Chapter 9
So, two weeks go by of me hiding my sister from my mom. She's out doing who knows what all day, so it's not that hard to keep her hidden. It's just when she comes home and decides to talk loudly that my mom starts thinking I talk to myself regularly.
Somehow Tuesdays and Thursdays became my favorite days of the week. Mrs. Kidd would leave the classroom and Peter and I would have minimal conversations. Usually it starts with a long awkward silence until I say something and he sasses me back.
I'm intrigued by how he's shy and closed-off in one moment and sassy and funny the next. However he does it, I'm slowly finding myself liking it more and more.
He keeps putting those green sticky notes everywhere to tally up our points. He's winning with ten. I'm not going to lie, I do look forward to finding them on my car or locker or door step.
"Well, if it isn't the new Flash!" I can hear a sickening laugh from the boys bathroom. "You've been promoted, bud."
My stomach drops. How could they do that to him? I stand outside the bathroom door in an internal battle with myself.
"C'mon, take the picture!" a new voice urges. "Did you hear me, Flash?"
"D-don't call me th-that," Peter stutters, his voice weak as if he has been crying.
There's a smacking noise, like a punch or something. A groan follows, making me cringe.
"Just take the picture, Peter. I'll be fine." I remember that voice. It's of that boy, his friend, the gay one. Brandon, was it?
A flush of a toilet follows before the door swings open. I press my back to the lockers to act natural as some football players step out. Aaron isn't one of them, and I'm grateful for that.
"What were you guys doing?" I ask, approaching the group.
"Peeing. It's a bathroom, Grace," Mason's old friend Quentin sasses.
I roll my eyes. "Don't think I won't tell Principal Franklin."
"You didn't when Mason did it," he challenges with a smirk.
"Screw you." I push him, though he has a point. I'm a hypocrite, or maybe I'm just someone who wants to change.
Just as they walk away, Peter and his friend walk out of the bathroom. Peter's eyes are puffy much like his friends.
"Hey," I say as I walk over to them, "are you okay?"
Peter keeps his head down, trying to hide his face from me. His friend smiles sweetly and nods.
"I'm alright," he assures. "Except, those jerks ruined my shirt. I just bought it too."
"I'm sorry." I pout, my eyes moving to Peter. "Peter, you okay?"
"Doesn't matter," he barely whispers and walks off in the other direction.
His friend offers me a smile before walking away. Sighing, I speed walk to find Peter. There's only a few minutes before the first period bell rings, so I'll have to be quick.
"Where are you going?" I ask as I catch him by a set of lockers.
"Just leave me alone, Grace," he mutters, rubbing his left eye.
I bite my tongue. This is clearly not where I thought our friendship was at, though maybe there really never was a friendship at all. I'd like to believe he doesn't hate me, but who really knows how he feels. My boyfriend was the cause of most of his high school trauma.
"Fine." I don't move, however. "You know, I don't think you really want to miss first period."
He glances up at me with his head still low. "I have gym."
I bite my lip. "So..maybe you do want to miss first period. Come with me."
I don't know where my sudden burst of bravery came from, but I take Peter's hand in mine and tug him behind me. He's really resistant, his feet dug into the ground. I manage to pull him to the destination that wasn't too far away. A janitor's closet.
"Really? A janitor's closet?" Peter challenges, sniffling afterwards.
I pull the string that lights up the small closet. "I used to come here all the time to ditch class."
"With Mason," Peter adds.
"Well..yeah..but-"
He doesn't even listen what I have to say next before placing his hand on the doorknob. I jump to stop him, tugging on his arm.
"Don't."
He stares at me for a bit, just looking all around my face. "Why are you doing this, Grace? What makes you care?"
I take a deep breath. "I honestly don't know. Maybe I feel really bad for you. Maybe I feel guilty about what you've been through the past two years. Maybe I actually just like spending time with you. Because, quite frankly, I don't give a damn that you hate me."
"You think that I hate you?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Well," I pause, "it's kind of obvious."
"You're a little off from the truth," he laughs to himself. He then crouches to the floor before plopping down at resting his back against the shelves.
I follow his act and sit across from him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I don't hate you." He takes a Clorox spray off the ledge and starts tossing it from hand-to-hand. I notice how he doesn't look me in the eye. "From what Andrew would say about you, it would be nearly impossible."
I raised my eyebrows in interest. I'm kind of shocked that Andrew never talked crap about me to Peter after what I did to him. But then again, Andrew was far too sweet to do something like that, even to me. "He talked about me?"
"Yeah. I mean, you were his best friend. I heard all the stories." A small smile is placed on his face. "And I'm talking all of them."
I laugh, blush on my cheeks. He tosses the Clorox to me and luckily I catch it.
"That's right. I know about the white water rafting," he says with a faint smile, catching the Clorox as I pass it back.
I cover my face with my hands and let out an embarrassed laugh. "Oh gosh."
"How many points do I have now? Like, thirty?" he questions jokingly.
"Eleven, actually," I correct.
He lets out a breathy laugh. "Someone's keeping track."
"Like you didn't know that," I spit back, blushing slightly.
We continue tossing the Clorox back-and-forth. Peter brings up all the stories Andrew told him about me, each one being worse than the previous. I find myself laughing uncontrollably while Peter just keeps a simple smile. We talk all the way up until the end of first period.
"One day, you're going to fall off your roof and land in a trashcan. I'll witness this. I'll know. It'll haunt you. So, I'd be careful with those stories about me," I warn as I stand up from the dusty closet floor.
Peter smiles, shaking his head as he stands up as well. "I'll keep that threatening comment in mind."
I laugh and open the door. Peter grabs my arm to keep me from leaving. I don't know why my heart rate speeds up so quickly by his action.
