The Swing Chapter Ten

The halls were crowded with kids rushing to the lunch room. Chalice tried to get to her locker to see if Ace would be there but when she saw her locker bank it was so packed she just headed to the lunch room. She saw Clark and he was trying to get through the people and was heading her way. "Excuse me. Do you not know what that means. Ill translate it for you, it means MOVE! Oh wow, ok. Hey." He looked at her and started heading towards the table and so Chalice followed. "Did you have fun the other night, I didn't get a chance to say bye."1

"Yeah, sorry about that. You and Ace were still talking so I figured I would just wait to see you guys later." Chalice sat down beside him. 2

"So, June said you tried to look inside my notebook." He was smiling so Chalice didn't see it as he was offended or anything, just asking. "Its ok if you did, just usually, you know I don't show people what I draw and stuff."3

"June had mentioned that. I understand."4

"Yeah. Did you want to look inside?" Clark held out the plain notebook. 5

"Sure." Clark opened it up and started flipping through it. Just a bunch of different kind of stuff. Architecture, fantasy, animals, and so much more.6

"Wow, that's good." Chalice smiled and Clark smiled back as he closed the book. Before he put it away Chalice saw some initials. Usually you saw the owners initials, but they were A.M.M. Why weren't they C. something, for Clark? "Is Clark your really name." She didn't want to ask about the initials so asked a question that would just answer whether his name started with an a or not.7

"Uh, yeah." He looked at her as if that was one of the strangest questions he ever heard. Perhaps it was, but it answered what she wanted to know. That wasn't his black notebook. The funny thing was she knew Ace's initials were A M. what his middle name was she didn't know, but maybe she could find out. Why would he have Ace's notebook, and she saw the back and front of the notebook at the party, no initials. Maybe she just missed them, although she didn't think so.8

"Sorry, I know that's an unusual question, but I really like the name and I don't see a lot of people with it, so I don't know." Chalice shrugged to try to make it look more real.9

"Huh. Really? Where did you live? Mars?" He gave a more trusting look, which was good.10

"Haha, maybe." She laughed just a little to let the humor go by. Lunch went pretty normal, Chalice and Clark talked about other things. 11

After school Ace was by her locker waiting to walk home. "Hey. Sorry I didn't say bye at your party, but you were talking to Clark so I figured I would just wait to see you later."12

"That's ok. How was your day?"13

"An ordinary school day, and yours?"14

"Yeah, an ordinary school day."15

"I know your last name is Maranzano, buts what your middle name?" 16

"Uh." He looked at her weird like Clark did.17

"I know, weird question, but I just wanna know."18

"Mafioso."19

"That's cool. Unusual though. Wheres it from?" 20

"You ask a lot of weird questions." He gave her a look like he knew she was trying to figure out something, but she didn't even know what she was looking for. She just found it strange how the notebook was protected and then changed. Although, he dropped it and started talking like they were friends as always. "Well, my family is from Italy and that's were my middle and last name came from."21

"Neat, are you related to the mafia or something."22

Ace laughed a little, "Yes actually, that's the first thing everone asks. Its a pretty sweet history, knowing your grandfathers did crime and your family today isnt in jeopardy with the F.B.I even though you were related." Ace smiled and glanced at Chalice, "Satisfied?"23

"Oh definitely."24

"So, Miss Rogers, where are you from?"25

"I'm not sure and my middle name is just Julia, so that doesn't help."26

"Well no, Julia is Italian."27

"So maybe I'm Italian."28

Ace gave a questioning look. "Why haven't your parents told you where your from, usually everyone knows by now."29

"Yeah, I don't know, Ill have to ask when I get home."30

"And if they're not scared of their sacred history, tell me."31

She laughed a little, "Ok, I will."32