Jack:
"Bridget is so freaking hot." Zach flopped on the couch.
"You wanna know who else is hot?" Zach nodded. "Deja."
"Hey back off buddy!" Jonah threw a pillow at me. I winked. "Deja is pretty though."
"She's really pretty, but you know, Bridget is gorgeous," Zach said. I rolled my eyes.
"What do you even know about Bridget?" I asked. "Like, you haven't even had a conversation with her."
"I know that she's freaking hot." I picked up the same pillow Jonah threw at me and I whacked Zach with it. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"For being a freaking idiot!" I yelled whacking him again, but harder.
"Boys!" Daniel walked into the room. "Stop."
"Why are you whacking me?!" Zach got up looking irritated.
"Because you're an idiot!"
"How am I an idiot?!" Zach and I were standing face to face in the living room. The guys were watching from the couch.
"You only like a girl for their looks, Zach. Do you know how bad that can hurt a girl?" I asked.
"I like girls for more than their looks."
"Liar."
"I'm not lying! Why do you care so much about why I like a girl?"
"Because you legit hurt a girl just now because you chose to like another girl because of her looks," I said. "She's probably sitting in her room right now, listening to simp songs on her laptop with her blankets covering her body because she wished a guy liked her for who she is."
"Who are you talking about?" Zach asked.
"It doesn't even matter, Zach. You're not worth her tears or her time."
"Who?!" Zach asked again.
"Figure it out."
"Okay, that's enough guys..." Jonah stood up and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Maybe you guys had a little too much Sprite back at Taco Bell. It's time for you guys to all go to bed."
Jonah led me back to my room. I sat down on the bed. I groaned.
"What's up?" Jonah asked shutting the door to the room.
"He's a freaking idiot!" I yelled.
"Why do you think he's a freaking idiot!
"He's hurting girls by only liking the ones with pretty faces."
"Who's the girl you were talking about downstairs?"
"Deja," I replied. "Deja likes him a lot, like more than a lot, but he's too distracted by what Bridget looks like to know that. Deja almost went home crying. She lost like total hope in love even though I told her Zach's not worth it!" Jonah looked angry too.
"She was crying?"
"Almost."
"We're gonna go check on her tonight after everyone's asleep, so just meet me in the front yard," Jonah said before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him.
I got ready for bed. I showered and threw on boxers. I placed a pair of sweats and a T-Shirt under my bed so I could just grab it and throw it on. I was too lazy to wear anything. I climbed into my side of the bed. I shared a room with Corbyn and since the room was big enough for one bed, we had to share. I pulled out my phone and I opened snap chat. I looked through the views on my story. I turned off my phone and placed it on my stomach sighing. I threw my arm over my eyes. I wanted to go to sleep, but I couldn't.
I could hear the guys downstairs laughing and talking. The laughing died down and I could hear several footsteps coming up the stairs. Corbyn walked in and yawned.
"You good?" He asked me.
"Yeah..." I yawned. "Just tired."
"What even happened downstairs?"
"Nothing. I think Jonah was right, that Sprite is making me delusional." Corbyn laughed.
"I'm gonna go hit the shower." He walked out of the room with towels and clothes. A few minutes later he walked back into the room dressed for bed. He turned out the lights and crawled in beside me.
"Corbyn?" I whispered after a few minutes. He didn't reply, but I heard him softly snore. I stared at the light coming from the hallway that was shining through the slit at the bottom of the door. It turned off after a few minutes. I felt my eyes starting to fall when the door opened a crack.
"Jack?" A voice whispered.
"What?" I whispered back. "Who is it? I can't see."
"It's Jonah. Let's go."
I got out of bed and grabbed the clothes from under my bed and threw them on. "Ready..."
We quietly snuck down the stairs of the dark house. Our manager was in the backyard talking to a few people who were helping direct our next music video. We softly opened the front door being careful to not to make any noise when we left.
We walked across the street. It was about 10 pm now. Deja's dad's car wasn't in the driveway, meaning they weren't home.
"Which window is hers?" Jonah asked.
"I don't know." We studied the windows.
