sour | outer banks

c h a p t e r / f i v e

HII BEST FRIENDS

thank uuuuu so very much for 5k reads on the story!! chapters are few & far between lately so i'm very grateful and glad that ur all still invested and come back every time i post :-)
future katie HII thank u thank thank u so much for 60k on sweet :'( i'll never be able to thank u enough for all the love on that story i adore all of you

n e wayyy i'm so excited for u all to read this oneeee i promise u won't be disappointed. happy reading!!!!!!

ENJOYYOYOYOYO -katie <3

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

b r i e l l e

A boy sneezing on the other side of the classroom snaps me out of my exhausted trance, leaving me more bored than ever in the middle of English class. Our teacher gave up on actually teaching us anything near the end of the period, which means we have the last few minutes of class to ourselves.

John B sits to my right on the edge of his seat, ready to run for the door immediately at the sound of the bell in a few painfully long minutes, and I can feel Kie, who sits in the desk behind me, absentmindedly braiding a piece of my hair. On my left, Pope is focusing hard on untangling a pair of headphones to give back to Sarah, as the two of them were listening to music together while we worked during today's class. As the countdown to the weekend continues, I kill time by folding an old worksheet into the shape of a crane, a craft that I've perfected over many years of not paying attention in class.

As my eyes travel over to the clock to check the time, they can't help but make a brief pit stop on JJ, who sits on the other side of the classroom among other kids none of us know, messing nervously with his rings and bouncing his leg up and down. I hope he's doing alright. Maybe I should check on him sometime soon and see if he's been okay.

"Don't forget!" Our teacher shouts to those of us who are still listening as the final bell of the day rings out. "Quiz on Monday! Study, study, study!" Yeah, right.

At the same time, Pope launches himself out of his chair and sticks his ass in front of John B's desk so he can't get up like he's been preparing to do for the past five minutes. He jumps onto Pope's back as an alternate escape route, and despite our teacher's flustered shouts for him to get down, the two boys hurry out of the classroom, only slowing down in the doorway so as not to give John B a concussion.

I stand up out of my own chair after laughing at the scene next to me and begin heading for the door, but slow down as well at the sound of someone calling my name just a few seconds later. I look around the room, unsure of where it came from, until my eyes meet JJ's where he stands by his desk. Instinctively, I smile over at the boy and give him a friendly wave, watching with a subtle giggle as he squirms through a couple of lingering kids so he can catch up with me in the crowd by the exit.

"Hey!" I greet him quickly as we inch further out of the room, the rush of students currently trying to get into the hallways severely clogging the doorway.

"Hey." JJ returns my greeting and quickly drops his gaze back down to the floor after our eyes meet for what felt like only a millisecond. "Um," He begins again, shaking his head with his jaw hanging open while he searches for his next words. I wait patiently for him to find them, spinning the ring on my thumb as an unnecessarily eager boy pushes past me, tripping over his own feet before entering the hallway.

"Is it okay if- If, um... Can I walk you home?" J eventually asks me, stumbling nervously over his words, and it becomes obvious to me that this question is what was clouding up his mind during the last few minutes of class, hence the nervous bouncing of his leg and the twirling of his rings that he only does when he's feeling anxious.