S.O.T.D: FIND YOU BY ZEDD FT MATTHEW KOMA AND SOME OTHER CHICK I DONT CARE ABOUT ( this is legit my anthem! Go have a listen and while your at it, listen to Alex Goot's cover; freaking flawless)
~
Once Stephen decided that he was still hungry, everyone filtered out of my room and I was glad for the space. I hated the way that this whole London-Evan-Penn situation was making me feel and I needed nothing more than to remember what my purpose was for me being here.
Strictly business.
"And this, I'm guessing, isn't the bathroom" a soft knock at my door jolted me out of my thoughts as I looked up into Penn's dark eyes.
"What're you doing here?"
"Here, as in your room?" he asked pointing at my door, "Or here, as in Earth? Cuz I'm not sure on either"
"You're not allowed to be funny" I grunted giving him a glare, "Is that why you came? To try and smooth thi-"
"Now don't get ahead of yourself" he gave me a small shrug and leaned against the door frame, "I came here partially to apologize but mostly for my own reasons"
"And what reasons are those?"
He stared at me for a couple minutes, doing this clenching thing with his jaw that I knew alot of guys did when they were deciding what to say.
"None that should be of importance to you" Penn finally smiled at me and I raised an eyebrow, "Listen, I'm sorry."
I sucked in a breath and found myself at a loss for words. If Nate was right about him and Penn being similar, I knew that apologizing was a stretch. From what I already knew of Penn, he was a 'take it or leave it' kind of guy and if you didn't like it, well...there was the door.
"I had no right to treat you the way I did especially after how nice you were to me...Listen, I don't deal with the kids at school because I already know what they think of me and I figured, well I figured that it wouldn't be soon before you started thinking the same"
"But I'm not like everyone else" I muttered picking at a loose thread on my black comforter. Penn rolled his eyes and gestured out my window.
"Your friends with the resident golden boy, eat dinner at his house, and you carpool with him" he listed off, "News travels fast and your front page, Andrea"
"You should know that I don't even read newspapers" he grinned and shook his head.
"That was a terrible way of deflecting the situation"
"Then what are you trying to get at, Penn?" I was now frustrated by his whole stupid speech and would rather he come right out and tell me what was going on or leave, "What made you hate me?"
"I obviously don't hate you, Andrea" I hated the way he said those words as if I were being overdramatic, "I just....I'm not sure I'm a good fit for you. Andrea, there's a reason I sit in the back of class and skip school more than I attend. I have a reputation and, I don't know, I didn't want to drag you down"
"Drag me down?" This guy was insane.
"Yeah. Andrea, your hot, occasionally funny, and cool. You actually have a chance to be someone at BH and I knew you were too much like me to actually stop hanging out with me because of social class."
"Did you write that out before you came here?" I grinned standing up from my bed and crossing my arms over my chest, "Or did you Google it?"
"Hey, Google has an incredible speech writing app that translates spoken word to text; slang and all" If I didn't know better, I would've thought he was being serious, "That was a joke"
What came afterwards was an awkward silence fit for the ages. While he stared at his shoes, I watched him.
"Penn, you don't decide who I hang out with"
He quickly looked up at me and his Adams apple bobbed, "I guess I know that now"
"So what, are you calling a truce with me or was this just another way for you to stick it to me?"
"No, I'm being completely legit with you right now...If you want to be my friend, then cool. I guess I could use one of those" a small smirk made its way across his features as he backed away from the door, "I better get going before London sends out a search party"
I watched as he rounded the corner and jogged down the stairs, my jaw clenched the entire time. That was what I had wanted, right? I should've been having a celebration party but I only felt like crap...maybe I could change that.
~
"Evan!" I threw the door open with a flourish and hid the grin that crept onto my face at imagining London's shocked expression from the living room. What kind of a loser invited a guy to watch mean girls after playing soccer with them? There was obviously a reason London had so much trouble getting her champion football boyfriend on the first day.
