My birthday on May 27th....yay! haha sorry for the late update, I mean it. REALLY SORRY FOR THAT. BUT I UPDATED NOWWWW
Chapter Twenty Three: "I Can't Describe You."
"TARZAN, JUNGLE MAN, swinging from a rubber band, oops falls breaks his bones-"
"Wait...I swear its flip flops breaks his bones."
"No it's oops falls." I told Eduardo who's giving me a look claiming that I am totally at fault in this hand game back from elementary school days.
"No it's not. I don't know how you say the game back in your city but in this town we say 'oops falls'." He told me and I let him win, rolling my eyes and turning to Octavia in my seat who was putting new songs onto my phone. My friends and I were seated at our table in the quad, each of us within our own conversations.
"Put this song." Zen told her, grabbing my phone out of Octavia's hand and looking through it.
"Um...what the hell is that? No, she doesn't need any of your depressing music."
"She doesn't need any of your music where all you do is shake your ass."
"You just insulted an entire culture of music."
"So did you." Zen pointed out, tugging on the sleeves of his black sweater.
I almost shivered underneath my blazer as a cold breeze whipped through the air. The weather was getting colder and colder, affecting me as I left my sweater in my locker like an idiot and didn't bother getting it when Mary Anne dragged me outside to the quad.
Someone tapped on the back of my shoulder and I quickly looked behind me to find Lucas looking down at me his hands holding onto the beanie and the piece of cake in the Tupperware, the ring on his middle finger glinting before the sun went behind the clouds.
"Hey."
"Hi." I told him, reaching over to my backpack to hand him something. "Here."
"What is that?" Kim asked, eyeing what I was giving to Lucas concealed in a container.
"It's a type of stewed beans and rice that my mom usually makes," I answered for her. "Lucas here doesn't like beans in general but I promised him that he'll like this."
"I'm putting my faith in you," Lucas mumbled.
"My mom's cooking never fails," I assured him. I wasn't lying. My mom could cook up a storm in the kitchen if she had the chance to. I eyed the food inside the Tupperware Lucas was holding. "So this is what you made last night? The actual guava cake?'
"I told you I would make it for you, didn't I?"
We both shared a smile as I grabbed a fork. Another cold breeze whipped through the air and I shivered once again. Lucas noticed, asking, "You cold?"
"Yeah, I need to go to my locker to get my sweater."
"I'll come with."
As we got up, starting to leave the quad, I heard Octavia shout, "Be safe."
Lucas looked confused by I coughed awkwardly knowing what she meant. "Um...she's just kidding."
"Interesting friends."
"I know." I said quickly as we passed by people who were playing on the trumpets.
My fingers trailed along the wall where a huge mural of a mermaid was one of the doors of an empty classroom. "This is so cool."
"I did that." Lucas mumbled, tracing along the outline of the mermaid tail, and tracing the blue and green scales that were blended into an aqua colour.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah...back in grade nine," Lucas shook his head and laughed in disbelief. "Sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm going to graduate eventually. It's so hard to believe. I feel like yesterday I was back in England and I didn't have to worry about getting certain grades or living up to expectations. I could just worry about what cartoon was on when I got home from school."
I couldn't help but smile at the thought of a young Lucas.
"I know how you feel." I mumbled as we moved along.
"Lucas!" A voice called out and we both turned around to see Jane running towards us, paint on her uniform shirt.
Lucas immediately groaned. "Jane I told you ten thousand times, you have to wash your shirt the second you get paint on it, remember? It won't come out with that brand."
"Who cares? It's not that big of a deal. These niners have been asking me what I do here since I got back and this will show them exactly what I do since they won't believe me."
"What do they think you do?"
"They think I act. Then one of them thought I sing which is stupid because I am tone deaf."
"I know." He deadpanned.
She glared him before turning to me with a bright smile. "Hey you must be Sydney." I gave her a small awkward wave in reply before she continued. "Lucas talks about you."
"Wait, he-he talks about me?" I asked confused, glancing at Lucas whose eyes widened.
"Yeah like yesterday-" Lucas stopped Jane from talking by taking his hand and slapping it over her mouth, pulling her against him.
He gave me a nervous grin before coughing awkwardly over Jane's head. "Uh...yeah, so, she's talks a lot. It's nothing. You'll get used it if you hang out with her more. Sometimes she talks about the wrong things at the wrong time so..."
