Heathcliff was finishing his breakfast as Ronald and Carl entered the dining room. He motioned for them to sit without turning his attention away from his omelet. As they sat down, he finished his last bite.
Once he swallowed the last bite, he turned to look at Carl in the eye. "What really happened last night?"
"We were examining the Heart of the Forest to see if there was anything we could determine with why it wouldn't work when we were at Berthoud Pass, when suddenly it lit up. We watched to see if anything would happen, then that girl entered the room. As she did, the light from the Heart went out. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it had been calling her, but I don't know why it would call her," He replied without hesitating.
Heathcliff nodded. "It might because she lives next to the forest, but I doubt it would be that simple of a reason. We might need to keep an eye on her, but since she's not going anywhere soon, we have time to move slowly with her. However, that brings to mind why didn't you see if she could use magic."
"I cast the spell on her as she was leaving the room. It had an effect on her, but I can't say why she didn't fall asleep then and there. I can't say that I've heard of anyone remaining awake after that spell is cast," Carl replied, drawing Heathcliff's gaze.
Heathcliff leaned back in his chair as he turned his gaze to the chair the girl sat in the night before at dinner. Finally he looked back at Ronald after a minute. "See what you can find out about the girl without raising suspicion. Any information will do, as long as it's accurate. If we need to pull her into opening the gate, we'll need to know as much as we can about her. If nothing else, we might need her to open the gate herself. If the Heart did respond to her and called her, she might be what we were missing when you tried opening it yesterday."
"Where should I start looking?" Ronald asked, scratching his beard.
Heathcliff sighed as Carl shook his head in exasperation. "Where you do start with anyone? See if there's any police record for her, check the city and state files to see if you can find anything. You've done this before so this shouldn't be that difficult of a task."
Carl nodded sheepishly, clearly embarrassed at the rebuke. "I'll get right on it."
_
Charlie opened her eyes. It took her a moment realize she was in her bed, though she had no memory of how she'd gotten there. She still wore her dress, but as she started to sit up, she realized the only thing she wasn't wearing that she had at the dinner was her shoes. That alone told her that it had to have been her mother who put her there, which further told her that she had to have fallen asleep at either the dinner or the car ride home. She put a hand to her head as a sudden dizzy spell came over her. She thought about the night before and couldn't remember anything after seeing that strange crystal. All she could hope at the moment was that she didn't get in trouble for entering that room when she had been directly told by Heathcliff not to.
As Charlie started to stand up, she had to grab hold of her bed as the room started to spin and she felt like she was about to fall asleep again. She'd never felt like this before and couldn't think why this was happening now.
Then when the room was stationary again, Charlie started to remove her dress and pantyhose before going to her clothing and started to get dressed. Then she made her way downstairs and began to get herself breakfast, which was typically a bowl of cereal, unless one of her parents was making something special, like pancakes. The kitchen was empty when Charlie entered, so she began getting what she needed for a bowl of cereal. Coco Puffs was always what she preferred, and while they didn't always have it she knew they'd gotten some recently enough that they shouldn't have run out by now.
Charlie was getting the milk out of the fridge when Cherie entered the kitchen, in her pink polka-dotted nightgown, and started getting a bowl and spoon for herself as well as her own cereal. Cherie didn't like Coco Puffs as much as Charlie, preferring Honey Nut Cheerios, but would still eat it if that was all they had.
"You might want to get dressed, we'll need to leave for school soon," Charlie told Cherie, making her way to the table where she'd set her bowl and cereal down.
Cherie looked at Charlie strangely. "Are you okay, Charlie?" She asked, speaking slowly enough that it sounded like she was afraid Charlie might attack her at any moment.
Charlie looked at Cherie as she set the milk on the table, confused. "Of course I am," she replied. "What makes you think I'm not?"
"Well," Cherie replied, in the same tone and pace, "It is Saturday, and there isn't any school today."
Charlie stared at Cherie as she set her bowl and spoon on the table as she processed what Cherie told her. Finally she realized exactly what Cherie had said meant and couldn't help but feel her face flush in embarrassment. "Sorry," she apologized. "I'm not sure why I didn't realize that."
Cherie was already pouring her cereal into the bowl. "You were really tired last night, I guess you might still be tired." She paused for a moment. "What did you do to get so tired? I mean, you only went to the bathroom. How did you get that tired so quickly?"
Charlie shook her head. "I wish I knew. I have no idea what happened. I don't even remember leaving last night," Charlie replied. Then a moment after, in a quiet voice, she added, "I just hope dad isn't mad at me."
Cherie shook her head again. "Don't worry about it. I think mom and dad are more worried at how tired you were. I mean, you never get that tired. I think they're more worried than angry."
"Thanks," Charlie said, hoping Cherie was right.
While they were eating, but after they'd finished over half of their bowls of cereal, Charlie saw her mom enter the kitchen, fully dressed, clearly ready to leave to go to work at the hospital. "Morning, mom," Charlie called out to her, briefly pausing in her cereal bowl.
"Good morning, dear," she replied absently, her mind clearly on getting ready to leave. "How was your sleep?"
"Not bad, I just hope I didn't mess things up for dad last night," Charlie said, wanting to get these worries out of her mind as quickly as she could.
"It's fine. Your father has been on the phone with Heathcliff for about an hour now, and he assures us that you didn't do anything that would make him not consider giving you father's company the contract, but we would like to know what you did to get so tired. We've never seen you like that," She replied, as she was getting her own breakfast out of the fridge: frozen microwavable breakfast sandwiches.
"Told you," Cherie said quietly.
Charlie didn't give her sister a glance. "I'm sorry I couldn't ask him about an internship, mom," she added, hoping that wouldn't be a problem.
"Don't worry about it. We were hoping that it would help you with your college applications when you graduate. If it doesn't happen, then we'll look for something else you can put on your applications that will help."
Great, Charlie thought to herself. She really didn't care about college, especially since she wasn't sure what she would want to study. There were just too many options out there that she couldn't think of what might actually interest her that she would at least have a chance to be passable in.
"By the way mom," Cherie asked, pausing from her cereal, "when will you be taking Charlie to get a new formal dress?"
