By the time Monday comes around I am a little excited for school, not because of Josh but because I know Lauren and Stephanie will cheer me up from my bad weekend mood. I head to first period and already see Lauren waiting for me.
"Hey Lauren, how was your weekend," I ask her as I sit down in my chair.
"My weekend was super lame. I want to talk about your weekend instead? How was it?"
There is a certain exciting ring to her tone that I immediately pick up on when she ask about my weekend.
"My weekend was actually very boring too," I reply, hoping she will just drop the subject.
"What about your date with Josh? How did it go? I know that must have been a little exciting."
I sigh with sadness.
'Of course she knows Josh and I went out this weekend. Why do people not just mind their own business and stop talking about everyone else's?'
"To be honest, we did not say one word to each other and we only went to the movies. I was completely bored, considering we watched the new action movie."
She frowns, "Oh, I am so sorry Audrey."
"Wait, how did you even know Josh and I hung out this weekend?"
"Oh well Stephanie said she heard Daniel ask Josh where he was Saturday and he said he was with you."
"Yeah he was and the date was very boring. I think we are better off staying as friends."
"Oh, I am so sorry. I know how much you have been putting off being in a relationship with Josh and then you go out on a limb and try it and the first date you have ends up like that. It is horrible to be honest."
"It is okay, I will find that special someone. He is out there somewhere."
"Well hopefully he will not make you watch any dumb action movies for a date."
We start laughing as Miss Settles walks into the classroom. The whole class turns around and faces the front of the room hoping not to get in trouble for talking again.
"Class, I would like to introduce a new student. His name is Damon. Please make him feel comfortable and welcomed."
A tall black-haired kid with dark brown eyes abruptly walks in the room then. He is wearing a black leather jacket with dark blue jeans and boots. There is something alluring and mesmerizing about the new student who stands in front of the classroom. It is hard to look away from him, almost like I am in a magical trance.
"Damon, you can have a seat right there," Miss Settles says looking straight at the desk right to my left.
He quietly walks over to sit down without looking at anyone in the room. Miss Settles then starts the projector and hands out the note packet we are supposed to be filling out during her lesson. When I am completely done copying the notes, I casually look over at Damon to see what he is doing. He has his notebook out and appears to be drawing something in it right now. I glance over at Lauren just in time as she hands me a note.
What do you think of the new student?
He is hot, I will give him that LOL
He is like insanely hot! I wonder where he is from and if he has a girlfriend.
I have no idea and you would want to know if he has a girlfriend. You go after every guy you see in our school that you think is good looking.
LOL, not my fault they are all so good looking. :)
I immediately put the note in my purse before Miss Settles can come down the row aisles and catch us passing notes. When I look over at Damon again, he is looking deep into my eyes, like he is trying to see through me to my very soul. He quickly looks back down at his paper and starts drawing again. I have this weird feeling, maybe it is because I have never had anyone look at me that way before. The bell rings moments later and I pick up my things to go to the next class.
The rest of the classes are very boring and slow as the day continues to go by. It is extremely hard to try and pay attention when my mind keeps wandering back to Damon and trying to figure out why he is mesmerizing to me. I am thrilled when it is finally time to go to lunch since I can finally see all of my friends at once. Maybe I can actually pay attention to their conversations and talk to Stephanie about the new kid and why the thought of him is bothering me so much. Lauren and Stephanie are already at the table when I finally get to the cafeteria. Stephanie looks up at me as I sit down and smiles.
"Have you seen the new kid," she ask.
"Are you kidding me, who has not noticed the new kid? He is hot with a capital H," I say as the words come out of my mouth without a thought.
"Yeah, whoever has not noticed him has to be completely blind," Lauren chimes in while laughing.
The guys end up walking over to our table then and sit right across from us girls.
"So what are you girls talking about," Adam ask nosily.
"We are talking about the new kid," Stephanie answers.
"What about him," Josh ask.
"Have you seen him? He is like really hot," Lauren replies.
Daniel looks passively at me and speaks, "so what do you think of the new guy Audrey?"
"I have to agree with the girls here on the subject. He is really cute and happens to be artistic apparently," I say trying not to smile too much.
"What do you mean," Stephanie ask looking right at me now.
"Well, I saw him drawing in his notebook almost the whole class during first period."
"Oh, so you were watching him then," Lauren says giggling.