Jane slapped Lucas' hand over her mouth frantically and he let go only for her to huff and push her long hair out of her eyes. "I don't talk a lot."
"Yes you do." Lucas said bluntly, leaning against a locker.
"Anyway," she shot Lucas another glare before looking at me with a smile. "Sydney, I hear you're probably the most famous dancer at our school."
I shook my head. "I doubt that."
"You are. I mean, I heard a rumor that you could be up to audition for the National Ballet-"
"No, no, no that's a lie. Definitely not. That would be an unbelievable dream." I admitted. I wasn't that good. At least I didn't think I was that good.
"Don't doubt yourself. If you think you're not good enough, soon you'll start to believe it." Lucas mumbled behind me.
"He's right." Jane agreed before someone had called her and she waved us bye, skipping over to them.
Lucas coughed. "I apologize for...that, her. She can be a little too much once you get to know her."
I gave him a small smile. "It's okay, she's really outgoing. I had a friend at my old school named Jane too. But she definitely didn't act like her." I felt a pang of nostalgia at the mention of my old friend.
I think Lucas noticed this too as we were walking because he was staring at me. "You really miss your friends, huh?"
"Yeah." I admitted, looking down at the ground until we got to my locker and I was struggling to put in the combination with Lucas so close to me.
Once I got it open, almost dropping the lock, I grabbed my sweater inside and shrugged on me. I looked over at Lucas to realize he was eating the food I had given him. "This is good. This is really good."
I shot him a smile. "That's not even proper food from Dominican. I just used to eat those a lot when I was younger."
"You're half Filipino, quarter Dominican and quarter South African right?" I nodded. "Damn. So much different foods in different cultures."
"Do you only think about food?" I asked him.
"I think about making food. There's a difference Canada girl."
I rolled my eyes when I heard another set of footsteps coming down the almost empty hallway. I closed my locker as Lucas and I both looked at his brother who was walking down the hallway with his friends on his sides.
Joey spotted us and walked over while his friends continued down the hall. He glanced at me. "Acosta."
"Cahill." Great, my day was basically ruined just by seeing this guy.
He looked over at his brother. "What's going on here?" He asked with a one sided smile.
"What's going on here? We're doing this thing, it's called talking." I responded. Clicking the lock into the place before turning it to zero so I wouldn't have to see the look on Joey's face when he glared at me.
I looked up just in time to actually find him glaring at me. "I wasn't talking to you."
"You're talking to me now." I gave him a fake smile before looking down at the Tupperware in my hand and opening the lid.
I looked up at Joey who raised an eyebrow at me. "What? Don't let what I'm doing stop you from talking."
Joey looked like he was going to call me something but he glanced up at Lucas and stopped himself from saying what he wanted.
"What do you want?" Lucas asked, looking kind of confused. "We don't really talk at school unless something happens."
Joey's eyes looked down for a second but he shook his head, regaining his posture. "I can't say hi to my brother?"
Lucas raised an eyebrow and the fact that they both looked so alike made me feel slightly uncomfortable. "Why?"
"I have to have a reason?"
"Everyone has to have a reason to do something." He's got a point there, I thought, taking a piece of the cake and eating it. It tasted pretty good in my opinion.
That's when I heard another pair of footsteps go through the almost empty hall. Lydia had her purse hanging on the crook of her arm and I could hear the clack of her flats and I knew she had small heels underneath her shoes.
"Joey they're waiting for us outside." She said before noticing that the other Cahill twin and I were in her presence. She looked down at me and instantly looked mad. Oh well. "You."
"My name isn't 'you' but yeah hi." I said bluntly, feeling annoyed at another person who disliked me. I looked over at Lucas, feeling my social awkwardness go away. "This is actually really good."
I noticed his lips change from a frown to a small smile as he shook his head at me. I glanced over to Lydia and Joey to find Lydia staring at Lucas and I with a raised eyebrow. She removed her eyes from me and looked at Lucas. "Lucas long time no see."
It was then that I watched as Lucas popped gum that was in his mouth and he looked confused for a second. "We had first period this morning."
"Oh."
"Yeah." He whispered in a tone that made me laugh under my breath.
