Post by poft on Jul 20, 2005 19:17:47 GMT -5
Chapter 4: The Beautiful Disaster - Part A
Phil walked through the school hallway completely absorbed in his physic’s book. It was a start of a new week and they had a major test on Friday. Phil tried to memorize the terms when suddenly a hand appeared and pulled him by the collar into the local utility closet.
“Hey!” Phil’s cried as he was roughly thrown in the dark room. It smelled like windex and dirty old rags
“whaugggg..,” a hand reached out and covered his mouth before Phil was able to yell in protest causing him to send his arms flying back knocking over the wash cloths which happened to land on his head.
“Shhhh..shhh….ssshh,”
“Phil, control yourself!” Tia replied as Phil continued to struggle causing everything on the shelves to come tumbling down.
“It’s me, Tia,” she tried explaining to him as she dodges the fallen objects that Phil keeps knocking to the ground.
“Tia?” Phil stopped fighting and looked at her ridiculously pulling the rag off his hair.
“Why are we in a closet?” he asked eyeing her looking at his surrounding.
“Do you not know what next week is?” she asked him since he was the first that was supposed to know about these things. Phil looked at Tia while going through a quick check list in his head but couldn’t pinpoint anything out of the ordinary.
“Don’t tell me you forgot Phil Diffy!” Tia exclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips,
He looked at the ceiling moving his eyes around, trying to figure out what he should have obviously known but came up nothing. Sighing in defeat he looked at Tia’s annoyed face and shrugged his shoulders giving her a sorry smile.
“Hello. Your best friend…..goes by the name of Keely,” Tia raised her eyebrows at him watching if he showed any sign of recognition. Only to find that Phil just stared at her waiting for Tia to spell it out for him.
“What do I have to do…..draw you a picture?” Tia said loudly throwing her hands up in the air.
“No, no pictures. Last time Keely tried that…,” Phil pleaded thinking back a couple of months ago when Keely drew up comic strips because she said it will give him a better understanding of 21st century driving. Clearly, that did not go as plan.
“….lets just things didn’t exactly happen the way we expected.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”
Tia looked at him with little patience left.
“Keely’s birthday is next week!”
Phil continued to look at Tia waiting to see if she had something else to say. Of course he knew it was Keely’s birthday. Phil didn’t understand why Tia was making such a big deal. They talked about it the night before and decided to have just a simple night out like they always did.
“Yea, we’re just going to grab something to eat and then go back to my house and give Keely her presents,” Phil said thinking Tia has completely lost her mind.
“Tia, we’ve been doing pretty much the same routine every year, don’t you remember?”
“oh my gosh,” TIa said and looked as if she was going to tear up apart. Phil was actually beginning to get a little scared of her right now.
“This isn’t like every other birthday Phil,” she said poking him in the arm.
“It’s not?” Phil stared at her.
“NO!” Tia yelled causing Phil to jump back startled.
“It’s her 18th birthday and it only comes once in a lifetime,” she talked as though she was explaining this to a child.
“Don’t all her birthdays come once in a lifetime?” Things might have been different between here and the future but Phil was sure everyone still aged the same. Unless…
“Pay attention Phil,” Tia called out banging a long stick against the wall looking very much like a teacher scolding a misbehaved student. Wait….where did the stick come from?
“Alright, here’s the plan,” Tia began pacing back and forth in the tiny room which caused Phil to move around to avoid being hit with the stick that Tia carelessly waved in all directions.
“We have to be extra careful or else Keely is going to suspect something.”
Suddenly Tia stopped moving and looked at Phil pointing the wooden object at his face almost touching his nose.
“Since you are around her the most, it’s your job to make sure Keely knows nothing,” Tia made a dramatic emphasis on the word nothing.
“Got it?” Snapping the stick against the wall once more causing a sharp WHACK! that echoed in the closet.
“Got it,” Phil replied quickly standing up straight looking straight a head.
“uhh…question?” he began carefully since Tia was holding a rather long stick and looked kind of intimidating.
Tia gave a loud sigh, “What?”
“What exactly are we…hiding from Keely again?” Phil asked looking more scared of Tia than confused.
“Her surprise birthday party…duh,” Tia said staring at Phil wide-eyed. Guys could be so insensitive sometimes. Here she was, planning something special for Keely, which was actually Phil’s job since he is her best friend, and he couldn’t even pay attention. Jerk.
Just then, the bell could be heard ringing through the door. Tia reached down and grabbed her bag.
“Meet me after class and make sure Keely isn’t with you,” Tia said.
“I have some major ideas we need to chat about, kay.
“But Keely and I have the same class next period,” Phil knew that it was impossible to tell Keely to go to class on her own without her being suspicious.
