—
—
MADELYN SAT AT THE KITCHEN TABLE, doing her schoolwork quietly as miles sat next to her, offering to help out with her math homework, which she still couldn't do no matter how hard she tried.
"you're doing it wrong" miles spoke up from beside her, making the girl sitting next to him turn her head to face him, her eyes softening as she looked between him and her sheet of paper in confusion,
"wh— how?!" she said in frustration as she looked back at her piece of paper, "the area of a circle is pi R squared, maddy" miles clarified for her, which only made the younger girl groan out of frustration.
math was like a foreign language to her.
"look" miles took her pencil and leaned over to be closer to madelyn, "you're doing the steps backwards..." he began explaining, however, madelyn wasn't even looking at the paper.
she was just looking at him.
she couldn't even hear a word coming out of his mouth, she was just admiring the boy that she was grateful enough to even be sitting next to, sitting so close to at that.
"—doing step five before four— are you even listening to me?" miles broke her out of her trance, making madelyn jolt in her seat for a moment as she saw miles looking right at her,
it took a moment of silence for madelyn to comprehend what miles just said to her.
"oh i'm listening" she said with a dreamy look in her two different colored eyes, which only made miles smirk as he saw the look in her eyes, he began laughing for a moment,
"you're cute, you know that?" he asked her through his small laughs, making madelyn's cheeks flush a shade of red as she felt all the heat in her body begin to rush to her face, miles made her more nervous than he even knew.
or maybe, he did know.
the problem with madelyn was she didn't know if miles was calling her cute from an attractive standpoint, or from a little sister stand point.
madelyn had her head rested on her hand as she still continued to look at the boy in front of her dreamily, not even attempting to hide it anymore—-and even if she did, miles would have known, he always knew.
but, she flinched when miles snapped his fingers in front of her face, breaking her out of her daydreaming trance that she was in.
"as cute as you are, ms. jessel will kill me if you fail another math test after i tutored you" miles reminded madelyn, which only made her groan out of frustration before putting her head on the table in her arms.
"but i don't like math" madelyn spoke her muffled words into the table, "but math likes you" miles replied with a small smirk on his face as he put his hands on her shoulders and slowly pulled her back to sit up, she shot an annoyed glance at him.
"tell math to find someone else to like" the younger girl said with an eye roll, making miles give her a knowing look before placing the pencil that he took from her earlier back in her hand without saying a word.
"—you are such an asshole! why would you touch something that isn't yours?!" the two teenagers whipped their heads to the left quickly to hear ms. jessels voice coming closer into the room they were in,
"because it was in my way! if you don't want me to touch it, don't put it where i can!" quint said as he turned around to face ms. jessel while walking into the room miles and madelyn were in.
the two teenagers just stared with mixtures of a look of concern and confusion.
"that wasn't yours to touch and you know it!" ms. jessel raised her voice even more, getting into quints face, which made madelyn flinch upon watching—-and that certainly didn't go unnoticed by miles,
"you okay?" miles asked madelyn as he put a comforting hand on her back, rubbing it up and down to calm her down. "yeah, i'm fine" she simply brushed it off as she shook her head,
quint and ms. jessel finally turned their heads to look at the two teens that had been watching them argue the entire time, it was awkward for a slight moment as the four of them made eye contact.
ms. jessel began walking towards the teenagers, "maddy, remember that picture you painted of the roses?" she asked, talking about a picture that she painted about a year or two ago, madelyn nodded hesitantly.
"well he..." she said as she slammed it on the table miles and madelyn were sitting at, "...ripped it" she said, making the younger girls heart drop as she reached forward to grab her now destroyed painting.
the painting took her two weeks to make.
"w-what?" was all madelyn could weakly choke out as she stared at her favorite painting, that was now ripped and destroyed, miles peered over at the painting that she was holding, which only made his jaw harden.
"god you are such a fucking douche" miles said angrily as he stood up, looking over to quint who only looked offended that miles even said that to begin with, he looked back down at the girl that was sitting beside him, who was now crying.
ms. jessel's brows raised in shock, never seeing miles talk to quint like that before, ever.
but quint just rolled his eyes.
madelyn quickly pushed her chair back before storming out of the room while crying, which made miles turn his head as he wanted to go after her, but he hesitantly froze before shooting another gaze towards quint.
"what the hell is wrong with you?!" ms jessel hit quint on the shoulder aggressively, making him wince in pain as he rubbed the spot up and down, "oh for crying out loud it's a fucking painting!" quint responded with an eye roll,
"she's just a kid! leave her alone" ms. jessel defended madelyn as miles began walking over to the two adults,
"i don't get it, you can give her pills and be her best friend then, but rip her painting now?" miles questioned quint, making ms. jessels jaw harden before she smacked the older guy on the shoulder once again,
"i can't believe you! giving her pills?!" ms. jessel shouted at him angrily, to which quint only rolled his eyes once again.
