Lauren slammed open the door in a haste, shaking me out of my stupor. Glancing at her, I quickly hopped to my feet with Charlotte behind me. Both of us with excited grins on our faces.
"How was it?" Charlotte asked.
"Was he angry? Was he surprised that we actually got him back for the other time?" I did a small jump before whirling around, still exhilarated from trashing Uhu's room.
Lauren did a small shrug before throwing her shoes off, "Sorry girls but I leaped out of there as fast as I could." She took in our deflating expressions before adding, "I'm pretty sure he is furious now though. So mission accomplished!"
I turned to Charlotte and we hi-fived each other before turning back to Lauren. "So, d'ya think me and Charlotte have a future in thrashing people's rooms?" I asked, noticing the glint in Lauren's eye.
"You did quite a good job. I was pleasantly surprised to see that you were willing to throw his books around the room. You're pretty uptight with the way you treat your books," Lauren said.
"Charlotte told me it was all or nothing. So I went with it," I answered. I was shocked that they actually noticed how carefully I treated my books and I winced, hoping they didn't notice how often I dusted my books.
Charlotte grinned before remarking, "I guess we should celebrate now. Do you guys have tons of homework to complete? Because I'm thinking we should chill out in the common room for a while. I make some pretty amazing hot cocoa."
---
The next morning, we were still hanging onto the last thread of adrenaline from the prank we did. It was pretty apparent because right when I saw Jane, she noted with an amused look, "Lia, you seem to be very unlike your usual self on this lovely Friday."
I shot her a look before scowling; "I'm always like this."
Giggling, Jane replied, "Right... Did anything happen yesterday that I wasn't informed about?"
Lauren turned her head to face us upon hearing what Jane said and quickly shook her head, mouthing the word 'no'. I stared at her dumbfounded. Did she really think I would announce it to the whole wide world what we did? We would get punished if an authoritative figure found out about it.
"Well..." I trailed off, looking at Lauren's quickly paling face. "Clayton and I exchanged numbers yesterday." I bit my lip to stifle the laughter that was about to erupt out of me. Jane clapped her hand ecstatically before leaning forward with her big doe eyes.
"You go girl! Did you ask for it or was he the one who proposed it?" Jane looked so earnest and Lauren looked so relieved that I ended up bursting into laughter.
"It was just the exchanging of numbers Jane. Not a biggie. But if you want to know that badly," Jane stared up at me, anticipating my answer. "He asked for it." I told her with a grin on my face.
"He is totally into you. Man, Clayton doesn't ask for numbers. The numbers come to him."
I gaped at her before stating; "He must be good with calculus then."
Jane laughed, "Well, he does score the highest in mathematics most of the times. James tries his best to beat him in it but rarely does that happen."
We reached the dining hall with the rest of the students, ready to fill their stomachs with delicious food. Even after weeks in Briarwoods, I couldn't believe that the food here was scrumptious and unlike the food from my previous school which was completely horrid.
I pushed through the gathering crowd at the entrance of the dining hall before walking towards the usual table where we eat with my friends in tow. I slumped down onto the table with Lauren while the rest of the girls went to get their food.
It was something we did daily. A couple of us would stay at the table to ensure that no one else would sit at our spot and steal our seats away. With the rest of the girls away and Lauren with her head on the table, we were the only table without chattering students eating without a care of the world.
The silence was abruptly interrupted by a figure settling down beside Lauren.
"Princess," Uhu harshly nudged Lauren, nearly sending her toppling over.
"Oh. It's you again," Lauren assumed the position again before turning to face me with an annoyed expression.
"You and your cute little friends did something yesterday?" Uhu stared at her head before glancing at me.
"Assuming that cute little friend you're talking about is me," I started with a fake chirpy voice, before deadpanning. "I did do tons of stuff. Like studying, eating, reading; the usual ya' know."
Uhu glared at me before shooting me down, "Was I talking to you, Little Miss Perfect? Or do you always interrupt people?"