"Why? Do you want to come with us?" their mother asked, making quick work of the eggs.
Cherie shook her head. "Not really, I just wanted to know. If both of you are gone, then maybe Amber would be able to come over and we wouldn't disturb Charlie again."
Amber Jamison was Cherie's best friend. They were very close. Amber at times seemed more like a sister to Cherie than a friend from how it seemed to Charlie, but she didn't begrudge her sister that. The problem that had occurred last time Amber was there was that they'd accidentally broken Charlie's window while Charlie was changing after a shower, then when Charlie looked out the window, wearing a towel, she saw them leaving her garden, not keeping to the paths of the garden, and… the kindest way of putting was that Charlie just lost it.
"Just leave my garden alone and I'll be fine," Charlie replied to her cereal under her breath.
"We'll see about that. Right now I have to get to work. This morning's shift was the one I had to take in order to get last night off," their mother replied, taking her breakfast sandwich out of the microwave and starting to eat it. Then she noticed Charlie. "You're ready to go awfully early today. Do you have plans for anything?"
"Not anything specifically, I just didn't realize it was Saturday when I got up," Charlie replied, wanting this new subject to just disappear.
"You must really have been tired," their mother cooed in between bites.
Wanting out of this situation, Charlie finished the last of her cereal and began to drink the leftover milk straight from the bowl and then took it to the sink, where she rinsed it briefly before setting it on the counter with the other dirty dishes. "Well, I'm going to my garden," Charlie informed her mother, turning to the side of the kitchen that would be the quickest path to the front door, the closest to her garden.
"Hold up, young lady," her mother said, causing Charlie to stop after taking a couple steps. She walked over and embraced Charlie, which Charlie then turned into the hug and returned it. Then after her mother kissed her head, Charlie was released and let go. "Have a nice day. I love you."
"I love you too, mom," Charlie replied as she made her way out of the kitchen.
The morning sun shone clearly as Charlie made her way over to her garden. There wasn't much Charlie expected to need to do. She'd set up a watering system that was on a timer, so she wouldn't need to worry about watering it. The plants were young, so there wasn't any need to do much about them. The thinning was already done last week. So, all that was left was to take care of any weeds that had decided to take up residency there. Charlie always tended to her garden first, then would deal with the garden that her family kept together, which was smaller than Charlie's personal garden.
After Charlie finished the weeding, she sat in her garden, in the center path, just enjoying the morning, not wanting to move just yet and take care of the other garden. However, her peace was shattered after a minute of it's existence by Beth calling out to her.
"Good morning, Charlie. Up early, I see."
Groaning inwardly, Charlie looked in the direction Beth's voice came from and watched her leave the bushes that sheltered Petals. "You're up early too," Charlie pointed out, wishing that Beth hadn't gotten up as early as she would have had to, to be here already. That way she could be in her garden in peace.
"You garden?" Beth asked, what Charlie thought would be obvious.
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Still as testy as yesterday, I see."
Charlie couldn't help but wonder what point Beth was going to get to, if she ever did. "What do you want?"
"Just heard you here and thought I'd keep you company while we waited for everyone else to show up."
"And you have to talk while you do this?" Charlie asked as she reached out to a flower that was starting to bud.
"Why not?"
Charlie looked at Beth and could tell she was serious and not just messing with Charlie. At least that's what she saw from her expression.
"Maybe because I was sitting in the morning quiet and not talking myself," Charlie replied as politely as she could.
Beth walked over, only walking along the paths Charlie had in her garden, and sat next to Charlie.
"May I ask you a question?"
Ignoring the fact that she just had, Charlie nodded. "Sure, might as well, since I'm clearly not going to get the peace and quiet back."
"Why don't you have any friends? Did something happen in the past or do you have friends no one at school knows about?"
Out of everything that Beth could have asked, Charlie couldn't have been more surprised. It even took Charlie a minute to even make an attempt to respond. Partly because of the surprise and partly because she never really thought about it.
"I- I…" She started, but couldn't come up with anything that she could put into words.
It was Beth's turn to be surprised. "Wow, I never thought you'd have this hard a time of answering." Charlie heard a click and turned to see Beth taking a picture of her.
While she wasn't happy to see Beth taking pictures of her again, she couldn't bring up the anger that had fueled her when Beth did that the day before. Maybe it was just from her being so tired last night and today, but she just didn't feel like she had the energy to lash out right now.
"So, do you have a response or do you not know?"
Charlie shook her head, her gaze resting on some of the flower buds in the garden, not moving as she found a response that came to her as she spoke. "I guess I just never really felt like I had anyone I could consider a friend or even open up to and I'm sure I tried when I was younger, but I guess eventually I didn't try anymore. I really don't remember. I just remember always being by myself, not being around others."
"Wow, didn't you ever get lonely?"
Charlie looked at Beth, her eyes full of concern. "Yeah, sometimes it was, but because it was a choice I made, I was fine with it and it didn't bother me that much."
Charlie wasn't sure why she was saying so much, maybe it was because she was still tired from the night before, but she was surprised that it didn't bother her as much as she had thought it would.
"Did you grow all of this yourself?" Beth asked, after thinking over what Charlie had said while looking out over Charlie's garden.
"What makes you think this isn't my family's garden?" Charlie asked, not sure if she should admit that it was hers.
"For one, there's another garden over there," Beth replied, pointing at Charlie's family's garden. "And another, you were working in this one rather than that one. Then lastly, I've seen you working in this garden over the past few months and rarely in that one."
Charlie couldn't think of how she could refute those observations, so she decided to admit it. "Yeah, I did. It's what I spend pretty much all of my allowance on."
"How much is your allowance?" Beth asked.
Charlie merely looked at Beth levelly, not saying anything, merely just looking at her in response.
Finally Beth got the message. "I see. Yeah, I probably wouldn't tell you how much I get either," Beth replied, laughing.
–Is everyone almost here?– Charlie heard Petals ask in her mind suddenly.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon," Charlie called out to Petals, thinking the thought at Petals as well, starting to brush off any dirt, straw, grass, and whatever else might have stuck to her as she sat in her garden.
