"Rose Carter?"
"Here"
"Hampton Charter"
"Here"
"Niall Horan"
I raise my hand and she marks me down, my jaw hurts and I don't want to move. She continues down the list and I rest my chin on my head.
"Quinn Styles"
A perky girl I've never seen before raises her hand, she had long chocolate curls and fair olive skin. She had round boobs, that popped out of her red cardigan. That had a ring on every finger and twirled a cross between her fingers.
"You're new?" Mr. Robert's ask.
"Yes, this is my first day" she says.
"Well welcome to Elton View High School" Mr. Robert's says, before smiling. She smiles back and he continues with roll. I rest my head on the desk for the rest of the class, when the bell rings I am the last one out of the class, I see Quinn leaning against a locker reading her schedule.
"Do you need help?" I say, ignoring the pain in my jaw she looks up at me.
"You're the first male not to look at my boobs" she says, I chuckle running my fingers through my hair.
"I'm more of an eye person" I say, she smiles handing me her schedule. "Psychology, with Ms. Carville that's going be upstairs, the first class next to the boy's bathroom" I say, handing her back her schedule.
"You know this school pretty well huh?" she asks.
"Been going here for 4 years, it'd be pretty bad if I didn't" making her laugh.
"Thank you.... Oh, I didn't catch your name" she says.
"Niall" I say.
"Well hello Niall" she says, before walking away. I watch her leave before going to my next class, sitting in the back row I lose myself to the noise.
It's lunch, of course I don't have money and I left the morning so quickly that I didn't get to pack anything, as if there was anything in that house to begin with. I sit down at my usual table, sketching out a picture of me and mother. I change a few things every time I draw her.
"Is this seat taken?" Quinn's voice was so soft, I look up at her standing with her bright pink lunch box.
"Go ahead" I say, she takes a seat taking out her food. 3 containers filled with food and a water bottle.
"Do you not have food?" she asks.
"No, not today" I say, she cocks her head to the side like a confused dog. She opens a Tupper ware container looks at the contents before pushing it to me.
"Spaghetti not my favorite" she says, before handing me a fork.
"Uh, you don't have to" I say.
"I'm not going to let my new friend starve" she says, with a smile. I smile back before starting to eat, and it was like something I've never tasted before. It was so fresh and danced across my tongue.
"This is delicious" I say.
"My chef made it" as if everyone in the world had Chef's.
"You have a chef?" I say, she looks at me before realizing what she said.
"Yes, his name is Francis he used to be my Father's best friend but something happened and they don't really talk anymore but he loves me and understands my dad's tedious schedule so he cooks for me" she explains.
"Well give me my props it's delicious" I say, stuffing more in my face. The only food I get is from the small Italian place by my house in the Bronx. All of their food taste like it came off a fish truck, and I eat it so fast I can barely taste anything.
"Tell me about yourself Niall" she says, I look up from the bowl licking my lips.
"There is not much about me to know" I say.
"Well I want to know everything, and then I will tell you everything" she smiles.
I never had many friends growing up, my living situation was never great and after my mother died when I was 12, I shut in on myself blocking everyone I thought were my friend.
"Uhm, I guess when I was younger my Father left my Mother and I, I don't really remember him but I don't think I'd want to, I lived in Ireland my whole life until I turned 10 and my Mum realized she had a terminal cancer so we moved in with my Aunt and Uncle in the Bronx where we lived until she died...... They adopted me and now here we are" I say, she studies my face.
"I am so sorry" she says.
"Don't.... There was nothing that could have been down, it was a rare blood cancer and by the time she found out it was too late" I say.
"My mum died when I was born.... I guess I was too much for her, I lived with my Aunt Gemma until I was 5 my Father took my mum's loss really bad and buried himself in his work until my Aunt Gemma forced me into his life" she says, looking down at her fork.
"Well at least he is" I whisper.
"It probably would be better if he wasn't" she says with a sad chuckle, before shrugging. "He's barely home and thinks throwing money at me will make me hate him less" she says, I chew my food before swallowing awkwardly. "But I have Francis, Peanut Butter and Banana's my cats"
"That's good" I say swallowing air.
"Well let's hop off the pity party! What's there to do in this city!" She says.
"You mean New York?" I say, she has a personal chef but hasn't been to New York before.
"Uhm we have a lot of museums, and there is central park and time square" I say.
"I want to see it all!" she says.
"What?"
"I am going to be all alone at home, my dad is off in Europe or whatever and he hasn't hired help yet I don't want to be alone! Will you show me around?" she says.
"I guess" I say, finishing the spaghetti.
"Fantastic!" she squeals.
Elton View High School, was 4 hours from the city. Two buses, a train ride, and a cab ride into the city. It takes extra-long to get there, but time seems to fly. We arrive at Time Square first, Quinn holds my hand like small child experiencing the city for the first time. She took pictures with Elmo, Cookie Monster, Spiderman whose suite didn't fit, and some other cartoon character.
"Are you hungry? I'm starving!" Quinn exclaims, dropping her shopping bags on the floor in front of us. So many that I couldn't count.
"We can go to Omar's" I say.
"What's that!" she says.
"It's really good, and not far from here"
Omar's was a African/Ethiopian/Caribbean/Chinese food place. It sold everything you were craving from pickles to pickled eggs. Quinn sits down at the cleanest looking table, and I walk to the counter.
"Can I get 2 number 3's with extra fries and two sodas" I order, pulling out my wallet.
"Will that be all?" the elderly Asian women says, eyeing before slamming her fingers on the cash register.
"Yes" I say. I pay before sitting down, falling back in my seat.
"Thank you for being my tour guide Niall!" Quinn says, happily.
"It's nothing" I shrug.
"Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all!" she says.
"Nothing, nothing at all" I say, she sighs leaning on the table studying my face. She smiles.
"You remind me of Francis" she says, before pulling away. Our food arrives and she devours the food. "You should come over! Sleep over!" she yells, with food in her mouth.
"Sleep over, it's really late notice" I say, drinking down the rice.
"Come on! Please! My dad won't be home for another week!" she says.
"That's not the problem" I say, she sighs staring at me.
"I'm sorry if I'm being a little, over excited" she says, popping open her can. "I've never had many friends, I was always moving and when people found out who my father was they were always using me and you seem real! You seem like a genuine person and I guess I'm a little over excited" she says, with a smile. I stare at her, before sighing.
"One night won't kill me"