Chapter 1: There I Saw You Sleeping

When you’re given time to worry about something a year from now you can’t help but stress out on how everything will turn out. Then suddenly when the year comes around you remember all the time you spent stressing about it, days, weeks, and months. You forget what had you worrying in the first place since everything felt so far off into the future, and when the future arrives you couldn’t come up with a single plan in all that time you spent worrying. Maybe that’s just me worrying about next year and not letting go of what has happen to me and my best friend Daniel in middle school. I had two whole years after graduating middle school and I’m still not over everything that happened… How lame am I? I just barely started my junior year of high school and I have no idea what exactly I want to do after I graduate next year. Junior year is the year everyone around you starts thinking about what they want to do after high school. Meanwhile during your senior year you spend your first semester trying to decide on what career you want to pursue. Then during your second semester you spend it lazing around waiting for the finish line. At least that’s what i’ve seen from watching the seniors around me.

The coming of age trope has been fleshed out so often that I feel it’s gotten boring recently, it’s always the same premise with just some changes to make it seem different from other stories. I partially hate myself for becoming this type of trope since its now my turn to do it, my so called, “coming of age story,” woahhhhh... I feel like the reason why these stories are still so popular is because each generation goes through something different and when we get older and the times aren’t like the good old days we get some sort of comfort revisiting what time used to be like. I sit in the back of my class and no I don’t sit beside a window but I can stare out the window whenever I turn my head to the left, there are two seats to my left and two to my right. The large tree outside has almost lost all its leaves while I’m just anxious about next year when I’ll have to actually decide on what my future career will be, whether I apply to colleges or not, even if I do get into a college what major would I major in?

College is mostly out of the picture, why would I get into a huge amount of massive debt into a degree that may or may not get me a job. I felt a tap on my right shoulder from Daniel my popular, “best friend,” while most of his popularity comes from how much of a social butterfly he is another part comes from his above average looks. I guess my usual depressing monologue is over, not like I was going anywhere with it anyways.

“Do you think she’ll be hot?”

“Huh…?” I was genuinely confused turning to my left to face him. He’s been my, “best friend,” since elementary school. I call him my, “best friend,” since even though I’ve known him for so long all he really does is get me into trouble and bring me down with him every time. Sure he’s a popular guy but he always loves to mess with me since it brings him laughter. Often times I get into awkward situations with girls I’ve never meet before because of his antics. I’m used to it by know, you might be asking why I’m even friends with a popular asshole like him? It’s because I owe him a debt I don’t feel I could ever repay, not only that but even after all the stupid shit he puts me through he’s the person I respect the most in my life. Things were bad in middle school for the both of us… but even then he stayed by my side when everyone else turned on me, even if sometimes he talks like a stereotypical popular man he’s still a good friend, my best friend.

“The new transfer student teach is talking about?”

I must have been really deep in thought, normally I can hear my surroundings really well while thinking.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“We’re you not paying attention man?”

“No…what did Mr. Brandon say again Daniel?”

“Mr. Brandon said she’s in the principles office right now finishing up some things, she’ll walk in any sec—”

The classroom door opened, a pretty brunette girl with hair that barely reached her shoulders walked in, she looked to be standing at around 5’5, she had a wonderful pair of green eyes. She came in with a smile on her face as Principle Anne stood behind the door, simply watching. Mr. Brandon stood up from his chair and shook the transfer students hand. He then turned and looked towards us.

“Everyone this is Emma she’ll be joining our homeroom for the school year, some of you will have her in other classes.” Mr. Brandon then stretched out his hand towards the classroom to let her talk.

“Hey everyone my name is Emma Harper and I just recently moved in with my grandparents, I hope we can all be friends this year!” She sounded excited as she turned and looked towards everyone. Principle Anne smiled as she put her hand up signaling her departure. Mr. Brandon pointed to an empty desk in front of me. Was that desk always empty? I swear someone sat in front of me.

