WRITER IN THE DARK , neil perry

02

"why are you calling this girl again?" neil asked as knox put a coin into the phone and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. the hallways were dark.

"because she was a writer. i don't remember." he focused on getting amélie's number right, his eyes darting from the phone to the tiny paper with the girl's number printed on it.

"of course you wouldn't, after the beating you took from chet." charlie snickered, knox playfully shoving him.

"shut up charlie." he rolled his eyes, pulling the phone up to his ear.

amélie sat comfortably in her bed, her nose in a book as always. her roommate, marianne dubois, was painting her toenails a bright red color.

"don't get any of that polish onto the sheets." amé observed, her eyes not taking her gaze off of the book's pages.

"what? oh, no. i won't." marianne chuckled, continuing to paint her toenails with a now shaky hand.

"just making sure." amélie smiled, putting her book down and facing her roommate. marianne was quite nice and they were becoming really good friends, since they were in all the same classes.

"i could paint your toenails after i'm done mine if you'd-" mari's voice was cut off by a shrill ringing coming from the hallway outside of their room. amé and marianne looked at eachother, both wide smiles on their face as the ringing played out. phone calls were rare for all the girls at aurela, so every girl secretly hoped it was for them.

"amélie! it's for you." a girl yelled. amélie recognized this girl's voice to be cindy simon.

mari looked at her in shock, and waved for her to get the call. amé got up, marianne following behind her to listen in on the phone call. she eagerly took the phone from cindy. she expected it to be her father.

"hello?" she asked, her brows furrowed.

"is this amélie?" a familiar voice asked.

"this is she." amélie replied, still confused on to who she was talking to.

"who are you talking to?" marianne whispered loudly. amé simply shrugged and mari put her ear to the back of the phone.

"hi, amélie. this is knox overstreet." knox said, obviously with his friends. amé heard quiet chatter in the background when he talked.

"knox overstreet?" mari whispered loudly, a grin curling up onto her lips. amélie quickly nodded in embarrassment. "hi knox." she had been dreading his phone call. she didn't think he would actually have the guts to call her. or he would've just forgotten her number.

"i have your number from chris' party, in case you forgot." he hummed, making marianne giggle even more. amélie covered the phone with her hand and shushed mari.

"you have to give me details after, you just gotta!" she squealed. from what amé knew of her, she was very boy crazy. she'd do anything for a boy to look in her direction and can manage to turn every conversation into a discussion about the boy she's been seeing.

"there's no detail about it. i met him at a party, and that's it." amélie sighed, putting out the sparkle in marianne's eyes as she squealed.

her eager smile turned into a frown. "still."

amé shushed marianne and took her hand off of the phone. "i didn't." she quickly responded, totally forgetting that she had been talking to knox.

"well, if you'd like to come and meet some of my friends, we are meeting up in the old cave." he responded, marianne getting even more worked up over his words.

"ask her to bring some of her friends." a voice said in the background. amélie rolled her eyes at the comment. it's not like she had many.

"and you could bring some of your friends." knox added quickly. marianne smiled at this and tugged at amé's arm.

she sighed loudly. "well, okay. what time are you all meeting?"

"9 pm." knox replied, leaving amélie with a frown. she couldn't sneak out. she didn't want to meet with them in the first place, so why would she risk getting in trouble for it?

marianne quickly took notice in amélie's irritation and decided to take it upon herself. she took the phone from out of her roommate's hands, and replied for her."she'll be there!" she hung up with a smug smile on her face.

"marianne!" amélie groaned, walking back into her room with crossed arms. she hated people doing things for her. she wanted her own choice. that was one thing she loved about aurela, she didn't have to be with her dad all the time and she could just be her own guardian. make her own decisions. that's why she hated the idea of her roommate, whom she'd barely even talked to before this year, being so overbearing over her social life.

her roommate followed quickly behind her. "i want you to go!"

"well i don't want to go." amélie responded, a frown on her face as she sat down on her bed. she didn't like to hang out outside of school much.

"and why is that?" marianne asked. she just couldn't take the hint that amé would prefer to be alone.

"because i'd rather stay in our room reading my books. why else?"

mari sat down across from amé. "you need to get out more! when was the last time you met up with someone?" she pushed, amé's stomach dropping as mari spoke. "your dad doesn't count."

she was right. amélie needed to get out and enjoy the world, before she had to become a stupid nurse. she realized there was more to life than hot tea and books and bed. they'd always be there, but friends she made at 16 wouldn't. she could be having friends but somehow kept shutting herself out because she was afraid of getting hurt. she had felt it from her father, from her mother, and she didn't want it to be anyone else. she did need to make some more friends, so maybe in a way this could be an opportunity for her. if she didn't like it, she could always leave.

marianne realized the actual sadness in amé's eyes. "i'm sorry. i shouldn't have took the phone from you. you deserve your own privacy too." she pressed her lips together guiltily, making them a thin line.

"thank you. i'm just not that used to people making decisions for me anymore." amélie replied quietly.

"it's 8:30 now. if you want to go, you should get ready." marianne observed, looking at her watch.

"marianne, you're welcome to come if you'd like."

—————————-

as amélie and marianne walked, the air was silent and the two admired the sound of the grass crunching against their feet. the evening was dark and only lit by the single flashlight mari held out in front of them. amé held her notebook under her arm. "did you really have to bring that notebook?" her friend commented, as amé almost dropped the book down a second time as she tried opening it.

"marianne, you do realize this is a poetry club." amélie sighed, a slight smile on her face as they walked.

"it is? i thought we were just going to meet knox and his friends."

amé chuckled at the response. "at their poetry club."

"i get it now. you write poetry?" marianne asked, tilting her head. amé's face got hot.

"occasionally. i mean, most of the stuff in here are just dickinson, austen, brontë and every other writer who has inspired me." she didn't often bring up her poetry. i mean, everyone knew she wanted to be a writer but not everyone had to know that she actually wrote stuff. she'd be okay if people she didn't know read it, but what embarrassed her the most was people she knew actually reading her stuff.

marianne nodded, in a way showing she didn't really care and didn't know one thing about what amé was going on about. after a few more minutes of walking, the two were standing right in front of the cave's entrance. indistinct chattering could be heard from inside of it. the two girls looked at eachother nervously, before marianne turned the flashlight off and entered the cave.

amélie followed behind her cautiously, the only thing she could see being a fire with a bunch of unfamiliar faces around it.

"amélie, you made it."