ANGELINA

Angelina awoke to her buzzing alarm. She rolled over and smacked the clock with her hand. That didn't help. She sat up, picked up the alarm clock and shut it off then fell back on her bed. Angie was lying in her bed in her dark room like every morning. She couldn't help but think about Victor and the moment they shared the other day. It had been two days since she and Victor had been in his bedroom, alone, staring into each other's eyes. His iceberg blue eyes were still implanted in her punny mind. She couldn't get him out of her mind. Was... was she falling for him?! She couldn't be! She likes Sabastian though!

She got up from her bed and paced to her door where the light switch was, trying not to think about her dilemma. It was just one moment, that was all and it would be the only one between them she was sure of it. The girl flicked the light on then walked to her closet to get dressed. Yesterday she had already picked out an outfit. It was a blue t-shirt that said, 'Lion Bank Middle School,' and had a picture of their mascot, Puma the Brave Lion. There was also a pair of bleached jeans and some black sneakers.

"Ugh, my hair is so ratty!" She growled to absolutely no one.

She pulled her strawberry blonde hair up into a ponytail and then inspected herself in the mirror.

"It'll do." She sighed.

Her dad, Marshall, called for her from downstairs. Probably to tell her the bus was going to be there soon. She quickly grabbed her backpack and her computer then raced downstairs. Her dad was sitting on the couch playing on his phone. She said goodbye and joined her siblings outside on the sidewalk. It looked like they were playing scorpion, the game where you dig your fingernails into eachothers skin until one person chickens out. Angelina looked around the neighborhood, hoping to see Victor. The sun was mid-rise, and the sky was colorful with different shades of pinks and oranges. She could see that some stars were still in the west. It seemed like the sun's light was swallowing the stars, one by one, permitting the stars to rest for the day until night time came out again. Suddenly, she heard her sister call her name.

"Angelina! The bus is waiting for you! Come on!" Celeste called from the bus steps.

"Oh! Sorry!" She apologized.

She walked up the steps and then said hi to the driver, Dave. Angelina found a seat by a girl. She was reading a book.

"Hi! I'm Angelina!" Angie greeted.

"Hello, Angelina. I'm Gwen! I just moved here yesterday," She told her.

"Nice to meet you, Gwen! I hope you will enjoy living here in Walton City," Angelina replied cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you too! I really hope I will like Walton City. Do you go to Lion Bank Middle School?" She asked.

"I do!" Angelina replied.

"Oh! So do I," She stated.

"Where did you move here from?"

"Oh, just Atlantic City."

"Wow, this is a big change of scenery, huh?"

"Yeah. It's much quieter here. Definitely less people."

"That's Walton City for you. I know you will love our school. Are you nervous?"

"Yeah! I thought I would be alone but I see that I stand corrected." She laughed.

"So where do you live?"

"Oh, we live like right across from the pier, which is pretty cool."

"You like the pier?"

"Yeah! Definitely."

"The pier is one of the main staples of the town."

"One of how much?"

"Quite a few places."

"Cool. I'd have to check out the town more."

"I'm sure you will love it." Angelina heard a boy's voice, thinking it was Victor's. She poked her head up from the seat, examining the kids on the bus. No Victor.

"Who are you looking for?"

"Oh... Just a friend. Oh, look we're here now, I hope we will become good friends!" Angelina smiled as she made her way off the bus.

She noticed Gwen wasn't that far behind her. There were still a lot of things on Angie's mind. Preferably, about what had happened over the weekend. As she walked into the school she noticed Victor with some of his friends: Jax, Dexter, and Zeke. They were talking. Why was he hanging out with them, they were bullies. Victor glanced Angie's way and then said something to his friends, which made them laugh. Angelina assumed that he said something about her. Her self esteem level dropped as she wondered more and more what he told them... Maybe he wasn't as kind as she thought. She walked past the group of boys and gave Victor a look, then she went to her locker. When she placed all her stuff into her locker she tried to find Sabastian, considering he felt like the only person she could really talk to now. After a few minutes she found him in the school library reading a book. Typical.

"Hey, Sabastian. What are you reading?" Angie asked him. She pulled up a chair to the table he was sitting at and sat down.

He smiled, "You know the usual kind of books."

"A mystery?" Angie assumed. "What's it called?"

"It's called, Wendle Discoveries: The Mystery of The Siberian Hole. It's super interesting! I recommend it for you."

"It really does sound cool. That's a weird topic though. May I read the back description?"

"Here," He offered, handing the book to Angie.

The back said;

Did scientists open a hole into a different world in Syberia, Russia in the 1980's? Reports state that the drill they were using went 8.5 miles deep. Then, suddenly broke into an empty space. It had a temperature of 1,100 degrees Celsius. There is even more! Scientists sent microphones down into the hole and picked up noises that sounded like screams. Did we really discover a completely different world? Or was it just a cave of some kind? Or maybe some pocket with lava? No one knows.

"Wow..." Angelina said underneath her breath.

"I know! It immediately caught my attention when I read the description!" He told her.

"What if..." She accidentally said out loud, but caught herself before she could say any more. She was going to say what if the Siberian Hell Hole was Elysia

"It's an amazing discovery!" He cried.

"Ya, I guess. Hey, um, we're going to be late for the first hour, so we better get going." She said.

"But we have a good ten minutes left till the warning bell.."

"Oh, we do? Okay, I guess."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yep, everything's just peachy."

He looked at her oddly then continued to read his book. Angelina wandered the library, hoping to be blessed with a good book. She pulled out her phone.

Two minutes till the warning bell... She thought to herself.

"Hey, Sabastian, we better get going."

He looked at the clock mounted to the wall. "Yeah, you're right."

As they walked down the stairs a good amount of eighth graders were going up the stairs, laughing and shoving each other. Angie shook her head then looked at Sabastian. He had a face of stone and only looked at the ground. Angelina bumped him playfully on the shoulder. He looked frightened and then calmed down when he saw it was only Angelina. Angie stared at him in surprise. What was on his mind? The five minute bell rang so they rushed to Mrs. Kendall's class. Right as they entered the room the bell rang and the teacher started calling out roll call. The two students sat in their usual spots at the back.

"That was a close one," Sabastian sighed, smiling like an idiot.

"Sure was." She replied, winking then turning around to say here when the teacher called her name.

Time went slowly as the class dragged on. Angelina listened to all of the fingers typing on their designated computers, writing their essays on the safety of crossing the road. Angelina yawned, her finger's sore from typing. Luckily she was about done with her conclusion paragraph. As she finished her last sentence she looked over at Sabastian. He looked over at her at the same time then took out an orange sticky note and a pencil. She watched as he wrote a small note. Sabastian passed Angelina the sticky note that had fancy, beautiful writing on it. She had to admit he had great penmanship. Angie glanced Sabastian's way then read it.

It said:

I know you and Victor's secret...

Angie looked at Sabastian, horrified. He smiled smugly.