"Hey, Andrea" he gave me a timid smile and scratched the back of his head, "I can't say I'm not surprised to hear from you"
I gave him a confused look and he laughed, "Well everyone heard that you left school abruptly and you were the talk of the halls....pretty good for the amount of time you've been here"
"I doubt all of that" I winked ushering him in and closing the door behind him.
"Evan!" Mark came down the stairs and rubbed his hands together, "your here just in time"
"For what?" Des grumbled begrudgingly coming out of the kitchen and throwing a radiant smile on for Evans sake.
"For family game night, dear...wasn't it your idea?" Mark walked over to Des and placed a kiss on her forehead, "how forgetful you can be, darling"
"Your right dear" Des muttered through clenched teeth, "Come this way, Evan"
Before he could protest, Des was dragging Evan to the living room and I raised an eyebrow at Mark.
"Your loving this, aren't you?"
"A little too much" Mark grinned placing a hand on the small of my back and gently, yet forcefully, pushing me into the living room.
An hour into family game night I had already drawn three conclusions; Penn was incredibly competitive, so was Evan, and they seemed to be the most competitive towards each other. Evan was the kind of guy who would offer the other team a point just because he knew he would win but Penn was the complete opposite. He had no problem telling me where to shove my 'horrible' charade skills.
"I like him" Des whispered as Penn stood before us all, flouncing like an animal and never skipping a beat with the glares he was throwing at his team.
"Are you serious, right now?" he hissed as Stephen fumbled to figure out what he was doing.
"Times up!" I screeched with a huge grin.
"For shits sakes!" Penn growled sitting down, "It was Matilda"
"Who is that?" Stephen wondered loudly much to my dismay. Why was he so okay with seeming so stupid?
Penn shot me a look and I hid a grin. It was like he could read my mind.
"This is so fun!" London shrieked with a bright smile and stood up, walking over to Penn, "Come on, let's get something for everyone to snack on"
I steeled myself against watching them walk out of the living room and caught Nate staring at me.
I guess he could read my mind, too.
~~~~
There were two things that were wrong with the following day.
First off, London and I were awoken by the soft nudges of Des and, two, so were Stephen and Nate. You're probably reading this with raised eyebrows, as if to say "What's the big deal?" and it is at this point that I would ask you where the hell you've been this entire time.
In all the time that I had had the displeasure of having a Des sized alarm clock, I had never been woken up 'pleasantly' and Nate sure as hell hadn't, either.
"Am I the only one confused?" Nate asked the moment we were all done getting dressed and exiting our rooms.
"More so than I usually am" Stephen murmured tugging his raglan T shirt down to no avail.
"Maybe she stopped PMS'ing" London shrugged staring at Stephen distastefully as he began violently thrashing.
"Dude, she shrunk my favourite shirt!" Stephen growled running down the stairs. We all rolled our eyes and followed him, ready for Des to put him in his place.
"DES!" He boomed stomping into the kitchen and stopping, "what's that smell?"
With confused glances, the rest of us tip toed into the kitchen and sniffed the air as the smell of maple syrup and bacon filled our nostrils.
"You cooked?" Nate gasped turning to me with shock, "Properly?"
"You guys better sit down and eat something before Evan get's here" Des sing songed gently placing a plate of eggs onto the table and pulling a chair out and sitting. I watched her cautiously as I took the seat across from her and everyone else took their own.
"Where's Mark?" London asked with wide eyes. With one look I could tell that she was thinking the same thing as me; Des had probably killed him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked sickly sweet. Almost on cue, the four of us threw our chairs back and dashed to the stairs, wasting no time running up to Des and Mark's room.
"MARK!" Stephen shrieked, "Keep breathing! We're coming, big guy!"
"Dial 911" London snapped as Nate whipped his phone out and burst into the room.
"Mark?" I whispered, confused.