"I take it Petals is ready for us to meet and see if we can get into her forest," Beth said, brushing herself off while standing up as well.
"Yeah, I think she senses everyone else is nearby, so we probably should show up and see if anyone else has an idea."
"What makes you think I don't," Beth replied, as they started walking towards the bushes.
"Do you?" Charlie challenged.
Beth laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I don't have an idea."
Charlie wasn't surprised that only Petals was in the bushes when she and Beth entered. It's good to see you, Charlie thought at Petals, walking over to her and putting her hand on Petals' shoulder.
–It's good to see you too.– Petals replied. –Were you able to figure out what the problem with my forest is?–
Charlie was taken aback at the sudden change of topic, but she wasn't really surprised. "I haven't come up with anything yet," she answered aloud.
–You are trying to think of something, aren't you?–
Charlie leaned her head against Petals as she thought, Of course I am. I just don't know what could be keeping us out, let alone what we might be able to do about it.
Charlie was vaguely aware of the others showing up as she conversed with Petals, when suddenly Petals tensed against Charlie. –Why do you have the same smell as the one who attacked me?–
Charlie stepped away from Petals, so they could look each other in the eye. "What do you mean that I have the same smell as the one who attacked you?" Charlie asked aloud, alarmed at the question.
–You just have a smell that I've only ever smelled with the one who attacked me. It's faint, so it took me a minute to recognize it, but it's there.–
Charlie relayed what Petals told her to everyone else. She was finishing up when Ralph entered the bushes, the last of the group to show up. "Maybe she encountered the one who attacked you without even realizing it," Amelia suggested.
–Where could she have encountered them?– Petals asked, then her nostrils flared in alarm. –Unless you're with them?–
Charlie stepped back to Petals, still translating for everyone. "The only ones I can think of that I encountered enough to maybe get some of their 'smell' on me was at Heathcliff's last night."
"Who's Heathcliff?" Tim asked, walking to stand next to Petals, facing Charlie.
"He's the operator of a business my dad is trying to get his business hired by," Charlie answered, certain that Tim was probably going to be suspicious of her, regardless of anything she said. "Then…" Charlie trailed off, starting to wonder about the crystal. She remembered it emitting a light that then was going out when she entered that room, but it didn't look like there had been anything connected to it, like a power cord or the like.
"What? Did you think of something?" Amelia asked. Her intent gaze making Charlie a little uncomfortable.
"Well… I may have seen something last night," Charlie began before she related to the group what had happened as well as how it felt like she wasn't the one in control of herself as she went from the bathroom to the room with the crystal.
–That might have been the Heart of the Forest.– Petals commented, causing Charlie to look at her.
"What's the Heart of the Forest?" Charlie asked, not bothering to translate for everyone.
–That's the core of my forest. If it was removed, then my forest will disappear if it doesn't get put back in the center of the forest.– Petals replied, her mental tone telling Charlie that this development really troubled her.
"How long do we have?" Charlie asked, motioning for the others to wait, as they were getting impatient with only hearing half the conversation.
–I don't know,– Petals replied despondently. –I've never taken it out, but I always knew that it needed to remain there and if I removed it I would need to put it back as soon as I could.–
Charlie walked over to Petals and hugged the unicorn, her arms only making it about halfway around Petals' neck. "It'll be ok," Charlie soothed, closing her eyes as she leaned against Petals. "We'll find a way to get it back. I don't know how, but we won't let your forest disappear."
When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see everyone else hugging Petals from different sides; she hadn't even heard them move. Charlie looked at who was next to her and saw it was Beth and Hannah. She waited until everyone was done hugging Petals and related what the conversation was about.
"So, do you think maybe it was the Heart of the Forest that called to you and had you walk to where it was until you saw it?" Hannah asked, as she walked back to the spot she had been sitting in.
Charlie shook her head. "I don't know. I just know how it felt." Charlie took a few steps away from Petals as she considered the idea.
"Well, whatever it was, at least we know where a Heart of the Forest is, but we can't be sure they took the Heart of the Forest from this forest," Beth commented.
"What makes you think there's more than one forest like this?" Tim asked, as everyone else started going back to where they had been.
"How do you know there isn't?" Ralph challenged, a smirk on his face telling everyone else that he might know more about this than he's letting on, but isn't going to tell all he knows.
"Maybe a Heart of the Forest is all we need to get back in," Tim suggested.
"If that's what it was, why wouldn't Petals know about that," Wes said, sitting down on the ground, by where they entered this bush a couple days ago.
"Petals doesn't know everything," Tim replied.
While Charlie agreed with that sentiment, she couldn't help but consider that Petals still knew more about it than they did. After all, she wasn't stupid. Just inexperienced dealing with others and situations like this. "Even if that's the case," Charlie ventured, thinking about a class she had in biology earlier in the school year. "Who's to say that the Heart of the Forest I found would be compatible with this forest if it came from a different forest. It might be like an organ that is put in someone else who needs it. The organ might get rejected by the person's body, despite it being an important element it needs to survive."
Tim glared at Charlie, which Charlie couldn't help but find amusing for some reason. "Regardless about this, maybe we should see if anyone can think of a way that can get us into the forest without having the Heart of the Forest. After all, even if we had it, it might not be what we need to enter," Amelia suggested, looking at where the blocked entrance to the forest is.
_
"I think it's about time we wrapped this up," Beth suggested as the sun was going down. Charlie couldn't believe she'd been out here this long. Normally she'd work in her garden, then go inside to her room, work on her homework, then read a book, usually about growing something. When she'd thought about this time coming up, she'd thought that it would feel like time was dragging on, not go by without her realizing it.
"Did we really accomplish anything?" Wes asked as he stood up, brushing dirt of his pants.
"We at least learned about the Heart of the Forest," Hannah replied as she stretched her legs during the process of standing up.
"Aside from that, I don't think much else was done," Amelia said, not showing any indications of wanting to move just yet.
"At least I think we helped Petals feel not alone in this," Charlie found herself mentioning, surprising herself in the process.
Beth pulled Charlie into a side-hug. "And that's worth all the time we spent here, right?"
