A week of writing

The reason you haven’t heard much out of me this week is becuase I finally got myself into gear!  I feel that I am finally on a roll with Into the Flames, and I’ve written about six thousand words since Tuesday.  Yup.  I’m going to give myself a pat on the back now.  And because I don’t want to get out of the groove that I’ve made for msyelf, I’m merely going to leave you with a snippet so you can get a feel of what I’ve been up to this week, and I’ll get back to work.

She would have shook her finger at herself if it hadn’t made her look crazy.  Talk to the next person you see. She had to get out there and make friends on her own. She had been at this school for almost a week and so far she hadn’t talked to anyone voluntarily yet.

She walked around the corner toward the executive offices building.  Someone was coming at her, but she couldn’t see who it was because the last of the sun was behind him.  Here was her chance.  She could do it.  Everybody had been nice to her so far.  She cleared her throat.  “Hello,” she said.

The figure paused, then took a few steps closer.  “Oh, hey there,” it said.

Rahab’s heart sunk down to her toes. “Bracken,” she said.  Of course it would be him. Then, in a sudden burst of attitude that she didn’t know she possessed, she said, “Where are all your girls?”

“What girls?” Bracken asked, looking confused.

“You know, the ones that are always hanging around you.”

“Oh, those.  I told them to take the night off.  What about you?  Where are all your friends?  Or do you not have any?”

“I have friends,” Rahab said defensively.  “They’re just…busy.  And I’m new here, so I have a lot of homework to catch up on.”

“So why aren’t you in your room or at the library, doing your homework?” Bracken asked, smiling playfully.

Rahab scowled, and her face turned red, unable to come up with a scathing response.  Finally, as he continued to stare at her, she muttered, “I was going to the library to get a new book.”  Which was sort of true.  She had finished Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea and would need a new book for Reading for Pleasure the next day.

“Shall I walk you there?”

“No!  No, thanks.  I know how to get there.” Rahab couldn’t bear the thought of being seen walking with this boy.

Bracken bowed his head dramatically in acquiescence.  “Well, good night to you then, my lady.”  He took a step down the sidewalk, then turned back.  “I don’t suppose you’re ready to tell me your name?”

“Not really,” Rahab said.

“How about a guess? If I guess right, do I get a prize?”

“Sure,” Rahab said.  What if he heard my name somewhere in the halls?

Bracken screwed up his face with mock concentration.  It didn’t become him.  “Is it…Elizabeth?”

“Nope.  Goodbye.”  She walked away before he could say anything else.

She went to the library and didn’t talk to anyone she saw after that.  It was past eight, but a sign said that the library was open until ten every night.  Rahab slipped up the concrete stairs of the library and pulled open the heavy oak doors.

The dusky smell of well-loved tomes wafter through the air on the lingering rays of sunshine that made it through the stained glass windows.  Rahab closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  She felt for a split second that she could stay in this room forever.