Merlin & Meli by M.J. Garrett & Meli J. Nightly (best thriller books to read TXT) 📕

had a new plan. This one was sure to work. This plan was fool proof and guaranteed to get a smile. If only she would hurry up and get there. Sitting there with his headphones blaring silence, his head and eyes would follow the cars and every time he thought it was hers, his heart would stop and his stomach would fill with boyish anxiety.

As the dim morning sky started to brighten up, he saw a silver Mercedes slowly pull into the parking lot. As the shiny car with tinted windows stopped in front of the flag pole, he saw her step out of the car. He could hear a loud voice yelling, but he didn't know if it was the radio or maybe her father. While the voice just kept yelling she closed the door and the yelling went quiet. She looked unfazed by the voice, so he figured it was just something on the radio. There is no way that this sweet girl would just shut the door on her father. She's so sweet and innocent!

His heart pounding, he stood up and grabbed his board and started to timidly walk toward her. Dressed in her usual black, she had her binder pulled closely to her chest. She kept her head down as she slowly made her way up the sidewalk toward the front door of the school. Her beautiful hair, hiding her face from the world, was so perfect. With her arms crossed over her chest and binder, she gracefully made her way closer to him. Looking up with a smile, she gave a polite wave in his direction. Shocked, he lifted his hand in recognition and smiled so big that his teeth gleamed in the morning sun.

As he approached her, his plan was now in motion. Stopping just a couple of feet in front of her, he started to speak. Nothing. “Uh....uh...” There were no words. She didn't even look at him. She walked by him like he didn't exist. As he turned around, he watched her again walk away with nothing but her middle finger displayed just for him. She then politely waved her hand again, but it was to some girl. Realizing that the first wave and smile that he had received from Meli wasn't even meant for him, he smiled in embarrassment. The smile quickly deflated when he realized that Meli was going to be harder than he originally thought.

Standing there pondering his next plan of attack, the bell began to ring. Putting his board under his arm, he walked toward the school ready to embrace the result of his third tardy. For three days, he sat in front of the school waiting for this moment. And for what? A middle finger and three unexcused tardies?

It's time to get serious. His mind running the checklist of things not to do, he noted that chewed pencils, polite waves, boyish smiles, and stuttering was not going to get this job done. “Time to step up the game.” he said quietly to himself. He then reached up and opened the door.

“Mr. Merlin!” he heard a voice yell from down the hall. “I see you are late, again. If I'm not mistaken, this may be #3 in just as many days.”

“Mr. L?” Merlin dropped and shook his head in disgust. Without looking up toward Mr. Lancaster, Merlin stuck his hand out to receive another tardy slip. To his surprise, there was no tardy slip. Mr. Lancaster slapped his hand as if there were pals and informed Merlin of a favor that he wanted him to do.

Mr. Lancaster opened the office door and asked Merlin to join him. As they entered the office, Meli was shamefully sitting in a chair drawing on her arm with an ink pen. “Merlin, you remember Meli? Well, her parents have brought it to our attention that she is in need of a little math help. Seeing how you are the only one in class who doesn't do any homework, but yet aces every test, I figured that both of you could probably use a little help. Hopefully, the two of you can work together and help each other out? With the finals coming around the corner, who knows, right? What do you say?”

Glancing over at her, Merlin smiled. She looks at his ridiculous smile and then squinted her eyes and gave a sarcastic smile back to him. She then rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, as if this was her nightmare.





Chapter 4

Mr. Lancaster couldn’t be that serious. Was he actually trying to pair her up with ‘him’? Wasn’t it enough that her father was in control of almost every aspect of her life? Now, he wanted to involve the senile math teacher and the chewed-pencil stalker. Who do they think they are? Seriously?

Things were not going her way; that much was obvious. Frustration was the first word that came to her mind; annoyance was the second. Come to think of it they’re both the same.

*I need to pay more attention in English class. Being a teenager utterly sucks.*

Doctor Isaac Watamaniuk had always advised her to mentally describe what she was feeling with just a single word. Needless to say, maybe ‘Dr. Maniac’ was actually onto something. Meli lacked expressing her feelings at times and sarcasm was the only expression she was comfortable with. The first time she met this psychologist was the first time that she had gone alone. No sister; just alone without her Nelly. They were inseparable, even during all the other therapy sessions.