“Phil. You’re the brains, figure something out,” Tia whispered as she cracked the door open and stuck her head out looking left and right making sure the coast was clear. When it was, Tia quickly dashed out and told him quietly to not forget. She closed the door and Phil could hear the click of her boots echoing down the hall.
Phil stood in the closet not knowing how in the world he was actually going to pull this off without ruining everything. For a person who always wanted to take short cuts in class, Tia was making things very complicated.
He cracked the door open and saw that the hallway was almost empty since mostly everyone had already gone to class. He quickly began to leave the room and tried to be super quiet…..
“Phil.”
“Ahh!” Phil jumped and tripped over brooms and mops causing them to spill out of the door while he tried his best to stuff them back inside. Every time he successfully pushed the mops in the door, the brooms will began falling down making it impossible to shut it. After a couple of minuets, Phil was finally able to slam the door along with all its utilities safely back inside.
Phil stood there with his back against the door and panted loudly trying to look casual, “Keely…..hi.”
Keely had been standing there watching Phil make a complete fool of himself as he struggled against the very stubborn mops and brooms. At times, it seemed like Phil was as much of a ditz as she was. How in the world do they survive together?
“Phil…what are you doing in the make-out closet?” Keely asked since she thought she saw Tia exit the room only moments before.
“I…uhh…wait…what?” Phil looked at her in shock.
“Make-out closet?” It smelled like garbage in there and he was struggling to just breathe.
She raised an eyebrow and nodded her head slowly. Keely stood there waiting for Phil to give an explanation. This was completely unfair, Phil thought. He didn’t get enough time to figure out a lie yet.
Phil stuttered as he scratched his head nervously.
“I…I…got lost,” That didn’t such a bad idea as Phil said it once again more confidently this time, “I got lost.”
“Yea…all these doors….just look the same,” he laughed nervously.
“I mean, they should at least make like a sign or something right?”
Phil smiled at Keely anxiously as he couldn’t wait to get out of this awkward moment. She was staring at him intently and Phil was beginning to sweat under all the pressure. So he turned his gaze around the hallway and pretended to be very interested in the pattern on the door he was leaning on. He looked up and froze suddenly, his eyes wide in shock. In the middle of the door was, in large bold letters, ‘UTLITY CLOSET.’
“Oh…wow there’s….a….sign,” Phil stumbled over his words. He pulled on the collar of his shirt since it was getting extremely hot. Did someone turn on the heater? He glanced back at Keely quickly and saw that her attention was still on him completely.
“Who puts a sign on doors anyway….could barely….see the darn thing,”
“Right….Keels?”
He stood there shifting from his weight from one foot to the next and played with his fingers nervously. Why couldn’t she just say something? Anymore staring and Phil was sure he was going to crack.
“Phil…,” Keely began very slowly and looked as if she was still trying to understand what just happened.
“….is everything okay?” She asked while he looked up at him unsurely.
“OH GREAT!” Phil yelled a little too quickly.
“Couldn’t be better.”
“Lets get to class now kay?”
With that, he grabbed Keely’s hand and pulled her down the hall swiftly before she was able to continue questioning his strange behavior. Phil was walking so fast that Keely had to run to actually keep up with him. Then out of the nowhere, he stopped causing Keely to slam right into his back.
“PHIL!”
“What is going o…”
“Look Keely, it’s your class,” he cut her off acting as if he didn’t know it was there even though he always waited for her here.
“Well, better get in there and start learning,” Phil opened the door and waved to everyone as they all looked at him with interest.
“There you go Keel,” he practically shoved her inside the classroom.
“Okay. Have fun.” With that, Phil shut the door loudly and basically ran down the hall.
Keely stood there for a while still looking at the door in shock and turned back to her peers, who were now all staring at her including the teacher. They looked at her as if waiting for her to say something.
“He’s umm…..yea.” She began explaining but remembered that she didn’t even know what was going on. So Keely just quickly sat down in her seat and tried to ignore all the curious stares as once again the teacher resumed were he left off.
Phil has got a lot of explaining to do.
……………………………………………………………..
There has never been a moment when History was as of least importance as this moment. Phil sat in his seat uncomfortably. He couldn’t stop fidgeting and his palms were sweaty. He glanced up at the clock again for what seems like the 50th time and noticed that only 10 minutes had passed. The teacher kept on talking on and on about the modern advances of civilization but nothing was sticking to Phil’s memory.
He looked around and noticed the students were frantically writing something down. Phil glanced down at his blank piece of paper. Well, that wasn’t completely true. He did have some strange shapes that he doodled earlier. Phil couldn’t help but glance up at the clock again. Only 35 more minutes, Phil thought petrified. Class was going to end in a little over a half and hour which means Keely will be here soon. I’m so doomed; Phil said to himself and sighed loudly. A little too loudly since the whole class stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
“Mr. Diffy, perhaps you could enlighten to us as to why this is so boring for you?” Mrs. Mayberry stood at the front of the room waiting patiently.