"It's that one." Jonah pointed at a window on the second floor. There was a golden dim light glowing on the inside.
"How do you know?"
"Deja likes to hang golden colored Christmas lights in her room because she's scared of the dark." I laughed.
"She's scared of the dark?"
"No, but you laughed at a lie which makes you a jerk." He punched my shoulder and I winced in pain. "She likes the color. She says the lights in the dark to her resemble a symbol of hope in the world. That's why she likes them."
"She's so deep bro, I like it." Jonah picked up a small pebble and threw it at her window. "What are you doing? You're gonna break a window!"
"Sh!" He shushed me. We looked up. Deja slid her window open. "Deja!"
"Jonah?" She whispered.
"Hi, Deja!" I whispered.
"Zach?"
"It's Jack you nut head!" I whispered.
"Sorry, sorry, you sound like Zach. What are you guys doing here?"
"We came to see how you were doing," I replied.
"You told Jonah?!"
"Yeah, but not everything."
"Why???!!"
"Deja, do you not trust me?" Jonah spoke up.
"I do Jonah, I just didn't think it'd be Jack telling you my secrets..." She gave me a glare. I scratched my neck awkwardly.
"Sorry..." I said.
"It's fine. I'll be right down." We waited in front if her door. The door unlocked and she let us inside.
We walked into her house and she led us up to her room. The three of us sat on her bed. Her room was very neat and very well decorated.
"Is this me?" Jonah pointed at one if the Polaroid pictures on the wall.
"Yeah..." Deja blushed.
"I want a picture of me on your wall!" I smiled. She laughed and pulled out a Polaroid camera from under her bed. I posed for a picture and she took the picture.
She laughed at my twerking pose. "You're a weird kid Jack." I laughed.
"I'm not a kid!"
"Yeah, you are." She continued to laugh.
"You're a kid, you haven't even graduated from high school yet."
"And when did you graduate?"
"Last week," I said proudly. She laughed. "I want a picture with you."
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
"Okay!" She smiled and handed the camera to Jonah. We both smiled, but I quickly gave her a weird funny face type of look making her laugh right as Jonah snapped the picture. We waited for it to dry before it came to life. It was perfect. She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the picture before handing it to me.
"Here, you can have our picture." She handed me the picture. I smiled and slid it into my phone case.
"Thanks best friend."
"Best friend?"
"Yes, best friend."
We continued to laugh and talk for another half an hour before her family came home. She walked us downstairs.
"Hi, dad!" Deja called.
"Hi, baby girl..." He said before looking at Jonah and I. "Hello boys."
Jonah and I waved.
"Dad, this is Jack. He's one of my new friends. My best friend!" She attacked me with a hug. It kind of felt weird since she's 16, but she's only two inches shorter than me.
"Nice to meet you, Jack." Her dad shook my hand.
"You too." I grinned. Deja's stepmom, Brianna and her step sister Bridget both rolled their eyes and shoved past us. Rude. Deja noticed.
"Hey, witches, how about next time instead of pushing right past my friends like they're invisible, maybe greet them or at least say excuse me. My friends aren't pieces of trash and you don't own the place." Deja said with her arms crossed.
"Are you really going to let her talk to me like that, Bryant?" Brianna asked.
"Deja, watch your attitude." Her dad said. I couldn't believe it.
"Dad, it's not fair that they don't do anything around this house, but they act as if they own the place."
"Deja, that's enough." Her dad warned again.
"Whatever..." Deja rolled her eyes. "Let's go, guys."
She walked us to our front door in complete silence. I felt bad for her. She was being mistreated by her stepfamily, her dad was under some kind of spell and on top of all of that, the guy she was in love with was in love with her evil stepsister.
"Deja, you can stay if you want," I said as we stood in front of the door.
"Nah, I'm okay..." She shrugged and then shivered from the cold. Just then, the door swung open and our manager stood there.
"David!" Jonah and I said awkwardly.
"Why aren't you boys in bed?" He asked.
