"Huh?" I awoke, sitting up so quickly that I got a head rush. There was a high-pitched buzzing coming from somewhere in my vicinity, however, I failed to pinpoint the source. The sound was vaguely familiar and it grew louder as I got up and started searching around my room for the source.
"Found it!" I uttered to myself as I pulled my hand out from under my bed, holding my phone. God knows how it got there.
From: Note Boy.
Good morning.
It was a simple message which would normally leave little to be questioned; however as I glanced over to my alarm clock, the number 5:30 blinked back at me. I was outraged that the message had broken my usual sleeping pattern as I was not supposed to wake up for hours. I
In my fury, I impulsively sent a text back immediately.
To: Note Boy.
Its five freaking AM. This is not MORNING!
I had completely given up on the thought of sleep by this point because I knew my body wouldn't pull me into slumber again until night, no matter how hard I tried. My rage only boiled deeper as his replied came within a minute, alerting me of his sarcastic view.
From: Note Boy
It's actually 5:30, and if we follow the scientific definition, it is, in fact, morning.
In a daze at the nerve he had to mess with me and my one best friend (also known as sleep), I realise that his sin was only worsened by a further fact which I didn't hesitate to remind him of.
To: Note Boy
It's a SATURDAY! Haven't you ever heard of a sleep-in?
His reply came quick and without delay.
From: Note Boy
Nah
At first I believe he was answering in jest, but as the minutes passed by and he failed to elaborate or correct himself, I was led to believe he was telling the truth. Well; I'm sure he'd heard of a sleep-in, he's just failed to have one which prompted my next question:
To: Note Boy
Why don't you have sleep-ins?
He must have been a fast typer, because once again his message came in record time:
From: Note Boy
It's a waste of time. The days are fleeting and we have to make the most of them.
I was almost moved by his small but slightly inspirational explanation, but I couldn't help the unnerving feeling like there was more to it than he would care to let on... almost like he was afraid to be asleep.
I decided it would be smarter not to pry into the private life of someone I barely knew, and instead, offered up a new question which had caught my intrigue:
To: Note Boy
Why are you texting me anyway?
Short and to the point, he replied, 'Why not?'
I rolled my eyes towards the wall in front of me which was littered with pictures of my friends and I in recent years. There had to be hundreds of photos, almost hiding the soft blue paint from view. My favourite had to be the one where Josh had sneezed just before the picture was taken and knocked Annie, Chelsea and I, as well as himself to the ground. Even in the awkward position, you could see by our faces we were all truly happy.
I knew deep down that this picture was far from my favourite, but at the same time, I had promised to never again look at the one I truly loved.
I shook myself from my thoughts and continued trying to prove why Note Boy shouldn't be texting me. I recalled him saying something once and so I reiterated it to him now with the comment, 'because as you said, there are better things to do with your time.'
Even though it had taken minutes for me to respond to his message, his next one came straight away, as if he had been holding his phone awaiting the text tone. He claimed, 'I got bored on my run,' but I seldom believed him.
Regardless, I decided to humour him and went along with it by saying, 'well, I'm not very good company.' The next thing he sent, brought a small smile to my lips even though I'd never admit it to anyone, especially him. He said, 'I'm sure that's not true.' I could almost hear the soft, low tone, uttering the words in my head. It wasn't much but I rarely got a compliment, especially from the opposite gender so it was a good moment for me.
Before I got to reply once again and see where the conversation could go, I heard my mum's voice call my name from down the stairs. I screamed back a "yes," prompting her to continue and she then proceeded to ask me to come downstairs to her.
When I inquired into why, still using my elevated tone, she yelled back, "you have a visitor." I failed to understand why the hour of five AM on a Saturday had suddenly made me more popular with people than I have been for quite a while, but either way I rushed down the stairs, eager to find out who my supposed guest was.
I had hoped to find Annie so I could apologise, but my bubble of excitement burst when I found Josh standing there. That may have sounded a bit harsh; of course I was happy to see my guy best friend, I had just wished it had been Annie instead.
Taking on my usual playful demeanour, I rolled my eyes, "What do you want?" I asked. His words came quickly in a panic, "we have a problem."
I felt my body tense up, preparing for the worst as I inquired, "what is it!?" My tone now matched his as we rushed out the door without me even bothering to get dressed. I had hoped he'd explain his rush, but my hopes were dashed when he declared, "I'll explain when we get there."
We hopped into his car and he began to speed in the direction of his house; his foot pressing harder on the pedal than necessary. I recalled wondering if something was wrong with his parents.
Once we finally arrived I bolted out of the car and up into his house due to the fact they generally left their front door open, this time being no exception. The moment I stepped foot inside, I was met with Josh's smiling mother, alerting me something was amiss.