"What's all the commotion?" the master bathroom opened and Mark stepped out in a towel around his waist and steam billowing after him.
"Are you dead?" Stephen literally sounded close to tears and I had to fight every muscle that moved to not slap him in the back of the head. Thankfully, London didn't fight any such muscles.
"Ow" he whimpered as the back of his head sounded with a loud smack.
"Why would I be dead?" Mark crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, "Are you guys playing another prank like the time you saran wrapped our toilet? Cuz that was disgusting"
"No...Des was in a good mood and we kinda figured that her only source of happiness would be your termination" Nate prattled. My eyes widened at his use of 'termination' and I looked away as a laugh threatened to come out.
"Desiree isn't evil" Mark grinned and shook his head at us, "We've just come to an agreement, lately. I fixed what I did"
"Oh, that's it?" Nate furrowed his eyebrows, "Someone remind me why I'm skipping out on breakfast for this?"
Like clockwork, London, Stephen, and Nate exited the room but I remained in my place.
"Something wrong, Andrea?"
"Now that I think about it, yes" I stroked my chin for effect and strode around the room, "First off, I wake up in a world where Des isn't angry at everyone, then I'm presented a breakfast that actually looks edible, and, lastly, You called her Desiree. Now, call me crazy but I'm thinking that there was much more to your little agreement than your letting on"
Mark's adams apple bobbed and his smile faltered.
"I'll figure it out, and when I do...I'll expose you. I'm talking worldwide exposation, Marcus" I tsked exiting the room.
"That's not even a word and my name isn't Marcus! You know that!"
~
"Good morning, Andrea" I walked into English that morning and went straight to sit beside Penn.
"Why aren't you being a jerk face?" I asked dropping my backpack and taking a seat beside him. Today his dark hair formed loose curls around his head making his spacers almost completely hidden, he wore a black tshirt, matching black skinny's and red converse sneakers.
"How bad did stretching your ears, hurt?" I randomly piped up.
"Oh, my ears aren't stretched. I just got a spacer like piercing; I'm too much of a bi~"
"Mr. Reynolds! Am I boring you?" Mark hissed.
The entire class, as if on cue, turned to the back and Penn grinned.
"Honest answer?"
"Mr. Reynold's I truly have no time for your nonsense, so can it" I inwardly grinned at Mark's response and raised an eyebrow at Penn.
"He was a lot warmer during game night"
As Mark continued on with his lesson I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and hastily grabbed it...then proceeded to let my jaw drop.
"What's wrong?" if I hadn't been so confused, I would have commended Penn for actually sounding concerned.
"There's nothing weird about two friends having food at night, right?" I kept my eyes on the text but spoke to Penn.
"Of course not" Penn scoffed after a pause, "That is, unless they're boy and girl, the food is being eaten with utensils, they aren't wearing shirts with stains on them, and he offers to pay for it all...after trying to put an arm around her. Cuz in that case, its a date"
At that moment I looked up and caught a pair of bright eyes.
Evan gave me a shy smile and I gulped deeply.
"This could all be totally innocent" I whispered as Penn caught my line of vision and burst into quiet laughter.
"We're talking about Reed? Oh, its totally a date. No doubt about it"
"How do you know that?" I panicked. I mean, yeah, Evan was cool and incredibly attractive but this was a little odd for me. First off, I had never actuallyy been on a legitimate date where the boy came to pick you up and tried to hold your hand during the ride. Secondly, dates usually meant something...Something that I didn't need it to mean, especially not at this point.
Getting tied to someone could make this mission much harder than it needed to be and I needed my mind clear.
"I've never seen Reed just friends with a girl before...he's the golden boy for a reason"
"But I've never even given off that kind of vibe~" I cut myself off as I began remembering all of my interactions with Evan and realized that I had been giving off those vibes.
"Oh my gosh" I gasped, "I think he thinks we're a thing"
"Even I could've told you that" Penn deadpanned.