Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Wait List, Part I

The next few entries leading up to Halloween will be brought to you in the form of a modern fan fiction. It's a daring combination of Twilight, Twin Peaks, and the classic 1948 Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery."

And so it begins... I give you Part I of PineyLonesome's promising fiction, just in time for Halloween. It is no coincidence that those of us who endured the wait list are now in group 6. 


The Wait List
by Pineylonesome

Bella Swan looked across the lunch room for an empty two-seat table. Preferably a table in a remote corner, where no one would notice or judge her for being alone. She had convinced herself that being alone wasn't so bad. She could finish all her biology homework and listen to her music in peace. She did not have to try to make inane conversation about fantasy football with students she had nothing in common with. Nothing was worse than a dull, sports-obsessed lunch companion. No, wait, she she was wrong about that. People who spent their entire lunch break trying to convince her to join a mysterious wait list were worse. 

Bella had moved to Hope Springs during the senior year of her high school. Everyone already had friends. Cliques were already in place. No one was interested in being her friend. There were only people interested in her joining a wait list. She made the mistake of asking what the wait list was for. No one knew, or at least they would not tell her. As soon as they caught on that she was not interested in joining the mystery wait list, they left her alone.

The adjustment to Hope Springs was difficult. She didn't mind the eternal gray and dampness as much as she minded all the creepy students at her high school. There was Jessica, who was always aggressively smiling at Bella while simultaneously upset that Bella consistently earned higher grades than she did in nearly every class. And Mike, a vacuous jock who seemed to follow her around but who always disappeared the minute Bella attempted to talk to him. There was something strange about the people in this new city. There was something unusual about Hope Springs itself. She chalked it up to the town being economically depressed. The lumber mill was the only business left, and in an effort to save money, safety corners were cut. The mill had more fatal accidents than any other mill in the United States. Most of the accidents went unreported and were undocumented; otherwise the mill would be shut down and leave the town with nothing. Maybe everyone at school was so strange because most of them only had one parent?

Bella found a seat near a table of misfits. There was one table like that in every high school. All were wearing black and staring off into space. They were not speaking to each other, but seemed content with each other's company. They reminded her of an old married couple, only they were an old married quintuple. Two thin, gothy girls and three almost conventionally attractive boys. They seemed older to her, all of them. She figured their pale, mature appearance was a result of all the cigarettes they smoked. One of the boys was looking directly at her. The one with the greasy, unkempt hair and strange patchy stubble growth. She quickly looked away and back to her chapter on cell reproduction. She turned the volume on her headphones up so she could drown out any conversation they might be having about her. She had no need to hear further comment about how weird she was for not joining the cultish wait list.

She looked down at her textbook and closed her eyes. She yearned to be back home, surrounded by normal people. She missed the predictability of the sun and being surrounded by friends who liked to talk about movies, colleges and music. She fantasized about her old boyfriend Lucas. She should have had sex with him the day she left. He wanted to, but she declined, thinking sex with him would only make her miss him more. She was wrong. Her decision only made her regret not having sex with him more. Now she would have to wait until college. God, she was horny. She thought about him kissing her neck, breathing on her chest, running his hands under the waist of her jeans. He was gorgeous. He had incredibly thick, dark hair and intense brown eyes. She bit her lip at the thought of him entering her, finally. Yup, she was a fool to leave without ever knowing that pleasure.

Suddenly she felt a presence at her table. She opened her eyes. It was the greasy mop head goth dude from the other table. He looked a lot better up close. He had gorgeous green blue eyes, skin too clear and flawless to belong to a teenager, and his stubble seemed to have disappeared. Maybe it had been a shadow? She removed her headphones.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked her. Who said that? Penny for your thoughts? She remembered her usually drunk Grandpa said that on occasion, but who else? Maybe it was a saying now being revived by hipsters?

"I was just napping...we finished cell division last year, so it is all old news to me," Bella replied. "If you are here to ask me to join the wait list, you can forget it. Not interested unless you can tell me what it is," she continued.

"No, I am not going to ask you to join the list. God, no. Would never wish that upon to you," he responded. He knew something. And she was going to make sure he told her.

2 comments:

  1. What a perfect storm of Twilight and Twin Peaks and Tent City! Next chapter, please and thank you!

    ReplyDelete

Just like this blog, your comment really makes a difference!