“Uhh…I….” Phil looked around slowly and realized that class wasn’t going to continue until he gave an explanation.
“Just needed….to..to…clear those lungs,” Phil laughed and proceeded to clear this throat many times loudly.
“Well….” Mrs. Mayberry started at Phil strangely.
“Back to the European influence….”
Phew. Phil massaged the back of his neck tiredly and gave everyone an apologetic smile. As he turned his head back to the front, Phil caught Seth still looking at him weirdly. Phil only shrugged his shoulders and mouthed ‘later.’
After what seemed like a lifetime, the bell finally rang signaling the end of class. Phil jumped out of his seat quickly causing everyone to stop and stare at him again. Phil was about to once say something but decided against it and just swiftly left the class room. Once he was safely outside, Phil looked around the hallway for Keely. Luckily, she was nowhere in sight yet.
When Seth stepped out, Phil grabbed his arm roughly and dragged him away quickly.
“Seth, listen,” Phil whispered hurriedly.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Uhh…okay but can you stop holding my arm,” Seth replied looking around, “people are staring.”
Phil quickly released his grip and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Look, I need you to walk Keely to class and don’t let her near her locker,” Phil explained glancing behind once more.
“Why?” Seth asked. He thought Phil and Keely had the same class this period.
“Well…” Phil was about to explain but noticed Keely was standing not far behind them looking for him.
“There she is!”
“Go, I’ll tell you later.”
Phil pushed Seth toward where Keely stood and dashed down the hall entering the first class he saw.
“…..hi…..” Phil said as the second graders stared at him.
…………………………………………………
Seth walked slowly towards Keely with a confused look on his face. Phil was definitely smart but man, maybe he was losing it.
All the other students could be seen hurriedly rushing to class since the tardy bell was about to ring any minute now. Well everyone except for Keely, she stood in the middle of the hall still looking for Phil who was no where to be seen.
“Ooh, Seth!” Keely waved to him frantically.
“Have you seen Phil?”
“Umm..Phil?” Seth laughed while he tried to remember what Phil told him to say. Only, Phil didn’t really tell him anything. Great.
“…well….Phil…you see…” Seth stammered.
“Phil….went….”
“Seth,” Keely asked him bit by bit. First Phil, now Seth, were all the guys just going crazy?
“Why do you keep on saying Phil’s name?”
“Ha..” Seth tried to laugh and failed horribly as it sounded like a high squeak.
“…..he wasn’t…..wasn’t feeling…well,” he finally managed to say, clearing his throat.
“Is he okay?” Keely asked worriedly. He looked fine this morning although now that she thinks of it, he hasn’t been himself all day.
“Oh yea,” Seth said with a wave of his hand and began walking hoping that Keely would follow.
“You know….nothing serious just that time of the month,” Seth said easily. Maybe he was getting the hang of this lying thing.
“NO!” Seth yelled causing Keely to jump and looked at him oddly.
“I mean….no..as in…..not that Phil has….the time of the month or anything,” Funny how the ground never swallowed you when you really wanted it most, Seth thought to himself.
“Riiiiiight,” Keely furrowed her eyebrows and continued to follow Seth as he resumed walking.
“Well, I need to get some books so…I’ll talk to you later?” she asked hesitantly since Seth was acting so odd.
Keely began walking away and Seth let out a huge breath of relief. He seriously didn’t think she’d fall for it. Well whether she did or not, at least it was over with. Seth turned and began walking to his class when…
“KEELY!” Seth’s voice echoed clearly in the empty hallway. He ran up and stood right in front of her. A little bit too close Keely thought as she took a step back. He was actually breathing really hard and along with Seth’s strange behavior, she was afraid he might faint.
They stood in the hallway just staring at each other. Keely, waiting to hear why he called her and Seth, trying to process his thoughts into sentences.
Keely placed a hand behind her head and looked away preparing to leave.
“Seth, this is just…..weird so I’m gonna…” Before even finishing her thought, Keely walked pass him.
“Wait Keely,” Seth stepped in front of her path once more.
Now she was annoyed, “Seth, I’m a big girl.”
“I think I could manage getting my books on my own.”
She took a step forward but Seth put both hands on her shoulders pushing her back. Has he completely lost his mind? She continued walking ahead but Seth insisted her to stop while walking backwards in front. Giving her lame excuses about how the lockers were being painted to it being infested with monsters.
As they neared the end of the hall, Seth peeked around the other side and saw Phil and Tia standing not too far in the distance. He looked back at Keely’s annoyed face as she quickly approached. This is not good, Seth thought as he frantically tried to think of something, ANYTHING to get Keely away from the lockers. Maybe he could…
Keely had already walked pass him and was now only seconds away from turning the corner. Seth ran and leaped across the hall, stretching his arms as far as he could.