“Go take your seat, you’ll have plenty of time in homeroom to make some friends.” She nodded and walked towards her seat. Everyone in the classroom tried getting her attention.

“Hey Emma!”

“Emma you should sit at our table for lunch today!”

“Emma let us see your schedule for the day!”

Multiple of the girls and the few guys who weren’t scared to talk to women got up from their desks as she smiled and kept walking in the same column of desks I was in. She smiled and looked around trying to respond to everyone then for a brief instant our eyes met. In that instant it felt like I’ve seen those same eyes look at me before, my heart began to move, from the look she gave me it felt like she felt the same way. It felt weird and comforting at the same time.

She was pretty, but I’m not falling into the love at first sight trope it’s not in my character. Not just that but this is a coming of age story, or at least I’d like to keep it that way, ever since middle school I’ve tried my best to stay away from irl romance. Unlike the boring coming of age troupe I’m a big fan of romantic comedy’s but mostly romances when done properly right. I honestly don’t believe I should be focusing on romance in my life, I prefer to look at it from behind a screen or book. I don’t even think I’ll talk to her much, even if we do somehow talk to each other today, it will probably happen because she’s new and being nice around her neighbors. I already know that there won’t be any real friendship between us, if I had to predict what will happen by the end of the day then I’d say she’ll make some friends and join a group. And for the future I’d say eventually over time she’ll stop being what everyone’s talking about, she’ll be just like us after a month, a normal high school student.

“YO EMMA EZRA OVER HERE JUST TOLD ME HE THINKS YOU’RE REALLY HOT!” Daniel yelled as everyone stopped looking at Emma and turned to me.

IM GONNA KILL YOU DANIEL WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU—NO THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF SHIT YOU DO ALL THE TIME! SHE’S NEW SO OF COURSE SHE DOESN’T KNOW YOU’RE JUST MESSING AROUND!

I looked at Daniel filled with pure anger, my embarrassment got to me before I could yell at him, I then turned to Emma as my face turned red, I couldn’t mutter out anything, she looked straight at me, she was also feeling a wave of embarrassment. I mean how else would you react to that!? Mr. Brandon simply ignored what Daniel said out loud, I guess being really good friends with the teacher lets some things fly. Even though Mr. Brandon didn’t say anything he still gave Daniel a look that said he only gets a warning and not to pick on the new transfer student.

“I… uhhh… I’m sorry I don’t know what to say…” Emma said to me as the other students standing around her laughed about the situation.

“Emma don’t worry about Daniel over there.” Lucy the girl to my right said as she gave Daniel a fierce menacing face, “He just loves to mess with people a lot.”

“Oh, um… ok, well it’s nice to meet you Ezra I’ll be sitting in front of you I hope we can be good friends.” She stuttered to say, still a bit red over what just happened.

“Yeah… me too.” I tried avoiding eye contact, she sat down in front of me, majority of the class surrounded her table as they laughed and talked about where she was from and how she liked the new city so far. Lucy stepped into the conversation with them while Daniel butted in. Daniel has always been an extrovert, he’s not afraid to get into any conversation he wants, he’s been a people person since the day I meet him. Even as popular as Daniel is most people tend to stay away from Daniel’s vicinity whenever he’s around Lucy in fear they’ll get caught in the crossfire between those two. Since Daniel butted in all the other guys left Emma’s table, they were all afraid of Lucy accidentally hitting one of them in case Daniel said something stupid and deserved a beating from her.

I’d say I’m in between being introverted and extroverted. I prefer being in my mind, that’s where I can imagine any scenario I want a hundred percent of the time, I produce around a thousand thoughts a minute, and my memory is extremely good only for things like remembering someone’s favorite thing or what I’ve done in the past. I like being in my head more than talking to people around me since I’m still trying to get past my trust issues.

“Emma how about you hang out with me and Lucy at the karaoke bar in the city after school?” Kristy the JV captain of the girls soccer team asked. Before Emma could answer Daniel butted in.

