It Started with the List

16

I yawn, stretching my arms. Carly softly snores beside me. She had a nightmare last night so she crawled into my bed with me. I smile softly at her sleeping body. It's true what they say, people do look younger when they sleep.

I quietly climb out of bed and check to see what time it was. 5:45. I scratch my head and decide to go for a walk. I still have an hour before I had to start getting ready to go to school.

*

I walk into the clearing and look at the beautiful lake. I thought about when I brought Aileen here. How happy she looked. I thought about yesterday. How irritated she looked. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong with her and that got me annoyed. Zoey just ignored Aileen the entire time and Shaylie looked like she was gonna punch someone.

What made them feel that way? Why were they all acting differently? Even Henry. When he came over, he said, like, 3 words. And I got madder when none of them would tell me what was going on. It just irritates me when my friends don't want to tell me what's wrong with them. Do they not think I'm a good enough friend to tell? Am I a bad friend? Am I the r-

"Hi." A soft voice said, interrupting my thoughts. "Fancy seeing you here."

I look over and see Aileen sitting with her legs to her chest and chin on knees. "Whatcha doing here?" I ask her.

"I was here first, I should be asking you." She replied.

"But I asked first, so answer me." I told her.

"I'm running away from the darkness." She informs me, looking straight ahead of her.

"Fact of everything: You can't run away from darkness. It always catches up to you." She gives me a sideways glance. "What? It's true. In every movie and book, the darkness catches up to them. That's why you should just face it head on. No chase, no running, just facing it."

"What if I can't face this darkness by myself?" She questions, raising an eyebrow.

"That's not an issue because you're not alone. You have Shaylie, Steven, Henry, Reece, Adam, Liz, your mom, my mom, Tyler and Carly. You have me." I poke her cheek and smile at her.

She smiles back at me. "Thank you for reminding me. Sometimes I just feel like I need to take the world on by myself."

At that moment, I realized two things.

One: Shaylie was talking about Aileen when she said 'take her out on a date'.

Two: I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure Aileen never felt alone again.

*

"You know what? I love you." Shaylie informed me, looping her arm in mine. "You are the only one not keeping any secrets."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask her, closing my locker with my other hand. "You think everyone is keeping secrets?"

"Okay so, I'm pretty sure Liz is pregnant, Reece and Amanda broke up, and Henry found out he liked the cookie more than the cream." She listed. "Oh, and Aileen is keeping something from me. And she tells me literally everything."

"Okay, where on Earth did you get the idea that Liz was pregnant? That's just so far fetched. Are you in your right mind?" I ask with a laugh.

"You never know with these kids nowadays. They be doing it when they're, like, 12. Wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be preggo."

"You're crazy." I laugh at how ridiculous she's being.

"Ashton, be serious for a second." I compose myself and look at her. "What would you do if I told you that I liked you? Like, like like  you." She asked then quickly added "I don't have a crush on you, it's literally just a question."

"Okay, well, it would be very awkward for me seeing as I'm pretty sure Henry likes you." I inform her.

She reddens a little, "Forget Henry. If he wasn't a factor, what would you say?"

"Honestly? I think of you as my sister, so I'd say sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings." I answer.

"Okay, what if I was someone else? What if I was like Zoey or something?" She questioned.

"I thought we'd already had this discussion. I'm not gonna date someone while knowing it's not gonna last. Me dating Zoey would be weird." I reply.

"Okay, what if it was Aileen?"

"Why are you asking me this?" I respond.

"They're hypothetical questions." She tells we. She stops suddenly and turns me to face her. "Answer the question."

"What question?" I ask, feigning confusion.

"What would you do if Aileen told you she liked you?" She said it slowly for me to hear her clearly. I just shrug and walk away from her. "You have to answer the question!" She yells to me, running after me. She grabs my arm when she reaches me. "Answer the question." She demands.

"I don't have an answer." I inform her.

"Yeah, you do. Everyone does." She states as we push through the doors to the courtyard. "Ask a random person what they would think and they will have an answer."

"Well, I don't." I state, sitting in my seat. I really don't have an answer. I wish I did. What would I do if I knew Aileen liked me?

"Loser. Loser!" An arm is wrapped around my neck. "Loser. Look at this perfect score. Look!" Aileen yells into my ear, holding her test out in front of me.

"You got a perfect score?" I say, thinking about my score on that test.

"Is it that surprising? We established that I'm better than you already." She pokes my cheek.

"Okay, what do you want then?" I ask, tilting my head back so I could look at her. She smiled down at me and traced my eyebrows.

"I don't know. I didn't think I'd actually win." She confesses. "Give me a couple of days?"

"Okay, but I'm going to be a sore loser if you want something crazy." I inform her.

"Define crazy." She grins and sits next to me. I shake my head at her and laugh.

Shaylie points her finger at me accusingly. "You lie."

&&&&&&

WHOA. THIS IS VERY LATE. SORRY 'BOUT THAT.

ANYWAY, DID YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER? I KNOW IT'S ALL OVER THE PLACE BUT IT'S ALL IN THE SAME DAY, IF YOU DIDN'T GET THAT PART. SORRY FOR THE MESSY CHAPTER. :(

PLEASE VOTE AND/OR COMMENT!!!!