The moment I rang the bell to my house, it flew open and I saw a furious but still crying aunt Carrie. She had streaks of tears on her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy. I stepped on the single step that was in front of me and I got pulled into a tight embrace.
Aunt Carrie hugged me tightly and cried which made me smile.
It made me smile, again.
After a while she let go of me and started her complaining rant.
"I was so worried about you. When Kyle came over and said that you ran away from school, I thought that you'd come back before dinner but I was wrong. You had your cellphone off and I was just so damn worried about you, young lady." She ranted and I couldn't myself but to smile at her.
"And now you're smiling at me as if it doesn't even bother you." She continued but stopped and looked at my face once more. I smiled wider and she had opened her eyes wider than before.
"You're smiling?" She asked and I nodded.
"Oh my gosh, you're smiling." She stated this time and pulled me in a bear hug again. I just hugged her back still with a smile on my face.
"Come on, let's go inside. Kyle was worried about you too." Aunt Carrie said and I stepped into the house and she closed the front door behind me.
She walked towards the living room and I followed closely behind. Once we had reached the living room, I was once again embraced in a hug by none other than Kyle.
He wasn't crying but I could see the worry clearly on his face. I patted his back and he sighed into the hug.
"Don't ever do that again." He mumbled and I nodded still embracing the boy.
When we broke apart, I saw aunt Carrie smiling at the two of us. Kyle seemed to notice this and turned to her with a questioning look.
"What? Can't I just look at you two?" Aunt Carrie dramatically said and I smiled while Kyle laughed.
"No, because it's creepy." Kyle said with a smirk and aunt Carrie pouted, and then silence fell upon us which was broken from a rumbling sound that had come from my empty stomach.
Both Kyle and aunt Carrie looked towards me and I just sheepishly smiled.
"Come on I'll make something for you." Aunt Carrie said and went to the kitchen while Kyle and I were left in the living room alone.
"Will you tell me what happened today, Hayden?" Kyle asked softly after aunt Carrie had left the living room.
I bowed my head and I heard him sigh.
"Well, you'll have to explain to Claire though. She was so worried about you that she insisted that I take her here." Kyle said while shoving his hands in his jeans' pockets.
I looked at him wide eyed and he laughed at my action.
"I didn't bring her here. I just told her that she'll have to talk to you tomorrow at school." Kyle explained and I sighed in relief.
"Oh, but you're gonna get a hell of a lecture tomorrow, my friend." Kyle said with his hand now on my shoulder and I frowned upon that.
"Kyle, Hayden, come on. Food's ready!" Aunt Carrie yelled from the kitchen.
Kyle smirked at me and went into the kitchen leaving me with my thoughts.
What did he mean by lecture?
I shrugged and went into the kitchen as well.
I'll just have to wait till tomorrow to find out what he meant.
....................................
"You are really mistaken if you thought that you could run out of the school without telling anyone where you were going! And to top that of you left a badly bruised and hurt Jordan on the floor, and we had to be blamed for that when the teacher came! But I have to say that the way you had beat him up, it was so cool, man." Clayton was in front of me ranting away his thoughts and all I could do was eat the fries I had in front of me.
"And now you're ignoring me!" He yelled and Josh laughed at the tattooed boy.
"Let it go, clay. Just let it go." Josh said to the ranting teenager and laughed when Clayton pouted but sat down.
"You guys are really mean." Clayton pouted while the rest of us laughed.
"Where's Claire?" Kyle asked as he came up to us and then sat down beside Allyson who blushed hard as he sat.
"Ooh, looks like Allyson has a crush on pretty boy." Clayton teased while having his mouth full with fries that he stole from me.
"Shut up Clayton." Allyson sharply looked at Clayton and he shrunk under her gaze.
"Now tell me, where is Claire?" Kyle once again asked and I was dying to know the answer from these guys.
I had come to school late and then I met with Clayton, Josh and Allyson, but I didn't see Claire anywhere. I wanted to know where she was from them but then I stopped myself.
"Oh, she would be in the library. Something about, not wanting to eat." Josh said and Clayton nodded with his mouth full.
I frowned and stood up to go to library but then curious gazes stopped me.
"You going to the library, Hayden?" Kyle asked with a smirk and I slowly nodded.
"Why?" This time Josh asked me teasingly and I sighed before ignoring the smirks playing on the guys lips while Allyson stayed neutral.
I rolled my eyes at the teenagers and made my way out of the cafeteria. Once I had come into the hallway, I started walking towards the library having thoughts rotating inside my head.
Why is she in the library?
Why didn't she come to greet me like always?
I was confused to say the least. I had no idea why Claire was in the library, usually I'm the one in the library and she comes to find me.
I smiled at the irony. After a while, I was standing in front of the library trying to ease my heart. My heart had started thumping loudly and I wanted to control it before meeting Claire.
