"So... How was the afterparty at Romil's?" Camryn asks. She's leaning on the locker next to mine and fiddling with the books in her hand.
"Oh, we didn't end up going," I say quietly, closing my locker and leaning on it.
"Why not?" she asks, pushing off the locker and standing in front of me. I look down at my feet.
"I had a really bad panic attack. Ian, Jaden, and Matt had to take me home and they ended up staying over," I say, stepping away from the lockers and beginning the walk to homeroom.
"Are you okay, Isa? I know they take a huge toll on you, but if you need something, please let me know. I love you like the sister I never had," she says, grabbing onto my hand and holding it.
"I'm okay now. My dad's crêpes really helped and I spent the rest of the weekend with him, talking and hanging out at our park," I say, smiling at her.
"Okay, your dad is the best cook on this planet and the park you guys go to is beyond beautiful. I'm happy that you guys got to hang out a bit. Your dad and the boys."
When my dad and I first moved here, we found this really beautiful park that was only a couple blocks from our house. It was huge and had big, beautiful trees. They allowed dogs, which was amazing for India. We always went there to spend quality time together or drink coffee and people-watch. It was our happy place. It made us feel as if we were back in Toulouse and at La Prairie des Filtres. It was the park that was right across the river from the university that my dad worked at, which was Université Toulouse 1 Capitole. When I finally moved in with him in Toulouse, we would have lunch together everyday. I would meet him at his class and then we would take a 20 minute walk to La Prairie des Filtres, where we would eat lunch and talk about life.
"Hey, so, guess what we just saw?" Louise exclaims, rushing up to us and dragging Mia behind her.
"Hey! What?" Cam and I say at the same time, stopping to stare at the girls.
"Ian and Jaden." Mia says, pointing to the hallway to our left.
I give both of them a confused look before looking past Mia's finger. Jaden was leaning against his locker, laughing with one of his binders against his chest. Ian had his right hand above Jaden, which propped his body up. They were about a foot away from each other and it was evident that they were enjoying each other's company.
I turned around, laughing with a shocked expression, "Oh my god!"
"When did that happen?" Louise asks, turning to the rest of us. Cam and Mia shrugged their shoulders, but I just stayed quiet.
"What?" Mia asks, staring at me.
"What?" I ask, trying to hide what I was thinking.
"You've got that 'Hi, I'm Isa and I'm totally not hiding something, but I definitely am' look on your face right now," she replies.
"What? That doesn't make any sense at all! I do not have a facial expression like that!" I exclaim, trying to brush it off and continue walking.
"Yeah, you do. We see it all the time," Louise replies. I shoot her a glare, before clearing my throat.
"Ian and Jaden really like each other, but they haven't told one another that. I haven't told either of them and you guys aren't going to say anything now too. But also, it hasn't even happened yet," I finally say. They all squeal.
"This is exactly what Jaden needs!" Cam exclaims.
"Yeah, he really deserves this. Plus Ian seems like a really good guy," I say. We reach my homeroom class and part ways. I take a seat in my usual spot in the back row and bury myself in my homework.
"Hey Isa," I hear, just as the bell rings for homeroom to start. I look up and smile at Ian, clearing a spot at the long table for him.
"How was your morning?" I ask, smiling knowingly at him.
"Oh, you saw, huh?" he smiles, sitting down and opening his backpack on the table.
"So..." I start.
"So..." he says back to me. "He's perfect."
I giggle, "Yeah. He is."
"What's going on with you and Matt?" he asks, bumping into my right arm.
"Nothing," I say, rolling my eyes. It really was the truth. Mostly.
"Oh yeah?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.
"What do you mean?" I question, looking at him.
"Nothing, nothing. I just thought something happened in the bathroom the other morning. Maybe I was wrong," he says, shrugging his shoulders and laughing at the expression on my face.
