A/N- Decided to give you all an early update.😊
Enjoy
"Do you know how to run Mason?" I asked him in a sickly sweet smile.
"Yeah...Why?" He asked looking really confused. Don't worry, I'll soon make it clear to you boy.
" 'Cause after the stunt you pulled by one a.m this morning, you should be running for the hills when you see me. I'm going to kill you when I get my hands on you!" I yelled the last part as I started chasing him. Oh and he didn't just stand there, he ran.
Obviously! Although the chase didn't last as long as I would have wished because Ryder, one of Mason's best friend and also my friend caught me before I could punch Mason in the face.
"Let me at him Ryder! I'm going to punch him in the fucking face!" I yelled. You'll think our antics would draw attention, but it doesn't. I think everyone is used to Mason and I like-hate relationship.
"Let her at me Ryder." Mason smiled barely heaving unlike me. Curse him and his athletic body.
Ryder released me without any hesitation. I think everyone knows that I wouldn't hit Mason. I launched at Mason and he caught me by his waist and held me tightly so I wouldn't be able to move but without his grip on me hurting me.
"Doll, are you sure you want to hit me?" Mason asked smiling widely.
Mason has been calling me doll ever since the ragged doll incident when we were twelve. It has earned him lots of glares from me and threats of broken ribs, but he refused to budge. I think we've established that Mason is pretty stubborn when he sets his mind to something. So I've grown to accept it and answer it anytime he calls me that, which is almost everytime except when he's pretty serious.
"I don't want to hit you theoretically. I just want to knead you in the balls." I said in a sinister voice. Ignore me people, I'm trying to sound evil
"Feisty aren't we?" He laughed too showing his dimples on both sides.
The cause of many stolen hearts in school. Mason is the school golden boy, although he strongly disagrees. Has a smile that can make millions of girls go crazy- Check, able to play soccer, basketball and volleyball very well and even captain of two out of the three teams- Double check, can play piano and guitar- check again, is a straight A student- check, rides a Haley motorcycle and spots a leather jacket almost everytime; Hashtag ultimate bad boy look activated- triple check and finally the reason or cause of many fainting spells, can speak seven different languages including English, and has an unplaced accent that sounds really soothing to the ear, more reasons for him to be the golden boy. You see in tenth grade, when Charlotte made fun of Mason's genes, she also made fun of his accent 'cause Mason is mixed. Mason's dad from what he told me was Italian and his mom is American, so he has the whole mixed gene thing going on for him. Now Charlotte is the one of the people who desires Mason. I think she has realized how foolish she was in tenth grade for mocking Mason's looks and accent. She totally digs the bad boy look now.
At first I used to think that Mason was aware of how popular he was until I studied him carefully and noticed he isn't even aware that whenever he isn't in school there is this silence in school, like someone died. Even one time he was ill, I went to visit him and I saw so many flowers and get well soon cards. I wondered how he was still able to fit into the hospital room.
"I'm not feisty but... Oh my gosh! What happened to your eyes? Didn't you get any sleep again?" I asked as Mason's grip on me loosened. I placed my palms on his cheeks.
"Don't get weird on me Hailey." Mason chuckled nervously.
"Shut up you moron. I told you to always take care of your health," I moved really close and whispered in his ear, "You didn't take your insomnia pills right?" I whispered cause Mason didn't want anybody to know about his sleeping issues. He said it'll make him look weak and he didn't want anyone looking at him with pity.
"I couldn't. It'll make me sleep way too much and it was a school night. You know how much I sleep when I take those pills." He muttered.
"You know what? On Friday evening you are taking your pills, and if your sleep runs till eight a.m on Saturday morning, I'm coming to keep watch till you wake up. Is that a deal?" I asked him, but trust Mason never to say deal like other normal people do.
"Why do you always insist on watching over me? Are you perhaps falling in love with me Hails?" He wriggled his eyebrows.
I tapped his head and he responded with 'ouch, that hurts.'
"I don't have time for loving you moron. Maybe in another lifetime." I spat.
"Never say never. You don't know, you may start declaring your love for me soon." Mason smirked.
