Book 1 LWP Isn't She Lovely

By Kecia Renee

In Walt's eyes Gwen is truly lovely. For three years they have been locker mates. For three years he has waited for the day she would notice him. Little did he know that one touch from her and his whole world is turned upside down. Caught in abnormal circumstances filled with weird dreams and possible dangers Walt's not sure what to do. Should he help Gwen put the pieces of the puzzle together? Or, should he get out while the getting is good?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kecia Renee
• Release date: Mar 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301530366

Kecia Renee

I am a new writer hoping to get published. So far it's been difficult. I've sent queries out but have been rejected several times. I'm attempting e-book selling because I heard good things about it.I live in Alabama. I have two daughters and am married. I work at Children's of Alabama in the imaging department. I write part-time and have several works completed.

Book preview

Book 1 LWP Trilogy

Isn’t She Lovely

Kecia Renee

Published by Kecia Renee at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Kecia Renee

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 1

The first day of school always sucks. It means the end of summer. It means the start of studying, going to class, and homework out the wazoo. But for Walter Delavaga that was something he perfected. Always since freshman year he has made A's. Sure it looked good on a college application. The problem was getting girls. Actually only one girl in particular.

Never had Gwen Mason looked in his direction. She's never spoken to him in all the 3 years of high school. Never had they attended one class together till now, their senior year, Spanish 4. As he stood taking in her raspberry scent doing his best not to moan at her close proximity she lets out a string of curses in Spanish. The words were followed by the slam of her locker door. It was impossible for him not to laugh.

Gwen actually looked at him with her jade green eyes with a sheepish grin on her perfect lips. Oh, sorry I didn't realize....

S'okay. Walt shrugged.

When her grin turned into a full wattage smile it just made his day. Heck, make that his millennium. To him everything about her is perfect, her strawberry blonde hair and her to-die-for figure. If only he was blessed with one of those killer athletic bods. But oh no he had to literally be a walking stick bug. He hated being tall and lanky. No matter how much he ate he couldn't put on any weight. No matter how much he exercised he couldn't produce any muscle.

Walter right?

The fact that she said his name broke him out of his inner monologue. He was surprised and excited having his name come from those sweet cherry lips of hers. He nodded feeling foolish with a goofy grin across his face. He seemed to have lost the ability to speak. He swallowed his now arid throat.

'Please don't say something lame.' He thought to himself. It would be nice if he had the gift to be smooth and confident. Instead he feels like he's a blundering baboon. Silence stretch between them. He's got to look like an idiot standing here gaping at her endlessly. Man, what she must think of him.

She seemed impervious. I'm pissed. She confessed. Mr. Hippo wants me to write a dissertation on the Spanish royal family. Of all things to assign!

Wow, that sounds like a big project.

Okay, Mr. Hippo is a funny name. No it's not the teacher's real last name; it's Mr. Higgins. He's called Mr. Hippo because the man is extremely obese. Not to mention he has gargantuan mouth and teeth.

Tell me about it. She frowned. Like I have time to write something that's going to take forever.

Abuelito, my grandfather, is a descendant of the Spanish royal family. Well, or so he says. Anyways he has all these books. I could loan them to you if you like.

Gosh, really?

Why sure. This meant she had to come to his house. Oh God. Um, there's a lot so you're probably going to have to come over my house.

Well, I can't this week with baton practice and getting ready for Friday's game. She cocked her head at him. Maybe Saturday. That is if you're not doing anything.

Like what? He did nothing on the weekends. He didn't date. In fact he's never had a date. What's worse he's never had a girlfriend for that matter.

I'm free. Walt assured.

So, what time?

It doesn't matter.

How about 11? I could bring some pizza.

No, no, no, no. He shouldn't have her over. Why of all things did Abuelito continue to live in that creepy house? It's so creepy that kids don't come around on Halloween. Okay so there are a lot of questions to answer here. What's with the house? What's with Abuelito? Those are very good questions.

The house is or so the kids at school think haunted. Walt knows it's not but there's no way to convince everyone else that. It's easy to understand why people would think it haunted. It looks just like that Haunted Mansion in that Disney movie called the Haunted Mansion but without the graveyard.

The size is the same. The inside with the winding staircase is the same. The furniture isn't the same. It's more modern and less dreary. Abuelito is a story all in himself. Sadly the man is suffering from dementia. Some days his mind is crystal clear. Other days he's living in the past.