"didn't stop her from taking them" he shrugged, making miles' jaw harden even more if it was possible, finally making him lose his shit as he lunged at quint, but ms. jessel quickly stepped in front, blocking the teenage boy.
"—miles! it's fine, okay? go be with maddy right now, she needs someone" ms. jessel reassured the taller teenage boy, but miles couldn't rip his gaze off of the older guy standing just inches away from him.
"i promise it's okay miles, i got it" ms. jessel reassured him once again, causing miles to shoot a gaze down at the shorter woman for a moment before shooting another one back up at quint hatefully, it was silent for a moment.
that was until miles aggressively backed up before storming off.
—
madelyn sobbed quietly in her room, sitting at the edge of her bed with her stuffed bunny in her lap. she spent weeks making that painting, and no matter what she did for quint, he still did something to be mean to her or hurt her.
and she was sick of it.
plus, he was the only person that truly knew what she was going through, yet he still did what he did.
"maddy?" miles poked his head through the door, seeing the tall girl sitting at the edge of her bed with her head down staring at her lap that had her stuffed bunny resting on it, his entire face fell at the sight.
she didn't say anything back.
"god, maddy, i am so sorry about him" miles said as he went into her bedroom, closing the door behind him and rushing over to sit next to his friend on the bed, but she still wouldn't look at him.
he could hear her sniffling.
she sounded like she was about to say something, but then she just started crying all over again.
"hey" miles gently tapped her arm, "can you look at me?" he asked, similarly to when she did to him just a few days before that, making the younger girl attempt to wipe her tears up with her right hand before turning to look at miles.
"you okay?" he asked her as he fixed some of her hair that was in her face, but all she did was shake her head no. "i get it, that was a mean thing to do, but hey..." miles began saying as he continued to fix her hair,
"...screw him, okay? you have me, you have ms. jessel, you have flora, and mrs. grose is like old and hates everyone so who cares about her" miles said through small laughs at the end, which made madelyn crack a smile before laughing a bit through her cries.
"you have so many more people than you think you do" miles reassured madelyn as he grabbed her shoulders gently to emphasize his point, making her eyes soften as she started at the boy comforting her right in front of her.
miles reached a hand up and began wiping the tears that were all over her face gently, which made madelyn's already red face due to her crying, turn even more red from her blushing.
when madelyn was upset, she didn't like to talk.
and miles knew that more than anyone.
"why don't we just..." miles began saying as he pushed her down on the bed, "...lay down and take a nap or something" he laid next to her, which made madelyn turn to the side to face the boy next to her for a moment,
"thank you" she softly said as she looked at miles, he turned to lay on his side so he could face her as well, "don't thank me" he said back as the two teenagers laid while facing each other,
"but i feel like i should" madelyn said as she placed her stuffed bunny behind her and wiped her tears a bit better before laying back down to face miles, who was shaking his head at her answer, "i don't get why" he responded lowly,
"because... i don't know what it's like to have something like this, i had like no friends growing up, and then i live with a big bully so... it's kind of weird to have someone be nice to me" she opened up to miles a bit, who just looked at her as she talked, his eyes scanning her face carefully.
but madelyn had a feeling that it was out of pity.
or that miles had the same sort of comforting for her as he did flora, and she didn't like that.
he said he wanted to kiss her, but the way madelyn felt about miles was so much more than just a kiss. she had a deep desire for him, one that she was sure he didn't have for her.
and the thought of that killed madelyn every time it came to mind.
"even if you don't care about me the same way i care about you, thank you" she said before turning on her back to look at the ceiling, which made miles jolt up onto his elbow as he looked down at the girl staring at the ceiling.
"what?" he asked in confusion,
which then made madelyn defensively shoot up as she stared at miles with a look of panic washed all over her face.
madelyn felt herself cringe from the inside out, not knowing how to explain how she really felt to miles, she bit on her bottom lip as she slammed her eyes shut, resting her head on her hand as she contemplated a way to go about this.
"screw it" she stood up, making miles' eyes widen as she never really swore like that, the teenage girl let out a deep exhale before turning to face miles who was still sitting on the bed in front of her,
"i— i like you, miles, like really really like you" she began with shakily, making miles raise is brows as he continued to stare at her, "i've liked you this whole time, just the way that you care for me all the time when i'm sad or when you tutor me..." she continued saying while pacing around her room,
"...and i know you said you would kiss me back, but i think the way i feel about you is different than the way that you feel about me" madelyn said, "i know you think im pretty, but i don't just think you're good looking, i like everything about you, it's so much more than being attracted to you, you're perfect" she stopped pacing as she turned her head to look at miles, who was still looking at her with his brows raised.
