Collin's point of view

I sat in the library, my head buried in a book called 'Eleanor and Park'. I was really enjoying the book until someone came up to me and closed it.

"Gay." The guy muttered and I just looked down at the closed book. I couldn't let him know his words hurt me. I tens to show my emotions in my facial expressions really easily.

"Loner."

"Loser."

His friends passed by with him and I reached for the book again. I opened it and then looked for the page that I was on before. Suddenly, a feminine voice spoke up, defending me.

"Don't call him a loser when you find joy and putting other people down." She said and I kept my eyes on the book to try and stay out of it.

"Shut the fuck up you queer."

"You want to fucking go? I'll sure have fun kicking your flat, pathetic ass." She said and I just had to look up at them.

The girl wore an all black dress, that looked like the one I owned, with a red flannel over it. A red bandana was tied around her head and her brown hair was styled in a pixie cut.
"Yeah? What's a little girl gonna do to me? Oh I'm so scared. Gonna grow a tampon at me?" The boy teased quietly so that the librarian couldn't hear.

"I'm gonna shove my boot up your ass that's what I'm gonna do." She said and I set the book down. I didn't even have the right page so it didn't matter when I closed it.

"H-Hey," I said and the two looked at me, plus the guys' friends. "You don't-You don't need to do that." I said as I saw that it was Kyle. Or was it Kayla today? I'm not sure.

"You don't deserve to be put down. You just got here and you've done absolutely nothing wrong." She said and then looked at the guy. "You're lucky I have a spot on the basketball team because if I didn't, I would have seriously kicked your ass."

"Mhm," the boy hummed and then walked away with his friends. She looked at me and then took a seat beside me.

"Are you okay?" She asked me and I nodded. "He had no right to say that to you. He's the loser." She said and I looked down.

"It's f-fine. I don't mind." I said quietly and softly. She intimidated me because she was so much more confident and outspoken.

"It's not fine but it's whatever then if you don't mind." She told me and I nodded. "So what happened the passed few days? You weren't here."

"I was out um sick." I said and she nodded. She asked about what I'm writing for the essay and I just shrugged. "I don't... I don't know..."

"I want to be an artist when I grow up." She said and I nodded. "I'm writing about wanting to be as famous as Leonardo da Vinci or Mozart."

"Isn't M-Mozart a mu-musician?" I asked her and she thought about it. "That piano guy?" I asked and she nodded.

"Oops," she said and we both laughed a bit. "I'm shit at remebering names, and playing piano, so Mozart is out of the picture. Although... learning piano doesn't sound too bad." She said and I nodded.

"I-I can teach you how to play p-piano."

No no no. Fuck. I didn't mean to say that. I'm shit at piano too. What was I thinking? Oh my god.

"Really?" No.

"Y-Yeah." Fuck you mouth.

She looked at me for a few seconds and then nodded. "Sounds like fun." She told me and smiled brightly. "Wait, how? I don't have music class..."

"Oh um," I said and bit the inside of my lip. "You can-You can come over to my house. We have um keyboards and-and pianos." I said and she nodded.

"Sounds fun." She said. "What time? I'm free whenever you are." She said and I looked down at the book.

"I um don't know, today?" I asked, not thinking about it much. She nodded and then the bell rang.

"That's fine. Come on, let's go get to art before the teacher gets upset at us." I nodded and then put the book away before following her out of the room.

-

"H-Hey Luke?" I asked as he walked over to me. "I um accidently said I'd help a-a girl play piano and said she could come over today... is that okay?" I asked him and he laughed.

"Of course." He said and nodded. "As long as nothing inappropriate goes on and her parents are okay with it, it's totally fine with me." He said and I nodded.

"She's um over there." I said and nodded towards the girl who was on her phone. She smiled brightly and then put her phone away before walking over.

"Hello," she said to Luke. "I'm Kayla." She said and held her hand out. "You're his brother?"