Charlie pushed Beth away from her, surprised, and pleased, that Beth wasn't as hard to dislodge as she had been previously when Charlie tried to end physical contact. "It depends on if we're able to do something that will get us in her forest to see if there is anything that needs to be done to help it or if the crisis is otherwise over."
"Well, I'll see you guys later," Ralph said as he quickly left.
As Charlie watched him go, she realized he hadn't said anything the entire day while he was there. She didn't know him well enough to know if that was unusual or not, but she suddenly had a strong urge to see if he had any thoughts that he just hadn't felt like sharing with everyone earlier, despite her better judgment.
"Ralph, hold up!" she called after him, making him to stop and turn around. Then ignoring the surprised looks everyone else was giving her, she posed her question. "Was there anything that you thought of today? I noticed you haven't really said anything since you got here about what we came to discuss in the first place. You've only responded to anything anyone said, aside from what you said just now."
Ralph laughed, and Charlie wasn't sure if this was going to be as bad of an idea as she'd experienced with Ralph in the past. "I certainly didn't expect you to notice. If anyone noticed and said something, I'd expect it of our resident reporter," Ralph said after a moment, indicating Beth as the 'resident reporter.'
"Well, was there anything that came to mind?" Charlie asked, not letting him bait her into talking about something else.
Ralph seemed to be debating something with himself, and Charlie wasn't sure that he'd actually give her a clear answer, but after a minute, he did. "Exactly where is your forest? I mean in regards to us," he asked, turning to Petals.
–I'm not sure how to say this,– Petals replied, shifting her weight uncomfortably. –I guess you could say that it's like it's not anywhere, but somewhere in the air?–
Charlie wasn't sure what to make of that, but Ralph seemed to understand more of that response than Charlie did. Though, she did relay what Petals said for everyone else's benefit. "Thanks, I might have something I can try, but I'll need to wait until Monday until I can."
–Why do we need to wait?– Petals asked, with what Charlie could only call a whiny tone, much like a child who couldn't get what they really wanted, but didn't understand why they couldn't. However, she could understand why in this circumstance.
"I think it's because he might need to look into what he's thinking before he's ready to try it," Beth told Petals, walking over to Petals and putting her hands on either side of Petals' face. "I'm sure that he'll tell us when he's figured out what that idea is."
Charlie could sense a whirl of emotions from Petals, from panic to depression, which she couldn't even begin to decipher as she thought about what Beth had said. –Alright. I'll trust that Ralph will come up with something.–
As Charlie finished relaying what Petals said, Beth turned to Charlie, walked over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Charlie was so surprised that she didn't even react for a moment. Then as she started to struggle to get out of the embrace, Beth spoke. "Thank you, Charlie. I'm not sure we'd be able to keep focused on coming up with ideas of what we could do if you didn't tell us what Petals was saying. I know Ralph wouldn't think of relaying what Petals said, it probably doesn't even occur to him that it might be good to do so."
Charlie felt her will to get out of the embrace diminish as Beth spoke, until she found herself returning the embrace, albeit very lightly. However, as soon as she felt Beth's grip loosening, she was quick to break the embrace. "I guess then I should head home then," she stammered awkwardly, unsure if she was blushing or not. Especially since she wasn't fully sure if what she was feeling was affected by how she could feel how Petals was feeling. All she knew was that she felt like a seed in a twister. Everything seeming like it was happening so fast that there wasn't a possible way to get anything steady again.
With that, not knowing if anyone said anything to her after that, she quickly made her way to her home, barely aware of her sister watching TV again as she made her way to her room. Then inside her room, she removed her clothes and slid into her bed. She couldn't help but wonder why she felt like she was shaking apart. What was it that shook her so much to her core that it was like she was in a twister, unable to know when, where, or how she might land.
It was hours before she felt steady enough to get out of bed and go downstairs to see if there was any dinner left or if it was a 'leftovers' night.
_
Monday morning seemed like it promised to be like any other to Charlie, but she wasn't believing that it would. Ever since she had been hugged by Beth and she returned the hug, her emotions had pretty much been in turmoil. At times she felt like running and hiding under her covers in her bed while at other times she just wanted to laugh. Even her family had noticed that something was off with her, but whenever they'd asked, she could only shake her head. After all, how could she articulate what was going on with her to them when she couldn't explain it to herself.
Fortunately her family had been willing to give her space to work it out on her own. However, school was another matter. While she'd gotten all of her homework done, she couldn't be sure that everything would be fine. Especially with how she could only determine that her emotional whirlwind was in relation to Beth and she wasn't sure if that would be a good thing, given how Beth was likely to approach Charlie, regardless of how Charlie felt about that. Especially with how she still hadn't sorted out her emotions from last Friday afternoon.
Fortunately for Charlie, her first class was par for the course. English class was always her worst subject, so scoring poorly on the homework she'd turned in last Friday wasn't anything that would cause anyone to take notice. Though, she did have to endure more threats of her parents being contacted if she didn't improve her grades. Charlie didn't care about that, given she'd always shown her parents her grades, and they were used to her below average scores in English and had stopped long ago trying to pressure her to improve it. They'd resigned themselves that she wasn't going to get as good grades as they'd like. Not that she didn't have to endure a lecture here or there about it, but she could tell that their heart wasn't in it when they did anymore.
Problems in her day first started in her second class: Math. First Mr. Samuels returned her homework from Friday, expressing how disappointed he was at her poor performance. Charlie even felt shock. Compared to her English homework, this was abysmal. Looking over her work, she could tell what mistakes she'd made and couldn't remember why she thought those would be correct answers. However, that wasn't all that happened in class. Part way through the class, during Mr. Samuels explanation of how to work another math equation, Charlie had a folded piece of paper slapped down on her desk with such volume that Mr. Samuels noticed it at the same time as Charlie.
"Miss Rivers, would you bring that up to me?" He asked, which Charlie always found rhetorical. He certainly wasn't going to let Charlie put the note away and move on with class. She could either bring the note up and let him read it aloud or she could let him come to her and read the note at her desk and endure detention. Was there really a choice?