“NOOOOO”! Seth yelled his voiced deepened as everything happened in slow motion.
Keely looked behind only to see Seth flying straight towards her. It was all happening too fast so all she had time to do was take a step back before he landed right in front of her grabbing her notebook on the way down. This cause Keely to lose her balance as she tripped and followed Seth to the ground.
Now they both sat on the floor, Keely’s papers lying all around in the empty hallway.
“Okay Seth, you have now officially lost your mind,” Keely said angrily as she quickly picked up her papers carelessly placing them back in the folder.
Seth looked up guiltily before he began helping Keely with her papers but only to have her snatched them harshly out of his hands. She stood up and was about to walk away but Seth grabbed her boot from where he sat on the floor.
“Keely hang on,” Seth said as Keely dragged him slowly across the hall ignoring his comments. She no longer tried to understand what the heck was happening. All she wanted to do was get as far away from Seth as possible which was kind of difficult since he wouldn’t let go of her shoe.
“What are you two doing?”
Seth and Keely looked up sharply to the principal’s face as he stared at them.
“We were…uhh…just getting to class,” Keely tried to smile wiggling out of Seth’s grasp.
“Seth was just…..ty…tying my shoe, right Seth?”
“Uhhh….yea,” Seth replied as he moved his hands around Keely’s shoe looking for the laces.
“….when I realized….you have no…shoelaces.”
Seth quickly removed his hold and got up in a hurry.
“Oh,” Keely laughed, a little too much as Seth elbowed her to stop, “silly me, must have forgotten.”
The principle just stared a while and looked back to his clipboard. Teenagers nowadays.
“Just get to class. Now.”
And as quickly as it started, Seth and Keely broke apart dashing back up the hallway going their separate directions afraid the principle was going to change his mind and give them detention.
………………………………………………..
Keely opened the door to her classroom quietly hoping the teacher wouldn’t catch her tardy. Luckily Mr. Hackett was busy scribbling something on the blackboard as Keely tiptoed to her seat. Just when she was about to sit down, Mr. Hackett turned.
“Teslow,” He called out.
“What are you doing out of your seat?”
Keely tuned around quickly looking at him in shock and said the first thing that crossed her mind.
“Uhh…uhh…pencil?” she said pathetically raising her hand up showing him the pencil.
“Yes,” Mr. Hackett nodded at Keely slowly, “….and what a mighty fine pencil that is.”
“Oh Keel!” Phil appeared on Keely’s side and hugged her tightly. She just stood there stiffly while Mr. Hackett stared at Phil strangely, nether knowing what was going on.
“You found it,” Phil said happily and grabbed the pencil out of her hand, “thank you,” he sniffed and wiped away the tears.
He then returned to his seat leaving Keely standing there with Mr. Hackett who looked very confused.
“You know how…Phil loves that…pencil,” Keely played along nervously.
“Right….well back to more important measures,” Mr. Hackett replied walking back towards the front of the room.
“Who thinks I would look better with longer hair?”
Coming from any other teacher, that question would’ve sound very odd but Mr. Hackett made it a daily routine to spend most of their class time discussing his personal life.
“Phil,” Keely whispered taking out her materials, “where were you?”
Phil stopped twirling his pencil and refused to look over at Keely who sat beside him waiting for an answer.
“I…uhh..had some errands to run for…..Mrs. Mayberry,” Phil said quickly and acted like he was looking for something in his backpack.
“Really?” Keely intertwined her fingers on the table and looked over at Phil who kept his back to her.
“Seth said you weren’t feeling well.”
Phil stopped fumbling his hand and removed it from his bag. He was still facing away from Keely so she couldn’t see him close his eyes and swallowed roughly. Phil turned slowly around and laughed and…..kept on laughing for a while. Keely only gave him a weird look and waited for him to speak.
“I was…feeling a little…sick,” Phil said as he clear his throat, “after…after I did those…errands.”
Phil tried to dodge Keely’s stare as his eyes nervously roam the room.
“..Okay,” Keely frowned and looked down at her hands confused. When she glanced back up Phil was sitting rigidly on his chair like a statue, not really moving at all.
“You’re sure there’s nothing else,” Keely asked shrugging her shoulders, “anything else, you wanna tell me?”
“NO!” Phil said a little too quickly still refusing to look at her.
“Nothing else.”
Keely continued to look at Phil for a few more moments and gradually turned her attention back to Mr. Hackett. Throughout the class, Phil just sat in his chair and kept his attention firmly on Mr. Hackett not wanting to give Keely a chance to ask him anymore questions.