I chose to ignore his retort but not before my cheeks stained with crimson. Uhu had always a bone to pick with me ever since I beat him in our grade fourth spelling test. When I emerged as champion after the spelling test, Uhu had been around my locker with his pristine-white converse making shoe marks along my blue-coloured locker. Upon seeing me, his mouth warped into a pleasant grin before he marched towards me. Eyes glinting with mischief, he mouthed, "Isn't this an unprecedented gift?" before stalking away.
"Unprecedented" was the word that caused his downfall in the competition.
Pushing the incident away, I latched my eyes upon the breakfast line, which was moving haltingly. Realising that it would take a long time before my food would arrive, I took out my phone to waste the time away. It was apparent that Uhu only came over to irritate Lauren and I was not going to be involved in that.
I checked my phone and realised that I had a message from Clayton that was buried under numerous texts from my sister, Riley and my dad. Clucking my tongue, I wondered whether they have ever heard of sending one message with all their questions loaded inside instead of several different ones. I shook my head as I scrolled through their messages and grasped the idea that all were centered on one common topic: "The Carnival".
Furrowing my eyebrows, I tried to scan my mind for the brief moment where I heard about a carnival being held at Briarwoods. Maybe it was mentioned once during a meeting with The Newspaper Club, however the aforementioned event didn't ring a bell in my mind.
I was going to need to ask one of my friends about the carnival to answer all the questions my family members were asking me. Then it came to me, how did my family members know about it before me, a student at Briarwoods? I fumbled around with my thoughts before coming to the conclusion that Briarwoods had sent out letters that alerted the family members of Briarwoods students about the events that would happen during the term.
I replied to my father and sister's texts accordingly before opening Clayton's text.
11:15pm
From: Clayton :)
Hey, it's me Clayton. I was wondering if you'd like to hang out this weekend at the pizzeria in town?
I stalled and stared at my phone with disbelief before an enormous smile emerged on my face. Clayton wanted to hang out. With me. Score! I typed in a reply just as Jane appeared with my breakfast.
7:04am
To: Clayton :)
Sure! I'll see you there? On Saturday?
"Sorry this took a while. The line was held up by some freshmen." Jane rolled her eyes before reminding me. "You're getting my food tomorrow, Lia."
I smiled at her before reaching out my hand to grab the plate of bacon and eggs. "I won't forget it." I grabbed the glass of orange juice from the tray she was holding onto before chirping. "Especially with you reminding me every minute of the day."
Jane laughed and sat opposite me before digging into her breakfast. My fork was halfway to my mouth before the vibration of my phone on the table interrupted me. Lauren briefly glanced at me before concentrating on finishing her food, Uhu long gone from the table.
I picked up my phone to see that I received a reply from Clayton.
7:06am
From: Clayton :)
How about I meet you at the bus station so we can head over there together? And yes, Saturday.
7:06am
To: Clayton :)
Alright :)
---
I was on my way to the lockers when I saw Drew perched upon mine. Her fists were clenched and her face was less than happy when she locked eyes with me. I walked towards her with a spring on my step, wondering what she wanted with me.
"Drew," I greeted her before standing in front of her. I gestured to my locker but she only huffed before folding her arms. My dad has always told me that the folding of arms although intimidating was also a sign of weakness, especially in the animal kingdom. It showed that the animal was being threatened hence; folding their arms was a defense mechanism to protect their vital organs.
I stared at her blankly, waiting for her to move or do something but she only stayed in the same position with her eyes studying me. I slowly felt annoyed and realised that I was only wasting precious time when I could already be heading towards my next class. Right as I was about to snap at her for blocking my way, she started.
"I don't know why Clayton wants to go out with you, but," she sneered. "He will just see how boring you are and toss you away. You're nothing special, scholarship girl."
I couldn't believe that the reason why she seemed to hate me was because of Clayton. It just seemed terribly cliché how she would dislike me because of just one boy. I thought it was something personal like me being a contender to steal her president spot in The Newspaper Club but it turned out the whole situation with her not liking me was because of a boy.