I narrowed my eyes at my surroundings and spotted nothing out of the ordinary, but that did little to ease my discomfort. A sweet voice caused my head to turn to Josh's mother as she greeted me, "hello dear. What's the rush?"
She placed the flowers she had been holding in a vase on the table and started to arrange them, acting like nothing was wrong as I explained, "Josh said there was a problem." I then proceed to send a confused look over my shoulder Josh who had just entered the house behind me.
She raised an eyebrow at her son before looking back to me, "Oh, did he now?" My eyes flitted between the pair and as a look of guilt crossed his face, I knew this whole ordeal was terribly exaggerated. "It is a problem," he claimed regardless and crossed his arms.
I turned to face him head on, my arms mimicking his movement as I asked, "what exactly is this problem?" Before the guilty party had a chance to reply, Mrs Johnson answer for him by saying, "he was asked to babysit Layna."
My first thought was; you have got to be kidding me. I was actually surprised I had fell for it and not realised sooner, after all, this wasn't the first time he had used this same method to drag me to help him with Layna.
I still could not believe that Josh had rushed me over here- panicking the whole time I might add- to help him babysit his little sister. This was the third time and though I knew he was bad with kids I couldn't help feeling he took it a step too far.
"You've got to be kidding me," I voiced my earlier train of thought and felt the sudden urge to punch Josh. I withheld this urge however, for the sake of his mother as I'm sure she wouldn't want to see her son on the ground in pain.
"I'm out of here," I declared, opening the door, prepared to leave. He fell to his knees in front of me, successfully blocking the doorway, "please just stay and help," He begged, "you know she's a devil."
"Don't talk that way about your sister, she is such a gem," his mother scolded, with a stern face, "'you could take a lesson from her."
They both had a point from their own perspectives. Layna was the perfect child whenever their parents were around, but she hated Josh with a passion. The minute they turned around she would go crazy on Josh. I on the other hand, was one of her favourite people, so she always behaved for me.
"Fine, I'll stay," I gave in, thinking about the possibility Josh could come to school bald again on Monday (don't ask) and took pity on the poor soul. I saw him physically relax, so I decided to be a teensy bit mean, "On three conditions," I said, and held up 3 fingers.
"Yes?" He drew out warily, knowing he was probably not going to like what I said. With that, I put down one finger with a, "one," and listed my first condition, "you let me borrow some clothes."
He nodded, seemingly pleased my demands weren't unreasonable yet. I let myself think for a moment before I said, "two," and the second finger went down as I commanded, "you cook me lunch; and none of that crappy two-minute-noodle stuff."
In all my years of knowing Josh, I had learnt he was the best cook out of my friends. Now, he was far from Adriano Zumbo and my dad was still the better chef; however, when your parents are gone a lot you come to appreciate the fine art of home cooking...
It also benefited me as it seemed as if I could burn water.
He nodded, once again agreeing and allowing me to go on. He seemed slightly more hesitant this time, as if he didn't wish to do it and I knew that somehow he would manage to get out of it one way or another.
Regardless, I continued, "third and finally," I paused for effect, dropping my hand down to my side, "Get on your knees." I sent him a smug smirk, knowing that I had the upper hand and he was practically my slave.
He sent a confused look in my direction as he asked, "what?" My glee heightened as I got more excited as to the event about to partake as I made my last condition even more clear with the words, "you heard me; you're going to beg and grovel."
"No, nah-uh, no-way." he denied in repeat, shaking his head to the point I believed it could fall off with a slight poke. I shrugged, internally dancing as I made my way towards the door saying, "ok, enjoy taking care of the 'devil' yourself." Just as I was about to make my great escape he grabbed my arm and sighed, stopping my movements.
I grinned in victory, knowing I'd won and turned back to face him. I signalled for him to get on his knees and he did as asked this time though he continued to shake his head.
"I hate you." He mumbled with little conviction. "Aww... I love you too," I mocked and he let out a low chuckle knowing that (like always) I was completely right.
Once he was in position, holding one of my hands like I was royal he asked, "what am I meant to say." I shrugged, still unaware myself and simply put, "whatever comes to your heart." He proceeded to smile in a way that told me this wasn't going to be conventional begging.
Moments later, my feeling was proven true as he begun in a fake British accent, "oh you wretched witch, though your beauty is only in your dreams, you are indeed beautiful on the inside..." I smiled a bit at this but it was slashed from my face when he went to talk again, "...about 5% of the time. However, I do beg of you to help me with the devil known as my sister." He had cringed at the thought of her and I let out a little chuckle, taking his words as a sort of compliment in a weird way.
"Way to get on my good side," I mumbled, though my glowing face told a story different from the anger I was trying to emanate. He shrugged as if none of this bothered him, "you laughed, didn't you?"
