Ms. Barakat came downstairs, along with a kid with dark brown hair. I recognized this kid from a couple of my previous classes in middle school. He talked to a lot of people but, nobody really talked back to him. Dark hair swept over face, only hiding one of the two dark brown eyes.
"Alex?" I heard him say. I wasn't exactly sure about how he knew who I was but I shrugged it off anyway. "Hey, Jack right?" I said.
In situations like these, I try my best to not be my socially awkward self. It's not like Ms. Barakat will drive me to her house again. Is this considered a kidnapping?
Ms. Barakat watched our small greeting, after a while of awkward silence, she pushed us upstairs and brought up snacks. We big watched each other awkwardly as she would walk in constantly with assorted snacks and foods.
"Mom," Jack said, "what are you doing?"
She looked at him and shrugged, "I'll just go downstairs."
When we were sure she was out of distance for sure, we both looked at each other and erupted into a fit giggles. I looked around his room that displayed a countless assortment of band posters of different genres.
Next, to a desk, that sat right in front of a window, an electric guitar was propped up against the wall. "So..." he laughed, "why are you here? Last I checked my mom was going to be out all day, babysitting some kid or whatever"
I scratched my head, "Your mom was babysitting me actually" I confessed. He raised his eyebrows, "B-But you're like fourteen, can you not take care of yourself?" He asked.
I chuckled, "My parents don't trust me to be alone cause last time I was under no supervision, I accidentally burned down the house..." I saw him try to muffle a laugh. "It's okay, it's actually pretty funny."
"How old were you?"
"It was like a year ago, that's why I suddenly started taking your bus to school," I said. He smiled, "How did you manage to burn down your house?"
"In my defense, I was in my room the whole time and I was not aware that there was a casserole in the oven-"
I watched as Jack just started to roll around laughing. "It's not that funny!" I exclaimed yet, he continued to laugh nevertheless.
"Holy shit that's hilarious-"
"JACK, LANGUAGE!" We heard Ms. Barakat yell from downstairs. We both exchanged a guilty look, almost like we were caught in the action of doing something criminalist. And once again we were laughing.
After we had calmed down, it got to that awkward silence. "So..." I tried to start, "you like jazz- I'm sorry that was horrible. So, you play the guitar? I heard music playing when I came in." I said. Jack nodded and picked up the guitar that was against his wall.
"Its name is Bell. In honor of my true love for Taco Bell," he said proudly. I could feel my lips curve into a grin. "Do you play any instruments?" He asked. I shook my head, "I prefer just listening and singing along to songs, I do know how to play the guitar but not legitimately"
He bit his lip, "What do you like to do for fun?" He asked. I thought for a second, "I just look at books about space and try to memorize patterns of stars. I know boring." I solemnly said.
"No, no, no that's not boring! That's really cool!" He said enthusiastically. I rolled my eyes, "Yeah okay. How about you? Do you just play guitar?" I asked.
He shook his head, "I put up with my mom yelling at me for my loud music. It's quite entertaining." He mused, I laughed along.
I have a feeling this is going to be the start of something new...
"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
-Anais Nin
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