When they figured that Nelly was schizophrenic, her parents had her committed. Meli was then referred to Dr. Watamaniuk. Since she was thirteen, he worked hard. He spent countless hours trying to get past her emotional wall, past the barrier that she hid behind for protection.

The first thing she ever asked him: “A person with your last name should not be treating anyone. Do you live up to your name?”

He felt alienated to the question and was quite unsure how to answer. “Live up to my name? What do you mean by that?”

She hated it when these nerdy sweater-vest wearing jerks would answer questions with more questions. Sitting there with her arms folded acrossed her stomach, she tilted her head back, “Did your parents really name you that?” She answered with another question.

He lifted his eyebrow nonchalantly, wanting to smile. While he had a slight idea of where she was going with her question, he wanted to see her state of mind. “Yes, they did. Not much of a choice when you can’t talk. So, if I... live up to my ‘last’ name, would you be willing to talk to me?”

Meli's eyes met with his. During this moment of pause and reflection, she smiled. She already liked him better than the other doctors she had seen. She felt at ease. She felt as if she could trust him to some level. Not completely, he was one of nerdy sweater-vest wearing jerks...but it was something. “Yeah, I guess I can talk to you...Dr. ‘What-a-maniac’.”

He chuckled at her answer; exactly what he expected. People misunderstood her sarcasm and cynicism. They often thought she was trying to hurt people. But; instead, he came to understand that the sarcasm and cynicism was just a defense mechanism. She felt alone without her sister, who was the only one she could actually identify with.

*

Meli slammed her locker shut. The loud echo filled the empty halls. Her initial thought at the very sight of Merlin’s wide ridiculous smile: You have got to be kidding me.

“What do you want?” The question was all too obvious and so were her glaring brown eyes.

“We have a quiz next week and I thought today would be a good day to start studying. What do you think?” his stupid boyish smile became wider by the second. She could have sworn that he was trying to pull off the pathetic abandoned puppy-dog eyes.

“You don’t want to know what I think.” Her middle finger would not do any justice to describe what was going on inside her mind at that moment. She paused and thought that if she left right now, she would be picked up by her father. If she stayed, she would be free to leave without being escorted like a prisoner. “Alright, Pencil Boy, let’s do it.”

“Pencil Boy?” Merlin winced at his new-found nickname. “How about Honey, Sweetie, Most handsome and coolest guy in the world?”

“Don’t push it,” she warned and lightly flicked his nose with her finger.

“Ouch.” He rubbed his nose as he playfully grinned. “So, school library or-”

“The town library is better,” she cut him off immediately. The farther she was from school the better; her father would have no choice but to let her go.

“Ummm...yeah. The town library it is.”

As they began to walk out of the school, Merlin graciously offered to carry her books, as any gentleman would, but received only her infamous roll of her eyes as a response. She abruptly stopped as they reached the end of the stairs leading to the parking lot in front of the school. Meli spotted her father. “Just wait right here.” She made her way to her father’s Mercedes with a scowl plastered on her face.

“I'm assuming you won't be coming home just yet,” he conceded at the sight of her punk escort holding his skateboard, “I'll pick you up later. Just let me know where you will be.”

“No need. We will be in the town library, it's a short walk to get home from there,” she said nonchalantly, her arms resting on top of the passenger door.

Placing his index finger on his temple, he thought about her words. To him, she was still not quite in the trustworthy territory. “I don’t know about that...”

At his indecision, she decided to give it up, “Well, then I will call you when I'm finish.” She turned and rolled her eyes once more; this time in defeat.

As she took a couple steps away from the car, she heard his voice call out, “Wait.”
“Yeah?” She turned toward him once more. With her her arms dangling to her side, she tilted her head and braced herself for his reaction.

“On second thought,” her father struggled with indecision, but alas he concluded, “I have a meeting today and I'm not sure what time I’ll be done.” She knew that a late night meeting meant a sure fight in the morning with her mother. She reminded herself that it has nothing to do with her, so she shrugged it off. Better for her.

“That’s fine, I can walk home-”
“No. He will take you home,” he pointed behind her.
“Wait... what?!” She turned to see Merlin standing a few feet away like a lost puppy. Pointing the steps, she angrily whispers, “Didn’t I tell you