“Hey why don’t you let us guys come along that way there’s more fun!?” Daniel added as he grabbed me.

“Woah!” I uttered being pulled to his side.

“A round of drinks on me what do you say?”

“I mean it’s Emma’s decision since she’s new and all, should we let the guys tag along?” Lucy asked as she grabbed Daniel by the shirt, “Any funny business and you’ll come in tomorrow with a few broken teeth.” Daniel smiled then covered his mouth quickly. Daniel loosened his grip and I stepped to the side.

“If it’s not a problem I’d like them to come have fun with us too! I’m sorry to have to ask but I’ll have to bring my little sister with me, I hope y’all don’t mind.”

“That’s not a problem at all, do you have your license yet?” Kristy asked.

“No not yet, I hope it’s not too much trouble if my sister and I can ride with one of you.” Emma responded, her answered gave off a little guilt, she seemed like the type to try and not burden everyone around her even at her own expense.

“You’re with me then, just meet me at the entrance after school and I’ll take you both in my truck.” Lucy smiled.

“Carful, Luni Lucy here tends to drive pretty fast.” Daniel mocked her as she quickly punched Daniel’s stomach. Everyone around her laughed as Daniel held his stomach gasping for air. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, I barely got 4 hours of sleep, I was trying so hard to level up my characters stats before I noticed it was 2 am. If it weren’t for Daniel I would have headed home straight away, maybe I’ll take a nap during lunch. There’s this small hidden part of the forrest in the back of the school where I always go during lunch. After homeroom and few classes it was finally lunch period, I started heading to my secret spot while opening up my alarm app on my phone.

No one from the school even knows about this secret place, throughout the years the bushes around the entrance have grown too long that it covers everything. After you pass the, “secret,” entrance you find a bench surrounded by trees, the hidden spot is near enough where I can hear the bell ring. There have been a few times where I’ve taken a nap and oversleep on accident, making me have to run straight to class and get in trouble.

This time I’ll put 3 different alarms on my phone with the snooze button disabled, even then it’s not always guaranteed that I wake up. In the mornings when I wake up I often turn my alarm off, then my mom comes into my room and sprinkles water over my body to wake me up. I arrived without being seen, I always make it a priority to not be seen, I want this place to be my secret until I graduate. Now I’m trying to figure out if maybe 3 alarms is enough? Oh… I’m wasting precious sleeping time… I only have… 27 min…left…

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I slowly opened my eyes, I looked around me and saw a pair of legs run away from my body, the legs weren’t covered with pants... which meant it must have been a girl… I shot up and rubbed my eyes as the alarm rang, A girl ran out of here… SHIT my spot was found, HOW!? NOT JUST THAT BUT BY A GIRL WHO WATCHED ME SLEEP!?

Oh well…

There’s no point in worrying about it, I knew that one day this place would be found no matter how much time I spent sneaking around. I guess my alarm scared her off, but what was she doing? Was she just watching me sleep or confused on why this place was hidden? I grab my bag and head inside the building. I reached my classroom yawning.

I already know my secret place is going to be the new eating area tomorrow, it’s gonna be filled with people screaming and yelling. Who knows if the principal will restrict access to everyone entering there since there’s no cameras or supervision. I sat down with my head and arms on my desk pretending to sleep when I noticed Emma talking to Kristy and 2 other girls… IN FRONT OF MY DESK IN ENGLISH PERIOD? I have no idea why but it must be a coincidence that she choose the desk in front of me for my english period. That makes two classes now where she sits in front of me. Someone give me too nickels…

Daniel entered the room with a big grin filled with energy, he walked right next to my desk, “Ezra! How you feeling?”

I ignored him.

“Nervous cuz you’re spending this afternoon singing with your crush?”

I gave him an angry embarrassed face, Emma sank her face down, Kristy and the two other girls she was talking with silently stood there cringing.

