Chapter 2

I sighed. It was 7:01. No one else was up. I was a morning person, so I just sat on the high stool, looking at the sun rise. But every so often, the computer would call for me. I finally gave in. I had that dream again. All I could think about was Charlie Woods. Charlie Woods was the mystery guy. He is in every corner of my mind, it seems. He plays the saxophone. He is in two AP classes (Calculus and English) and is also taking photography and Advanced Auto Mechanics this term. He moved here last year from Hartford, Connecticut. He is amazing. His gym grades are pretty good too. Comments on his speed and agility. Nothing else much. Talks about the strength he showed in the track unit espeically in discus. I know you have to have musceles for that sport and I never would have guessed. He always is wearing darker clothes and hoodies. He has this kind of punk-ish look but acclectic. He also wears these really cool beanie hats. I know way too much. I am in way too deep. Then Kaliyan came into the kitchen, rubbing he eyes. "What are you doing up? It's early." "Only to you guys!" I laughed and gave her a fresh baked muffin off the counter. Then Janet and Amanda came out. I started the coffee and gave them muffins too. "What are we doing today?" I asked. They all mumbled incoherently. I smiled. "How about the Mall of America? We could do a ton of stuff there, and there's coffee there too." Janet perked up a bit. She already had a cup of coffee, but apparently I make it 'too weak'. I put in 6 scoops for 12 cups. She needed major coffee. We got dressed and told my parents we were going to the mall. I grabbed my dad's keys to the Mini Cooper S and headed off to the mall. We first went to Caribou Coffee. Once Janet got her coffee, I made them go to the Kemps Ice Cream place. I had a huge craving for ice cream. I got a large waffle cone full of 3 scoops of S'more ice cream. I had it finished in 15 min. Janet glared at me. "How do you do this? Where are you from?" She was always mad that I could scarf down a ton of food, in no time, with a ton of room to spare, all the time. Not only that but I was thin-ish. I laughed. She glared some more. "Oh come on, Janny! Relax. So where should we go? You pick." She pondered it for a bit. "Barnes and Noble." We all smiled. We all loved Barnes and Noble for its awesome book havingness and for the coffee shop in every store. I didn't like the plain coffee, but I could always find something good in one. Even the hot cocoa. We raced down to the bookstore and spread out. We decided to play JAKE! You find as many good books for the other people of JAKE (Janet, Amanda, Kaliyan, and Emma) as you can. If they like it they buy it, if they don't you buy it and find out if it’s awesome or not. The one that gets the most books to other people gets a Cinnabon paid for by the others. Both ways, good books are read and yummy food is in our tummies. We were all grabbing books off the shelf and reading the backs of the books as fast as we could. I turned down a new aisle looking for something for Amanda, then I froze. HE was on the floor by the shelf reading a back cover. "Charlie?" I asked, but no way it wasn't him. "Emma. " He had this both relieved, yet pissed off voice as he said my name. "Yeah, what you looking at?" I saw the cover. Go Ask Alice, right next to Smack. "Those are really good books." I said. "They have interesting points of view about drugs. Very cool." "Yeah, thanks. I got to go." He stood up. I didn't want him to leave yet! "Wait. Would you maybe like to get a cup of coffee after school sometime? I mean, to discuss books. I really like finding new books. I never have enough." He looked the stack of books in my arms. They were almost crushing me with their weight. "These aren't for me." I said. "Well, sure, I guess. I'll see you at school." Then he walked off. I dropped the books immediately and started dancing my Yes! dance. I was so excited. He and I were going to go out after school. Hopefully. "Emma? Are you alright?" Amanda spoke. I jumped. "Oh. God, Amanda! You scared me half to death." "Oh sorry. Anyway, Janet said times up. Grab the books and meet at THE TABLE." She walked off. We had a special table cleared off for the JAKE finishing. I grabbed my books and ran over. After the JAKE game, I had 5 new books and as I walked out of the bookstore, I felt jubilant. I had Cinnabon in my mouth and I was another step closer to understanding Charlie Woods.