On the days he lived in the past he can be quite ornery. He yells. He throws things. One time he hit Walt in the head with a bed pan. Luckily it was empty at the time. More times than not on Abuelito's bad days he would see his son in Walt. Walt always played along. He learned the hard way, i.e. bed pan aimed directly at the face that playing along was always best.

The other problem with Abuelito is his choice of dress. There have been times when Walt has come home to Abuelito wearing nothing but shorts and a wife beater. Other times Abuelito dressed like Steve Urkel from Family Matters. He had the ugly brown pants that would be up to his belly. He would have the brown or whatever striped button down dress shirt. To top it all off around his neck he wore some kind of brightly colored bow tie that never matched anything he wore. Yes, he also had the thick black brimmed glasses to go with it.

So, where do you live?

200 Vermont Street. He reluctantly answered then waited for the.....

Isn't that the haunted....

It's not haunted. He assured her. I don't know how that got around or where it came from.

Too bad. It would be kinda cool if it was.

I've lived there all my life and nothing unusual has ever happened.

It's always his luck that he is finally talking to the girl of his dreams and the darn bell. It just had to ring in the middle their first conversation ever.

And so the bell tolls. She laughed.

He laughed too knowing that phrase all too well. Ah, someone's been reading John Donne.

Yes. She confirmed. Well, gotta go to class. So, I guess I'll see ya around?

Yep. I won't be hard to miss since we're locker neighbors. Now that was a dorky thing to say.

Obviously she knows that. Undoubtedly that was the worst way to end a conversation with her. He had to go and stick his foot into it. In his defense she's going to have to realize it's not every day he talks to a beautiful girl. Add on the extra stress that it happened to be with.....

He stopped his rambling thoughts as he made his way to honors English. He's repeating himself. He had to get his mind off that and into class. He sat third from the front as usual. He took out his book, spiral notebook, and pencil. Too bad that all he heard the entire lecture was 'wa wa wa wa.' Like the teacher from Peanuts, Charley Brown seemed to know what that meant. For the first time in his entire school year Walt was day dreaming. A song seeped through his mind. 'Isn't she lovely....Isn't she wonderful....Isn't she lovely....'

Walt. Ms. Tennyson broke his thoughts. Are you going to sit here all day or go to your next class?

Was class really over? Flabbergast! He hoped that the whole day wasn't going to be like this. Okay, so the song that played through his mind was before he was born. First Peanuts then Stevie Wonder, he definitely spends way too much time at home with his Abuelito.

It's not all bad he supposed. Abuelito liked songs from the 50's to the 80's. The old man didn't like big rock hair bands like Led Zeppelin or Def Leppard. It was music from Lionel Richey, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, stuff like that.

Walt got his lanky figure from Abuelito. It's also where Walt got his dark hair from. He could pass for a full blooded Hispanic if it weren't for his sparkling navy blue eyes. Those he got from his mother.

The trollop, as Abuelito liked to call her. Walt couldn't blame the analogy. She did take his father for a ride then left him heartbroken. After Walt's mother left him at 4 months old his father went on a drinking spree.

That lasted till he died of a heart attack when Walt was ten. It was a toss-up, living with his dad's parents or living with his mother's parents. Given that his mother's parents disowned Walt and his mother the only choice was his father's parents.

His Abuela and Abuelito were great as far as sergeant parents go. Abuela was the best baker in Walt's opinion. He had his fill of all any kind of pastry he wanted; pies, cakes, cookies, etc.

Thinking about Abuela's culinary skills was making his mouth water. Oh, how he wished she were still around to do that. Unfortunately she just fell asleep one night and never woke up. To this day her death is a mystery.

That was two years ago now. At the moment it is just Walt and Abuelito. One good thing about Abuelito is he can cook. Currently Walt has been learning all the recipes Abuela used to make them before she passed. So, far he's been successful at everything except the pastries. They all seem to burn or fall into a heap of goo.

Hey, Waldo. Brody Sparks, a jock of course, walks up breaking Walt from his thoughts.

Great. Walt wonders 'what's the deal with the Waldo thing.' Brody is probably going to ask a favor in the next few minutes. Most likely to copy off Walt's math homework since the dunce was clueless about Algebra.

So, like Halloween is around the corner.

'Dude, check the calendar. It's two months away. Why think of that right now?' Walt keeps that to himself.

You're house would be perfect for a haunted house. You know cause it's haunted. Brody, in Walt's opinion, is three leaves short of a tree.

I hate to burst your bubble but my house isn't haunted. Walt rolled his eyes.

Whatever. It's as if Brody didn't take in what was said. Anyways, I was thinking we could set it all up then charge people to come in. It would be a blast.