This was going to be an extremely long week, Phil sighed as he leaned his face into his left hand.
Continue 4B
Phil walked through the school hallway completely absorbed in his physic’s book. It was a start of a new week and they had a major test on Friday. Phil tried to memorize the terms when suddenly a hand appeared and pulled him by the collar into the local utility closet.
“Hey!” Phil’s cried as he was roughly thrown in the dark room. It smelled like windex and dirty old rags
“whaugggg..,” a hand reached out and covered his mouth before Phil was able to yell in protest causing him to send his arms flying back knocking over the wash cloths which happened to land on his head.
“Shhhh..shhh….ssshh,”
“Phil, control yourself!” Tia replied as Phil continued to struggle causing everything on the shelves to come tumbling down.
“It’s me, Tia,” she tried explaining to him as she dodges the fallen objects that Phil keeps knocking to the ground.
“Tia?” Phil stopped fighting and looked at her ridiculously pulling the rag off his hair.
“Why are we in a closet?” he asked eyeing her looking at his surrounding.
“Do you not know what next week is?” she asked him since he was the first that was supposed to know about these things. Phil looked at Tia while going through a quick check list in his head but couldn’t pinpoint anything out of the ordinary.
“Don’t tell me you forgot Phil Diffy!” Tia exclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips,
He looked at the ceiling moving his eyes around, trying to figure out what he should have obviously known but came up nothing. Sighing in defeat he looked at Tia’s annoyed face and shrugged his shoulders giving her a sorry smile.
“Hello. Your best friend…..goes by the name of Keely,” Tia raised her eyebrows at him watching if he showed any sign of recognition. Only to find that Phil just stared at her waiting for Tia to spell it out for him.
“What do I have to do…..draw you a picture?” Tia said loudly throwing her hands up in the air.
“No, no pictures. Last time Keely tried that…,” Phil pleaded thinking back a couple of months ago when Keely drew up comic strips because she said it will give him a better understanding of 21st century driving. Clearly, that did not go as plan.
“….lets just things didn’t exactly happen the way we expected.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”
Tia looked at him with little patience left.
“Keely’s birthday is next week!”
Phil continued to look at Tia waiting to see if she had something else to say. Of course he knew it was Keely’s birthday. Phil didn’t understand why Tia was making such a big deal. They talked about it the night before and decided to have just a simple night out like they always did.
“Yea, we’re just going to grab something to eat and then go back to my house and give Keely her presents,” Phil said thinking Tia has completely lost her mind.
“Tia, we’ve been doing pretty much the same routine every year, don’t you remember?”
“oh my gosh,” TIa said and looked as if she was going to tear up apart. Phil was actually beginning to get a little scared of her right now.
“This isn’t like every other birthday Phil,” she said poking him in the arm.
“It’s not?” Phil stared at her.
“NO!” Tia yelled causing Phil to jump back startled.
“It’s her 18th birthday and it only comes once in a lifetime,” she talked as though she was explaining this to a child.
“Don’t all her birthdays come once in a lifetime?” Things might have been different between here and the future but Phil was sure everyone still aged the same. Unless…
“Pay attention Phil,” Tia called out banging a long stick against the wall looking very much like a teacher scolding a misbehaved student. Wait….where did the stick come from?
“Alright, here’s the plan,” Tia began pacing back and forth in the tiny room which caused Phil to move around to avoid being hit with the stick that Tia carelessly waved in all directions.
“We have to be extra careful or else Keely is going to suspect something.”
Suddenly Tia stopped moving and looked at Phil pointing the wooden object at his face almost touching his nose.
“Since you are around her the most, it’s your job to make sure Keely knows nothing,” Tia made a dramatic emphasis on the word nothing.
“Got it?” Snapping the stick against the wall once more causing a sharp WHACK! that echoed in the closet.
“Got it,” Phil replied quickly standing up straight looking straight a head.
“uhh…question?” he began carefully since Tia was holding a rather long stick and looked kind of intimidating.
Tia gave a loud sigh, “What?”
“What exactly are we…hiding from Keely again?” Phil asked looking more scared of Tia than confused.
“Her surprise birthday party…duh,” Tia said staring at Phil wide-eyed. Guys could be so insensitive sometimes. Here she was, planning something special for Keely, which was actually Phil’s job since he is her best friend, and he couldn’t even pay attention. Jerk.
Just then, the bell could be heard ringing through the door. Tia reached down and grabbed her bag.
“Meet me after class and make sure Keely isn’t with you,” Tia said.
“I have some major ideas we need to chat about, kay.
“But Keely and I have the same class next period,” Phil knew that it was impossible to tell Keely to go to class on her own without her being suspicious.