"No, I just happen to glance over at him and see that he was drawing in his notebook at the time."
The guys immediately get bored with our conversation about Damon so they start talking about some game that was on the night before. Stephanie looks up away from our table before looking back to Lauren and I.
"Look who is over there sitting all by his lonesome self," she says with a sad tone in her voice.
I look over and follow her eye sight to see Damon sitting two tables over, just drawing in his notebook again.
"Hey, I have an idea. How about we go over there and introduce ourselves," Lauren suggest.
"Good idea, we should all go over there," I say getting up out of my seat.
"Hey where are you girls going?"
Stephanie and Lauren get up to follow me as we completely ignore the boys at our table. We stand by the table Damon is sitting at and wait until he finally looks up at us.
"Hi, do you mind if we sit with you," I ask politely. He looks over at Lauren and Stephanie before looking back at me.
"Sure, you can sit here," he says before moving over to make room for the girls and I. The girls sit down across from him while I choose the seat right next to him.
I smile, "hi I am Audrey. This is Lauren and Stephanie."
"Hey, my name is Damon. Are you in my first period class," he ask as he seems to be observing me.
"Yeah, I sit to the right of you. Lauren is in our first period class too."
Lauren looks up at him and smiles at my comment.
"So do you like to draw," Stephanie ask, chiming in to the conversation.
"Yeah, I like to draw a little bit."
"I saw you drawing in first period. Do you always draw?"
"Most of the time I do. I was a little bored in class today since I am new so I just started drawing in my notebook to pass the time."
"I think it is cool that you have something you like to do in your spare time," Lauren says, batting her eyelashes.
The bell rings and it is time to go to sixth period class.
"Well, I guess we will see you later," I say looking at Damon while I get up out of my chair.
"Yeah that sounds good," he says smiling.
I say bye to Damon and the girls before starting to head to my next class. I am not even out of the cafeteria when Josh pulls on my arm all of sudden to stop me.
"Hey Audrey, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Josh, we have to go to class. Can you wait until later on after school?"
"I just wanted to talk to you about the other day when we went to the movies. It will not take that long."
"Josh, I have to go or else I am going to be late for class. I will talk to you later."
I pull away from his grasp and make my way to my next class of the day which happens to be the last one. My last class of the day is English, which of course is my favorite class. It is the period of the whole day that I always look forward to the most because I can read all I want and not get into any trouble at all for it. I walk over to my desk to start reading my fantasy fiction book that I am currently reading right now.
Miss Taylor comes in smiling and announces we will be watching a movie in honor of having a new student today.
'We are going to watch a movie in class? Wait, seriously? We never just watch a movie in class, so why are we going to just because we have a new student. Is the new student in this class Damon too? I wonder what made her change her mind and come up with such a crazy idea like this.'
When she says this I look up and notice Damon walking into the classroom. I look back down at my book, hoping not to make any eye contact with him whatsoever. I feel his presence walk over to sit down right beside me once again.
"I hope you do not mind but you teacher gave me the seat behind you," he says, interrupting my reading.
I turn to the side and try to put a smile on my face, "no I do not mind at all."
I turn back around to put my book back in my purse and face the front of the room, trying to distract myself by seeing what movie Miss Taylor has picked out for us to watch. She shows us all of the movies we can choose from to write notes on while we watch them. The majority of the class decides to vote on watching The Blind Side, which is good since I have seen it so many times before already. It should not be too hard for me to write notes on this movie then.
Miss Taylor puts the movie into her computer and starts it up on the projector in front of the classroom. I try my best to focus and concentrate on the movie instead of Damon's presence, who is behind me. The bad thing about already seeing this movie is it makes it sort of hard to pay attention to it long enough to take notes. I felt a gentle touch on my back before turning around to see Damon smiling.
"Hey, have you seen this movie before," he ask me.
"Yeah I saw it when it first came out in the movie theatre," I reply back.
"Me too, I feel like it makes it that much more hard to pay attention to it and write our notes since I have already seen the movie before."
"You are not the only one," I say.
Still smiling, Damon opens his notebook and begins to work on his drawings from earlier. I turn back around in my chair and try to start writing random notes about the movie on my piece of paper so I will not get in trouble for not doing the assignment. After about ten minutes of trying to focus on the movie, the bell finally rings for the end of the day and it is time to go home once again. I pick up all of my school books and supplies before walking to the door to leave for the day.
