Chapter 8

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The house had been quiet. Both of my parents cars were not in the driveway either. I threw my backpack onto the floor and flopped onto my bed.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see a text from George.

George:
I would definitely remember you if you were standing in a dress by the way

I laughed and rolled my eyes as my thumbs moved to type a response back.

Me:
Very funny

George:
I'm serious :)

With that, I rolled my eyes playfully and shut my phone off, shoving it in my pocket. I grabbed my backpack and dug to find the unfinished worksheet that was due tomorrow. The silence in my house was eery and uncomfortable, so I set my paper down and plugged in the Alexa that had been collecting dust.

"Alexa connect to my Spotify." I said aloud, sitting back down on my bed, grabbing my pencil and getting to work.

"Now playing Clay's playlist." The Alexa spoke, playing a random song from my playlist. It so happened to be the Taylor Swift song that George and I had listened to in the car ride home. I sighed slightly and smiled, picking up my phone to text George.

Me:
Guess what song my Alexa played first

The text bubbles appeared shortly after, meaning he had been typing.

George:
Which one?

Me:
The Taylor Swift one

George:
Is this a sign? Should I come over ;)

Me:
You're such an idiot

I dropped my phone onto the bed and picked my paper back up to get the work done instead of texting George. I listened to the music, singing lightly as my pencil scratched down random answers that I thought would make sense.

                          —————————-

I ran out my front door and started up the car quickly. I somehow managed to sleep past my loud alarm, and I was now running late to pick George and Nick up. I backed out of my driveway and made my way to Nick's house.

"You're late." He said as he shut the car door. He plugged his phone into the Aux and played a rap song as I quickly backed up and made my way to George's.

"Yea yea I know, sorry." Both my hands gripped the steering wheel as I drove a little quicker than normal through the different neighborhoods on the route.

"How do you even manage to sleep through that alarm? It's literally me screaming at the top of my lungs." He scrolled through his phone, not looking up to speak.

"I don't know, I was up kinda late doing homework. I guess I was just tired" I pulled into George's neighborhood and saw him waiting on his front steps. I turned into his driveway and he made his way towards the car.

"Sorry im late, I slept in." He buckled his seatbelt and threw his backpack onto the empty seat next to him.

"It's fine, I don't really care." He responded. He then tapped Nick on the shoulder, making him turn around. The song on the radio ended as Nick jumped at the sudden touch. "Didn't mean to scare you there, can I play a song?" He asked, pointing to Nick's phone.

"Oh sure man go ahead." Nick handed his phone back to George, and he typed something in quickly. A familiar beat echoed through the radio, making me shake my head.

I looked in my rear view mirror above my head so I could see into the backseat. George wore a smug grin as we made eye contact through the mirror.

"Hey you like this song, don't you Clay? It's that Taylor Swift song!" Nick said, singing along to the few lyrics that he knew.

"Yep, it sure is." I said, squinting my eyes at George through the mirror.

Nick and George sung along loudly as I drove to school, cringing as the notes cracked through their vocal cords. The song ended as we pulled into my parking spot, making me sigh in relief.

We walked into school together, George to the left of me. I felt his eyes looking up at me, so I looked down to see him grinning. I raised my eyebrow in confusion at his mischievous look. His elbow jabbed into my side, making me jump slightly.

"What was that for?" I laughed, shielding my side from him.

"I just felt like it." He laughed. We said goodbye to Nick and split off to our English class.

The rest of the day went by slow. I let myself get extra sleep in English because we had no new lesson. George was the one who woke me up when the bell rang, by throwing an eraser and hitting me directly in the head.

Nick, George and I had a long conversation about what we should add into our Minecraft world during lunch. Nick seemed to be happy that I was finally contributing during the random talks.

George and Nick had been waiting for me at my car after the final bell, and we dropped George off after him and Nick's dance party to a random song.

As George closed the door and walked up to his front door, Nick turned to me and smiled.

"Why are you looking at me?" I asked, backing out of the driveway and making my way towards Nick's house.

"You know why." His grin grew, spreading across his face.

"No, actually I have no idea." Nick turned the song down, and continued to smile at me.

"You like him don't you." My head whipped to the side, looking him directly in the eyes.

"I do not." I said back, a frown making its way onto my face.

"You do Clay, don't deny it." He turned the radio back up slightly and started to hum along to the song.

"I don't though. Why do you think that?"

"I see the way you look at him Clay, i'm not dumb."

We pulled into his driveway and he got out of the car. I didn't say anything to his last comment, but instead sat in silence, confused.

"I'm happy for you Clay, finally letting someone in. Now go get your man." He smiled and closed the door before I could say anything back to him.

I reached and turned the volume dial to the radio down before driving home in silence with my thoughts.

The house had been quiet again as I entered. I went straight to my room and dropped my backpack onto the messy ground.

I sat down on my bed and let my head fall into my hands. A sudden wetness filled my palms, so I lifted my head. Tears were falling from my eyes, something that rarely occurred.

I hadn't let myself cry in months, not that I had any reason to, and now here I was, crying over a person that I had met a week ago. A person that I had let into my life after not letting anyone in for years.

Tears fell faster as I stopped trying to hold the tears back. My throat burned as my tears fell off of my cheeks and into my hands.

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