Lydia cleared her throat and turned to Joey. "We need to go."
"Why? They can wait. I want to go across the street anyway."
"The café?"
"Yeah." He said in a way that made Lydia know that their conversation was over.
Lydia huffed and I leaned against my locker, wondering how the hell I was stuck in with the two people. "But we need to go."
"I don't want to."
"Joey-"
I coughed, not wanting to hear another word from them and get away before they got into an argument. "This sounds like a personal issue."
Lydia turned her head to face me so fast I'm surprised she didn't get whiplash. "No one asked for your opinion."
I was going to open my mouth to say something back when I caught Joey's eyes. He was warning me with his eyes on what I was about to say. I didn't take much notice of his empty threat that he was reminding me of but I kept my mouth shut.
I wasn't the only person who noticed I didn't retort. Lydia had a smug look on her face when she noticed that I didn't say anything and Lucas shifted.
He reached and grabbed my hand making me lose all the confidence I had built up from the gesture and my eyes widened. "We're going to get going."
"Same." Lydia said, putting a hand on Joey's bicep.
Lucas pulled me away, walking us down the hall and away from his brother. "You. You are something else." He mumbled.
I was confused. "What?"
"Yeah you're something else. You act shy yet once I got to know you you're talkative in a way I can't explain and then your sarcasm happens at the right moments...I-I just can't describe you."
I didn't speak for a moment before I opened my mouth in front of the doors that led to the quad. I slipped on my sweater and tilted my head at him. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
Lucas started to back away from me slowly, heading over to the direction of the room he was always in during lunch and I found myself already missing his presence. "It's a good thing. Trust me, it's a good thing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had just gotten off the phone with Wesley when I heard the raindrops hit the window. I looked over to see it pouring down lightly and hitting the pavement.
My phone started ringing again and I answered it without a doubt, leaning against the window. "Do you see the rain too?"
"Well that's a very interesting way to say hello to an old friend." Timothy said through the speaker.
I almost dropped the phone and a wide grin formed on my face. "Holy shit...I haven't heard from you in over a month, Timmy."
"Sorry about that S. It's good to hear your voice."
"Same to you." Timothy was an old dance partner of mine. At my old studio I was probably closer to him than anyone else.
Another call was coming in and I would have ignored it if I didn't notice that it was Lucas calling me.
"Hey I have another call coming in can you hold on a sec?"
"Actually don't worry I'll call you later anyway. I literally just snuck off practice to hear you."
I let out a short laugh. "Okay, I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah." He disconnected the call and I answered Lucas'.
"Do you see the rain?" I couldn't believe that he would be asking the same question I would've asked him.
"Yeah, yeah I see it. I knew it was getting cold but rain now? It's only October."
"I'm not the weatherman Sydney. Complaining to me about the weather will do nothing."
"Clearly I knew that." I replied with sarcasm.
Lucas laughed through the speakers when my phone beeped again. I couldn't hold out the groan I that came from my mouth as I moved the phone away from my ear. "What's wrong?" Lucas asked me.
I looked down at my phone to notice that Eduardo was the one calling me. "Um...Eduardo is calling me. Just-one sec."
I put Lucas on hold before answering Eduardo's call only for Mary Anne's voice to come through the speakers. This reminded me of a previous time. "Sydney?"
"Yeah what's up? And hurry up because Lucas is on the other line."
"Oh, oh, Lucas time again. I see how it is." Eduardo's voice came through and I rolled my eyes.
"What do you want?"
"Wow we are sure feeling the love today." I recognized Octavia's voice.
"I didn't mean it like that." I said with a smile.
"We know. Hey how about you merge the call with Lucas?"
"What? Why?" I defended. I was so sure that they were going to say something stupid about me.
"Because the question Eduardo has to ask involves him too."
I groaned loudly again, walking away from the window to lie down on my bed as I pressed buttons and Lucas ended up being on the call with the rest of my friends. "Sydney?" His voice called out.
"Sydney here." Eduardo said in a high voice that sounded nothing like me.
"Oh my God shut up. I don't sound like that." I said into the pillow.
Eduardo started laughing and I could hear Lucas chuckle. "Hey so Lucas, Sydney, we have a question to ask you."
"What is it?" Lucas asked.