“Phil. You’re the brains, figure something out,” Tia whispered as she cracked the door open and stuck her head out looking left and right making sure the coast was clear. When it was, Tia quickly dashed out and told him quietly to not forget. She closed the door and Phil could hear the click of her boots echoing down the hall.
Phil stood in the closet not knowing how in the world he was actually going to pull this off without ruining everything. For a person who always wanted to take short cuts in class, Tia was making things very complicated.
He cracked the door open and saw that the hallway was almost empty since mostly everyone had already gone to class. He quickly began to leave the room and tried to be super quiet…..
“Phil.”
“Ahh!” Phil jumped and tripped over brooms and mops causing them to spill out of the door while he tried his best to stuff them back inside. Every time he successfully pushed the mops in the door, the brooms will began falling down making it impossible to shut it. After a couple of minuets, Phil was finally able to slam the door along with all its utilities safely back inside.
Phil stood there with his back against the door and panted loudly trying to look casual, “Keely…..hi.”
Keely had been standing there watching Phil make a complete fool of himself as he struggled against the very stubborn mops and brooms. At times, it seemed like Phil was as much of a ditz as she was. How in the world do they survive together?
“Phil…what are you doing in the make-out closet?” Keely asked since she thought she saw Tia exit the room only moments before.
“I…uhh…wait…what?” Phil looked at her in shock.
“Make-out closet?” It smelled like garbage in there and he was struggling to just breathe.
She raised an eyebrow and nodded her head slowly. Keely stood there waiting for Phil to give an explanation. This was completely unfair, Phil thought. He didn’t get enough time to figure out a lie yet.
Phil stuttered as he scratched his head nervously.
“I…I…got lost,” That didn’t such a bad idea as Phil said it once again more confidently this time, “I got lost.”
“Yea…all these doors….just look the same,” he laughed nervously.
“I mean, they should at least make like a sign or something right?”
Phil smiled at Keely anxiously as he couldn’t wait to get out of this awkward moment. She was staring at him intently and Phil was beginning to sweat under all the pressure. So he turned his gaze around the hallway and pretended to be very interested in the pattern on the door he was leaning on. He looked up and froze suddenly, his eyes wide in shock. In the middle of the door was, in large bold letters, ‘UTLITY CLOSET.’
“Oh…wow there’s….a….sign,” Phil stumbled over his words. He pulled on the collar of his shirt since it was getting extremely hot. Did someone turn on the heater? He glanced back at Keely quickly and saw that her attention was still on him completely.
“Who puts a sign on doors anyway….could barely….see the darn thing,”
“Right….Keels?”
He stood there shifting from his weight from one foot to the next and played with his fingers nervously. Why couldn’t she just say something? Anymore staring and Phil was sure he was going to crack.
“Phil…,” Keely began very slowly and looked as if she was still trying to understand what just happened.
“….is everything okay?” She asked while he looked up at him unsurely.
“OH GREAT!” Phil yelled a little too quickly.
“Couldn’t be better.”
“Lets get to class now kay?”
With that, he grabbed Keely’s hand and pulled her down the hall swiftly before she was able to continue questioning his strange behavior. Phil was walking so fast that Keely had to run to actually keep up with him. Then out of the nowhere, he stopped causing Keely to slam right into his back.
“PHIL!”
“What is going o…”
“Look Keely, it’s your class,” he cut her off acting as if he didn’t know it was there even though he always waited for her here.
“Well, better get in there and start learning,” Phil opened the door and waved to everyone as they all looked at him with interest.
“There you go Keel,” he practically shoved her inside the classroom.
“Okay. Have fun.” With that, Phil shut the door loudly and basically ran down the hall.
Keely stood there for a while still looking at the door in shock and turned back to her peers, who were now all staring at her including the teacher. They looked at her as if waiting for her to say something.
“He’s umm…..yea.” She began explaining but remembered that she didn’t even know what was going on. So Keely just quickly sat down in her seat and tried to ignore all the curious stares as once again the teacher resumed were he left off.
Phil has got a lot of explaining to do.
……………………………………………………………..
There has never been a moment when History was as of least importance as this moment. Phil sat in his seat uncomfortably. He couldn’t stop fidgeting and his palms were sweaty. He glanced up at the clock again for what seems like the 50th time and noticed that only 10 minutes had passed. The teacher kept on talking on and on about the modern advances of civilization but nothing was sticking to Phil’s memory.
He looked around and noticed the students were frantically writing something down. Phil glanced down at his blank piece of paper. Well, that wasn’t completely true. He did have some strange shapes that he doodled earlier. Phil couldn’t help but glance up at the clock again. Only 35 more minutes, Phil thought petrified. Class was going to end in a little over a half and hour which means Keely will be here soon. I’m so doomed; Phil said to himself and sighed loudly. A little too loudly since the whole class stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
“Mr. Diffy, perhaps you could enlighten to us as to why this is so boring for you?” Mrs. Mayberry stood at the front of the room waiting patiently.