"Shh," Mrs. Clifford shushes from the front of the classroom. Ian and I look away from each other and give Mrs. Clifford a sympathetic look. She was about 150 years old and had worked at our high school for basically her entire life. She was an extremely strict English teacher, but she had a soft spot for sea salt and caramel dark chocolate.
"You should hang out with him more," Ian whispers, looking down at some homework that he pulled out.
"And you should hang out with Jaden more, buddy," I giggle, before clearing my throat and continuing my AP Calculus problems.
- - -
"Hello? Is this Isabelle Martin?"
"Yes, this is she," I say into my phone.
"Good afternoon Miss Martin. This is Jim from Tony's Auto Service. I wanted to let you know that your 1957 VW Bug is ready for pickup. We are open from 10 am to 5 pm, Mondays through Fridays. You can come by anytime to pick it up." I do a little twirl.
"Thank you so much, Jim. I will probably come by tonight to get it."
"Sounds great. Thank you for your time," Jim says, before hanging up.
"Good news?"
"Uh yeah!" I say, turning around. I thought that it was going to be Jaden behind me, but it ends up being Matt, which almost knocks me on my ass. "Shit, I'm so sorry. I thought you were Jaden."
"I do not sound like Jaden!" Matt exclaims. Matt, Romil, Ameer, Ciaran, Merlyn, Joba, and Ian had all joined us for lunch now. They had pulled up another outside table so that most of us could sit.
"What?" Jaden yelled. I had stepped away to pick up my phone call, so Jaden thought he needed to be extra loud. I laugh at him.
"Nothing, J!" I giggle and turn back to Matt. "My car just got out of the shop, which means it's updated and better than ever!"
"That's good to hear!" he says, smiling at me. I nod my head, probably way too much. I can't resist staring at his lips as he smiles. He clears his throat, making me look back into his eyes and I can feel my face growing warmer. He pulls a stupid face, which eases the tension and makes me smile, before he walks back over to the group and sits down on Ian's left. I follow him and sit back down in between Jaden and Ian, who attempt throwing things at each other over my head or behind my back.
"So, what are the crazy plans for this weekend?" Sam asks, popping a chunk of celery into Brandon's mouth, earning a vomiting sound from Mia.
"Can you guys stop being so... coupley?" Mia groans. Brandon turns to Sam, locks eyes with Mia, grabs Sam's face, and starts sloppily making out. This makes the whole group cackle with laughter and Mia groans even more.
"We should definitely do something fun though. We missed out on the party and y'all know I love to party!" Cam shouts, from her spot at the end of the table.
"Cam, it is literally only Wednesday. Calm the fuck down," Jaden laughs.
"Shut up J," Cam replies, shooting him an attempt at a glare.
"I'm surprised. I wouldn't take you as the party type, Cam. You're gonna be our valedictorian, aren't you?" Merlyn asks.
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I can't have fun. Plus I've been working my ass off all of high school and I'm finally learning to let go a bit. I also just love to dance," she shrugs.
"I was planning on having another party because my parents are going to be away again visiting some cousins. Plus a lot of you couldn't make it last Friday..." Romil pipes up before he stands up to throw away a Rice Krispies Treat wrapper.
"That sounds fun!" Cam exclaims.
"Yeah. You're all invited, if you want to come. I can send you guys my address," Romil answers, sitting back down next to Ciaran and bumping him with his shoulder. "You down, dude?"
"I'm not sure," Ciaran responds. Ciaran was super quiet, but he seemed really sweet. He had a really beautiful voice and brought a lot of depth to the music that the boys sang last Friday. I was really impressed.
"You should come," Mia replies, making eye contact with him. Ciaran smiles and nods slightly. I look at Mia, who is on my side of the table and next to Jaden, and narrow my eyes. I hand her a plastic bag of veggies to get her attention. She takes the bag, while I nod my head at Ciaran, but she shrugs me off.
"Dude, don't bring that shit up again. I am not dealing with that and neither should you Dom," I hear Ameer say, which changes the subject.
