#Chapter3
---Ditching The Ponytail-01
I was able to successfully avoid Charlotte for the rest of the school day, so she hasn't been able to seen my cheek.
I look at myself in the mirror behind the front door and notice that I look exhausted. I move the hair away from my cheek and notice that it's a light purple shade.
Great, now I have to hide it until it heals.
I walk into the kitchen only to stop in front of the freezer so that I can grab an ice pack.
I place the ice pack on my cheek before I jog upstairs so that I can start on my homework.
As soon as I walk into my room I throw my backpack on the bed and walk into my closet so that I could change into a pair of comfy clothes.
I decide on an oversized black hoodie paired with white night shorts. I find a pair of white knee length varsity sock and put them on.
When I walk out of my closet I hear my phone buzzing on my nightstand. As I walk towards it I see Charlotte's name flashing across the street.
I grab the phone and swipe right before I place the phone near my ear and speak into it.
/"Hello?/" I ask in a weird voice since I forgot that I have a bruise on my face and accidentally touched the phone to my face
/"I'm coming over/" Charlotte says which causes me to roll my eyes
Usually she just comes over without saying anything.
/"You can't/" I say as I sit on the bed and start to pull out my homework and textbooks
/"And why is that?/" She asks with a curious voice
/"One, because it's my house/" I say matter of factly /"and two, because my mom just went to work so I doubt she'd be pleased to find out that you slept over/" I say
/"You make it seem like we've never had hangouts while your mom wasn't there,/" she says in a confused voice
/"I know that you're hiding something from me, but I don't understand why/" she says with obvious disappointment which causes me to sigh
/"I'm just not feeling well, I'll talk to you tomorrow/" I say before I hang up and stare at the wall with a frown
I get snapped out of my thoughts by my phone singing from three text messages.
I immediately frown when I see who they're from.
Maddie- I hope you learned your lesson today
Maddie- I see you've made a new friend, that's great.
Maddie- Now you can leave MY Charlotte alone
She's been cyber bullying me ever since a month ago when she caught me and Charlotte hugging.
I honestly think it's crazy how obsessed she is with Charlotte, which is why I'm scared of what she might do if I tell someone about what she's been doing to me.
I hear a knock on the door downstairs which causes me to groan in annoyance.
Why does everyone want to bother me today.
I fix my hair so that it's covering my cheek before I pull my hood up and onto my head. I quickly make my way downstairs before opening the door only to be met with Charlotte holding a tub of ice cream.
I sigh which makes her sadly smile.
/"I know that you don't want to see me right now, but I really don't feel comfortable being alone right now/" she says which makes me pout as I see a tear roll down her cheek
If she started with that on the phone then maybe the call would've went a little bit differently.
I wipe her tear away before I pull her into a hug.
/"It's okay, I'm here for you/" I say as I walk her inside and close the door
Charlotte has separation anxiety.
Her parents neglected her when she was eleven and went on a trip when she was twelve.
They left her with my mom and I before they got on a plane so that they could fly to Hawaii.
They told her that they would be back whenever they felt like it and barely acknowledged us when they dropped her off.
Long story short, they never came back.
We have no clue where they are nor do we care, but when Charlotte is left alone for too long she either gets panic attacks or she breaks down and wrecks things.
A couple of times when she's spent the night she gets very bad nightmares. There has been countless times where I had to wake her up and calm her down.
She's been through a lot, but even through it all she tolerates hate from nobody.
/"I have to do homework, I can put on a movie for you/" I suggest as we walk up the stairs and towards my bedroom
/"No, I'll help you/" she says in a small, fragile voice. I nod as she removes her shoes and climbs onto my bed.
I sit beside her and place my textbooks on my lap along with a couple of papers. She lays her head on my shoulder which makes me smile.
I'm so happy that I'm able to comfort her in these moments.
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/"Question five is wrong/" she says as she continues to massage my shoulders.
I've been doing homework for two hours now. I finished everything else so now I'm working on math, which is one of my worst subjects.
Charlotte noticed that I was stressed a couple of minutes ago so she started to give me a massage which is proving to helpful since I feel more relaxed than I did an hour ago.
/"Ugh, I give up. I've redone it three times already/" I say which makes her laugh before she grabs my paper and finishes the rest of the equations in four minutes.
I stare at her gobsmacked when she hands me back the paper with a smile on her face.
/"Beauty and Brains,/" I say which causes her to look away from me as the tips of her ears turn pink
/"You're going to make one lucky guy or girl happy/" I say since I don't know what team she swings for
I place all of my books and supplies inside of my backpack before I place it beside my bed and get comfortable under the covers.
/"Oh wait, I forgot to offer you clothes to sleep in/" I say as I remove the covers from my body which causes her to grab my arm so that she can gain my attention
/"It's fine, I can sleep in my clothes/" she says with a reassuring smile but I just shake my head
/"No, I'm getting you some comfortable clothes. You can't object/" I say with determination which makes her smile as I get up a walk towards my closet
I pick out a pair of black leggings and a white oversized sweatshirt for her.
I walk out of my closet with the clothes only to see her removing her shirt which causes me to blush as my eyes widen.
We've never changed in front of each other.
Oh god, I shouldn't be looking at this.
When her shirt is over her head she turns towards me and looks at the clothes in my hand with a smile.
I look down and see her perfectly toned stomach which she's gotten from going to the gym every week.
I look up and trace the contours with my eyes before they land on her beautifully sculpted chest.
Her breasts are covered by a maroon lace bra. She appears to be a B-cup maybe a C-cup.
/"Hey Aspen, my eyes are up here/" Charlotte say with an amused tone which causes me to blush and look down as I hand her the clothes
She accepts them before walking into my bathroom and closing the door behind her.
I feel something wet on the corner of my lip so I reach my hand up and touch it.
Great, I drooled over her body.
Now she probably thinks that I'm weird.
Wait a minute, I've never had this reaction to someone before.
I shake my head to rid myself of the crazy thoughts, I'm obviously just admiring something that I though looked good.
It's no big deal.
I'm not attracted to my best friend.
I walk to my bed and place the covers over my shivering body. I lay on my back and just stare at the ceiling as I think about the day.
It feels like Maddie has been bullying me more and more each day.
At least one good this came out of today.
I met Kayden and it seems like he hasn't heard the names that everyone made up for me.
/"Hey, are you okay?/" Charlotte asks as she lays beside me and turns off my bedside lamp
I turn onto my side so that I'm facing her before I give her a smile, which causes her to look at me with an unreadable emotion as she tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
Thank the heavens that it's my unbruised cheek.
She rests her hand on my cheek and just continues to look me in the eyes with an unreadable expression.
I'm about to ask her what she's doing when she suddenly says something that catches me off guard
/"You know that I care about you, right?/"
/"Yes, of course/" I say which makes her smile before she places a kiss on my forehead
I move my head so that it's laying on her chest which causes her to wrap her arms around my waist
/"Goodnight Aspen/"
/"Goodnight Charlotte/"
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