“Uhh…I….” Phil looked around slowly and realized that class wasn’t going to continue until he gave an explanation.
“Just needed….to..to…clear those lungs,” Phil laughed and proceeded to clear this throat many times loudly.
“Well….” Mrs. Mayberry started at Phil strangely.
“Back to the European influence….”
Phew. Phil massaged the back of his neck tiredly and gave everyone an apologetic smile. As he turned his head back to the front, Phil caught Seth still looking at him weirdly. Phil only shrugged his shoulders and mouthed ‘later.’
After what seemed like a lifetime, the bell finally rang signaling the end of class. Phil jumped out of his seat quickly causing everyone to stop and stare at him again. Phil was about to once say something but decided against it and just swiftly left the class room. Once he was safely outside, Phil looked around the hallway for Keely. Luckily, she was nowhere in sight yet.
When Seth stepped out, Phil grabbed his arm roughly and dragged him away quickly.
“Seth, listen,” Phil whispered hurriedly.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Uhh…okay but can you stop holding my arm,” Seth replied looking around, “people are staring.”
Phil quickly released his grip and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Look, I need you to walk Keely to class and don’t let her near her locker,” Phil explained glancing behind once more.
“Why?” Seth asked. He thought Phil and Keely had the same class this period.
“Well…” Phil was about to explain but noticed Keely was standing not far behind them looking for him.
“There she is!”
“Go, I’ll tell you later.”
Phil pushed Seth toward where Keely stood and dashed down the hall entering the first class he saw.
“…..hi…..” Phil said as the second graders stared at him.
…………………………………………………
Seth walked slowly towards Keely with a confused look on his face. Phil was definitely smart but man, maybe he was losing it.
All the other students could be seen hurriedly rushing to class since the tardy bell was about to ring any minute now. Well everyone except for Keely, she stood in the middle of the hall still looking for Phil who was no where to be seen.
“Ooh, Seth!” Keely waved to him frantically.
“Have you seen Phil?”
“Umm..Phil?” Seth laughed while he tried to remember what Phil told him to say. Only, Phil didn’t really tell him anything. Great.
“…well….Phil…you see…” Seth stammered.
“Phil….went….”
“Seth,” Keely asked him bit by bit. First Phil, now Seth, were all the guys just going crazy?
“Why do you keep on saying Phil’s name?”
“Ha..” Seth tried to laugh and failed horribly as it sounded like a high squeak.
“…..he wasn’t…..wasn’t feeling…well,” he finally managed to say, clearing his throat.
“Is he okay?” Keely asked worriedly. He looked fine this morning although now that she thinks of it, he hasn’t been himself all day.
“Oh yea,” Seth said with a wave of his hand and began walking hoping that Keely would follow.
“You know….nothing serious just that time of the month,” Seth said easily. Maybe he was getting the hang of this lying thing.
“NO!” Seth yelled causing Keely to jump and looked at him oddly.
“I mean….no..as in…..not that Phil has….the time of the month or anything,” Funny how the ground never swallowed you when you really wanted it most, Seth thought to himself.
“Riiiiiight,” Keely furrowed her eyebrows and continued to follow Seth as he resumed walking.
“Well, I need to get some books so…I’ll talk to you later?” she asked hesitantly since Seth was acting so odd.
Keely began walking away and Seth let out a huge breath of relief. He seriously didn’t think she’d fall for it. Well whether she did or not, at least it was over with. Seth turned and began walking to his class when…
“KEELY!” Seth’s voice echoed clearly in the empty hallway. He ran up and stood right in front of her. A little bit too close Keely thought as she took a step back. He was actually breathing really hard and along with Seth’s strange behavior, she was afraid he might faint.
They stood in the hallway just staring at each other. Keely, waiting to hear why he called her and Seth, trying to process his thoughts into sentences.
Keely placed a hand behind her head and looked away preparing to leave.
“Seth, this is just…..weird so I’m gonna…” Before even finishing her thought, Keely walked pass him.
“Wait Keely,” Seth stepped in front of her path once more.
Now she was annoyed, “Seth, I’m a big girl.”
“I think I could manage getting my books on my own.”
She took a step forward but Seth put both hands on her shoulders pushing her back. Has he completely lost his mind? She continued walking ahead but Seth insisted her to stop while walking backwards in front. Giving her lame excuses about how the lockers were being painted to it being infested with monsters.
As they neared the end of the hall, Seth peeked around the other side and saw Phil and Tia standing not too far in the distance. He looked back at Keely’s annoyed face as she quickly approached. This is not good, Seth thought as he frantically tried to think of something, ANYTHING to get Keely away from the lockers. Maybe he could…
Keely had already walked pass him and was now only seconds away from turning the corner. Seth ran and leaped across the hall, stretching his arms as far as he could.
