mallory & madison || xoxo }-}

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

mallory
“I love you, Julia.”

The room was dimly lit, with incandescent candles throwing shadows gently against the wall. The only sounds were the sound of his voice, and the sound of our breathing – mostly my breathing. I tend to start hyperventilating sometimes when I get really caught up in the moment.

His left held a loose grip on my right hand, while his right hand lightly played with a few locks of my white-blonde locks, tucking them neatly behind my ear. He leaned in, his lips lightly brushing my ear. Reaching over me to the table stand next to the couch, he pulled something on it with a slight click.

A light flickered on brightly next to me as the lamp turned on. Natural instinct to save my eyes from burning caused me to shield them with my hands.

“Agh! Not cool!”

“All right, all right. Sorry about that. But how d’you think I did?” he said, plopping down onto the couch in a casual position next to me.

“Besides the fact that I had to be a practice date for you… Hmm. Not bad. Almost average.”

“Awww, Mal, you don’t have to be like that. Do you honestly want me to make some random mistake in front of Julia to make her hate me?”

“Sure – I don’t really give a care about it.” Only I didn’t say ‘care.’ “She’s an unworthy little brat. And when I say little, I mean little. To kiss her, you’d probably have to bend over all the way and then maybe kneel down like you’re proposing to her. Each time you kiss her, she’ll probably expect some type of engagement ring.”

To some extent, I had a grudge against girls who were short and prissy and who were dainty and elegant or whatever they were supposed to be. I happened to be proud of my height that was at least over five feet. Five six, to be exact.

“But you don’t see, Mallory dear. I’m madly in love with her,” he responded, a sheepish grin spreading across his face, as he knew these words would most likely infuriate me.

“Madly?” I snapped, jabbing him in the ribs. “Jason Sylvester Taylor,” I hissed at him, “You read way too much for your own stupid good, you got that? All these stupid little fanciful notions aren’t getting you anywhere. You don’t honestly believe that you can gallop up on a stupid little white pony and she’ll all of a sudden want to run away with you to some stupid place, do you? Stupid-head?”

Jason looked at me with an odd expression on his face – one of laughter. I sat there glaring at him while waiting for him to say what he thought was so funny. Suddenly, he burst into peals of laughter, and me being who I am… well, I kind of just joined in. I hate it when stuff like that happens – you’re laughing over something you don’t even know about.

It took a while for the laughter to die down, but once it did, I immediately demanded, “What’s so funny?”

He looked at me for a while longer, looking as if he were about to burst again. To prevent him from doing so, I poked him in the ribs again.

“All right, all right. I’ll cut to the chase. When you were five and I was six – ten years ago – we made this bet. I was getting really peeved at you because you kept on using the word ‘stupid’ when you spoke and I had no idea what it meant. Don’t look at me like that – you weren’t all that bright when you were five, either. Anyway, I made a bet with you and said that you would one day say the word ‘stupid’ more than three times in one sentence. If you did, we agreed that you would kiss me…” He paused here for dramatic effect. When he spoke again, it was in a deep and forbidding voice. “…On the lips.”

As soon as he finished saying that, I stared at him in horror while he started succumbing to more laughter. Me? Kiss him? Sheesh – Jason was my best friend, and I couldn’t imagine doing anything besides either hanging out and having a good time with him or hating his guts, or somehow both at once. Kissing him? Not happening.

To make him stop laughing before he choked on his own saliva or something, I decided to scare him. “You know that it’s already six o’clock, right?” I asked loudly, emphasizing the time. Immediately to my satisfaction, he jumped up and stared at me wildly. This time, it was my turn to begin laughing as he whipped around to look at the clock ticking away on the wall.

Turning back to face me, he glared at me. “That’s not funny, Mal. You know how freaking anxious I am about this whole date business with Julia,” he muttered, elbowing me. “She’s probably judging everything I do, and I want her to think well of me,” he added, his voice darkening until it seemed dead serious.

“Anxious?” I chortled. “Since when do you use fancy words like that?” I asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood (even though ‘anxious’ wasn’t all that fancy of a word). I hated it when Jason got all solemn and stuff. “You could’ve just said nervous or something,” I added when he didn’t answer, just to make sure that he understood.

Awkward silence followed as he sat there, staring at the floor, his brow furrowed as if he were thinking about something extremely hard. This was something about Jason – when he wasn’t all too pleased with me, he would give me the silent treatment. I knew that this was rather childish and immature on his part, but, to tell the truth, instead of just brushing it off, I took it personally whenever it happened.

“Look, I’m sorry. But just tell me something – exactly what do you find so awesome about her? If you can give me a reason, I can maybe try to force myself to like her for your sake,” I said, unsure if the words I was saying were the correct ones.