She took the note up to Mr. Samuels and was a little surprised to find she wasn't dreading him reading it. For one, she had absolutely no idea what the note could contain. For another, she didn't know anyone in the class well enough to expect anything that would make her embarrassed to have it read to the class. It was common knowledge among the student body that most teachers, Mr. Samuels included, enjoyed reading any notes they noticed being passed during class to the entire class for the sheer discomfort this caused the various students either named in the note or the unlucky one caught with the note.
As she handed the note to Mr. Samuels, she merely waited patiently for him to read the note. It also seemed that because she didn't show any immediate signs of discomfort, the wind in Mr. Samuels' sails seemed to diminish a little. Not that it stopped him from reading the note. "Charlie – You may not feel this class is important, but if you keep at it like you are, I will deal with you. Mr. Samuels is a great man and should be treated as such" Mr. Samuels started reading the note, his eyes keeping Charlie in view, but as the body of the note became apparent, Charlie seemed to become background to him. "Miss Rivers, please take your seat," He said distractedly, moving back to his desk.
Charlie made her way back to her desk, hearing Mr. Samuels talk softly to someone on the phone at his desk, not sure what to make of these developments in her day. The only real consolation about it was the fact that it didn't have anything to do about her emotional maelstrom. Charlie also noticed that Mr. Samuels had more attention from the class at one time now than he ever did during the entire school year.
Besides, who writes a note like that? Charlie wondered. Teacher's Pets were a likely suspect, but still, that would be weird even for them. It would be one thing to try and intimidate her about it, but a note? What did they think that would accomplish?
As he hung up the phone, he turned his attention back to the class. "While I appreciate the positive comments about me in the note, it is clearly a threat against a student in my class, and as such I will follow the school policy about unclear threats. Which means ALL of you will remain after class so the principal can address you. Each of you will be given a note excusing you from being late to your next class should that be necessary, and it probably will. In regards to whoever wrote that note all I can say is that I am disappointed in you. If you really think that I am a 'great man,' then you should first start by respecting your fellow classmates. Part of that respect should include NOT threatening them. All this is doing is taking away time that you could be learning something that could potentially improve your own lives," Mr. Samuels said, matter-of-factly while his eyes scanned the entire class, taking note of more than he ever had during the year, or at least that's how Charlie felt about his piercing gaze at that moment. "If any of you have anything to say about the matter, you will need to hold those thoughts until you can address the principal about it. Now, lets get back to the subject at hand."
Charlie wasn't sure if she was in trouble or not. She didn't think she was, but this was new territory for her. Not only could she not think of who might have sent it, she also couldn't figure out why. As of all the students in the class, Charlie was nowhere near the most disruptive. Others seemed to take turns being disruptive, almost as a game, but even when she fell asleep in class the previous Thursday, that was no more of a blip on the disruptive behavior than some of the others had caused during the school year. In some cases others had been more disruptive. Charlie couldn't figure out who would find her so disruptive that they felt it necessary to pass her a note in the class of the person they found so exemplary and Charlie couldn't help but wonder again: Why a note? Which brought to mind the one who at times seemed to worship the ground Mr. Samuels walked on: Alex Richardson. The resident teacher's pet of this particular class.
While listening to Mr. Samuels explain the mathematical process, she glanced a few times in Alex's direction. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about him, but couldn't say whether it was likely him or not. All she could think of was that if it wasn't Alex, he probably was the perfect patsy to take the fall, given he wasn't very popular in this class. Especially with how quick he was to act like he was put in charge of the class on the occasional times Mr. Samuels had to leave the class.
In the end, Charlie couldn't come up with a conclusive idea of who might have sent her the note, so she did what she had so frequently in the past when confronted with things she couldn't figure out an answer to. She just let it go and let her mind focus on the task at hand.
At the end of the class, true to his word, the principal, Mrs. Garfield entered the room. She was a young woman, around her late 20's, black hair, crystal blue eyes, and was around five foot five.
She walked forward to stand in front of all the students, and began to lecture about threatening others students. Charlie acted like she was paying attention, but let her mind wander over other things that had more interest to her, much like she did during assemblies at school that she didn't have any interest in.
When the lecture was over, Charlie only knew it because everyone around her started to get up from their seats and move to leave the room, collecting a pass from the principal as they left.
As Charlie collected her pass, the principal said to Charlie, "Come see me later today when you have time, ok?"
Surprised, Charlie could only nod and murmur, "Ok."
The principal smiled at her as she left, and Charlie quickly moved out of the room and entered the room next to the one she just left. The teacher of her home ec class, Ms. Sanderson glared at her as she entered. "What excuse do you have today for being late, Miss Rivers?"
Charlie didn't say anything, despite knowing that she should be aware of what went on with the principal going into the room next to hers. Especially given Ms. Sanderson seemed to be like Beth, knowing everything that goes on before even the rumors have started their circuit. So Charlie didn't challenge Ms. Sanderson's act, but merely walked over to her and handed her the pass she'd gotten from the principal. Ms. Sanderson looked at the note and made a noise of disapproval. "We're working in teams today, so you'll be partnered with Mr. Williams."
Charlie looked to where Alex Williams was. He was the star quarterback of the school and several of the other girls in the class glared at Charlie for being partnered with him. Ms. Sanderson always chose who was partnered with whom, though she would usually allow friends to be partnered together, but Charlie tended to be passed from one group to another. Charlie assumed that was because she didn't seem to have any preference with working with anyone specific, in addition to being the 'extra' in the class when it came to needing pairs.
Alex's usual partner seemed to be absent, but Charlie didn't really care why. Though, it did make her more conscious of the girls who were glaring at her. Charlie knew full well why they were glaring at her. Most would give their right arm, eyes, feet, and hair if they could be partnered with Alex. With how little awareness Charlie had about the social aspects of school, she was still fully aware that Alex Williams was the one most of the girls in the school had a crush on. It wouldn't matter if they knew that Charlie was involved with anyone else and that Alex had someone too, they would still be upset that Charlie was paired with him.
"Hi, Charlie," Alex greeted. He had light green eyes, blond hair, and was five feet eleven inches, just shy of six feet by a hair. He had a muscular build that seemed to complement him when he played football. He also was pleasant with everyone.
"Hi," she replied, setting her bag on the ground by their station.