"Maybe on my deathbed." I venomously spat. Don't worry people, it's safe to come out. We don't hate each other neither am I going to push him off the stairs. It's just the weird relationship we have.
"That's still far," He whined, " By then, you would have had an old man beside you. How will he feel or your children and your grandchildren feel when you start confessing your love to another man other than the man you spent half of your life with. It'll be chaotic." Mason slapped his forehead dramatically. I can't believe I'm friends and neighbors with this guy.
"You don't need to be so dramatic Mason. There will be no grandpa or grandchildren either beside or in front of me when I die. Death may be a lot sooner than you think." I sighed too.
"Stop being so dark Hailey, you still have a lifetime of me to disturb you before I can give you the permission to die. Okay?" Mason called me Hailey, meaning he was serious.
So I nodded my head dutifully and smiled a bit, "Okay. So do we have a deal?" I asked.
"Yes we do." He smiled back.
"And ladies and gentlemen there you have it. The weirdest people on earth. You guys should be in the guniess book of records. After four years of knowing you guys, I still can't get over how weird both of you are." Xavier Lancaster, one of Mason's best friend and Brittany's boyfriend. Yes, he and Brittany are dating.
"Thank God I'm not the only one confused. I mean I've seen this for three years and I'm still really confused." Brittany said.
"That's why you both are a couple. You fit each other, confused plus confused." I joked.
"Hailey Avery Harper hope you can run 'cause you'll be dead if I get you." Brit said and screamed a battle cry.
And they said Mason and I are weird? We are all weird.
"I'll see you at lunch Mason." I called out as I started running to class for my dear life before Brit catches up with me.
Lunch came quicker than I expected and no, Brittany didn't kill me. Infact she didn't catch up with me. Maybe I'm not as non-athletic as I thought I was. I'll make sure to thank Mason in my mind 'cause I don't want to thank him in reality for always waking me up every Sunday morning to join him for his morning exercise. He does his exercises every other day, but it's only on Sunday morning he's permitted to wake me up. Also he was also right about me reading enough for the test, I knew all the answers to the questions and I even got a perfect hundred. So thank you Mason, in my mind of course. I can't thank him really so he won't get cocky.
"Hey, what's up people?" I fist bump Ryder and Xavier, then settle beside Mason. Brittany was beside Xavier and Scarlett beside Ryder, and no they are not dating. They did when we were in tenth grade and agreed they're better off as friends. So it's more of been there, done that and never going back, or it can be done and dusted. Brittany is still giving me the stink eye, I think she's not over the fact that I outran her, only Scarlett smiled at me.
"Why am I the only one that doesn't get a smile, a hug or fist bump like Xavier and Ryder did?" Mason asked.
"Oh, that's pretty easy. I don't like you Mase-Mase." I called him the nickname that has been known to irk him from time immemorial. I think I finally figured our relationship. We just derive joy in pushing each other's buttons.
"Don't call me Mase-Mase." Mason gritted his teeth.
"I always tell you not to call me doll or Hails but you never listen. I have adopted your principle of 'selective hearing' I'll take whatever comes out from your mouth and sieve it, then take the one I want to take and pretend I never heard the rest." I declared and glared at him.
"Okay... You win this round." Mason raised his hands in surrender.
I patted his head and said, "Good boy, you know when to accept defeat. Okay, let's do our regular switching." I said as I dropped my egg yolk on his plate as he dropped his egg whites. He hates whites and I hate yolks, see we're a match made in heaven, perfect friends. It wasn't until we were done with our exchange, that I glanced up to see our friends gaping at us.
"You both are weird and that's coming from someone that has seen all shades of weird before. How do you guys just finish arguing and start exchanging food?" Ryder asked.
I shrugged and continued eating, nothing I haven't heard before. We continued chatting until we were done eating. Mason and I had a class immediately after lunch, but the rest had a period free after lunch so they continued chatting.
"Hailey and I will go ahead, we have a class now." Mason said standing up as I followed suit.
"Oh... Okay. Which class do you guys have?" Xavier asked, as the group stopped the chattering.
"We have social skills development class," Then Mason bends down and whispers even though I still heard him, "The one with the teacher that is a bit weird."
