No Sleep

If I snap at you, it's not intentional - I promise. First night of NaNoWriMo, I didn't sleep until 4. Second night, I got to sleep at 1. Third night, 12. Fourth night, 11.

It's getting easier... but the rate at which my word count rate increases is also getting slower. *sigh*.

I reached 13k with my word count today, which still isn't as much as the Zombie (who's flying ahead with 18k), but it's more than I expected I'd get!

If you've read this far, I congratulate you. Here's an excerpt as a reward... or a punishment. [It just depends whether you view my writing as nice to read, or like being dragged through hell backwards on a flamethrower].

OAC
- "Not all who wander are lost."

Excerpt of the Week:

“Hey!” a boy called across the playground towards us suddenly, and I startled, dropping the chalk onto the floor. He walked towards the swings within a few seconds, his arms folded over his chest, as he stared at us both in turn. “Give me back my chalk,” he stated, before holding his arm outstretched and waiting.

“It isn’t your chalk,” I retorted, and I quickly bent down to retrieve it. The boy’s name was Oliver. I didn’t like him, not one little bit. Thankfully he wasn’t in any of my lessons, but that didn’t mean I never saw him.

Oliver grinned. “Emily, give it here. I’ll tell on you, I swear it. It’s my chalk.”

I stuffed the small piece of blue chalk into my pocket. There was no way it could have been his. We’d each been given some at the start of the day for our art classes, and this was the same piece that I’d been given. He must have lost his, and he was too afraid to own up to it.

“You’re a liar.” I said determinedly, my jaw set stubbornly. I watched his eyes turn from amusement to anger, all in the space of a few short seconds.

Before I could blink, he’d taken a step forward and pushed me into the grass. “I’m not a liar!” he stated angrily. “You’re a liar. You and your stupid pigtails, and your stupid boyfriend!”

I didn’t even have time to defend myself, because Adam had stepped forward in front of me.

“You don’t hit a girl,” he said coldly, and Oliver’s eyes widened. “It wasn’t your piece of chalk, and you know it. Mrs Daniels took your piece away in maths class because you drew on the desk.”

Oliver hesitated, his face paling.

“Apologize.”

“I won’t apologize to a girl,” Oliver protested, and Adam smiled to himself, before taking a step towards him. Oliver panicked.

“You and your girlfriend can keep your stupid piece of chalk,” Oliver said quickly, before turning on his heel and stalking across the playground to where his friends were grouped in the corner.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked as he sat beside her on the grass. His eyes raked over the mud on her hands, all the way to the undone shoelace of hers.

“Thank you,” I said quietly, and he blushed red again, before moving to tie my lace as he tried to occupy himself by doing something. “I’ve never had someone defend me before.”

“He shouldn’t have pushed you,” Adam replied, his face still beat red. His hands shook nervously as he finished tying my laces, and I knew it wasn’t from the cold. Watching Adam defend me had been the first time that anyone else had ever seen the confidence lurking within him. All they usually saw was someone who was reserved and shy. A person, who never handed in his homework late, never answered in class but always got top marks, and someone that hadn’t left my side since we knew each other.

He stood up, offering me his hand to take. Then, as soon as my feet were firmly on the ground, I threw my arms around him suddenly, and his eyes widened in reply. “Thank you anyway,” I muttered into his shirt.

His hands, uncertain and tentative, came to rest lightly against my back.