"What happened to make you late?" he inquired quietly. It wasn't uncommon for him to ask Charlie these things when she was partnered with him. He was always conversational and Charlie had gotten used to it. Not that she ever really contributed to the dialogue in any meaningful way.
"Everyone was held back so the principal could lecture us," Charlie quietly replied, paying more attention to the directions of what they were expected to make in class.
"Why did the principal lecture your math class?"
"Someone wrote a note to me that sounded threatening. Or at least to Mr. Samuels," Charlie said as she started pulling out the utensils they'd need from the cupboards in their station.
"Any idea who?"
Charlie shook her head. "No, I don't."
They worked quietly for a few minutes, but when it was time to start mixing the dough in the bowl, there wasn't much else to do.
"By the way, I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me with something," Alex said, holding the mixer securely.
"Why would you think I'd be able to help?" Charlie asked, a little surprised at the request. After all, no one in her life, that she could remember, had ever asked her for help in pretty much anything; not counting Petals.
"Because you're a completely neutral person in regards to my problem. Anything you'd say I know won't be slanted by any motive that would push me one way or another."
Charlie shook her head. "I guess. Though, I can't say for sure what help I'll be able to give or how good it'll be."
Alex smiled at Charlie. "That's all I can ask."
Charlie looked at the mixer to see the consistency of the dough for herself. "So, what's your problem?"
"I like a girl, but I'm not sure how to approach her. Any suggestions of what I should do?"
Charlie sighed. If this was the Alex that Beth mentioned, this would be a different way of telling her that he liked her, but Charlie had a feeling, partly because of how he'd mentioned why she was a good candidate to help him, that his interest was in a different girl. "I can't really say what you should do. I don't know anything about the girl you like. If she's shy, maybe an indirect approach, but if she's outgoing, the direct approach might be better."
"Why should it be indirect if she's shy?"
"Think about it. Any girl you go out with would have to contend with all the other girls who would want to be her. A shy girl probably might not withstand that as well as an outgoing girl."
Alex laughed softly. "What experience do you have on this subject?"
Charlie didn't miss a beat in her response, while putting liners in the pan to make the muffins easier to remove after baking. "None. I just know what happened to the last girl who tried to leave you a note telling you how much she liked you. Her locker was next to mine."
"What happened?"
"The usual bullying. It lasted a few months, but she acted like it wasn't occurring. Not sure if it was really an act or she was just that oblivious to it," Charlie replied, only realizing how much she was talking. Why am I talking so much? She wondered, not sure if Alex was going to take note of it or disregard it. Either way, she was talking a LOT more than she ever had before and couldn't figure out why.
"But she was also shy to the point that she had a hard time making eye contact. So, if she was aware of the bullying, I doubt she'd have said anything to anyone if she was."
"What happened to her?"
"Eventually the bullying stopped. I mean, if she wasn't going to react, she wasn't going to give the bullies what they were looking for, so I guess they got bored. However, she moved a couple months after it started and I can't say if it was because of the bullying or if it was because of the usual stuff that happens to cause people to move."
"Thanks for the advice," Alex said after taking a few minutes to consider what Charlie had said. "If you'd like, I could set you up with Jeff."
Jeff Taylor was Alex's best friend. Jeff was also one of the best players on the football team as well. The only other decent player on the team was Jeff's older brother, Elliot. Jeff played as a blocker, Charlie never knew what most positions were called, and kept Alex from getting tackled long enough for him to decide what to do with the ball. Jeff had brown eyes, jet-black hair, and had so much bulk that anyone who didn't know him would say he was fat. However, they would be mistaken. His bulk was mostly muscle. While he was obese in regards to his weight, most of that was a result from him spending so much time weight lifting, which also helped in his position on the team. He also loved it when someone would try to call him 'fat.' He would go on about how he was just bulked up and not fat. Though, he wasn't happy that the word 'fat' was not pc. He seemed to relish times when he could lecture someone on calling him fat. His brother was the same way, in fact sometimes it was difficult to tell the brothers apart.
"Sorry, but I'm not interested in him," Charlie replied, not giving his question much thought. Charlie started to put the dough in the liners, Alex holding the pan steady.
"Is there anyone you are interested in?" he asked, his tone amused.
"Not at the moment. Who knows if that'll change, but not right now," Charlie replied, wishing this topic would be done. Aside from wondering which Alex might be interested in her, she hadn't given romance any real thought. It just wasn't anything that had caught her attention at all up to this point, and she wasn't sure if she would become interested in that at all before her time in High School was done. Aside from the fact that she wasn't sure why she wasn't shutting this conversation down right now anyway.
"So, what way would you suggest to make it indirect?" Alex asked as they put the muffins in the oven.
"Maybe have Jeff or someone deliver a note from you to her or drop it in her locker when she's not going to be there, but they'd need an excuse to walk by it, in the event they get spotted by a teacher or someone," Charlie replied absently, watching the oven, despite not being able to see the muffins cooking.
"You mean like 'if you like me check yes' or something like that?," he joked, leaning against the counter of their station. Then after a minute of thinking about it he added, "Could work if I don't make the note so juvenile. Thanks."
Wish it was as simple as that to figure out my emotions, Charlie thought to herself, partly wondering if her talkativeness was due to the emotional maelstrom she had going on. Although, part of her wondered if she should be offended by his joke.
"Let me know if I can repay the favor, okay?" Alex asked, breaking Charlie from her thoughts.
"Uh, sure," she replied, not sure what favor she might ask of him in the event she actually needed one. "I'll do that."
_
Charlie knew lunch was going to be difficult when she sat down and Allison was sitting there and hadn't touched her lunch yet, while the other cheerleaders were already partway through their lunches, each at varying degrees.
She tried to start on her lunch, but stopped when Allison spoke to her. "Are you friends with Beth?"
Charlie blinked. Out of all the things she thought Allison might say, this was not one of them. It took her a moment to find her voice. When she did, she found she couldn't speak louder than a soft voice, shocking herself. "I can't really say," she said.
Allison glared at Charlie. "What did you say?"
