Stuck On You

Chapter One

STUCK ON YOU

ONE

The trouble started with the bad weather. That morning, Mom tried to persuade me to stay home instead of going to school, but we had swim meet that I couldn’t miss. I grabbed a sandwich for breakfast and a can of cherry coke from the fridge, and ran out of the front door, before Mom could stop me and chain me in my room. Okay, I’ll admit that the last part was an exaggeration, but my Mom was scary if she wanted to be and her persuasion skills could land her a job at the FBI.

My umbrella was barley functional by the time I managed to get to the bus, where everyone was ‘impatiently’ waiting for me. Halfway down the Marvel street, the umbrella had decide to give away to the wind.

”I’m sorry Mr. Greene, the rain kinda got in the way.” It was an understatement of the century. Mr. Greene just grunted in response and told me to sit down.

I was drenched from head to toe and my shoes made a squeaky sound as I ran down the aisle to sit with Judy Adams, my best friend. Judy took one look at me and gasped, I flopped down on my seat, spraying a little of water on her. I wouldn’t have sat there, since our shoulders were touching and I was passing on my wet-ness to her, but the rest of the bus was already full and we were stuck with each other.

”What happened?!” Judy asked, exasperated by my appearance. My hair was no longer tamed by the excessive amount of spray I had used last night and the grizzly curls were starting to frame my face. I should have taken Mom’s advice from long ago and cut my hair shorter, at least I would have appeared normal then.

”Umbrella crisis.” I told her briefly and stomped my foot on the umbrella, or what was remained of it. It was a light pink one with a floral pattern that I had bought on a Sunday sale, two weeks ago. No wonder it hadn’t lasted more than that.

”You should have borrowed your Dad’s! Look how wet you are!” Gee Judy, thanks for reminding me.

”I’m not just wet,” I said and on cue I sneezed. ”I think I’m gonna get a fever.”

”Who asked you to run in the rain? Jeez Cassie, how are you going to swim now?” Judy sounded worried and her worry was infectious. I sighed and she nibbled her bottom lip and gave me one of her motherly looks.

”I’ll be fine, trust me. I’ll ask the nurse to give me something for the cold. And don’t you dare tell Coach Armstrong about this!”

”Like she won’t figure this out on her own.” Judy snorted and started digging for something in her bag. A second later, she took out spare tissue papers and handed them over to me. ”There is snot on your face.” She whispered to me.

”Thanks, what am I gonna do without you?” I asked, using it to blow my nose. I folded the tissue and tossed it my bag, which sat wedged between Judy and my legs.

”I have spare gym clothes in my locker, change into them when we get there, okay?”

”Yeah, it’s not like I have a choice.” I was taller than Judy and less voluptuous too, which meant that our clothes never fit each other. Mine were too long for her and much tighter and it was an opposite case for me. Which sucked.

”Isn’t this the shirt we bought on Tuesday? It’s already ruined.” Judy pointed out, poking y ribs. I sighed and nodded.

”Yep, pretty much ruined. And the color is already coming off.” I grumbled and squeezed my sleeve, a lot of water it came down and splattered down on the floor of the bus. From the back seats, some of the boys made disgusted sounds.

”Could you get louder than that Crawford? I was trying to sleep.” I turned sideways and saw Andrew Tucker glaring at me, with his brows knitted in a frown. I opened my mouth to say something smart but the look in his dark brown eyes made me shut up.

”I- um …it was raining-”

”Leave her alone, Tucker. You were going to be woken up anyways, we only have like two minutes till we get to school.” We weren’t close yet, we still had fifteen minutes to go. But Judy had succeeded in shutting him up. His gaze slid from me to her and his glare melted away into a much softer and tamer look. Besides the looming storm that was going to raid Monty Hill, Tucker’s crush on my best friend was the next most obvious thing in my world.

”Or what?” Tucker asked, suddenly interested in continuing the conversation. Judy’s face reddened,

”Or nothing,” she replied, trying to keep her voice calm. ”It’s not like you were deep in sleep.” With that, she forced me to turn away from him as well and pretended that nothing happened. For a moment I thought Tucker wasn’t ready to give up yet, but thankfully he was too sleepy to argue.

A few minutes later, I started shivering and my forehead began to feel hot, I wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or the looming cold. I glanced at Judy who was now revising her notes for the history test she had and decided not to tell her. At least not until the swim practice was over. Coach was going to decide the team for upcoming tournament, and there was no way I was going to let my practice go to waste over a mere cold.