"What's going on now?" Ian asks, taking a break from chucking things at Jaden or poking him in the ribs from behind my back. I was almost ready to stand up and push them into each other to get them to stop bothering me.
"Girl drama on Instagram," Ameer responds, rolling his eyes. "I don't get it."
"Some girls are just fucking petty. Cam, Isa, Lou and I try not being that way because that shit is annoying as fuck. There are some girls our age who live for that. Most of the time, that carries on to their adult lives and it gets to be an even bigger mess. Women need to empower women, not tear each other down," Mia says, crunching on a carrot.
"Okay Mia. We love a woke feminist," I laugh.
"Sorry," she apologizes, hiding her face in her hands.
"Honey, don't be embarrassed," Jaden responds, nudging her and smiling. "We love you and your woke ass."
"Did you guys hear about Karen?" Joba asks, who is standing behind Ameer and Dom, leaning on their shoulders.
I jolt my head toward Joba and catch my breath, "who?"
Jaden looks over at me, moving his hand to hold my shoulder.
"Karen Shaw? The junior?" Joba asks again, giving me a strange look. I breathe out and Jaden relaxes his touch.
"You good?" Ian asks, leaning into my ear after taking notice of me being strange.
"Y-yeah," I sigh.
"What happened with her?" Dom asks.
"One of the teachers caught her sucking one of the football player's dick in the boys' locker room after football practice," Joba says, laughing.
"Aw, come on man," Louise shrieks, covering her ears. We all laugh at her.
"C'mon Lou! It's high school! You're a fucking senior and you haven't heard that shit?" Ian laughs loudly.
"Just, ugh, ew," Louise laughs.
"Our precious little angel," Jaden comments, bopping her on the nose from across the table.
The bell rings, interrupting our fun.
"Fuck... I don't want to go to Calc," I say, gathering my things. I doddle around, doing everything slowly. Everyone says goodbye before walking off, going in different directions to their classes.
"Hey," Matt says. I didn't notice, but he had stayed around.
"Hey," I say, looking up at him. I zip up my bag and stand up, slinging it over my right shoulder and stepping out from the lunch table. We start walking toward the door that would take us inside.
"I have AP Lit next to your AP Calc class, so I can walk with you," he states before adding, "only if you want."
"Yeah, that's fine Matt," I laugh lightly.
"So, where is the auto shop?" he asks, opening the door and standing back to let me walk in first. I look at him with a confused look before passing through it. "What auto shop is your car at?"
"Oh, um, Tony's Auto Service," I say, dodging a freshmen who was sprinting down the hall.
"Oh yeah. I love Tony's. They fixed up my car last summer."
"You drive?"
"Yeah," he says, giving me a funny look. "Why are you so surprised?"
"I don't know. You seem like one of those white boys that skateboards everywhere, while smoking cigarettes and listening to some type of chill music," I say, moving my hand in front of me while I talked, trying to paint a picture for him. He laughs his deep, cute laugh. Did I just call his laugh cute? Since when are laughs cute? They aren't fucking cute.
"Wow. You think that low of me?"
"No! Not at all! You're the cool version of that."
"Well, I mean, you aren't particularly wrong..." he says, dragging his words out. I laugh at him and raise my eyebrows. We are about to get to our classes, when Matt lightly grabs my right arm and turns me to face him. "Do you want some company to get your car after school? I wouldn't want you to miss out on some quality time with this cool skater boy."
I smile at him, "I would love that."
- - -
"You speak five languages?" Matt exclaims. Matt is skateboarding next to me as we go down to get my car.
"Well, technically nine, but I can speak and use six fluently," I say.
"Okay, hold up," he says, getting off of his board and picking it up. "What languages?"
"French, Spanish, Italian, Danish, and English. I also can sign American Sign Language and I'm currently learning German, Latin, and Mandarin."
"Holy shit. I can barely speak English," he jokes. We turn the last corner. The sun was out and it casted beautiful light on all the buildings. A cute couple walked by us. The woman was pregnant and the man was guiding her along, a huge smile on his face. This is one of those times that I wish I had my camera.