I tapped his head lightly and he glared at me.
"She's not weird, she's eccentric." I defend the teacher who technically or not technically is my family friend, and Mason knows this too which is why he made that comment.
"You've tapped my head more times than I can count. I think I should take offense to this inhumane action. Besides, she's weird in my opinion." He shrugged.
"Eccentric." I countered.
"Weird."
"Eccentric."
"Weird."
We kept this going as we walked out of the cafeteria. I'm sure our friends were shaking their heads as we left.
When we got to class, we settled in our seats. Mason seat was on the next row but beside me.
Mrs Levinson entered the class few minutes after we did. After doing the usual roll call, she started talking.
"We're not going to actually waste so much time today. During the summer, I was thinking of what to give as a project for this first session. It wasn't until two days ago that I finally came up with something. Shannon come up here, I'll need you to do a little demonstration for the class."
Shannon stood up and went to the front of the class. Mrs Levinson picked up a handcuff and handcuffed her left wrist with Shannon's right wrist.
"As you can see, with this handcuff Shannon and I can't move anywhere. Meaning we're in each other's business, we'll pratically be doing everything together. We're basically each other's shadow." She removed the handcuff and placed it on the table.
"Thank you Shannon. You may go back to your seat. Now, the project for this semester is called 'Handcuffed together.' You all will be paired with a partner for three months. During these three months you will try to learn everything about your partner. His/her likes, favorite food, future dreams and all of that.You can have sleepovers, road trips, movie nights. Whatever works to make your project a success. This project is aimed at breaking old cliche friendship circle and expanding your horizons. There are good friends out there you just have to look out of your bubble. I expect you and your partner do at least an activity everyday. You can make a scrapbook and submit, or compile a couple of pictures, anything. Just remember the most important thing which is to have fun. Now, I have already paired y'all. So I'll start calling you all pair by pair. Also be aware that I will not accept any request for change because I've critically thought this through, and whoever I make your partner it's cause I know you guys will work well as partners." She finished.
The thing is we've been doing this course for two years and this is the third and final year, and if it's not obvious by now, I'm a senior and I'll soon be done with high school. Whoop! This is actually our longest project so far. We've done social circle project for a period of two weeks where we were made to create a group chat with four people we never talk to and chat with them everyday for two weeks and report our progress. That was a good project 'cause it made me talk to so many people I have never talked to.
I really don't want to be paired with Mason. I know people would be surprised if they hear me say this. My reason for saying this is because Mason does deep friendship stuff, and if I'm paired with Mason and constantly spend more time with him than I usually do, I'll be forced to spill all my secrets especially one that I've kept successfully for five years, and a new one I have now that I've also kept for two months now. I've successfully kept my friends close but surface level close, I can't tell anyone deep stuff.
They tell me and I try to tell too, but there is one that's so deep that if I tell my friends it may break our friendship. For that reason I've kept my friends on an emotional check. I'm always cautious whenever I'm with them, so I don't display way too much emotions. Don't blame me, I'm just scared of losing them. I've tried to keep Mason far and trust me it hasn't been easy. If he becomes my project partner, trust me there's no keeping him far 'cause he's going to use the project as an excuse to always be around me.
"Hailey Harper and..." I crossed my fingers as I hoped it's anyone but Mason.
"Jason Brown." She said. I did a fist bump mentally. Finally things are looking up for me.
"Ohhh... I'm sorry," Mrs Levinson apologized. No, please don't do this, don't be sorry. I already know where this is going.
"Jason Brown is Hailey Norman's partner, not Hailey Harper's. I'm sorry for that mix-up. Hailey Harper your partner is..." Please don't say Mason, please don't say Mason. I chanted in my head.
"Mason Lightning." She finished.
I felt like my heart shattered in pieces and we all know that scientifically, it can't happen but I know it totally felt like it.
You know that moment when you don't need proof that the universe is against you, this is actually the moment.
The question now is, How can I convince her to unpair the both of us?
A/N AGAIN🙈 GOSH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS AUTHOR?
Okay quick question guys- Do you think they should be unpaired?
Till Friday when I come with the next update... Bye🚶