"are you done?" he asked her, which made her face confort into a look of horror,
"that's what you have to say to that?! oh my god— this is so embarassing—" she began to freak out as she started pacing again, which only made miles laugh as he reached forward and grabbed her hand, pulling her to come sit on the bed once again,
"i didn't mean it like that" he said as she sat down, "i said that because if it wasn't obvious enough, i feel the same way" miles clarified for her, making madelyn's eyes widen,
"what?" madelyn asked with wide eyes, not believing what was really coming out of miles fairchilds mouth, of all people, a small smile formed on his face before he said the words, "i like you too, maddy"
"wait— say it again" she shook her head, making miles narrow his eyes at her in confusion, "what? why?" he asked,
"because, i want to hear you say you like me again" she said with full confidence, causing miles to laugh his ass off at her stupid comment, "shut up" he laughed as he leaned back on his elbows to look up at her sitting on the bed next to him,
"so i just did all that rambling for nothing?" she asked him just to make sure, making miles smirk before nodding, which only made madelyn let out a groan of embarrassment before letting her back fall back on the bed.
"don't worry, it was cute" he reassured her, making her turn her head to look at miles with a glare, "me stumbling over my words like an unorganized mess is cute now?" she asked him sarcastically, to which miles seriously nodded.
"yes, it's cute when you get nervous" he said as he looked down at her, which is when madelyn's eyes finally locked into miles' and they felt that deep gaze beginning to connect once again.
the same one that happened the night they almost kissed.
"what are you thinking about?" he asked her, his voice just above a small whisper, "nothing" was all she responded with, not moving from her position on the bed or changing her gaze from anywhere but his eyes.
"what are you thinking about?" she asked him back, miles slid a hand on the side of her body, making her whole body burn with anticipation, "a thing or two" was all he responded with as he looked down at her.
madelyn grabbed his hand that was on her hip out of impulse, and began moving it down, which made his eyes widen at what he realized she was doing.
she had zero idea what she was doing, like seriously she had never had her first kiss before or even held hands with a boy, besides miles.
"what are you doing?" he asked her, his gaze flickering between his hand that she was moving and to her two different colored eyes at a fast pace, "nothing" she responded innocently once again,
"nothing?" he repeated as he began leaning down towards her lips, they were just centimeters apart now.
"nothing" she repeated back once again in the same tone of voice before leaning her head up, feeling his hand touch her thigh as her bottom lip grazed against his ever so slightly—
"—guys!" flora bursted through the door, making miles quickly roll off of madelyn as fast as he could and jump to the other side of the bed, "jesus christ!" he shouted as he did so, completely startled.
madelyn jumped up as fast as she could before sitting criss cross apple sauce while smoothing out her wrinkled clothes with wide eyes, shooting a glance towards miles as she did so, both of their faces reading the same expression.
thank god flora was too young to understand what was going on.
"what's wrong flora?" miles asked with concern as the teenagers directed their attention to the very upset flora, who was crying as she slowly made her way over to the bed, climbing into it and sitting in between madelyn and miles.
"t-they're fighting" she said sadly, making miles and madelyn shoot their gazes from the small girl sitting in between them to each other, knowing exactly who she was talking about.
none other than ms. jessel and quint.
"flora..." miles began saying as he leaned in to hug his baby sister, who sobbed as she put her head in miles' lap, "it's going to be okay, ms. jessel and quint will be friends again soon" he tried his best to make her understand for her age,
"h-he swore at her" she timidly spoke through her soft cries, making a feeling of rage surge through both, madelyn and miles' bodies.
"it's going to be okay, he probably didn't mean it, right miles?" madelyn tried her best to comfort the young girl, but it was hard considering she saw many things that no one her age should be seeing.
"right, and whenever you hear them yelling, you come right to me or maddy and we can all play together so you don't have to listen to it, okay?" miles told flora gently, making her turn her head up to both of the teenagers as her gaze flickered between them.
she hesitantly nodded.
"can you guys read me a story?" flora asked, making madelyn smile before she leaned over to look at her bookshelf that was beside her bed, "sure, what book?" she asked kindly,
"hmmm" the little girl began as she thought to herself, miles watched the interaction between his sister and madelyn with a glimmer in his eyes, he loved every single second of it.
"the princess one, the one where she makes people nice with her magical powers!" she said with excitement, making miles roll his eyes at his sisters option, "you always pick that one" he huffed,
"it's good miles!" madelyn hit him on the shoulder, making miles roll his eyes, "oh yeah, just a seventeen year old guy reading princess stories, total way to spend my friday morning" he said with a small eye roll as madelyn handed flora the book, who was too distracted from admiring it.
