn’t feel like being the only one in the house.” She turned to me and smiled. Again, I smiled back. My earlier thoughts came back and prompted me to ask something.

“Belle, where do you go during maths? I mean, I know the teacher’s an idiot, but if your dad found out”-

“He doesn’t care much about school.” She cut me off, her happy mood now gone, replaced by a thoughtful one. “The only times he’s ever concerned about school is either if I win some stupid award, have to speak at an assembly or when reports come out.”

The room went quiet for a while, neither one of us speaking. It felt awkward, like each of us was waiting for the other to start talking again. Milly got up and was rubbing against Belle, and she got some more pats for her troubles.

“Anything interesting happen today,” She asked, breaking the silence while staying on the topic of school.

“Nah, not really; there was another phoney fight, and it turned into nothing, as usual.” That was the deal at our school. Someone would say there’s a fight about to happen, people would flock en masse to where the action would be, but then nothing happened, mostly because the teachers were right there.

“Anything else,” She asked.

“Well, the guys went on as usual; Talking about their classes, any cars they like, you know.” Once again, there was silence. This was getting really awkward.

After about a minute or two of this, I got up and moved over to a waist-high, three layered, brown shelf in the corner of my room and grabbed a ceramic sculpture of two birds sitting together, one slightly larger and purple hugging another one, pink and wearing a green and white chequered scarf around its neck. It was something that I’d always wondered about, but never found out. I felt Belle stand up at my side, resting a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” She asked with a hint of concern in her voice. I nodded.

“Yeah, she’s out there somewhere, and one of these days, I’m going to find her,” I replied as we stood there for a little longer, listening to the rain.

“But, do you even know anything about her?” Belle asked. I shook my head.

“All I can remember about her is that she had blonde hair. Not much to go on, I know, but...” I trailed off, looking back outside as we stood there in silence a little longer, until Belle got a text that was.

“Who is it?” I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew who it would be.

“Dad, he wants me to be home before he gets there, as always.” She replied and I smiled at an image in my head.

“I bet you he’ll be doing that when you’re older.” Belle smiled at my remark.

“Yeah,” she laughed. “Like when I’m thirty.” Belle then gave Milly one more pat and moved to the door, and I followed.

“Can’t you get your mum to give me a lift home?” She asked, trying to put on the puppy dog eyes as she stood in the door frame. Those things could melt any persons resolve, but luckily I’d been around Belle long enough to resist her pull.

“You live real close,” I argued back. “Plus it isn’t even raining that heavily.”

“Fine,” she sighed before pulling on a smile. “See you tomorrow then.” And so she began walking home.

 “See you, Belle,” I replied, standing at the door, watching her leave. I then walked back into my room and once again collapsed on my bed, put on my earphones and drifted away to my favourite bands the likes of Linkin Park and Red.

God, this place is boring. I just wish I could... I don’t know.