He had a point, but I was not letting him off that easily. I instead pushed him back onto his knees and demanded, "this time for real." He pouted like a child but it was soon replaced by a devious look causing me further worry as he started, "oh you beautiful goddess! Your beauty is that of fairy-tale and it never ends. In fact, you're so hot that I want to fu-"
His statement escalated so quickly I barely had time to process what he was about to say before I had to cut him off "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoaaaa there, Romeo." I paired my interruption with my hand slamming across his mouth which he just licked, causing me to remove it.
"Gross," I whined wiping his saliva on his shirt violently. Anyone would think I was afraid of getting 'boy germs' but I just had a slight phobia of slimy things touching me. That is why one of my worst fears were snails and slugs, though I refuse to tell anyone that.
"Why'd you interrupt me?" He asked pretending to be confused, even though he knew exactly why and it showed through his innocent façade. "You know why," I stated in monotone, barely amused.
"Please, refresh my memory," He placed he hand to his ear as if it would help him better hear some secret I was about to tell him. I bit on my lower lip to stop myself from lashing out. Even though Josh joked about sleeping with me, I knew it would never happen, and I was happy about that. I strongly believe that it was his goal to get me to swear a lot because I was fairly conservative with my language.
"I think that's enough begging for today. Where's this sister of yours," I turned and started to walk down the hall. I caught a glimpse of Josh's reflection in the mirror, pumping his hand up in victory and so I commented, "I saw that," earning a blush of embarrassment and a mumbled apology as we enter the living room.
I have always loved his home. Though they aren't as rich as Annie or mine's family, the minute you walk in the door, you immediately feel at warm and welcome. Don't get me wrong, they're not poor or anything, in fact they're quite well off.
The living room has a purple, brown and white theme. It may seem like a weird combination but it is actually quite elegant. The furniture was enough to seat six comfortably and was spread out enough to make the room seem larger than it was. I had spent many days huddled around the large flat screen TV with my friends playing video games and eating my worth in weight.
"MELON!" A girly scream came from my side, and before I could react, I had been tackled to the ground by the aforementioned devil. "Lay-ne," I greeted back, somehow managing to pull the giggling 5 year-old off me.
"Why haven't you been here for so long?" She pouted, looking extremely disappointed by my absence from her difficult toddler life.
"Sorry Layna, I had to look after my own little brother," I apologised, causing heat to rise to her face at the mention of Sam. Though they were only five, the pair had managed to get a crush on each other. I could picture them getting together sometime in high school but I'm sure it will still be a while.
"It's o-k! Please just try to come more often; pleaseee. I can't be stuck with him," She forgave me and began to beg as she pointed in disgust at her brother with a scrunched-up face.
"Hey! You're related to me you know. What's so special about Melissa?" Josh asked in response to her pleas. It took me a moment to register his words, but when I did, I said a sarcastic "ouch," as though his words had hurt me.
He shook his head at me, "You know what I meant." I shrugged, not caring that my act had been cut after it had barely started and took Josh's hand to raise myself from the ground with a promise to Layna that I would try.
She nodded enthusiastically at the words of my promise as she grabbed a hold of my hand, pulling me in the direction of her room. "I got a new barbie I want to show you!" she cried.
With that said, I knew it was going to be a long day.
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"NO!" Josh screamed out, covering his ears with his hands. I rolled my eyes at his childish behaviour and uttered the words, "come on, it's not that bad." He nodded, pretending to be in agreement with me before he smashed his façade as he argued, "your right; it's worse."
"Don't be such a baby," I whined, trying to pry his hands from away from his ears with little success as they failed to budge from their place. Eventually, he removed them voluntarily, but didn't waste a second in continuing his fight with the fake fact, "you know this is considered torture in some countries?"
My eyes dislodged once again, "Oh come on! This isn't being stretched on a table or beat up unmercifully! It's just a barbie movie!"
We had played Barbie in Layna's room for about half an hour before her parents had left. After their departure, we decided to instead watch a movie. By the point this conversation had commenced it had been 11am and we had already watched three Barbie movies in the past hours, but now Layna insisted on watching a forth.
"Anything but this!" Josh begged, falling to the floor and gripping onto my leg. I groaned under the weight of him dragging me down, "Fine, why don't we take her to the park before lunch."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said quickly, jumping up and squeezing the life out of me, eliciting a dramatic cough from me as I pushed him away yelling, "ok, can't, b-breathe."
"Oops, sorry," he apologised, letting me go as he slowly became himself again. I decided it was smart to ignore the victorious smirk on his face and instead went over to kneel in front of Layna. "Is it ok if we take you to the park, sweetie?" I asked in the voice I only used around children.