"Hey Audrey."
I turn around at the unexpected voice behind me to see Damon walking toward me in the hallway.
"Hey, you remember my name."
"Of course I do, I was wondering if you might want to show me around and hang out sometime."
'Did Damon really just ask to hangout with me? We are complete strangers to each other and he knows nothing about me so why does he want to hangout? Then again, if I do decide to hangout with Damon maybe everyone will stop talking about Josh and I potentially being a couple. People do love to gossip about others so it could work for me so I do not have to hear anyone mention Josh and I being a cute couple or about how terrible our date was the other night. If this works, I can finally be free of having to feel bad about not being anything but friends with Josh.'
"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Just let me know when you want to hangout," I say smiling.
"Thanks, I will see you tomorrow then," he says as he walks away.
"See you later Damon."
He turns around and smiles at me.
"See, you remember my name too."
He winks at me before continuing to walk away, laughing to himself. I stand frozen in the hallway contemplating if this is such a good idea until finally Lauren comes up to me.
"Hey girl, are we going to have our movie night at your house or mine since we have no homework tonight," she ask.
Instead of answering her right away, I just stand here in the hallway like I am in a daydream. Lauren shakes my arm knocking me out of trance as I look up at her.
"Hey are we having movie night at my house or yours tonight?"
"Oh, well we can have it at my house. No one is ever home except for me so we will have the whole place to ourselves."
"The only reason you are the only one at your house ever is because your parents travel around the world for work and let you live by yourself in the house while they keep paying the bills. You should feel very lucky they trust you so much to be left alone," she says smiling.
I frown, "I guess it is okay but I still miss them like crazy everyday. I have not seen my parents for more than a week since I was a little girl and they told me they would be traveling more for work and would not be around as much anymore. Being on your own may seem fun now that we are older but as a kid growing up, it was hard trying to figure out why my parents did not want to be home with me anymore. Once I was old enough to not have a babysitter, I got over the fact that my parents were never home anymore, realizing that their work must be super important because what parent chooses to not watch their child grow up at home."
"I am sorry I mentioned it, I promise to not bring it up again. Can we talk about something else like what was up with you a second ago when you would not answer me the first time? You looked like you were some kind of trance or daydreaming again."
"Oh Damon just asked if I could show him around or hangout sometime," I reply trying not to smile.
She looks at my face and gasp, "you like the new kid. Oh my goodness, we have to tell Stephanie when she comes over tonight."
"Lauren, we are not going to make a big deal out of this. Yes I will admit that he is good looking but that is not why I was smiling."
"Then why were you smiling if it is not because you like the new kid?"
"We should not worry about it now since we need to get ready for movie night tonight. I will tell you and Stephanie my plan when you both come over tonight, okay?"
"Fine, I guess I will just see you later tonight at your house. Do not forget to order the pizza and get some drinks."
"Yes, I promise I will have everything we need for our movie marathon night. See you later."
I slowly walk away as I finish saying goodbye to her to go outside and get into my new white car to drive home. When I finally get home, I go straight up to my room because there are a couple things I would like to do before the movie marathon with the girls tonight. The very first thing I need to do that is on my list is to clean my room. At a leisurely pace, I go around and try to pick up all my dirty clothes off the floor before walking downstairs and putting them into the washing machine in the laundry room to start a load of clothes. When I get back up the stairs and into my room, I notice that my laptop is lit up.
'That is strange, usually my friends just call or text me if they need something.'
I sit down in my chair at my desk and click on the email icon that is bouncing on the screen. As soon as it opens up I see that there are three unread email messages. I use the mouse to click on them and see that two of them are from the girls. The first one is from Lauren chastising me for not answering my phone and reminding me to have everything ready for the movie marathon. The second email is from Stephanie asking why I am not answering my phone and wanting to know if she can invite the guys over to join us for the movie marathon tonight. As for the third email, I do not recognize the name at all. The email is from someone named Passionate Artist 17 and the message only reads one word, hi. This does not give me a hint at all as to who sent it. Instead of answering the messages, I pick up the rest of my room and head back down the stairs to start cleaning the living room as well as the dining room and kitchen. I am just finishing up cleaning the rest of the house, when there is a knock at the front door. Lauren walks in then, followed by Stephanie whose hands are full with bags.
"What is all of this," I ask.
