With You┃Dylan O'Brien ⓵

Chapter One : Welcome to the Warmth

They laugh a little and Mister Roscoe pulls up his briefcase, "You think it's time we make it a done deal?"

Mom glances at me a second, "Nothing would make me happier."

They take a long thirty minutes to talk and look over the contract which bores me, so I decide to scroll through one of my social networks ​to pass the time. Finally, I see my mom handing Mister Roscoe his pen back and they shake hands, the smiles never leaving their faces.

We get back in the car and it's all smiles and happiness as we head to the bank. The whole way there, mom talks about how excited she is to open her studio. I'm excited for her, too. Finally reaching the Bank of America, mom gets out of the car and goes inside while I wait.

I take the opportunity to continue my search for a decent radio station and finally I have some success! I turn it up a little as an addictive pop song plays through the speakers. I sing along and tap my fingers to the beat which I'm still doing wholeheartedly when my mom gets back in the driver's seat.

She smiles and pulls out onto the road, and she soon starts laughing when I sing louder (albeit somewhat obnoxiously) and dance in the seat.

"You have a wonderful voice, you know," she says after she's not laughing anymore.

"I try," I say, wondering if she's joking, considering my silly tone.

"You should sing around the house more often," she says then, which makes me realize that she is being serious.

A stupid song about some girl taking selfies comes on next, so I turn it down completely. I get happy again as I see a Starbucks coming up on the right. I know my mom loves the place as much as I do, so convincing ​her to go shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

"Mom!" I exclaim as we slow to a stop at the red light.

"What?!" she asks, thinking she's done something wrong.

"Starbucks!" I point to where it is and she looks over at it.

"What do you need Starbucks for?"

"Because I'm basic, mom."​

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean. It does sound pretty good, so... I guess we're taking a left."

I clap my hands excitedly as she switches lanes and turns right. We park in the front and walk inside. There's quite a few people in here, as one would expect, so the line has about six people in it. After we get in line, two more people come up behind us too. I get excited as we move up and I see that there's only one person in front of us.

Suddenly I feel a hard jerk on the back of my head; someone pulled my hair! I yelp out a little and my hand rushes to the back of my head. I turn around to see who has my hair in their grimy little hands and my anger subsides when I see it's a baby who couldn't be any more than ten months old.

A girl who looks about my age is holding him and I can see that she's working on getting my brown and blonde hair out from his little hand.

"I'm so sorry," she apologizes. "He really likes to play with hair that's long and pretty."

"It's alright," I reassure her as my hair is finally released. The baby's big green eyes are staring into mine as he smiles and I see that they match the girls'. "Is he your little brother?" I ask.

The girl nods, "Little Andreas. I take him almost everywhere with me. My parents work all the time."

I nod at her in understanding, but before I can say anything she asks me a question, "Are you in high school?"

"Yeah, I'm in eleventh grade."

"So am I," she readjusts Andreas. "That's weird, I've never seen you around. There's only five high schools in this town."

"I just moved here," I explain. "I'll be starting at Chatsworth on Monday, though."

"No kidding!" she smiles, flashing her pearly white teeth. "That's my school! Maybe I'll see you around."

"Yeah, maybe," I grin. "I'm Anita​."

"Ivy."

I turn around to order my drink and wave goodbye to Ivy on the way out.

~

At half past one, mom and I are finally heading to Chatsworth High School to get me officially enrolled as a student. We pull into the parking lot and it's hard not to look at the school; it's humongous and made of beautiful deep red brick. There's ivy growing on parts of the building, framing windows and doors wondrously. The overall architecture is astounding and I can't get over how pretty those smooth bricks look in the gleaming sun.

We get out of the car and walk through an amazing courtyard that's shaded in some parts by large oak trees. Mom makes a comment on the school's beauty and I'm quick to agree; if there's one place I have to look at five days a week, I'm glad it's this one.

We enter the school and its interior is only slightly less amazing than the exterior. A short hallway stretches in front of us with the Nurse's office on the right and a Conference room on the left. Directly in front of us is the Main office where we aim our walking. When we enter the office, the lady at the desk smiles at us as she continues typing.

Her ridiculously fast typing comes to a slow but steady halt as we approach the desk, and she looks up at us through her square-rimmed glasses.

"Hi there!" she says a bit cheerfully. "How can I help you?"

"Hi," mom says. "I'm here to finish the enrollment process for my daughter here."

"Of course," she walks over to a file cabinet. "Name?"

"Anita Burns."

She fingers through files until she finds one that is apparently mine. Walking back over towards us, she looks through the papers inside of the file.

"Looks like we've got your transcript and everything," she nods, then pulls out a good stack of papers from a drawer in her desk. "I just need the two of you to go over these forms and fill out the required information. Just come let me know when you're done." She smiles and hands the papers to my mom along with a black ballpoint pen with a fake flower taped to the end.

We go through all the papers, which is the most boring part of the whole ordeal. We have to sign quite a few things, give emergency information and more. Fifteen minutes later, we finally finish and bring the completed forms back to the lady who I see is named Miss Weber. Miss Weber greets us with a kind smile.

"All finished?" she asks.

"Yep," I say as she takes the stack from me.

"Alright, well here are some things we give to new students such as yourself," Miss Weber hands me a few pamphlets and papers. "Come and see me on Monday so I can give you your schedule and locker information."

"Okay," I say as I wonder why I couldn't just get them now.

"Look's like that's all," she finalizes with another smile. "Thanks for coming in, ladies. See you on Monday, Anita!"

"Thank you!" I grin back before mom and I walk back to the car.

On the drive back home, mom and I don't talk much. Music plays at an adequate volume while I look through the things Miss Weber had given to me. There's a map of the school (which is pretty big), a student handbook, a list of staff and their contact information, a school lunch menu, the bell schedule and the school's calendar that has been conveniently filled with school events, vacations, dances, assemblies and more.

My Starbucks cup is empty so I throw it away when I get home, along with the school lunch menu - I always bring lunch from home. I brush my teeth and climb into bed at ten. After a while I grow too tired to keep my eyes open. I allow them to close and lay there comfortably until suddenly I'm no longer conscious.