"it's cute, guys that care for their sisters" madelyn lowly whispered into miles' ear as she leaned over, making him smirk at her comment before grabbing the book from flora, opening it up.
if there was anyone he would read princess stories for...
it was going to be flora.
—
quint and ms. jessel wouldn't stop fighting all week, and it was beginning to take a tole on little floras mental health. almost every night, she would come into their rooms crying.
the two would constantly overhear them bickering, also hearing their names being brought up several times in their arguments.
it made them feel guilty, like they caused the fighting.
deep down they knew that they didn't, but when it happened over and over, it really makes you wonder at the end of the day.
that next weekend, miles and madelyn decided to take flora to the the koi pond for a little picnic, just anything to get her out of the house—-they needed time away as well, the fighting never stopped.
madelyn laid on her stomach on the small picnic blanket, kicking her feet behind her as miles laid beside her, resting on his elbow. meanwhile, flora was picking up rocks and skipping them in the small koi pond.
she wore a small summer dress, it was more fitted on her body yet baggy, while miles just wore a white button up, the first two buttons completely undone with a pair of jeans to go with it.
"picking the spot underneath the willow tree was perfect" madelyn said as she turned her head to miles who was laying next to her. "i know you're into that nature shit, so it felt like the best option" miles said through small laughs, which made the girl next to him smile.
"do you think they'll stop fighting?" she asked him, referencing to ms. jessel and quint, miles tensed as he thought for a moment before simply shrugging. he didn't know, he had no idea when it would stop, if it would ever stop
"i don't know, it's never been this bad" he said through his shrugs, making madelyn nod in agreement as she really sat there and thought about it, but then she noticed miles shift uncomfortably.
before she could ask him what was wrong, he finally spoke up.
"i— i have to ask you a question" he said nervously, which threw madelyn off—-miles was never nervous, he was usually very sure of himself, and if anything, the one making people nervous with his intense presence.
"yeah?" she asked him uneasily, not getting a good vibe from the way he was acting.
miles pursed his lips for a moment before sighing, like the question was something that had been on his mind for a while at this point.
"did... did quint hurt you?" he asked hesitantly, making madelyn's eyes widen before she felt her blood run cold, it was like her heart stopped beating all at once—-she was convinced she had lost all of the colored complexion in her face.
"hurt... me?" she questioned back wearily as she played stupid, she knew what he was getting, she just didn't want to admit it.
"yeah, you know what i mean" miles said uncomfortably, not wanting to actually say what he meant, but they both knew what he was getting at, madelyn felt herself sit up as she looked at miles.
"why?" she simply asked, sitting criss crossed apple sauce.
"because, i've noticed that the way he looks at you is... creepy, and i just wanted to ask you if something happened" miles tried to find the right words, he noticed the girl in front of him looking like she was about to throw up.
she was silent, madelyn had no idea what to even say.
she never expected in a million years that miles would ask her a question like that.
"you can tell me anything, you know that right? i would never judge you if something did happen" he reassured her, locking eyes with her to get his very important point across, however, madelyn chewed on her bottom lip nervously.
she wanted to tell miles so bad.
what had really been happening for so long, it had been right under his nose the entire time.
"nothing happened" was all she said back,
but, she couldn't bring herself to do it. it was too embarassing in her eyes, she wasn't ready to talk about it no matter how many times she tried to force herself to. she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to talk about what she went through.
miles gave her a knowing look, which only made her heart rate increase as her body swarmed with endless anxiety and nerves.
"maddy—" he began saying, "—nothing happened miles!" she snapped nervously, wanting the conversation to just be over and done with, which only caught miles off guard.
"okay, okay, i'm sorry" he said before reaching a hand forward and grabbing her hand, holding it gently to let her know that he was still there for her, no matter what happened.
just like he promised.
madelyn looked off at flora who was still skipping rocks in the koi pond before looking back at miles, "look, i didn't mean to snap, but i just wanted to make it clear that nothing happened" she explained herself, finally locking eyes with him once again.
"okay, i believe you" he emphasized, leaning forward a bit as he did so. madelyn felt a sigh of relief fall over her body at the affirmations miles gave her, he said be believed her so that meant that he did.
but madelyn knew one thing.
she couldn't lie much longer,
because one day miles was going to find everything out, and the truth was closer to being exposed than any of them even knew.
it was for all the white lies and the black truth.
—
AUTHORS NOTE:
hey guys!!! here's another chapter of one of y'all's fan favorites of my books LOL. also if u want an update on me and my writing and to know what is coming next with all of my books, check out my spam book called lala land, in the most recent chapter i uploaded i told u guys what to expect for future updates with this book and my other books!!! anyways i gotta go to a super sick #lit party guys. BYEEEEEEE HOPE U ENJOYED THIS CHAP.
WORD COUNT: 4366 <3