I laughed before lightly pushing her away, "Drew. Whether Clayton wants to go out with me or not, in the end it wouldn't concern you. You and Clayton aren't together right?" I raised an eyebrow while I took out my Math book from my opened locker.
"No, we aren't together but I had dibs on Clayton first." She glared at me, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Clayton isn't an item, Drew. I hope you know that." I shut my locker before turning to her, amused by how haughty she was acting. I saw Matt coming from the corner of my eye. I raised my hand to wave at him as he walked towards me, a befuddled expression on his face.
Drew just stared at me stunned as I continued; "I also hope you'd get to know me first before concluding that you dislike me."
Matt gestured with his head to direction of our math class and I stood beside him before turning to face Drew once again, "and here's my advice, don't hate someone because of their relations with your crush."
Drew just stood there as Matt and I walked towards our Math class, the hallways slowly filling with pupils rushing towards their classrooms.
"Wow, Lia. What'd you do to her?" Matt questioned just as we got out of Drew's line of sight. "This is the first time I've ever seen her shut up." He stared at me with his blue eyes, sparkling with pride.
"I just gave her a tip. Nothing much," I shrugged my shoulders before breaking into a big grin.
"Whatever you did, I'm sure it was cool." He bumped his fist with me before continuing, "Anyway did you hear what happened to Dylan's room? It was apparently trashed but I'm not really trusting my sources because the last time I trusted them, I ended up making a fool out of myself."
"Whoever trashed his room probably hates his guts." I shrugged. "But continue on. I want to hear about you making a fool out of yourself."
"Well, my sources told me Ms Dyer and Mr Woo were dating. And I, obviously, needed proof because you know, you can't always be gullible. So I went and tailed them when they were out in the town on Saturday," Matt started. "I should have known it was a trick because why would two very attractive teachers," Matt laughed when I nodded my head in agreement, our Geography and English teachers were pretty attractive. "Go out in public when there would be tons and tons of Briarwoods students everywhere?"
I let out a laugh, knowing where this was headed. Matt continued, bumping into a girl with red hair and murmured an apology. "After seeing two people that looked like them, mind you, I was only looking at their silhouettes, I followed them. They walked and walked mindlessly, never stopping. That was another hint that I was being tricked, yet I still continued following them. However, nearing the end of the day, they headed towards an alley and I was curious to see what they were going to do."
"I was thinking they would do something scandalous," Matt wiggled his eyebrows at me and I stared at him in disbelief before guffawing, I wouldn't want to see my teachers make out. That's for sure. "But as I turned into the corner, Tristan and Alex, my friends, were standing in the spots of Ms Dyer and Mr Woo."
"I imagine that you were humiliated when you found out you were tricked. I would be," I snorted, imagining the whole situation if it was me.
"I was! And Tristan, being the joker he is," Matt scowled before tugging on his bag strap. "Told everyone. I was picked on for a week." I simply laughed before engaging him in a conversation of whom had more embarrassing incidents. I beat him by a landslide when I told him of one vivid situation of me being a klutz.
We soon stepped into our Math class, laughing loudly and as our teacher told us to settle down, I couldn't help but thank my luck for getting me such an amazing friend.
---
The week passed on quickly and soon it was Saturday. I had been anticipating my "hang-out" session with Clayton and my body was frizzled with nerves.
I had told Lauren and Charlotte about the date when they saw me panicking as I looked through my closet the day before. With a look at my state, they knew it was my first time hanging out with a boy I really liked and with that, they took over.
They looked through my closet and soon composed an outfit for me. I was thankful for them and with a little pep talk about how I shouldn't panic because we were just going to hang out and that I should just treat him like any other boy, I soon calmed down.
I made my way to the bus station at one o'clock and saw Clayton there with his hands pushed into his pockets as he leaned against a pole. There were other students there as well, occupying the bench leaving no space to sit. Clayton was wearing a plaid shirt tucked into khakis with his hair messily styled as usual. He waved at me with a cute, dimpled smile before walking towards me.