"Oh," Eduardo exclaimed and I already knew he was going to ask a question that wasn't intended to be asked. "Are you two finally da-"
"What is the real question?" I said quickly, praying to God that Lucas didn't hear that sentence.
"Are you guys coming to the New York senior trip in the winter?"
"I know I am!" Eduardo yelled.
"Shut up Eddie no one asked you. Everyone knows you're coming." Octavia said.
"Good, we're going to make NYC ours for a week."
"Anyway, are you guys coming?"
"I'm not sure yet," I admitted. I had talked to my mom about it but she may have been leaning more on the no side at the time.
"Same."
"Lucas you and your family going to the other side of the world again or something?" Eduardo asked.
"I have no idea plus I kind of want to go on the senior trip anyway. It's right after New Years right?"
"Yeah, the third."
"You guys have to come. The entire senior class is coming." Mary Anne pointed out.
"Except for me." Octavia pointed out.
I could hear someone sigh on the other end. "Wait why aren't you coming?" Lucas suddenly asked, sounding like a confused puppy.
"I'm in LA for a movie."
"Wow, congratulations." He said, actually sounding happy for her.
"Thank you but I might be able to drop by for a second to see you guys."
"You better." Eduardo scolded.
"What about the Halloween dance? You're all going right?" Octavia asked.
"Maybe." I admitted again.
"Probably not." Lucas said.
"No, no, no, Lucas it's your last Halloween dance of your high school year. You better go." Octavia told him and I could imagine a certain look on her face.
"Octavia I'm afraid to tell you this but I don't dance."
"You don't have to dance."
"Guys it's called a Halloween dance for a reason." Eduardo pointed out.
"Okay, here's a deal. If Sydney can go to the dance, can you?"
"Sydney, are you going for sure?" Lucas asked me and he sounded as if the conversation was just between the two of us.
I hesitated. "I'll go."
I could hear a faint sigh and I could imagine Lucas shaking his head, not believing that he was actually doing this. "Okay, fine I'll go too." A faint squeal quickly turned into a cough from someone and I already knew it was Octavia, trying to hold in whatever excitement she got by his answer.
"Great," Eduardo said. "Plus I swear I've never seen you at a school dance."
"Yeah school dances aren't really my thing." Lucas admitted.
"You just haven't experienced a Hamilton school dance for as long as you've been here man."
"You would say that considering you asked your current girlfriend out in the ninth grade Halloween dance." Octavia pointed out.
"Wow three years."
"Yeah." Mary Anne said but the way they both said it made it sound like something was up.
"Well, I gotta go." Octavia said abruptly as a faint yelling was heard in the background.
"Same." Mary Anne agreed.
"See you on Monday guys." Eduardo said before hanging up.
After no voices were heard, I cleared my throat, hoping one person didn't hang up. "Lucas?"
"Hey." He said, sounding a little less uncomfortable than he did when he was added into a conversation with more people.
"Hi." I replied, laying on my back and looking up at the ceiling.
"Since we're both going to the Halloween dance, what are you going to dress up as?"
"Something tells me you already know what I should be." I said.
"I have it...a Canada flag."
"That was shit." I laughed, sitting up. "That was so shit."
"That was not shit." He mocked me.
"Yes it was, that's like me telling you dress up as a turtle."
"And I would actually dress up as turtle if you dressed up as a Canada flag. Or as a girl that just represents her country like half your face would be red and the other half white and you'd walk around singing the national anthem really offkey-"
"How much thought did you put into this exactly?"
"None. I just thought of it now." He sounded like he had this really goofy grin on his face.
"You're an idiot." I had to remind him.
"No I'm not."
"Yeah you are."
"Well like John Lennon once said, 'As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot.''"
"Who's the woman behind you?"
"You want to volunteer for the position?" He suddenly asked.
I scoffed, almost falling off of the bed from his question. "That was such a funny question, I forgot to laugh."
"Sometimes I really hate your sarcasm." He said.
"No you don't." I argued.
"Okay I don't or else you wouldn't really be you. Now...are you going to come as a 'Canada girl' or not?"
"No."
There were so many things I could tell someone about how this conversation went. I just knew that as I was talking to this boy who probably had no idea of the feelings I had for him, I looked outside at the rain falling from the sky and my day wasn't reflected on the grey clouds.