“NOOOOO”! Seth yelled his voiced deepened as everything happened in slow motion.
Keely looked behind only to see Seth flying straight towards her. It was all happening too fast so all she had time to do was take a step back before he landed right in front of her grabbing her notebook on the way down. This cause Keely to lose her balance as she tripped and followed Seth to the ground.
Now they both sat on the floor, Keely’s papers lying all around in the empty hallway.
“Okay Seth, you have now officially lost your mind,” Keely said angrily as she quickly picked up her papers carelessly placing them back in the folder.
Seth looked up guiltily before he began helping Keely with her papers but only to have her snatched them harshly out of his hands. She stood up and was about to walk away but Seth grabbed her boot from where he sat on the floor.
“Keely hang on,” Seth said as Keely dragged him slowly across the hall ignoring his comments. She no longer tried to understand what the heck was happening. All she wanted to do was get as far away from Seth as possible which was kind of difficult since he wouldn’t let go of her shoe.
“What are you two doing?”
Seth and Keely looked up sharply to the principal’s face as he stared at them.
“We were…uhh…just getting to class,” Keely tried to smile wiggling out of Seth’s grasp.
“Seth was just…..ty…tying my shoe, right Seth?”
“Uhhh….yea,” Seth replied as he moved his hands around Keely’s shoe looking for the laces.
“….when I realized….you have no…shoelaces.”
Seth quickly removed his hold and got up in a hurry.
“Oh,” Keely laughed, a little too much as Seth elbowed her to stop, “silly me, must have forgotten.”
The principle just stared a while and looked back to his clipboard. Teenagers nowadays.
“Just get to class. Now.”
And as quickly as it started, Seth and Keely broke apart dashing back up the hallway going their separate directions afraid the principle was going to change his mind and give them detention.
………………………………………………..
Keely opened the door to her classroom quietly hoping the teacher wouldn’t catch her tardy. Luckily Mr. Hackett was busy scribbling something on the blackboard as Keely tiptoed to her seat. Just when she was about to sit down, Mr. Hackett turned.
“Teslow,” He called out.
“What are you doing out of your seat?”
Keely tuned around quickly looking at him in shock and said the first thing that crossed her mind.
“Uhh…uhh…pencil?” she said pathetically raising her hand up showing him the pencil.
“Yes,” Mr. Hackett nodded at Keely slowly, “….and what a mighty fine pencil that is.”
“Oh Keel!” Phil appeared on Keely’s side and hugged her tightly. She just stood there stiffly while Mr. Hackett stared at Phil strangely, nether knowing what was going on.
“You found it,” Phil said happily and grabbed the pencil out of her hand, “thank you,” he sniffed and wiped away the tears.
He then returned to his seat leaving Keely standing there with Mr. Hackett who looked very confused.
“You know how…Phil loves that…pencil,” Keely played along nervously.
“Right….well back to more important measures,” Mr. Hackett replied walking back towards the front of the room.
“Who thinks I would look better with longer hair?”
Coming from any other teacher, that question would’ve sound very odd but Mr. Hackett made it a daily routine to spend most of their class time discussing his personal life.
“Phil,” Keely whispered taking out her materials, “where were you?”
Phil stopped twirling his pencil and refused to look over at Keely who sat beside him waiting for an answer.
“I…uhh..had some errands to run for…..Mrs. Mayberry,” Phil said quickly and acted like he was looking for something in his backpack.
“Really?” Keely intertwined her fingers on the table and looked over at Phil who kept his back to her.
“Seth said you weren’t feeling well.”
Phil stopped fumbling his hand and removed it from his bag. He was still facing away from Keely so she couldn’t see him close his eyes and swallowed roughly. Phil turned slowly around and laughed and…..kept on laughing for a while. Keely only gave him a weird look and waited for him to speak.
“I was…feeling a little…sick,” Phil said as he clear his throat, “after…after I did those…errands.”
Phil tried to dodge Keely’s stare as his eyes nervously roam the room.
“..Okay,” Keely frowned and looked down at her hands confused. When she glanced back up Phil was sitting rigidly on his chair like a statue, not really moving at all.
“You’re sure there’s nothing else,” Keely asked shrugging her shoulders, “anything else, you wanna tell me?”
“NO!” Phil said a little too quickly still refusing to look at her.
“Nothing else.”
Keely continued to look at Phil for a few more moments and gradually turned her attention back to Mr. Hackett. Throughout the class, Phil just sat in his chair and kept his attention firmly on Mr. Hackett not wanting to give Keely a chance to ask him anymore questions.
This was going to be an extremely long week, Phil sighed as he leaned his face into his left hand.
Continue 4B