”Mr. Greene, can you turn up the volume a little?” Judy suddenly closed her notebook and asked. The bus driver grunted yes in response and complied.

”What’s wrong?”

”Shhhh!” Judy interrupted me and drew her eyes in concentration.

”…some buildings have already been ransacked with water and there has been a report of a fallen roof. Due to worsening circumstances, all kids are advised to return home before six pm since the weather is expected to worsen. Storm warnings have already been in place in several towns and Monty Hill might be placed under a curfew –”

I stopped listening after that, dismissing the news as nothing more than an exaggeration. We have had heavier rains before, and storm warnings were announced almost after every four months. This was another piece of misleading information, aimed to make everyone panic. It had to be, right?

”I think they will cancel your swim meet,” Judy told me, sounding sure of herself. ”It sounds serious this time.”

I clicked my tongue. ”No way, you know Coach Armstrong, right? She lives and breathes on a schedule.”

”Okay, but I hope that she still cancels. The storm sounds bad.”

**

Judy had magic in her words.

The swim meet was canceled and everyone was being sent home after lunch. Mostly because half the team didn’t show up and Coach Armstrong had rescheduled next week. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed, since my parade from the morning had been for nothing. But even when I tried to argue with Coach Armstrong, it was foolish and useless, she had made up her mind and was adamant. At times like these, I wish I had my Mom’s persuasion skills.

While Judy went to the cafeteria to eat, I changed into the gym clothes she had lent me, the shirt was a size too big for me and hung off my shoulders and the trousers were loose and short, barely touching the top of my feet.

”I look like a sack of rice.” I announced as I took a chair opposite her and set my lunch tray down. It seemed like most of the cafeteria staff hadn’t shown up either, since they only had burgers and pasta for us.

”You look okay Cass, here have my jacket too.” She threw her jacket at me and I gave her a grin. On any other day I wouldn’t have bothered but I was still cold. I haven’t had the chance to go to the nurse office yet and planned to go after taking my test. While Judy was writing History, I had Geography with Ms. Lawson.

”Wow, this is warm. Didn’t you buy this like on Monday?”

”Yeah…can you pass me the ketchup.”

I passed the bottle to her and took a bite of my pasta. I wasn’t sneezing anymore, but my head was heavier than Judy’s dresser. I knew this because I had once helped her move her bedroom upstairs and lifted the dresser with her older brother Jim. The process nearly broke my arm.

”Oh, I got you some painkillers from the nurse office!” Judy suddenly said, taking out a bag from her pocket. ”I got it for myself but I am fine now. It’s not too strong, but it will help you to write the test in peace. Speaking of which, I think you should ask Ms. Lawson for an extension.”

I accepted the pack from her and swallowed a mouthful of pasta, ”No, it’s not that bad. It’s better to get it done with today, rather than study again on the weekend.”

”Are you sure? When I wrote history, we only had ten people in my class. Everyone either went home early or didn’t show up anyways.”

Even in the cafeteria, only three tables were occupied. It was us eating, Tucker reading a book in one corner and stealing glances at Judy when he thought she wasn’t looking and a tall senior girl furiously typing on her laptop. The reception was bad and I could barely manage to connect my phone to Wi Fi. I had to borrow Judy’s to message my Mom that I was doing fine and would be home after the test.

Outside, the rain was pounding on the windows with full force and there were loud bursts of thunder ripping across the sky, with occasional flashes of lightening accompanying them.

”Did you know why we see lightening before hearing the thunder? It’s because light travels faster than sound.” Judy told me, adjusting her glasses.

”Really? I never noticed.” I said carelessly and decided to take the medicine before the bell rang.

”I’ll be going home after collecting my paper from Mr. Adams office. When you get home, text me okay?” Judy was already packing up her things after she finished her food. I wasn’t done eating yet so I smiled at her and waved,

”Don’t worry, I’ll write fast and leave.”

”Don’t forget we have to study for Chem together, I’ll come over tomorrow.” She said and hugged me.

And then she was gone, followed by the tall senior. It left me and Tucker alone in the cafeteria, and with only the rain serving the background music, the whole scene felt eerie.

I found myself staring at him, after trying hard to avoid his presence. I mean, it was hard not to. I think the reason I started liking Tucker were his eyes, they were striking blue, the color of the ocean. And they complimented his ask brown hair really well.

A split second later, he caught me looking.

”What?” His tone was hostile. I scrambled up from my chair, swinging my bag across my shoulder.

”Nothing” I mumbled and rushed away.

It wasn’t until I reached Ms. Lawson’s classroom that the dizziness set in.