Obviously, they were, as Jason immediately looked up and begin talking, a feverish look in his eyes. “It’s everything – the color of hair, like freshly cut wheat – a golden color. Her eyes are that amber golden brown, and she’s extremely nice and she's really smart and funny…”

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t say anything, as Jason now seemed as if he were being truthful to his utmost limit of being truthful. “Oh.” I answered shortly, silently fuming. Nice? Soft spoken? Sure, that was Julia – if she had a non-evil twin double. The Julia I knew was one full of venom and was a tireless gossip. She wouldn’t rest until she had conquered the whole school, holding it like putty in her hands – this included the teachers, too. Julia and her stupid designer clothing and polished nails… I glanced down at my own nails, unpolished and rather ragged looking. Guilty for that was my habit of biting my nails when I got stressed out.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the words caught in my throat. I had to stop before I began to yell at Jason – I knew that if I tried to talk some sense in to him, I would have to resort to yelling. Instead, I kept my cool, trying to concentrate on shutting Jason’s words out while still looking as if I were listening.

“Oh shoot – I’ve gotta go now. See you later, Mal,” Jason finished, getting up and hurrying toward the door. He opened it, and was halfway through, before he hesitated for a moment. Over his shoulder, he called out, “Try not to do anything stupid, ‘kay?” My eyes flickered briefly to his face, just in time to see the flash of his grin as he left.

He had just walked out the door, leaving me here. By myself. Gosh, that stung – one of my best friends since goodness knows when just ditching me for his stupid date. I would never have done that to him.

madison
Dreams are a funny thing. They can be described as a figment of your imagination, or it can be said that they are a premonition for the near or far future. In the end, it is up to you to decide whether you believe in them or not. Believing in them may sound inspirational and you might leap at the first chance to do so, but there are loopholes in putting your faith completely in a dream. Sometimes they don’t always come true, and when you realize that, you’ve already fallen completely on your face.
I know this all sounds morbid and scary, and I won’t lie: it is pretty nerve-wracking. Seriously. If you think about it, you’re basing your hopes on something that might just be your imagination conjuring up random scenes through your lifetime experiences. Still, sometimes you can’t resist following after your dreams, as the thought of them continue to torture you endlessly until you can’t think straight.

That’s what was happening to me.

This was the third night in a row that I had had this dream. It took place on the sandy shores of California, underneath a few shady palm trees throwing their shadows around, letting the wind gently rustle through. The sky was a picturesque mixture of reds and pinks dashed with a slight tint of orange. As the sun set, it seemed as if it were submerging itself in the clear bluish green water, its reflection shimmering, disturbed by the faint rippling of the water that the breeze caused. Overhead, the forms of seagulls could be spotted, their cries loud and clear. All of these characteristics had seemed so vivid and real, making it difficult for me to snap back to reality.

The biggest factor in this dream, however, was not the scenery. It was him. Him. He had brown hair, streaked with natural highlights, as if there were rays of sun passing through the creamy chocolate colored locks. His hair was cut in a shaggy style; hanging down naturally, with no artificial things like gel needed to keep it back. His eyes were a deep sky blue delicately mixed in with a tint of green. If you needed one word to describe his appearance, your mind would immediately jump to conclusions such as ‘handsome’ and ‘cute.’

Sure – that was true, but there were other things about him. If you picked a random girl from off the street and asked her what she wanted in a guy, the possibility that she would say the whole load of how he had to be sweet and devoted was relatively high. I, too, have always wanted someone like that in my life. My prayers had been answered, but only in my dreams.

He was the ideal type of boy: considerate, sweet, gentle, and many other things. He was my dream boy – in two different contexts.

Drifting out of my thoughts, I noted the fact that it was still dark outside. Rolling over, I glanced at my alarm clock. 2:00 AM. I exhaled deeply and nestled deep within my blankets. 2:00 AM? That meant around four more hours of sleep. Sleep, Maddie, I told myself. Normally that didn’t work, and right now was no exception.

Even though sleep was beginning to envelop me in its velvety grasp, I still couldn’t contain my wonder about the boy who continuously inhabited my dreams. Who was he? Was he real, out there in the world, waiting for me? Would I meet him? Or was I just pining away on someone who just didn’t exist?

Sleep, Maddie. Sleep is good for you. Tomorrow’s the first day of school – you don’t want to be looking all drab and stuff, do you?

Ahhh… The inner workings of a teenage female’s mind as she tries to fall asleep.

time passes…
My day began like any ordinary kid’s day: an annoying little alarm clock beeping its heart away. Groaning, I rolled over, slapping the snooze button. In a few more minutes, it began again, and it wouldn’t stop. Picking it up, I threw it across the room. It landed with a thud, and the batteries clunked out. Ugh.
Teenagers: party animals by night, cynical by day.

mallory
It was… drum roll, please? The first day of school. Yippee skip. Fun fun fun. Yay. Woohoo.

All right, I think we all get the point now. I’m sure that you all get my enthusiasm (by the way, for you slow people, that was a little dose of sarcasm).

I entered the school, trying to look as optimistic as possible, even though it went against my better nature. Running my fingers through my hair, I gave a deep sigh. Making my way through the people forming in to clusters, I paused to greet a few people and exchange a few pleasantries. On the social class at school, I was relatively high up. Even though I didn’t care that much, being on speaking terms with the more… popular people in the school had helped me considerably through the years.

