The big game is today. The first game of the season. This morning, we all woke up early and made a grand breakfast so Ryder could eat breakfast in bed, another Jenson household tradition. I was Jason's assistant as he whipped and fried and baked all of Ryder's favorite food. Another tradition - non breakfast food for breakfast. We basically made a thanksgiving dinner for breakfast today.
To wake Ryder up, we walked in singing Hercules' 'Go the Distance', his favorite disney movie. He sleepily smiled and his eyes widen at the feast.
"Thanks you guys," Ryder sat up in his bed and we piled on to all eat it together on his bed.
In school, everyone was going bonkers. The school colors, Red and Gold, were everywhere and there was going to be a Pep Rally instead of the end of the day classes, which no one was complaining about.
I sat with Lucy, Lynn, Thomas, Scott and Carter as the pep rally began in the gym. The principal gave a generic speech about school spirit and then the football team ran into the field. We cheered for Ryder Will, and Clinton and they spotted us and joined us in the bleachers.
The girl who always was the lead in the school musical, from what Lynn bitterly tells me, sings the national anthem...off key. Bitterness explained.
Then the cheerleading squad, that the Bimbos asked me to join again today, aka Bimbo squad, performed some lame routine and the school cheered happily. Wow. Talent in this school must really be lacking.
There were silly competitions putting the grades against each other and Will, Clinton and Carter were dragged down to represent our grade in the tug of war contest. The juniors easily beat the wimpy sophmores and the seniors came to replace them. Scott and Ryder, as well as Cole somehow, were cheered down to the floor and I was actually curious to see who would win.
I'll spare the dramatics, the seniors won and Ryder and Scott came back looking victorious. Thomas laughed at Carter's slightly sad face.
After school, Will, Clinton and Ryder reported to Coach to get pumped and prepped for the game. Lucy and Lynn came over to hang out before the game. When we got inside, they vocalized how cool the penthouse was. I led them to the kitchen where we chatted and made snacks. We then went to my room.
"I'm super excited for the game tonight!" Lynn exclaims while shoveling popcorn and m&ms into her mouth.
"I know!" Lucy agrees, doing the same.
"Ryder finds out if he is captain today, before the game," I tell them and they look over confused.
"I thought Will was captain," Lynn says.
"He doesn't want to be captain yet, so he stepped down and told Coach to consider Ryder," I explain. Lucy looks confused.
"Huh, he never mentioned that," Lucy states and shrugs, "Oh well. I'm excited about the game, but more excited about the party."
"Me too! Ara, do you know what you're going to wear? I have my dress in my bag, Lu, do you have yours?" Lynn asks as she leans over the bed and pulls open her backpack. It looks like she didn't bring any school supplies today. Figures. She pulls out this cute short dress and big stillettos. Lucy coos over it and pulls out her own dress and Lynn showers it with compliments. I look at my closet. What's in there again?
"Do you know what you're wearing, Ara?" Lu asks me again. I shake my head and their eyes widen. They squeal and run to my closet and start pouring through my clothes.
"You have such cute stuff in here Ara!" Lynn calls out. Carter walks in the room.
"What's with all the screaming and the squealing?" he asks. I sigh.
"They found out I don't have a dress for the party tonight," I explain. Carter sits down beside me and grabs a handful of popcorn.
"I'm guessing I should stay so you can get the brother approval overwith," Carter places the bowl in his lap.
The next hour consists of Lucy and Lynn pulling clothes out of my closet, making me try them on, and then Carter, Thomas and Scott (who came in), rejecting them.
"You guys!" Lynn whines, "She is single and hot and she needs to wear something that really says it."
"Absolutely not," Scott presses. Jason walks in.
"What's all the commotion about?" he asks and looks at me wearing one of the dresses Lucy and Lynn picked out. He narrows his eyes at the dress, "Ara, what are you wearing?"
"Fine! We'll look again," Lucy and Lynn drag me into the closet.
"Girl, genetics did you and your brothers well," Lynn sighs.
"Don't you girls get all obssessd with my brothers," I pout, and they shake their heads.
"We're not, we have our dream guys but your brothers are not at all horrible to look at, that's all," Lucy says. I sigh.
"What's next. You know they're not going to approve a lot of things," I remind them. Lucy throws a dress from the back of my closet at me. It looks promising. They exit and I throw it on and step out. Lucy and Lynn exclaims that it's perfect and surprisingly, my brothers give it the okay. I sigh in relief and go back to my closet to change into jeans and a long sleeve shirt for the game.
Lucy and Lynn hang their clothes in my closet so that they won't wrinkle. We decide to come back here after the game and change, Jason agrees to drive us back.
I'm eating the last of the popcorn when my phone buzzes. I read the text from Ryder.
Just call me Captain.
I shout excitedly and show Carter the text. He laughs and tells me to calm down and that we all got the message. We go to the game and sit in the stands. We cheer loudly as the boys come on to the field, led by Ryder.
The game goes perfectly and we win by a landslide. We run over and congratulate our guys and then go home to get ready for the party.
Lucy and Lynn beautify themselves and then me. I don't recognize myself in the mirror and can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing. Ryder drives us to Wills house, except Jason who stays behind, and the party is already in full swing.
Pete smiles, remembering us and lets us in. I climb out of the car and follow Lucy and Lynn inside. They quickly find Will and Clinton and we the party is alive. People are everywhere, all carrying little red solo cups. Thomas, Ryder and Scott split up from us to go find their new friends, not after warning me to be careful.