“I’m just kidding,” he patted my back while chuckling, he then went to my ear and whispered, “You know since there’s going to be more girls than guys they’ll be basically fighting over us right?”

“More like a one sided fight with you and Lucy and guess what I’ll be cheering for Lucy.” I whispered back.

“Listen man clearly Emma there has gained some feelings for you based on all the assists I’ve been doing today.”

“Assist? You’re so stupid Daniel we just met and there’s no way she has any feelings for me, I swear you’re clearly just messing with me since you’re bored.”

“Bro I’ve been reading her body language the whole time, also I’ve been using psychology to get her to like you cuz you’re my bro and I want you with someone.”

“Reading her body language or clearly just checking her out?”

This man is being genuine, I close my eyes and wonder why I’m still friends with him sometimes? But… I can’t lie and say I don’t like the idea of a girl liking me, but I must cast these feelings aside since this isn’t a romance. Either way none of this really matters since he’ll push the narrative that me and her like each other out loud but nothing will happen and overtime he’ll stop and find something new to tease me about.

“Just believe me bro she’s so into you!” He whispered.

“You know we can hear you right?” Kristy said looking at Daniel with a frown.

“Hear what?” He asked as the bell rang. Mr. Denzel sitting in his chair stood up as Daniel sat in his desk next to mine. He then put two nickels on top of my desk. I looked at him in disbelief.

“Ok everyone open up your textbooks to page 63, now I am aware that we have a new student in our class, I’d like to give a warm welcome to Emma, you can come up to my desk and grab the textbook we will be using this year.”

Emma stood up with a smile and turned to everyone, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of y’all, I’ll make sure to catch up with the rest of what we’re learning in no time!”

“Great optimism Emma.” Said Mr. Denzel as she grabbed her textbook, while walking back to her desk we made eye contact again. The feeling from earlier came back, did we really just do that again? I watched as her face turned red, not like the first time when it happened. She moved her eyes away from me and sat down.

There’s no way she’s into me, I feel bad knowing that there’s an awkward tension surrounding us on her first day, I know damn well when she woke up this morning she didn’t think that something so stupid like this would occur. When class ended I got up with Daniel and walked through the hall until we had to split ways to get to our classes. I still had 3 minutes left to get to class then I heard someone familiar call out my name.

“Hey Ezra… is it!?” The voice sounded nervous yet really friendly, I turned around confused and saw Emma standing behind me with her hand up smiling as she waved it.

“Hey…” I said giving a small forceful grin back.

“Oh good, I remembered!”

Almost like my name has been said to you a few times throughout the day by Daniel, I’m waiting for the part where you brutally reject me or ask Daniel to stop.

“Yea… So how can I help…?”

“Oh can you tell me how to get to room 508?”

“You have to take the staircase all the way down to the cafeteria floor, make a left, keep going forward until you see a billboard with all the science teachers heads on weird cartoonish bodies.”

“What there’s no way that’s real.” She laughed.

“No really you’ll see the billboard before you reach 508, you’re gonna love Ms. Berns, she’s very nice and doesn’t care if you don’t do anything in her class.”

“What do you mean by anything?” She was curious.

“Like if you want to be on your phone the whole time she’s teaching she won’t say anything, you can even skip her class and she just won’t mark you absent, but since you’re new I don’t recommend doing it just yet.”

“Then when should I start skipping?” She was staring right into my eyes, at that moment all the nerves I had in my body left, it was then I decided that she really was a nice person, she didn’t deserve to get embarrassed earlier by Daniel, I can at least try my best to have her comfortable being around me.

“Woah you’re new and already talking about skipping classes, I didn’t know you were such a rebel!?”

“You mentioned skipping first!!” We both laughed, I looked at the time on my phone, we had one minute left. It felt nice having an actual conversation with her even if it was just because she needed help finding her way around.

“We have a minute to get to class, you better start running Emma.” She then gave me a scared look. Quickly she got her face together then punched my right shoulder.

