Where Would Your Main Character Take You On Vacation?

The main character, Garrett Neff, the gorgeous guy in the black-and-white photo ad, would take me to the island of Barbados because this is the destination where he had been bound to travel on when he was first discovered to become a male model. But, however, he suddenly took over the main character, Damien, in my novel To Write A Story:

Garrett, wearing a sports cap, denim jeans and t-shirt, lays the cafeteria tray on the table. He puts his backpack on the floor, pushes the chair toward him, and sits down in the seat. He shakes the handheld skim milk carton and carefully opens it. He sips the cold beverage and looks around the room, searching to find Deborah. He is not seated in the usual spot that is near the sliding glass door. Four students have already occupied the table.

     Deborah sees them, the four students, as she walks into the cafeteria. The Holocaust class had just ended five minutes ago. She decides to skip lunch and, instead, find Garrett. She maneuvers her way around, searching each table. At last, she spots him sitting in a chair that is located against the wall, near the window.

    “Garrett.”

     He turns and looks upward. “You found me.”

     “It took awhile,” Deborah says. “But, yeah. I found you.”

     Garrett asks, “Where’s your lunch?”

     “Decided to skip.”

     “Why?”

     “No specific reason,” she replies, sighing. “Alright. It was you. I wanted to find you, first.”

     He asks, “Aren’t you hungry?”

     “I’m always hungry,” Deborah announces, staring at him. “Starved. You’re eating. That’s good.”

     Garrett smiles. “You noticed. Never thought you would.”

     Deborah lays her textbooks on the table; the laptop case and messenger bag on the floor. Then she sits in the chair next to him.

     “Oh, I have,” Deborah says to Garrett. “Every time. I just hadn’t spoken of it to you before.”

     She carefully places the laptop on the table in front of her and opens the computer. Then she presses the “on” button and waits for the system to display the preset picture of her and her parents, Clifford and Diane, in the background along with the icons on the screen.

     Without Deborah knowing, Garrett observes the family portrait that had been loaded into the laptop computer. “You look different,” he comments.

     She turns and sees him staring at the photograph. “I just turned thirteen years old.”

     “No wonder.”

     “How did you look at age thirteen?” Deborah asks him.

     Garrett replies, “A dork.”

     “Serious?”

     He nods. “Yes, I am. Serious.”

     She answers, “Get out of here. I will not believe you until I see a picture.”

     “Than you need to take my word because that will never happen,” he announces.

     Deborah begins typing on the laptop computer keyboard.

     He looks at her. “I almost forgot.”

     “What did you forget?” she asks her ‘dork’ boyfriend without taking her eyes off of the screen.

     Garrett says, “I read your article in the newspaper.”

     She stops typing and looks at him. He is holding the current copy of The Daily Bruin. “The last week?”

     “Yeah.”

     “You liked it?”

     “That is the headline of the story, ‘The Last Week’ right?” he asks, reconfirming her feature article.

     Deborah nods. “Yes, it is, Garrett.”

     He lays the newspaper on the table. 

     “What are your plans for Easter?” she asks him calmly.

     Garrett answers, “Wake up early, eat breakfast, and go to Sunday’s Mass.”

     “Mass?”

     He replies, “Service of the Roman Catholic Church.”

     Deborah doesn’t respond. At first she feels overwhelmed. “Alright…Well. Could I come?”

     “Don’t know,” Garrett says. “I’ll ask my parents. Although it’s a sequence of prayers and ceremonies. Pretty much as any other church service. Not sure, though, could be different.”

     She shrugs. “Go ask them.”

     “I will ask them,” he insists, sounding determined.

     Deborah smiles. “Okay." She looks at him. Her facial expression shows a feeling of knowing that his parents have a strict style.

     Finished typing Chapter 19 today, July 17, 2013, in the To Write A Story blog at Blogger. Garrett hasn't replaced Damien. Garrett is Damien.