don't forget about me | ethan cutkosky

|4|

Taryn-

The sound of my alarm went off from my phone, blaring in my ears and waking me up. I smacked my phone screen to turn the alarm off and let out a groan.

I rubbed my eyes, dreading the week ahead but thank God it was the last week of school. I don't think my brain and body will be able to handle another week.

My tired body found it's way out of bed and into the bathroom across the hall and I began washing my face. After that I moisturized my dry skin and brushed my teeth.

Just as I turned around, I almost ran into my mom in the doorway.

My eyes went straight towards the dried mashed potatoes that she couldn't get out of her hair and I let out a snort, giving my mom an evil look while walking by.

"Good shot." I whispered to myself while I looked through my closet.

Half of my clothes were on the floor so I guess this means I have to do laundry when I get home. Fun.

After I decided on an outfit, I got changed, did my makeup and packed my backpack with what I needed and left my room, closing the door behind me.

On the way downstairs, my phone jingled in the back of my jeans pocket, I pulled it out and answered the call from Tanner, smiling.

"Morning!" I said, excited to hear from him.

"Hey, want me to meet you at your place? We can walk to school together."

I pulled the box of granola bars from the pantry and grabbed some apple juice, jumping up on the island and answering him.

"Yeah sure! I'm just eating breakfast. I'm actually twenty minutes early for once." I chuckled.

"Okay good, because I'm at your front door."

The phone went quiet and the front door opened and in walked Tanner, dropping his backpack beside the door and jogged towards me.

"Hi." He smiled, getting close to my face.

I smiled in return and watched him turn around and open the fridge. My eyes scanned over his black jeans and stopped at the cigarette box in his pocket.

My smile faded and I actually felt upset.

"Tanner? What's that in your pocket?" I asked, pointing to his pocket with the cigarette box and the frown still on my face.

His eyes trailed down to his pocket and he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my lower half. I was taller than him since I was sitting on the counter so I looked down at him and waited for an answer.

"It's a bad habit. That's what it is. We'll talk about it later, okay? Don't worry about it" Tanner smiled, kissing my lips sweetly.

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Tanner and I gathered our things and swung our backpacks over our backs and started out the door.

As I turned around my parents were looking at me with disappointed looks on their faces to see I was back with Tanner. I decided to keep quiet and not say a word and turned back around and closed the door.

We walked hand in hand up the street. School was about a fifteen minute walk so we just talked about whatever came to our minds.

Just as we passed by Brooke's house, she was locking the door behind her with a binder pushed between her knees.

Our eyes made contact for the first time in almost two weeks but after a second or two, her eyes trailed down to my hand attached to Tanner's. She looked at me with disgust and I just shook my head and walked on.