"We were checking on a friend," Jonah said. He pointed towards Deja. "David, this is Deja. She's a really good friend of mine from Minnesota and she was really feeling down because her stepfamily is super rude to her."
"We just wanted to make sure she was alright," I spoke up.
"She's a really great person and she's also a really great singer!" Deja gasped.
"Jonah, you weren't supposed to say anything about my voice, you promised!" She hit him.
"You can sing?" David and I both said.
"She can really sing." Jonah smiled. "She just doesn't like to show it because of what happened in 4th grade."
"We never speak of that day," Deja said trying to walk away, but Jonah grabbed her arm.
"Why don't you come inside Deja, we can have a little talk," David said. "Do you like coffee?"
"No, I think it's gross and I don't wanna drink caffeine before bed." We all walked into the house.
"How does hot chocolate sound?"
"That sounds good," Deja smiled. We all sat down at the island. David made hot chocolate for the four of us.
"Tell me about your family, Deja," David said taking a sip from his hot chocolate.
"Well, I've lived with my dad most of my life. My mom passed away when I was 8 while giving birth to my younger brother Devon who also passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Jonah was one of the only people there for me at the time and he used to babysit me and play video games with me. We became good friends. When Jonah left, I didn't really have anyone to call my family at home since my dad was always at work, so my dad remarried. He married a woman with a daughter who treats me like freaking crap and literally these two boys at this table are my only escape from them." I finally understood why Deja meant so much to Jonah.
"Jonah babysat you?" David asked.
"Yup. Best babysitter ever, even though I broke my ankle twice and dislocated my shoulder once, it was all worth it." We all laughed.
"Now, let's talk about singing. How long have you been singing?" He asked.
"I don't even know, to be honest. Maybe when I started talking. My mom was a really great singer and she would always encourage me to keep singing and she'd always sing me to sleep. After her death, I was a bit devastated, but I kept singing because it was the one thing that helped me remember her and her voice." Whenever she says something deep, it gives me chills, so I shivered. I laughed in my head after.
"May I ask what happened in 4th grade?"
"Well, you guys can't tell anyone." She whispered. David and I nodded. "In 4th grade, my teacher asked me to sing a solo for our end of the year assembly. I didn't want to, but Jonah pushed me to. So, I practiced and practiced. On the day I had to sing, I felt like I was going to die. I stepped on that stage. The whole school was staring at me. The intro of the song wasn't even done playing when I threw up all over the stage and my 4th-grade teacher who was standing next to me. I ran off the stage and straight home not even caring that school wasn't over."
"And you just don't sing anymore because of that?"
"I'm scared I might throw up again." I grabbed her hand and stroked the back of her hand with my thumb.
"Can you by chance sing me a song?" He asked. I grinned.
"I mean, I guess?" She looked around. I grabbed the guitar off the couch and walked back over.
"What song?" I asked.
"It depends on what you know how to play."
"Do you know how to sing Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur?" She nodded. I began playing the chords and she smiled. She started singing. I was stunned by her angelic voice. Jonah, David and I all clapped softly.
"Your voice is beautiful," David said. "I think you'd really succeed with your amazing voice."
"Thank you." Deja flushed a red color.
"I have to go finish some stuff for the guys and go home, but you can stay as long as you like. Jack and Jonah, you two need to be in bed by 12. No later than that." We both nodded.
We continued to drink hot chocolate and laugh. Jonah yawned and stretched his arms, placing his cup in the sink.
"I'm gonna go sleep." He yawned again.
"Night, JoJo," Deja said. He walked over and placed a kiss on her head before walking upstairs leaving the two of us.
I put our stuff away and we walked over to the couch. I turned on Netflix and we began watching 13 Reasons Why. I didn't know why so many people were obsessed with this show, but it was interesting in a way. Deja lied her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her. Before I knew it, she was asleep. I positioned myself on the couch. She lied in front of me. I wrapped my arm around her waist so that she wouldn't fall forward. I turned out the lights and the TV and I shut my eyes. I made sure to text her dad on her phone so that he knew she fell asleep and I'd drop her off in the morning. He just sent and okay text. I sighed with relief and went to sleep.