“Since I’m new I’m sure Ms. Berns will give me a pass, I mean you are making her out to be this chill teacher.”

“Wow, arriving late to class on purpose now Emma? You really are a trouble maker.”

“Hmm I mean I could just keep you here and make you late to class?”

“Never mind you’re pure evil!” I gave her a jokingly baffled faced as she laughed and I smiled. She waved her arm at me and I waved back.

“I hope I’ll see you at karaoke today Ezra!”

I smile and nodded to her, I walked away with only twenty seconds remaining before the bell rang, I walked inside my classroom and sat down in my seat next to Luni Lucy, she noticed something different about my mood.

“Something just happened didn't it?”

“Hmm whatever do you mean?”

“I can feel it Ezra, just by the way the atmosphere changed in this room.”

“You’re a bit crazy Luni Lucy.” She punched my shoulder.

“Stop calling me that!”

After school me and Daniel stood at the entrance of building B next to Lucy, Kristy, and Emma all staring at the floor.

“So what are you two doing here?” Lucy angrily asked.

“What do you mean Luni Lucy you’re our ride.” Daniel wore a puppy face. Lucy punched Daniel in the gut once again making him fall to his knees.

“If I remember correctly I happened to say I would drive Kristy, Emma, and her sister not you two.” Daniel looked up at her in pain.

“Please Luni Lucy I don’t want to take the bus!” Lucy kicked Daniel in the face and turned to face Emma.

“How long until your sister gets here?” Her face changed from an angry one to a joyful one instantly.

“I’m sorry she shouldn’t take that much longer!” She looked apologetic.

“Anyways boys you guys should start running it looks like the bus is about to leave.” Kristy pointed to the bus outside the mirror. “Better make it on time.”

“Shit!” I ran pushing the doors to get outside.

“Wait for me!” Daniel got up and ran behind me, the bus doors were closing, I jumped and made it right in time as Daniel crashed into the closing doors. The bus driver began to drive off. “DON’T JUST DRIVE OFF ON ME!” Daniel ran after the bus as fast as he could, I sighed, payed the fair and sat down on an empty seat.

Ring Ring Ring… my phone rang.

“Hello who is this?”

“HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR YOU!?” Daniel yelled.

“Oh Daniel it’s been awhile how have you been?”

“I SWEAR YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO HOG ALL 3 WAIT I MEAN 4 GIRLS ALL TO YOURSELF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BRO CODE!?”

“I’ll call you later my mom needs me.”

“WHA—”

Beep

Honestly I didn’t even want to go out today when I woke up this morning, so why did I run so fast to get on the bus? It’s not like Kristy wanted us to go in the first place, Daniel just butted in like he always does. I could have just declined, I could have not meet up with them in the entrance. I could have just hid away like I always do but maybe it was when Emma said, “I hope I’ll see you at karaoke today Ezra!” I mean it even made me forget about the girl that found me sleeping in my favorite spot. After 15 minutes I arrived at the bus stop in the city and stepped out, I walked to the karaoke place and went inside, there I saw the three girls at the reception desk. Emma turned around and was the first to notice me behind them.

“Ezra it’s you!” She smiled running up and grabbed my hand, I looked away as I blushed. Way to close…

“Where’s Daniel?” Lucy asked as Kristy kept talking to the worker.

“Bus left him behind.” I faced them, Emma still smiling at me unaware of what she was doing. Lucy noticed how red my face got and made a smug face. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon!” I nervously said, Kristy walked over to us with the receipt to our room.

“No Daniel?” She asked.

Then quickly the entrance slammed opened as Daniel fell onto his knees out of breath and all sweaty trying to speak.

“I’m… here….” He looked up at us from the ground with one eye halfway closed.

“Alright then let’s go guys,” Lucy said as the four of us turned our backs on Daniel.

“DON’T JUST LEAVE ME HERE!”