"Hey, you look nice." Clayton said, rocking on his feet.
"You too," I smiled at him. "So are we just gonna head to the pizzeria and then come back?"
"We can if you want..." Clayton trailed off, looking at me hopefully.
"If it's alright with you, I'd like to walk around town, since I've only been there once," I muttered bashfully. Clayton's face brightened up and another beam appeared on his face. "Sure! I'll show you around. Although I should warn you that it gets boring there after a while."
The bus with the Briarwoods logo stamped proudly on the sides drove up to the pavement before us and the students ahead of us pushed and pulled their way up the bus. It probably was a normal occurrence because I heard Clayton mutter under his breath, "they never learn." Upon our turn to board the bus, it was nearly full and I stumbled into a window seat, allowing Clayton to sit beside me.
Clayton slid into the seat before turning to me and starting the conversation, "I barely see you in school, except for English and lunch," he had a confused look on his face, as though it was strange. "Also, I'm curious, what club are you in?"
Our schedules didn't allow us to catch each other and that was a reason why we barely interacted, save our texting. "I'm from The Newspaper Club. How about you?" I asked him.
"I'm in baseball." Well that explains why he was so fit. I nodded in acknowledgement and we started playing twenty questions, eager to learn more about each other. I soon found out he lived in California and he had golden retriever lovingly named Buttercup and I told him about my experiences in school and how I had a massive obsession with reading. To which he responded, "well, you could recommend me some books. My mum's always up my ear about me reading too little."
Soon we entered town and got off the bus. The chaos of students hurriedly shoving each other to be out the bus first caused us to be the last ones to exit the bus. However, as soon as we stepped off the bus, I took in the view that I had only seen once before.
A pavilion stood proudly in the middle of the town, it's white canopy shielding it from rain and shine. There were numerous people on it, dancing to an up-beat song that was reverberating around the wide-open space around us. The stone tiled ground was made up of neutral colours that complemented the brightly coloured stores that were strategically placed around the pavilion. Illuminated signs lit the distinguished stores and students and residents alike were milling around, taking in the cool temperature of fall.
Clayton grabbed my hand and tugged me to the pizzeria that was beside the juice bar. He held his hands wide open as he told me "this is where heaven resides". I just simply stared at him until he dropped his hands, not at all embarrassed that everyone was staring at how queer he was acting.
"You're getting weird," I told him, feeling comfortable in his company.
"I'm just hungry, Lia." He retorted, gripping my hand and finding us a booth to sit at.
A waitress passed us both menus to look at and I immediately decided that I wanted a pepperoni pizza with a glass of coke. As the waitress took our orders, I took a glance around the pizzeria.
The atmosphere in the pizzeria was lively, with students making up most of the population. The chatters of the people around us provided a casual atmosphere and the place was lit warmly, as if accustoming itself with the season. I looked back to Clayton after the waitress was done with our orders and I found myself asking about the carnival my father texted me about.
"Hey, Clayton. I heard there's gonna be a carnival soon."
He looked up from the drink he was sipping before answering, "Yes. It's kind of a tradition here in Briarwoods to have a carnival." I nodded, excited about the thought of a carnival happening soon. "Not just any carnival though," Clayton added in an afterthought, "a swim carnival." He ended with a satisfied grin.
The pizza arrived soon after and we conversed more about our interests and I found myself enjoying the date more and more as time passed. Laughter filled our table as we finished our remaining pizza and soon we were heading out the door.
Clayton walked with me around town and we looked through shops, finding funny things to laugh about and my stomach was soon hurting from laughing excessively.
"Clayton." I gasped as I doubled up laughing from the joke he just made. "My stomach hurts from laughing too much."
Clayton just laughed more before leading me to bench sat both of us.
"So I take it that you enjoyed this date?" He looked at me with eager eyes. His hands were wringed together nervously.
"Yes, I did." I twirled a lock of hair nervously before saying, "We should do this again."
Clayton's smile widened as he slowly leaned in and pecked me on the cheek. "We should."