Charlie wasn't sure if Allison hadn't heard her or was merely being rhetorical, but her glare certainly was making Charlie want to be done with her lunch just so she could escape that gaze. "I can't really say?" Charlie repeated, her tone making it more of a question, but on the other hand, it was louder, which Allison clearly could hear.
"Why not?"
"I- I- I-" Charlie tried saying, but couldn't get anything else out. She couldn't understand why she was suddenly having a hard time speaking.
It was Alice who saved Charlie. "Maybe she doesn't know herself," Alice suggested, pausing from her lunch to chime in.
Allison's glare never left Charlie. "Is that it?"
Charlie started to feel like she was a mouse in front of a hungry cat, and the cat intent on eating her was Allison. She felt her mouth move but couldn't make any sound.
Amber gave a loud sigh. "Would you let her be, Allison?" Amber told Allison. "We all know that Charlie doesn't have friends, so if she made one, do you think she'd be able to know herself after just one weekend?"
Allison finally turned her glare away from Charlie. "It's possible," she told Amber.
Alice snorted. "Yeah, and it's possible that you're making Charlie want to stop sitting at this table, which would open it up to who knows what kind of weirdo would take that seat."
"What would you suggest then?" Allison crossed her arms in front of her.
Charlie glanced at Alex Samuels briefly, noting that she seemed even more uncomfortable with the situation than Charlie did. What's that about? Charlie asked herself.
"Maybe talking to her instead of trying to scare her off?" Alice replied, her eyes catching Allison's as she turned to face her.
Charlie slowly started to pick up her chicken sandwich and started to eat it, keeping a close eye on the conversation in case she got pulled back in, and for the first time that school year, she started to contemplate leaving the table once she was done and maybe hide in the bathrooms for lunch to be over. She just wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle the sudden change with the cheerleaders' interest in her. Especially with her emotions all in a swirl at the moment. Another fact was that she was losing the bubble she had that had allowed her to keep apart from everyone else and just try to get through high school without problems. Now it seemed to be one problem after another.
While she could blame it on Petals, since it only started after Petals started talking to her, she couldn't find it in herself to blame the unicorn. After all, it wasn't her fault that all of this started to occur at the same time she showed up. It could be a coincidence, but Charlie suspected that Petals showing up was merely the catalyst that caused these chain of events to fall into place. As if she hadn't been going to see Petals after school last Thursday, she likely wouldn't have had to endure Beth accompanying her to the meeting location. Then she wouldn't have been at the location that seemed to be the entrance to Petals' forest Saturday, which is when her emotional maelstrom started. While some of the other events still might have happened, Charlie couldn't be sure about it, so she had to assume that they probably would have occurred anyway. Such as Beth deciding that Charlie was her project.
"…Charlie, right?" Amber asked, startling Charlie out of her thoughts. Charlie wasn't even sure when she'd lost the thread of the conversation.
"Um," she began, "what was the topic again?"
Charlie was surprised to hear Alex laughing softly in response. Allison glared at Alex for a moment before turning back to Charlie. "We were talking about if Beth is your friend."
Back to that topic, huh? Charlie thought. "What concern is it of yours if I'm friends with anyone?" Charlie found herself challenging Allison.
"You don't need to know what my concerns about it are. I have my reasons for asking. I just need to know."
Charlie examined Allison closely, while Amber chimed in. "I was saying that it isn't any of our business to know whom Charlie considers friends and Alice said that there isn't a real reason for you to tell us."
Not able to determine any motives about Allison, she finally decided to give an honest answer. She also somehow felt inside her that she wasn't going to stammer like she did earlier. "I don't know," was all she could think to say.
"What don't you know?" Allison shot back not seeming to realize what Charlie was getting at.
"What I don't know is if I would say I'm friends with Beth," she answered, her eyes challenging Allison, not giving an inch this time.
"Why not?"
"Because I just don't know. I can't be anymore specific. As I understand, everyone knows I didn't have friends, so why would you expect me to suddenly be with friends with one of the gossips of the school?" Again, Charlie was surprised at how much she was talking. Was she just tired? Physically or emotionally, both seemed to be possible at the moment to Charlie.
As Charlie took the last bite of her sandwich, Allison sighed. "If you're not friends with Beth, are you friends with Alex Williams?"
Charlie blinked. "Why would I be friends with him?"
"Well, you were getting rather chummy with him in your home ec class. In addition to that, you were talking with him much more than anyone has ever seen you. Would that indicate that you two are friends…" Allison trailed off, clearly a thought occurring to her before picking up again, "…or more?"
Charlie sighed herself. She really should take refuge in the bathroom. What excuse would the lunch monitor accept? "I'm not friends with Alex Williams. He merely asked my opinion about something. I think he put it 'you're neutral because you don't have an interest one way or another about it.' I gave him an answer, it just took longer to explain than I thought it would. Then, if you're interested in how much I talk, then this conversation would be much the same. With that measure, would this conversation mean that we're friends?"
Allison stared at Charlie as Charlie merely looked at her. "If you're going to take that attitude, why don't you leave?"
Charlie sighed again. "If you want me to, then I'll leave," she said, picking her tray up before starting to stand herself. Allison, Alice, and Amber looked surprised, but Alex looked alarmed. What's that about? Charlie wondered as she moved away from the table.
"You! Sit back down!" Charlie heard, she looked in the direction the statement came from and saw the lunch monitor looking directly at her.
"I'm done with my lunch, but I'm not feeling very good, so I was going to go to the bathroom," Charlie said, trying to put in her voice a bit of discomfort.'
"You're saying you're not being bullied?"
"Yes, I'm not being bullied," Charlie replied, wishing that this wasn't happening to add to the headache she'd already endured at the table she'd sat at almost the entire school year.
The lunch monitor examined Charlie for a moment before moving her gaze to keep a look out for anything else in the lunch room. "Go to the restroom then," was the only response Charlie got. She wasn't going to complain or hesitate about it.
She quickly made her way to the bathroom, not looking back to see if the cheerleaders had the same expressions as when she got up or if they were watching her walk away. She kept her peace and quickly found herself entering a stall. She latched the bolt to keep the door from opening as she sat on the toilet. She didn't really need to go, but on occasion she did find refuge in the bathroom, though usually when she was outraged at a teacher.