Inside the room there were cushion seats and a large table in the middle, we all sat down, hmm wasn’t Emma’s sister supposed to be here?

“Hey Emma?”

“Ezra!” She sounded so cute saying that… nope not falling for her today… wait today?

“Didn’t you mention bringing your sister along?”

“She’s not a big fan of karaoke, she told me she would be out exploring the area while we’re here.”

“Talking about her Emma I didn’t know your sister would also be so cute!” Kristy said as Daniel stood up.

“A cute younger sister and we can’t even see her right now!” Daniel clenched his fist up into the air. “After running 3 straight miles I’m left with just Luni Lucy!” Lucy kicked Daniel straight in the balls. Daniel groaned and fell straight to the floor looking dead, Lucy angry as ever grabbed the tablet and picked a heavy metal song I knew nothing about and began to sing in rage.

“You deserved that one man.” I whispered to his ear, Lucy was really getting into the song. While Daniel laid on the ground the 3 of us just smiled awkwardly as she reached her notes.

“Ok… who’s up next?” She was out of breath pointing the mic towards us. “Hmmm how about you Emma!?”

“I’m a bit nervous!” Emma grabbed the mic and got up.

“Let’s go Emma!” Kristy yelled.

“I really want to hear you sing this one!” Lucy pressed on the tablet and a catchy pop song started playing.

“I don’t think I’ve heard this one hehe…” Emma looked closely at the lyrics, Daniel got right back up and snatched the mic from Emma.

“Then I’ll sing it!” Lucy smacked Daniel making him fall unconscious onto the floor, she quickly picked up the mic and handed it back to Emma.

“Try your best!” Lucy smiled with her eyes closed, Emma then began to sing. She tried her best keeping up with the songs pace but missed a few lyrics by the second. Her voice was wonderful and gave a soothing feeling to anyone who would listen. The three of us watched her, all of us being astonished at what we were hearing while Daniel stayed unconscious on the ground. When the song finished Kristy and Lucy went to hug Emma tightly as she blushed and felt embarrassed.

“Oh my god that was so good Emma!” Kristy yelled squeezing her more as Emma made a noise.

“Emma you have to sing another song for us!” Lucy rubbed her head on Emma’s side. I squatted over Daniel’s body and poked him to make sure he was still alive. I then got back up.

“That was really good…” I complimented her, she smiled and nodded.

“I’m happy you guys liked it.” She responded.

We spent a long time in the karaoke room, each time Daniel would get up Lucy would just put him back to sleep, honestly how durable is Daniel? Emma would occasionally glance at me and whenever I would notice we’d both smile at each other. Kristy and Lucy would give it their all when they performed a duet. Then when our time was almost up the door opened. Out came a girl, she looked around the awkward room as the music kept playing.

“Are you guys almost done, I want to go home Emi?” She asked, she looked around our age, she was shorter then Emma and was a red head, she had similar facial features to Emma but looked really different… she looked cute, honestly they both did…

“Cathy! We’re almost done why don’t you just sit down!” Emma patted the seat next to hers with a smile.

“Ok.” She sat down next to her. She showed no emotions in her face.

“We have both sisters now!” Lucy sat next to her and hugged her. “We didn’t get to see much of her in the car since she hid from us but she looks so adorable!” Emma’s sister looked a bit uncomfortable but didn’t say anything. I’m guessing she’s not much of a people person.

“Hey Emma I just noticed this but why is her hair color different from yours?” Kristy ran her hand through Emma’s hair, Emma didn’t seem to mind unlike her sister. “Oh I see you dyed it didn’t you?” She grinned.

“CUTE GIRL DETECTED!” Daniel shot up and looked at the girl who just walked in, “WHATS YOUR NAME!?” then Daniel put his hands up in a defensive form. Lucy had a menacing look in her eyes.