Stephanie is the one to speak up, "We decided to bring multiple movies, games, and snacks for tonight."
They walk over to put the bags on the dining room table and start unpacking everything that they have brought with them.
"So are we going to call the guys and see if they want to come over and hangout with us tonight?"
"Actually, I was just hoping it to be just us so we can have a girls night tonight," I confess.
"Hopefully you can change your mind very quickly within the next couple minutes," Stephanie replies.
I look at her with confusion, "what do you mean by that?"
Not five seconds later, there is a knock on the door followed by the guys walking into my living room.
"What are you guys doing here," I ask with complete shock.
"Stephanie texted us and said you guys were having a movie night and wanted to know if we wanted to come join."
I look at Daniel then back over to Stephanie who is trying not to look me in the eyes right now.
"Stephanie?"
"I thought it might be more fun if the guys joined us," she says trying to give off an innocent demeanor.
"Stephanie, you cannot invite people to someone else's house without asking them first. It is just down right plain rude," I yell.
"Come on Audrey, we are all friends here. Plus I promise we will be on our best behavior," Adam pleads to me.
I look around to see everyone else with pleading faces as I sigh and give in.
"Fine, I guess having the guys over will not hurt anything."
Everyone's faces light up with smiles at my response.
"So, now what do we do?"
"Well, all of you can go ahead and pick out a movie you want to watch. I am going to go grab some more games from my bedroom and I will be right back."
I walk up the stairs two at a time to head to my bedroom and try to find my board games. When I finally find them hidden at the top of my closet, I pull them out and get ready to head back downstairs until I hear my laptop ding. I look over at the computer screen and see that I have another message. After laying the board games on the top of my bed, I then sit down in my chair at my desk to see the message is from Passionate Artist 17. I click on the message to see what it says.
From: Passionate Artist 17
To: Noteworthy Novelist
Hi, I am very glad that I met you today at school.
You made my first day here great. I was worried about
having a horrible day but then I met you and you were
very nice. Thank you for making my day and let me know
when you are free sometime. I would like to get to know you
better.
I reread the message and realize that the only person who it could possibly be from is Damon.
'The thing that gets me though is how he ended up getting my email address in the first place. I never gave him my last name or anything so how could he have possibly gotten it to send me a message?'
I decide to type him back real quick before going back downstairs to join my friends.
From: Noteworthy Novelist
To: Passionate Artist 17
Hi, I am pleased I could make your first day
here, not bad. I just have two questions though; is
this Damon and how did you get my email address?
Right now I have some friends over for a movie night
so I cannot be online. If this is in fact Damon and you
would like to hangout or talk, I am always free during
lunch. See you tomorrow at school.
I grab the games off of my bed and go back downstairs to join everyone else in the living room. They have already put the movie in and are sitting down to watch it. I go over and sit down between Daniel and Lauren.
"Hey what took you so long," Lauren ask.
I look at her and smile, "oh i just had to take care of something on my computer."
She shakes her head and focuses back on the movie. After the movie is over, Daniel and Josh decide they want to play a game. While everyone is arguing over what game we should play, the doorbell rings abruptly. I walk over to open the front door to see a guy standing on the other side on my front porch, holding three boxes of pizza.
"Oh, I will get it," Lauren says hopping off the couch and handing the guy money.
She shuts the door once he leaves and puts the pizza boxes on the kitchen table.
"When did you guys order the pizza," I ask, completely confused.
"I ordered it about twenty minutes ago while you were in la la land," Josh says smiling.
"I was not in la la land, I was just very interested in the movie."
"Oh please, you had your daydreaming face on. We know you Audrey and believe me, you were definitely daydreaming."
"Okay fine, let us just quit talking about me and what I was or was not doing. How about we grab some pizza and play a game," I suggest trying to get the attention off of me.
Everyone immediately heads into the dining room to start piling their plates with pizza before heading back into the living room to sit down.
"So what game would you guys like to play?"
"How about we play truth or dare?"
I look at Daniel with a fake appalled expression on my face.
"I should have known you would suggest such an intimate game."
"So who is first?"
"Ladies first," Daniel says laughing.
"Fine then, I guess I will go and I pick truth," Stephanie says speaking up.
"Have you ever gone skinny dipping before?"
"Seriously Daniel, is your mind ever out of the gutter?"
"Oh come on, it is what makes the game more fun."