She put her head in her hands and took several deep breaths as she mulled over the recent events. Of everything that had happened, her peace in the school seemed to be going away. What she couldn't fully figure out was if that was a good thing or not. There was just so much going on in her mind that she was still struggling to sort out, that she couldn't be sure what the answer to that question should be.
_
Charlie opened her locker to exchange what she needed to at the end of school, her mind still ruminating about her emotional maelstrom and what emotions were swirled together in it. As she closed her locker, she was partly surprised to see Beth standing next to her. She had a feeling Beth would show up, but couldn't be sure.
However, what shocked her was that her emotions stopped being so chaotic as soon as she was aware of Beth's presence. As a result of that, it took her a moment to even register that Beth said something to her.
"Hellooooo? Anyone in there?" Beth asked, as Charlie's attention focused again.
"Sorry, my mind left me for a moment," Charlie replied, unsure what else to say. How would she even explain about her emotional maelstrom going away when she became aware of Beth being there? It felt harder to explain to Charlie than explaining about the maelstrom in the first place would be.
Beth nodded, like it was a common ocurrence, and for all Charlie knew, it was common for Beth. "Were you able to come up with any ideas?"
Charlie wasn't sure how she knew what Beth was talking about without even asking, but she somehow was. "No, I've been preoccupied by other things the past couple of days."
"Ready to go find out what Ralph's idea is? If he's ready to present it, that is," Beth asked.
"Not like I have a choice," Charlie replied. "Which makes me wonder, are you going to show up at my locker after school everyday from now on?"
Beth smiled radiantly. "Of course, how else should I treat my project?"
Charlie scowled at Beth. She really wanted to glare at her, but couldn't find the motivation to do more than scowl. "You could just treat me like a person," she suggested.
"Where's the fun in that?" Beth laughed.
While Charlie was able to suppress a chuckle, she couldn't help but find Beth's response funny. "Hope you didn't have anything else planned after school, then," Charlie said, taking her backpack and walking towards the doors, letting Beth decide to keep up or not, and she wasn't surprised when Beth decided to keep up.
"By the way, I heard about the conversation you had with Alex Williams today," Beth commented.
"I'm sure you didn't hear what the topic was," Charlie replied, her senses on alert for anyone who might take interest in this conversation in their immediate surroundings.
"I would be shocked if any of the topics that the rumors were suggesting were true," Beth answered, walking next to Charlie. Charlie was happy that Beth wasn't confiscating any part of her body this time.
"What were some of the topics?" Charlie inquired.
"One was that you two were about to start going out, another was that you wanted to keep your relationship secret, but my favorite was that you were offering yourself to be a part of his harem if he'd let you."
Charlie groaned involuntarily. Where do these ideas come from for some people, she wondered. "Were those the only ones?"
Beth shook her head. "No, a few were that you were doing his homework, and a few were that you were trying to get him to do something for you. There were others, but it's hard to keep track of all of them, given how many there are."
Charlie wondered if this would be worse than with Beth. She didn't know how bad it was, but she knew it could be worse, especially given how many were after Alex Williams and would do whatever they could to block any perceived competition. These thoughts must have been written on Charlie's face as they started leaving the school building, as Beth spoke. "Don't worry. Most of the rumors don't involve any romantic element. I don't think most people are aware of who you are, and those that are, can't tell if he'd be your type."
Charlie rolled her eyes. "So long as they continue to leave me alone, I'll be fine."
"We'll see how many feel the same way. It only takes one who thinks that you are after him to give them motivation to do something about it."
"Are you trying to cheer me up about that or make me dread what happens from it?" Charlie was confused. Beth's statements were a little scattered to Charlie.
"Of course I'm trying to cheer you up," Beth assured Charlie. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be honest about possibilities."
"I see," Charlie replied. "Cheer me up so you can make me dread coming to school tomorrow."
Beth laughed. "I like the way you think. Perfectly grounded and quick to sum things up."
Charlie shook her head, not sure if she should be insisting on walking separate paths to where they were all meeting up outside of Petals' forest, but she was surprised at how comfortable she was with Beth's presence already, with how she felt towards Beth just the previous Friday. As well as how talkative she always seems to be, Charlie thought to herself.
By the time they came in sight of the bushes that kept others from seeing Petals, Charlie had realized that, at least in part, of her emotional maelstrom, in addition to her emotional turmoil the previous Friday, had been fear, if not terror, at letting someone in. How she realized that, she wasn't sure, it just clicked in her mind while she chatted with Beth. It was almost like being around Beth gave her clarity with her thoughts. It didn't make sense to Charlie, but that's at least how it felt to her. She also wasn't sure if feeling uncomfortable with talking so much with Beth would pass or not, but she was mostly sure that it was because she wasn't accustomed to talking with others in a relaxed manner, nor was she sure if she really wanted to become comfortable with it.
Beth paused before they reached the bushes. "I guess we'll find out what Ralph had in mind, if he's figured out what he was thinking about Saturday," she commented softly, so as not to be overheard by anyone already in the bushes.
Charlie merely nodded. She wasn't sure what else there was to say. So, they entered the bushes and found they were the last to arrive. Charlie was a little surprised, but mostly because she couldn't be sure what their schedules were, nor how quickly they walked. So, she didn't have anything to compare it to.
"Ready to tell us what you had in mind Saturday, Ralph?" Beth asked, before anyone could say anything.
Ralph chuckled. "I guess that means I don't have much of a choice, huh?" he said, leaning against Petals' shoulder.
"What did you have in mind?" Tim asked, closing his history book, clearing up the papers he had spread around him, clearly having started working on some homework while he waited.
"Give me a second," Ralph requested. "I want to see if what I was going to try would work or not."
Charlie wasn't impressed. She hadn't seen anything about Ralph that had improved her low opinion of him since their teaming up to help Petals.
Ralph walked over to where the entrance to Petals' forest was, closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, then started to walk forward. Charlie didn't expect anything to happen, so she was shocked when she saw Ralph disappear in front of her eyes. It wasn't that he was simply gone all of a sudden, but rather like he passed behind a curtain. Whatever he had in mind to enter the forest had worked.