"Thank you, Grace." He takes a deep breath. "You know, for...helping."
"Of course. Couldn't have you going to gym, now could I?" I ask rhetorically with a smile. "Bye, Peter."
"Bye, Grace," he says in his small voice as I leave the closet.
~~
After school, I had to wait for Lucy to finish with cheer practice. I had been listening to music for about an hour when she tapped me on the shoulder.
"Sorry it took so long! Willow just couldn't get the steps right," she scoffs. "We really need you on the team."
I sigh. My grades have improved, but I'm still not eligible for extracurriculars. Even if I was, I don't know if I'd go back to cheering. It was such an important thing to me two years ago, but I don't even know why anymore.
"It doesn't matter though!" Lucy chirps and links our arms as we head to my car. "What matters is that we will finally have time to hang out together."
I smile in agreement. I'm still a little uneasy with Lucy. She never reached out to me after Andrew died and Mason was arrested. I know I wanted that space, but as a best friend I thought she wouldn't let that stop her.
When I pull into my driveway, my eyes land on an unexpected sight. It's Scarlett. With Peter. On his roof. Laughing.
"Is that Scar?" Lucy nearly squeals, frantically opening her car door to run over to my sister.
Scarlett is the older sister everybody loves. Whenever she'd visit, she'd spend time partying with Lucy and me. I'm pretty sure my friends had liked her more than me.
I turn off my car and walk over to the group. Peter waves while Lucy and Scarlett are both squealing. Scarlett takes a leap off the roof to attack Lucy in a hug.
"You have to hang out with us tonight!" Lucy says to my sister. "We all need to catch up."
"I mean, I was planning on hanging out with Peter tonight..." Scarlett says slowly.
I glance from her to him. "You two?"
"Yes," Scarlett answers confidently. "Peter and I are friends."
I don't know why I'm so disgusted by this. They're just so different, I guess. I just don't get where the friendship would come from unless it's like sexual or something.
"Oh," Lucy pauses, "all four of us could hang out?"
"What do you say, Pete? You want to spend time with the girls?" Scarlett asks in her voice she uses to speak to little kids.
Peter looks at me warily. "I don't know."
"Oh, c'mon!" Scarlett laughs. "Get your cute little butt down here!"
I just threw up in my mouth.
Peter jumps off the roof, landing awkwardly on his foot and falling to the grass in pain. "I meant to do that."
Scarlett laughs and helps him up. "Course you did, sweetie."
Instead of going into my house, Scarlett and Peter head towards his own. I look at Lucy, but she's skipping behind casually. I sigh and follow the group into the house. Does no one realize we're about to casually hang out with Peter Watson?
"Hey, Miles, Scarlett and her friends are over," Peter yells into the house.
I'm just slightly offended that he just considered me one of Scarlett's friends. Miles knows who I am...damn, I'm getting too wound up by this.
"Hey, Scar," Miles greets as he walks into the kitchen. He smiles even wider when he sees me. "Grace! Hey."
"Hi," I say, blushing.
"How was school?" he asks, directed more to Peter. "Anything happen?" I can tell by the way he's asking that he wants to know if anyone bullied him. I wonder if Peter openly talks about all that he's been through with Miles.
"Nothing," Peter lies.
Miles glances at Lucy and me before nodding. "Okay. Scarlett, can I talk to you really quick?"
She nods and follows Miles into a different room. Miles is a police officer, so I wonder why he hasn't told my mom about her hiding. She probably has him under her spell as well.
"Do-do you wa-want anything to drink?" Peter asks, his shyness showing in bright colors now that he's alone with just Lucy and me.
"No," Lucy says curtly, not even looking Peter in the eye.
I offer him a smile. "I'm fine."
"I have to pee," Lucy declares and leaves the kitchen abruptly.
Peter and I stand awkwardly in silence for a bit. "So, does Scarlett hang out with you guys a lot?"
"I guess." He readjusts his glasses. "She really likes our movie selection."
I smile, nodding my head. "Why didn't you ever tell me that you hang out with her a lot?"
"I don't know. It's not like you tell me when you hang out your friends," he points out.
"Alright, alright. I just think it's a little odd that you're so close with my sister."
"She's my neighbor. Plus, she's really nice and pretty. Kind of like you," he says.
I blush. "Did you-"
Miles and Scarlett reenter the kitchen, and I close my mouth. Scarlett ruffles Peter's hair like they're the best of friends. There's that feeling again..
"I'll wait for Lucy. You three go pick out something to do!" Scarlett orders, winking at me in an oddly suggestive way.
I widen my eyes and glare at her. Miles takes my hand and tugs me over to a different part of the house. We head downstairs, his hand still laced with mine. Peter trails behind us, but I can only think about Miles holding my hand.
He lets go when we reach the couches. I take a seat on one couch, Peter on the one across. Miles sits next to Peter, whispering something in his ear. I watch their interaction carefully. Miles frowns at Peter, looking disappointed in his brother. Peter just looks pissed off.
"So!" Miles chirps suddenly and claps his hands together. "What should we do?"
"Scarlett has an idea!" my sister sings as she comes running downstairs. "Truth or dare!"
"Scarlett, that's the stupidest idea you could ever come up with." Surprisingly, that comment came from Peter.
"Well, Mr. Grumpy, do you have any better ideas?"
"I like karaoke," he says in such a small voice that I don't even know if I heard him right.
He glances at me in almost a smirk. That's when it hits me. Andrew had to have told him about the last time I sang karaoke..let's just say it didn't go too well.
"I heard Grace loves karaoke," he adds.
~~
AN:
this cutie
what do you guys think of Scarlett?
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