Carter whispers in my ear, "Don't accept any drink from anyone except Scott, Ryder, Thomas or me. We don't want you having an allergic reaction and having to admit you to the hospital."
I nod my head, "Got it, Carter."
A really cute girl across the room makes eye contact with Carter and he smiles at her.
"Go talk to her,"I insist. Carter shakes his head profusely.
"I'm not going to leave you alone," he states, but continues to stare at the brown haired beauty.
"GO Carter, I'll be fine. I'm going to go find the bathroom anyway," I insist. Carter chuckles.
"You and your small bladder," he makes his way over to the girl and her eyes light up. I roll my eyes and find the bathroom only to find it occupied. I sigh and go upstairs. Across from the stairs I see a balcony with a breathtaking view. I step out onto it and look out at the city, transfixed.
"We meet again, Jenson," I look to my right and see Cole standing there, brooding.
"What? Don't like the party?" I ask. He shrugs.
"Alcohol and drunk people aren't really my thing," he states and leans on the railing beside me. I glance at him and look down at the view again.
There are so many things I want to ask him but I reign in my curosity. Cole, however, catches my curious expression.
"Something you want to ask me?" he asks, amused.
"Nope," I pop the 'p' sound and don't even spare him a glance. My eyes are transfixed on the city lights and the cool air.
"The curiosity prevalent in your eyes begs to differ," Cole states. When did his vocab become so fancy-smancy. No Ara. You will not engage in any conversations with him, I firmly tell myself.
"Well, Curiosity killed the cat and I for one do not want to take any chances," I glance at him and his smile is so broad and sends tingles all up and down and all around my spine.
He chuckles, "Ask away, Ara."
I scan his eyes and realize he will be honest with me. What the hell.
"Is your name really Archimdedes?" I question. Cole groans.
"Yes. My mother is greek and very proud of her heritage so I was named Archimedes and Will was named Adonis. My middle name is Colton after my maternal grandfather so I go by Cole," he explains.
I process this before continuing, "Whats-"
"Ah ah ah," Cole cuts me off and I narrow my eyes at him, "You ask a question, I ask a question. That's how this works."
What did I get myself into?
"Alright, fine," I lean sideways against the railing, "What do you want to know."
"How did you meet Will?" Cole asks. Woo! An easy question.
"My brothers dragged me to this party that Bim- I mean Ashley invited them- I mean us to," I explain and wince at my slipups.
"What were you just about to call Ashley?" Cole asks. I shake my head
"Ah ah ah," I mimic him and a bright smile captivates his face, "my turn.
He grins and nods his head, "Um, okay fine this is kind of personal and if you don't want to answer that's fine, just don't get mad, but -"
"Ara, you're rambling, just spit it out," Cole laughs. I find myself drawn to his laughter. I reel myself in.
"Why'dyougetarrested?" I quickly splurt out.
"What?" His eyebrows furrow in confusion and I take a deep breath.
"Why'd you get arrested? Or sort of arrested?" I ask again, clearly.
Cole takes a deep breath, "Well, I'll answer. My maternal grandfather and I are very close. My father," the bitter way he spits out his father's name doesn't escape my notice, "is a man of appearances. My mother grew up in the a lower social status than my father, but she never acted that way. My grandfather is down to earth and everything I know about the world I learned from him. My father didn't want me to see him anymore so he tried placing a restraining order on me on behalf of my grandfather. He told my grandfather's neighbor and she called the police when I visited my grandfather. The second time it happened my grandfather removed the restraining order and all the charges were dropped and I have no record."
My eyes widen, "That's insane."
Cole nods his head, "I know. So Ara! My deep personal story for your deep personal story. Tell me about your parents."
I sigh. He was honest with me, I will be honest with him, honesty is my biggest value, I guess. If you're not honest, than you're nothing, "Well, my parents are really talented big surgeons and they had this huge promotion and we ended up moving here. My parents... they shouldn't have been parents. They have no idea how to be parents. They..." I take a deep breath, "They keep spouting nonsense about how they raised us but that's utter bullshit. My brother Jason raised us. And my Grandparents, when my Grandfather wasn't busy running the music industry. I get what it's like to have shitty parents. Mine don't even make it home for holidays or birthdays."
I look out at the city again to calm down and I can feel Cole's eyes on me.
"Your turn," he says simply and smiles.
"What's with the attitude change? Before you were cocky and arrogant and now you seem... real, and normal," I ask, curious.
"I'm a sarcastic person by nature, and I really like my leather jacket, it belonged to my grandfather when he was a kid, so I just put on the persona to match the jacket. That's what people expected of me," He shrugs.
I nod my head. That makes sense.
"What do you want to do with your life, Ara?" he asks. I sigh.
"Not doctor, I know that much. I won't be my parents. And other than that, um. I don't know, really. And that scares me," I look at him. How did he become so easy to talk to.
"Why are you talking to me?" I ask, finally voicing my thoughts.
Cole laughs, "You intrigue me, Jenson. You're honest and real, and so unlike all the others here. You aren't scared of the appearance I put on, and I don't know, but I just feel like I can trust you. I feel like you won't go blabbing my business around the school."
I laugh, "I feel the same way about you."
He starts to laugh with me. I look at the sky and back to him, "Cole, do you have any real friends besides your grandfather?"
Cole contemplates this and shakes his head. I smile and raise my hand as if to shake his. "Congratualtions, I'm your first real friend!"
Unedited and okay I'm supposed to be studying for my Chemistry final on Thursday, which I am most definitely going to fail, and memorize 2 monologues, so instead I wrote three (and a later forth) chapters of this story. THANKS to all the readers! Love to you all!! :)