What do you mean by we? Walt didn't like the sound of this.

You know. Me, my peeps, and you of course.

He reached the door to his honors trig class. I'm not making any promises but I'll ask Abuelito.

Good. Brody was blocking the door. So, I saw you talking to Gwen.

So?

How did you get her to talk to you cause she won't even say hey to me when I say hey to her.

'It's probably because you're a jerk.' Walt thought. He shrugged.

In fact as I hear it you're the only guy she's talked to.

Okay, that can't be true. Walt doubted. She's been here for 3 years going on her fourth. There's no way she's gone all this time and not talked to a guy before.

I heard she's a lesbo.

Is that lame word still around? Look I've got to get to class.

Hey find out for me will ya?

Walt was thinking 'not on your life, jerk.' In reality he just squeezed by taking the second to the front seat. Maybe this class he'll be able to pay attention to the teacher. Another class later it was lunch time. Walt always brought his lunch. Ms. Bryson, the librarian, would let him eat his lunch in the library. He stood at his locker to take out his lunch bag. He sensed her essence before she uttered a word.

Hey again. Gwen had brought her lunch too it seems as she pulled out a Vera Bradley lunch bag.

Sup? Walt knew what he said was lame. It was all he could think of in a flash.

Where are you going to sit?

He had no idea what she meant then he realized. He was tempted to hit his palm against his forehead. Duh. I don't eat in the cafeteria.

No?

Nope. Ms. Bryson lets me eat in the library. I'm her favorite. Walt beamed proudly.

You're the only one then. I've only seen her evil queen side. In fact I wonder if she has a magic mirror and poison apples somewhere.

Walt laughed. I doubt it. Ask her to join you. Do it. Be brave. So, yeah, I'll see ya around again I guess. Chicken.

Wait. Gwen put her hand on his arm.

Instant sparks shuttered throughout him. The oddest thing happened. She instantly pulled away. Her eyes were like saucers as she looked at him. Her face was almost pale.

She stammered. You could have lunch with me.

She sounded afraid. Why? He had no idea.

Sure. Walt followed her down the hall toward the lunch room.

Gwen’s secret

If Gwen had to be honest, she's always liked Walt from the start. She wished that she'd encountered him long ago. She always found him attractive in that dorky kind of cute with the somewhat shy thing going on. It was mysterious. But there was a reason she didn't say much to him or any guy in the school. There was a reason she didn't hold hands, kiss, or go out on dates.

How she became popular is beyond her. It must have something to do with being on the baton team. Hanging around Tiffany, Carol, and the other popular girls who were also on the team didn't hurt either.

Being with them gained the attention of Brody and his minion of jocks. Brody is always the persistent one going out of his way to flirt with any girl he finds hot. For the moment Gwen has become his favorite target.

In fact besides Brody she could have her pick of any guy in the school. It wasn't that she didn't like guys. She did. It's just that she couldn't touch anyone without it happening.

She had this ability. She was sure if anyone knew it would freak them out. Most of the time the ability freaked her out. Every time she gets a glimpse that seems to last a long time though it only lasts a second.

The images would always make her look like death warmed over. It didn't matter if they were happy ones or sad ones. It was always the same.

Why couldn't she be normal? Why did it have to be this? The worst part of her 'gift' was being able to see dead people. That's right just like that boy in The Sixth Sense. Why they couldn't find that light was beyond her? She knew when she would see them or when they would come to her.

She would get this cold chill then hear an odd noise that she still hasn't been able to pinpoint. It could be a train. Maybe the noise is a horn. Well, whatever it is, it's like high pitched and chatters. Maybe it's a rumble. See, it doesn't make sense so she gave up giving the noise a name.

Therefore, she had to keep her ability to herself. She couldn't trust the girls on her baton team. They were the worst gossipers in the school. Word would spread like wildfire. The only difference there would be no plane with that stuff in the belly that puts the flames out.

Enough about that Gwen reasoned. She couldn't take back the fact she touched Walt. She might as well face the 'vision' when she got home. She and Walt made their way to where Gwen's baton teammates were sitting.

If it isn't Waldo. Tiffany joshed.

I think she's referring to me. Walt answered sitting next to Gwen.

'Maybe I should have suggested the library.' Gwen thought. His name is Walter. She didn't know why but she felt protective of him.

I know that. Tiffany scoffed. I'm just curious. Why isn't your name like Juan or something Spanish?

Walt shrugged. My mom named me so I didn't get a choice in the matter.

What about your dad?

"I guess he didn't object to the name otherwise my name wouldn't