Once I felt myself a bit relaxed, I walked in the library being surrounded by silence and emptiness.
Only a few students were in the library at the time and my eyes immediately looked for the girl that stole my heart.
Seriously? Stole your heart? You're moving too fast. What if she doesn't like you?
Shutting out my inner voice I started walking towards the secluded area of the library, where I usually sat when I came here.
What I saw broke my heart and I immediately sat down on the carpeted floor beside the crying girl. She had her face buried in her knees which she held close to her body and I heard her crying. I knew it was Claire because of her hair color.
The crying girl felt someone sit beside her and she stiffened when I put my arm around her shoulder. She slowly lifted her head and I saw the tear stained cheeks and her red eyes. Just as she saw me, she tried to wipe at her eyes.
She stood up after she had wiped her eyes and picked her book bag from the floor and walked to the front of the library to leave. I stood up as well and followed her closely. She was walking faster by the minute but I wanted to know what was wrong so I ran after her and managed to hold her arm. She turned around and glared at me.
"What!?" The coldness in her voice sent chills to my spine and I frowned at her trying to figure out why she was acting this way.
"What do you want?!" She again questioned loudly and coldly. The bell had rung just after she finished her sentence marking the end of lunch.
I opened my mouth but then closed it knowing that I wouldn't say anything. She laughed coldly at my action and I felt my heart crack little by little at her behavior.
"Tell me what you want?" This time her voice was low but still deadly.
Once again, I opened and closed my mouth like a fish gasping for water.
"You can't say it, right?" She laughed again and I just stood there confused from her actions.
"You think that I don't mind when you don't talk to me, when you don't smile at me and when you don't acknowledge me the way I acknowledge you, but you're wrong. I mind, I really do mind. Every time I see you and Kyle together, I feel myself break because I know that the way Kyle knows you, I can never. I can't just stay happy with being close to you. I want to know you, I want you to know me. I want you to open up to me." She spoke in a whisper and poked my chest at the end of every sentence.
"Because.... I." She continued but then stopped. She was so close to me that we could feel each other's breath on our faces. She looked up at my eyes while I stared at hers.
"Because I like you, Hayden." She said and tears began to well up in her eyes as I felt my heart race.
"Because I really, really, like you and I want you to like me too." She whispered close to my mouth and her tears started falling out from her eyes.
"Is that too much to ask?" She asked and her tears kept falling. I raised my hands hesitantly and wiped away her tears, I was about to drop my hand back to my side when she grabbed it and pressed it on her cheek. She closed her eyes and sighed, and my heart only sped faster.
Say that you like her too, you idiot.
But how?
I looked at her beautiful face and I realized how weak I was. I was so weak that I couldn't even tell her how much she meant to me. After all she was the one that was changing me.
Her eyes were still closed and I leaned down, close to her lips before kissing her. It was as if I just had my lips on hers for a second and then I pulled away. She opened her eyes from the shock and she let go of my hand to put it on her lips While I smiled sheepishly at her. She had sprung away from me and we were now not close to each other which I greatly detested.
"You... you." She tried to speak and I scratched my neck.
After a pep talk in my head, I walked closer to her and grabbed her by the waist before embracing her. She had her head in the crook of my neck while I rested mine on her shoulder.
"You kissed me?" She whispered and I nodded my head. Her hands that were at her sides, now were wrapped around my neck while she cried.
"Does this mean you like me too?" She asked and I nodded my head. I felt her smile in my neck and I smiled as well.
In the empty hallway, having her in my arms knowing that she liked me too made me feel so light. It made me feel happy.
Someone shaking me broke me out of my thoughts. I dropped my hands to my side and looked around trying to find Claire. Clayton and Kyle were looking at me with worry and they had some unknown guy with them too. I looked at them confused. I got my cell phone out of my pocket and typed on it before handing it to them.
'Where's Claire? She was here just a minute ago.'
"Claire? I saw her run out of the school building crying. Did you do something to her?" Kyle asked and I recalled what had happened just a minute ago. We had confessed to each other that we liked the other. Then why did she run out of the school crying?
'No, we were talking and then we hugged.'
I typed and then showed the both of them to which they raised an eyebrow.
"You hugged?" Clayton asked and I nodded.
"Dude. She was screaming at you and stuff, and then she ran out the school. I didn't see you two hugging." The unknown guy spoke and I looked at him confused.
"Okay, thanks Randy. You can go now." Clayton said to the guy and he went away with his hands in his jeans' pockets.
'But we hugged.'
I typed again but the boys shook their heads and spoke.
"Let's talk about this later. We have to go to class, Hayden." Kyle said and I nodded slowly confused at what just happened.
Was I just imagining all of that happening? Or was it real?
We walked to class silently and the two boys kept looking at me while I walked with them as if there was a problem with me.
I needed to talk to Claire.
Everything that humans can imagine is a possibility in reality.
-Physicist Willy Karen.