"My dad has taught me a lot. He's a language professor. He knows a shit ton of languages and he taught me a lot over FaceTime."
"FaceTime?" Matt asks, just as we get to the auto shop's parking lot. I table our conversation for a different time. A time where I could probably have a mental breakdown and not have to face a bunch of people afterward. "We can talk about it later. I'll wait out here until you're done." He walks over to a wall on my left and leans against it, pulling out his phone and busying himself with something.
I nod, turn around and walk into the garage. There are a bunch of cars inside, getting worked on. I walk up to the counter and ding a little bell. A few moments after, I'm greeted by a nice guy in a tan jumpsuit. He wipes grease stains off of his hands with a white towel and gives me a big smile.
"Hello. How can I help you?" he says. His name tag says Garrett.
"Hi. I'm here to pick up my VW Bug. It's light blue and a 1957 model," I say, fishing my wallet and lanyard, that were missing my car keys, out from my backpack.
"Oh yes. Jim said you were going to come by this afternoon. Let me give you some paperwork to sign and then I can take you back to get your car," he smiles, typing into the computer. He prints out some paperwork and has me sign them. I give him my credit card to pay for the extra cost of what I was adding to my car because that part wasn't covered by insurance. Soon, he is taking me out to the back parking lot and walking through the rows of cars with me following him.
I see my car and almost jump up and down. I can't describe why I loved it so much. I always felt really happy or a good kind of emotional in it. It had driven a variation of all of my friends and I around all summer. We had screamed songs and stuffed our faces with french fries and milkshakes while we drove to and from the beach. It had also allowed us to bond over some certain sad songs that made us all cry. My car's hood was the very spot where I had told Jaden all about my life one night last summer. We were staring up at the stars (or as many stars as you can see in or around Los Angeles) after we had driven up to a secluded part of a hiking trail/road that we had found. I had felt compelled to talk with him about everything after he had shared his life story with me. We ended up crying together for hours before we drove to get frozen yogurt and boba. My car was the one place that I felt truly safe, which sounds crazy because a car is so dangerous. I hadn't felt that happy or emotional or excited about life in a long time and my car was what was bonding all of these people that I loved together.
"So, we fixed the back of your car. We also installed the new radio and you also have the AUX, CD and cassette options now. We made sure that everything is up to date and that you'll be able to drive this around for a long time. Just be careful. Your car is very durable, for it being a 1957 model. That absolutely baffled me. But now it is pretty modern and has new possibilities," Garrett says, showing me around the whole car, before handing me my keys.
"Thank you so much Garrett," I say, smiling. Garrett points me in the direction of the exit to the front parking lot before walking away. I get in my car and squeal. I place my backpack in the backseat after I take out the AUX cable that I had bought. I run my hands over the dashboard and smile to myself. I felt like this was a new me. I plug the cable into the outlet on my stereo and then I plug the cable into my phone. I start my car and click on my favorites playlist on my phone and put it onto shuffle mode. Malibu 1992 by COIN starts playing as I pull out of the parking space and maneuver my way to the side of the garage that would go to the front parking lot and Matt. As I'm pulling out from around the corner, I stop the car so hard I probably would've flown through the windshield if I didn't have my seatbelt on.
Matt is leaning against the brick wall where I had last seen him. But a girl with black hair is standing about two feet in front of him with her left hand on his face.
- - -
A/N: okay okay okay. i'm sorry this update is kinda short, but i wanted to leave this part on a cliffhanger. any predictions?
i hope that the time jumps aren't too confusing. if you were confused, the first part of this chapter is on the monday after the chaotic weekend and then the second part is on the wednesday that same week. i hope you guys are enjoying this story. i'm having a lot of fun writing it and it's getting me through a bunch of shit that i'm going through. again: sorry if there are any typos. you can call me out on it. i hope you're doing well :)
~ j