It took me a while until I found the face I had been looking for: Madison, also known as Maddie or Mads to me. Actually, it wasn’t all that hard to find her – she stood out in the crowd. She was extremely pretty – from my point of view, anyway. Her face was heart shaped, framed with silky, raven black hair which cascaded down her back in faint ringlets. Her bangs were swept to the side, and sometimes obscured the vision of her eyes, which were a bright, forest green color. They were rather large, usually slightly ringed with a line of black eyeliner. Her nose fit in with the rest of her face, and her lips were round and full. In truth, you could say I was pretty jealous of her.

“Mads!” I greeted her in a bright tone, flashing a wide grin at her. It was good seeing her – I hadn’t seen her at all this summer. We had hung out for a few days in the beginning, but then we had to drift our separate ways once summer camps began.

She looked tired, but she answered with a decent amount of enthusiasm, so I wasn’t too worried. After all, a lot of people had issues with returning to a school schedule and not going to sleep at the usual summertime curfew of one in the morning.

“So how was your summer?” I asked, resting my arm on her shoulder. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my own shoulder. Turning around, I saw Jason’s face smiling at me.

“Hey, Mal. Happy to see me?” he inquired, a look of laughter dancing through his eyes.

“No, of course not, Jay!” I responded in a playful voice, flashing a grin at him. I turned to Maddie in order to explain. “Mads, this is Jason. He was my best friend since the sandbox, and he just moved here over the summer. I know I’ve told you about him a few times, haven’t I?”

Maddie looked at me, her mouth dropping in a slight ‘o’ position. I was about to ask her what was wrong, but she quickly masked the look of awe mixed in with fear, changing it to a look that was welcoming. “Hey,” she said, trying to make her voice casual. Although Maddie was a good actress and could feign how her voice sounded, I wasn’t her best friend for nothing – I was able to detect if she sounded fake. And right now? Well, it was simple: she sounded false. Something was up.

madison
It was him. The boy in my dreams. In my sweet, California beach dreams. There was no mistaking it: the same blond hair, the same greenish blue eyes… it was him. I exhaled slowly, trying to stop my heart from racing, although I failed horribly. It was all I could do to not stare at him, yet it was also all I could do to stare at him. I closed my eyes, trying to regain a calm composure. It was as if I were balancing on the edge of a cliff: one wrong move, and I was done for.

Lowering my head and allowing my bangs to come forward to shield my eyes to a certain extent, I studied my shoes, every once in a while raising my eyes to steal a glance at Jason. It didn’t seem like he had noticed me being all awkward and silent – much of the thanks for that was Mallory being able to talk on and on sometimes. I watched her chatter on and on, and in my mind, I made a mental note to buy her a big Hershey’s chocolate bar of gratitude. I really did love Mal – in a non-weird way. Especially now.

“Psst. Mads. He’s gone,” Mallory told me, jabbing me in the ribs.
I looked up, breathing out a sigh of relief. “All right, cool,” I replied as if there were nothing wrong. It was one thing to lie to other people who were acquaintances – it was another to lie to my best friend.

“Umm… Mads? You okay?” she asked, a genuinely worried look creasing the features of her face.

I looked up at her, and although I hated that she had to be worried over me, I didn’t know if I wanted to tell her. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I responded, pasting a puzzled look on my face as if wondering why she would ask me that. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would be able to tell her without her laughing at me, as Mallory had never been one to believe in dreams and stuff. Right now, what I needed was a little peace and quiet to mull things over – a place where I didn’t need to pay attention to anything.

Oh! I knew.
English class – also known as my first period class.

I looked up at a clock on the wall near my locker. “Ahhh… Mal, I’m going to go run to my English class… I need to ask about something,” I said in a hurried rush, hiding myself in my locker while I made this excuse so that Mallory wouldn’t see my facial expression as I lied to her. Lying to her was uncomfortable for me, and I didn’t honestly know how long I could keep it up. Grabbing a few books and materials needed for English – honestly, how many can you need? – I darted down the hall in the direction of the classroom.

mallory
There was one word to describe this: confusing.

madison
It was hard keeping something from Mal. As I entered in to the classroom, I quickly took a seat toward the back of the room, setting my books down quietly. Using my hair to cover my face, I pretended that I was busy with my notes (which were, by the way, nonexistent, as school hadn’t started yet). I heard footsteps approach my desk, and I looked up. Julia Farcey. Suppressing a groan, I looked up at her, pasting a smile on my face.

“Hello, Julia,” I greeted her in a polite tone, giving a slight nod in her direction as she leaned against the desk next to mine. Man, was it me, or had she gotten more… well, I didn’t want to think about it. It was too rude. Mallory, however, would’ve been the first to say it aloud to make sure that the whole world knew what she thought about Julia.
“Quit the small talk,” she snapped. I looked up at her, surprised. What had I done to earn her disapproving scolding so early on in the year?

“Eh?” I couldn’t quite help it – the word of wonderment was already out of my mouth. Me and my stupid habits.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what this is about.” As she said this, her eyes narrowed in to slits.

“Ummm…” I replied, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Stay decent, Mads. I know all you want to do right now is punch her right in the smack of that face – oh yes, and her nose is too small – but you have to keep yourself calm.

“Oh, don’t fake it,” she pressed.
Boy did this girl get to the real situation fast.