"It is okay Audrey, I do not mind the personal question and my answer is yes I have."
The boys all look at Stephanie with such shock and awe faces that I cannot help but laugh. If only they knew that Lauren and I had also been there and went skinny dipping with her, maybe they would be too stunned to play the rest of the game.
"I want to go next," Lauren says, trying to change the topic at hand.
"Truth or dare?"
"I pick truth."
"If you had to pick one person to be stuck with in a closet for an hour, who would you choose and why?"
"Wow, that is a tough one. I guess I would narrow it down to whoever I think is the hottest guy so we could have some fun."
I sigh, of course Lauren is just like the guys when it comes to dirty minds. She is exactly like Daniel but happens to be the opposite sex.
"So who would be the guy you think is the hottest right now then?"
"It would have to be Damon right now obviously because he is the new kid and he is hot."
The guys start shaking their heads side to side, appalled with her answer. I immediately try to change the subject, hoping to avoid the confrontation I know is about to occur.
"So who is next, me?"
"Okay now it is Audrey's turn. Audrey, do you pick truth or dare?"
I sigh, "I guess if you are going to be asking questions like that then I am picking dare."
"Okay then I dare you to kiss Josh right here, right now in front of all of us."
'What?!? Is he crazy? I look from the smile on Adam's face over to the saddened look on Josh. What am I going to do? I cannot kiss Josh after that horrible date. We work better as friends rather than a couple so there is no reason to kiss him anymore.'
"Adam, do you really think that is necessary? I mean is there not something else you would rather have her do," Josh says, chiming in.
I watch as Adam seems to think it over in his head. A mischievous thought must have popped up in his head because the grin on his face widened before he answers.
"Fine, you do not have to kiss Josh if you do not want to."
I sigh, "I would say thank you but I am assuming that you have something else on your mind then."
"If you do not kiss Josh, then you have to kiss someone else here right now."
'Seriously? He is just as bad as Daniel is, always having his mind in the gutter. Well I guess if they want to be that way then maybe I should do something to spice this game up then.'
I glance over at Lauren and Stephanie who both look at me and wink, reading my exact thoughts. Slowly I lean across the circle of friends and put my lips right to Lauren's who kisses me back instantaneously before I do the exact same to Stephanie. I captivate the boys' attention as I continue to kiss my two girl friends as they watch, completely enthralled by the experience. When they finally can find their voices, Daniel is the one to speak first.
"That was the hottest thing I have ever seen. Do it again."
"Yeah, I am super glad you did not kiss Josh now," Adam chimes in.
The girls and I laugh as we look from one guy's red face to the next.
"You guys are so easy to entertain. How do you think we became good kisses."
"Yeah all girlfriends practice on themselves so they can be good at kissing when they get a boyfriend."
"Well, I think you girls should keep practicing and we will tell you when to stop then."
I roll my eyes, "nice try Daniel but it was just a one time thing. So now let us move on with the game. Who wants to go?"
Adam grins, "I guess I will go next."
"Okay then, truth or dare."
"I will pick truth."
"Is it true that you have a crush on one of your closest friends," Daniel ask suddenly.
"Dude, you were not suppose to say anything. I told you that in confidence that you would keep my secret," Adam says livid.
"It does not matter now, does it. You picked truth so you have to tell the truth."
"Fine yes, I do have a crush on one of my closest friends."
"Who is it," Lauren ask abruptly.
"There is no way I am telling any of you anything."
I watch as it goes on and on like this for the next several minutes. Everyone is arguing over whether Adam should tell us his secret and he refuses to. After playing truth or dare for another half hour, everyone finally decides it is time to get some sleep. The guys get up and start to gather their things to leave.
"Where are you guys going," I ask.
Adam smiles, "we already know we cannot stay the night here with you girls. What if your parents happen to come home?"
Lauren laughs, "did you forget that her parents travel the world for their jobs. They are honestly never home and will not find out if you guys stay for just one night."
I try to put a smile on my face, "yeah it is okay. They will not be home for a couple of months. Plus it is too late at night for you guys to drive all the way home. Just stay, I promise it will be okay."
The guys start exchanging looks as each of them debate their options right now.
"Okay, we will stay the night since it is not an issue," Josh finally says, breaking the silence.
They all smile as they sit back down on the floor with the girls and I. I put in another movie as we all lay down to watch it. Soon everyone is falling fast asleep.