"Is the dork coming?" she had asked, raising her hand to signal to her older brother. I giggled at her choice of words but nodded and explained, "yes the dork is coming." She huffed in annoyance, so I decided the only way to convince her was by adding this, "we can bring Sam."
Her face immediately lit up and she nodded frantically, "yes please. I'll go get my jacket." She squealed in excitement as she ran off to collect the said item.
"I'm not sure if it is cute or weird that my sister has the hots for your brother," Josh stated, with a look of disgust. I just shrugged, "you had the hots for me in year seven but you got over it... It's probably just a phase she's going through."
"Yeah...right. About that-"
"I'm back!" Layna giggled, interrupting her brother. She ran over and plopped herself on my lap. "What is it?" I asked looking back to Josh, who looked slightly annoyed, giving him the opportunity to continue his thought.
He shook his head, "It can wait till later." I nodded slowly and unsurely, but he smiled to reassure me it was fine. I smiled back as I lifted the munchkin from her spot on my lap.
"You ready beby?" I asked staring into her little blue eyes. "I was born ready honey," she replied in her sassy tone as she flipped her blonde hair across her shoulder. It had taken us ages to get that down right.
"Then let's go."
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"Idiot." I muttered, smacking Josh across the back of the head. "Hey, what was that for?" He gasped, rubbing the spot I'd hit, pretending to be injured. I shrugged, allowing a short response, "for being an idiot."
I folded my arms and looked over to the equipment where our siblings had set up camp. They were playing around and giggling, and it was the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. "I'm hungry," Josh complained breaking me from my thoughts.
Being slightly annoyed at the interruption, I turned to him with a huff and suggested, "go buy something to eat." He sent me the cutest 'puppy-dog' face that he saves for special occasions and asked, "can't you?" I only shook my head at this.
"Come on! I know you're hungry too," he tried to convince me. I knew I was, but I wouldn't tell him that. "Nuh-uh" I said like a child, and as the universe chose to spite me, my stomach grumbled aloud. "Hotdogs?" I asked, giving into my protesting belly, he nodded and held out a twenty dollar bill for me to take.
I walked towards the stand and luckily the queue was short, so I was the next to be served. When I walked up, I ordered two hotdogs and ten dollars later, they were steaming in my hands. My stomach growled once again as I started to walk, my eyes glued to the deliciousness that was hotdogs.
All of the sudden I felt something smash into me, resulting in my body spiralling towards the ground. I closed my eyes preparing for impact, but it never came. After about ten seconds I opened my eyes to be met by deep blue ones, staring back into my own.
"Are you alright?" The guy asked, sounding slightly worried. I looked down at myself and realised his arms were around my waist, having caught me before I hit the solid ground.
I shook away my thoughts and looked back at him with a smile. "Yeah... Though I can't say as much for the hot dogs." I winced as I glanced down at the poor smashed hot dogs on the floor, pouting I sadness.
"Dale!" The boy called to a guy in the hot dog truck. His eyes shot up to look at the boy before smiling. "Hey buddy, it's been a while," he greeted, while cutting open a bread bun.
"Listen, can you get this lady some new hotdogs? I was a klutz again, and ending up making her drop them," the guy who had caught me asked. "Sure thing," the other male agreed, turning to start cooking the items.
The first boy walked with me over to the truck before he turned to me with a boyish grin. "I'm Shaun, by the way," he introduced himself as he held out a hand for me to shake. "Melissa." I returned the favour, accepting his offered hand.
His smile was dazzling to put it simply, but before I could get distracted, his voice spoke once again, "nice to meet you. Listen, I'd love to stay and chat but I have to be somewhere. So, I'll see you around?"
I nodded and he jogged off, but not before sending me a wink, leaving me to process the odd encounter.
"Oh thank god! I was beginning to think you died," Josh whined when I showed up with the hotdogs ten minutes later. I rolled my eyes, handing him his food and complaining, "I wasn't that long."
"What about drinks?" he asked, his original face of happiness faltering for a second. I had caught his drift straight away but decided to play dumb as I inquired, "what about them?"
"You forgot them didn't you?" he caught on, and I nodded shyly, shielding my face a bit in shame. He pushed himself up off the park bench and, with a sigh, said, "I'll go get them."
I happily handed him the left-over money and sprang into my seat, starting to munch on my hot dog. Not even a minute after he had left I heard a familiar voice behind me say the words, "long time no see."
My jaw dropped, causing the chewed bread to fall out.
The only words that sprung to my mind were, 'Oh. Dear. Lord.'
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A/N: I have dedicated this chapter to ar0844 for her book 'Nerd Undercover.' It's got an awesome plot line and is really well written.
Anyhoo, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and Merci, Danka, Arigato. (Thankyou/thanks in French, German and Japanese)
-Bella