“Remember earlier in the day when you promised to buy as all a drink?” Lucy grabbed the phone on the wall and dialed food service…

“How expensive are these drinks…” Daniel was in tears, “MY WALLET!” he yelled rolling on the floor. I drank my Diet Coke, Emma’s sister payed no attention to us, she was on her smartphone scrolling through something. Looking at her more it seems like I’ve seen her somewhere before but I just can’t remember where.

“Cathy was it?” Lucy asked trying to start a conversation.

“It’s Catherine, Cathy is the nickname Emi calls me.” Catherine didn’t even bother to look at Lucy.

“It’s so nice to meet you Catherine I hope we can become great friends!” Lucy added, Catherine simply nodded.

“Cathy is a year younger than us, if you see her in the hallways please say hi, she has a hard time making friends.” Emma fidgeted her fingers.

“I’m right here Emi.” Catherine looked embarrassed.

“I think it’s so cute you guys call each other by your nicknames awwww!” Kristy said, Daniel then got up in my ear.

“Ezra just between us too which is the cuter sister Emma or Catherine? If you asked me I have the hots for Emma but she’s your girl so I won—“ Lucy pulled on Daniels ear, “YOU’RE GONNA PULL IT OFF!” Emma’s face was red, she looked at me intensely like she really wanted me to answer. I just stood there and smiled, I couldn’t really give an answer to such a cliche question, they both looked cute in my opinion, but when it comes down to who I’d rather pick I couldn’t say. Lucy let go off Daniel’s ear and quickly checked her phone.

“Hey Kristy isn’t our time almost up?” She showed her phone to her.

“Aww no and I was having so much fun, we all have to come back sometime and do this all over again.” She looked disappointed.

“This was fun?” Daniel muttered, Lucy stepped on his foot as he groaned. We all left the karaoke place and stood outside the entrance.

“Emi let me drive you and Catherine home!” Lucy smiled as she hugged Emma. Emma noticed Lucy calling her by her nickname.

“Can you drive me home?” Daniel put on his puppy face again, Lucy simply ignored his request, “DON’T JUST IGNORE ME!?”

“That’s so nice of you, we’re actually not that far from here.”

“In that case Ezra this is goodbye.” Kristy said as she turned around, “Lucy I’ll meet you at the truck.”

“Alright just follow me and Kristy to the truck, see ya Ezra,” Lucy speed walk to Kristy’s side.

“Hey where’s my goodbye!?” Daniel frowned heavily. Emma and Catherine stood there still, Catherine was waiting on Emma as she fidgeted with her hands.

“I had fun today, thank you guys for coming,” she then turned to face only me, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She smiled, quickly turning around, Catherine without saying a word to us just followed behind Emma. I felt a weird sensation in my heart just now. I am not going to fall for her or this trope, I took a deep breath and felt a punch on my shoulder.

“Let’s go home.” Daniel still angry put both hands in his pockets, “One of these days I’m going to get back at Luni Lucy for everything.”

“Hey you wanted to come, you already know how Luni Lucy is.” We both laughed as we walk to the nearest bus stop.

The next morning I arrived to my first class and was met with Emma waving her hand at me as I walked into the classroom, when I got close enough I awkwardly greeted her with good morning, she said it back and we didn’t talk at all for the rest of class. It felt like we both wanted to say something but because of Daniel planting this idea of me having a crush on her it made the whole room feel awkward. I sighed and before I knew it, it was time for lunch, I got up from my seat and walked to my secret spot. Even if by now it’s filled with people trashing it I might as well say my goodbyes to it, I had a nice 2 years of quite and peace with that spot every lunch and free period. When I got closer and closer to my secret spot I couldn’t sense anyone around there, that’s weird a spot like that would generate a bunch of attention?

I went through the bushes and there I saw someone familiar sleeping on the bench, as I watched her sleep a feeling came to me that made my heart race. She looked simply beautiful, she looked at peace, so she was the girl from yesterday, the one who found me sleeping and now she’s doing the same. But who would have know that fate would have us both watching each other sleep huh Catherine?