A Friend Like You || Completed

Chapter Fourteen || Matthew

"Hey, has Charlie talked to you about what's going on at home?" Aiden skipped the small talk when he came up to Matt at the start of lunch. "I know she said her parents are going through a rough patch in third, but Keira said something this morning that makes me worried."

Matt frowned and switched out his textbooks before responding. "She didn't say anything when we were texting last night, or during the break when we doing some A-S-L. What did K say?"

"She asked me to keep an eye on Charlie cause her, and their mom got into a big fight," Aiden sighed and drummed his fingers on his thighs. "I have to work today, but can you talk to her after school?"

"It's lunch?"

"The girl from the diner, Jules, is eating with us today," Aiden waved at someone down the hall, and Matt turned to see Charlie and Jules walking towards them, deep in conversation. "I don't wanna bring that stuff up."

"Gotcha," Matt shut his locker door, and they waited for the girls who just now saw them.

"Hey!" A bright smile formed across Charlie's face, and Matt couldn't help but smile back. "You remember Jules, right, Matt? Her mom is taking over Finnley's, and she's in AP Chem-"

Matt reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Y-E-S."

"I invited her to eat lunch with us-"

"A told me."

"And Lisa hired me!"

"Congrats," Aiden gave her a high five and started ushering the group to their lunch area. "Jules, where are you from?"

"California, between Sac and San Francisco," Jules said. "My mom, Lisa, is from here but moved out there for college and was gonna come back after graduation, but she met my other mom, Marie, who planned on being in Sac until she finished grad school."

"So did she finish last year?"

"Yeah, she took a break after her Bachelor's when Mom had me because she didn't get much time off at the restaurant she was managing," Jules explained. "So she needed to adjust the rest of her time around me, but she always tells me she didn't mean because it gave her time to get scholarships and grants."

"I need to buy lunch," Charlie stopped when they walked past the cafeteria. "I'll meet you guys there?"

"Yeah," Aiden said, and she ducked inside.

"That's new," Matt watched her get in line as they kept walking. "C usually brings her own."

"She probably overslept," Aiden looked from him to Jules. "What did Marie study?"

"English," she tilted her head and chewed on her bottom lip. "With a specialization in the Elizabethan period. She's teaching a Shakespeare class over at William and Mary and an English 101 or something. But what about you guys? What do your parents do?"

"My dad owns a moving company," he plopped down onto the grass and pulled his lunch out of his bag. "O'Connor Movers, they were just local, but now they go down to the Carolinas and up to Maryland or southern Pennsylvania. Matt's dad, Tom, works with mine; he's always doing the longer drives."

Matt grabbed his lunch and notebook because it was far easier to write than to
 sign. My dad loves it cause he used to be able to go next door and tell Greg when he couldn't work or needed a couple more hours. Now he has to call.

"Wow, you guys go way back," Jules popped a grape into her mouth. "Does Charlie's Dad work with yours, too?"

"No, her dad works at an office in Richmond," Aiden swallowed a bite of his sandwich before continuing. "I have no idea what he does or what her mom does, either. Matt?"