"Well, you could say that." He said and shook her hand. "I'm Luke. Before I take you to our house, when do you need to be home by?"

"Seven." She answered and Luke nodded. "Also, I know your band and you're pretty good." She said and Luke laughed.

"Thank you." He said and she nodded. "Come on, let's go." He said and we got into the car.

I buckled up and then Luke started the car. "You have to promise that you'll keep this on the down low, okay Kayla? You can't just say you went to our house you can't just give the address out." Luke said and she nodded.

"Of course." She said and Luke turned the radio on. Fall Out Boy's song 'Irresistible' played and she smiled so hard that it looked like it hurt.

"I love this song." She said and Luke chuckled, agreeing with him. Luke began to sing along and she nudged me.

She's got along with Luke better than I did when I first met him... oh.

"And I love the way you hurt me, it's irresistible." The two sang and I covered my mouth as I laughed at them. "I love the way you hurt me baby."

I smiled a bit because they're such dorks and then I looked at Kayla as she laughed. She looked so pretty while she laughed. Her eyes brightened and her nose crinkled a bit.

Woah... what's going on Collin?

"We're almost home." Luke said and she nodded as she fixed her bandana. "By the time this next song finishes, we should be home."

"Okay." She said and then I pulled my sleeves down. I leaned my head on the window as she bobbed her head to the song and then I did the same.

"Collin, how was school?" Luke asked as he looked at me through the rear view mirror. "Have fun?"

"It was... okay." I said and Kayla looked at me. "Wasn't too exciting but it wasn't too boring." I told him and he nodded.

Soon, we got back to the house and then we got out of the car. I grabbed my backpack and then we went inside. Luke closed the door behind us and then he spoke up.

"You kids go upstairs and do your homework and stuff. Keep the door open though okay? I don't want any funny business going on." Luke said and I blushed a bit as I nodded.

"Okay." I said quietly and then Kayla followed me up to the room Michael and Luke made me. I left the door open and Kayla looked around.

"Wow, this is so amazing." She said and I nodded. "Every artists' dream actually. You have it all; paint, chalk, blenders, color pencils, pens." She listed.

"Yeah... um art is one of my favorite things, as well as music and writing." I told her quietly and then I sat down on the couch as she followed me.

She sat down beside me and then I pulled the keyboard off of its stand. I set it on our laps since she was sitting so close, and then I turned it on.

"I um never taught anyone something b-before," I stuttered out and she nodded. I didn't know what to do so I grabbed her wrist softly and set her fingers on a few keys.

She pressed down and then looked at me. "Those-Those are the C, D, and-and E keys," I told her and she nodded.

"You don't have to be nervous around me." She said and smiled warmly at me. "It's okay. I'm just me, it's not like I'm Beyoncé." She said and giggled a bit.

"O-Okay," I said and then moved her fingers to the next three keys. I told her the name of the next three keys and then she nodded, looking at her fingers and then at me.

"Do you know any songs on it?" She asked me and I nodded. "Can you maybe teach me one?" She asked and I nodded.

"After-After you learn the basics." I said and then realized maybe that sounded a bit rude. "I mean like because you don't know much about it and before we jump into songs, you have to at least know where the keys are." I rambled and she laughed.

"I understand." She said and then smiled. "That's fine. I'm a quick learner." She said and I nodded and I continued showing her the rest of the keys.

-

"How was you're little play date Collin?" Calum teased and I blushed. "Have fun?" He asked me as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes.

"It was cool." I said and he rose an eyebrow at me. "She understood it quickly and-and she asked if she could come back sometime this week do another lesson and to hang out a bit..." I trailed off, hoping I wasn't asking too much of them.

"That's fine." Luke said and Michael agreed. "As long as the door stays open and her parents are okay with it. I don't mind." He told me and I nodded.

"It seems the two Hemmings' boys are getting chicks." Ashton joked and I blushed. "Luke's dating and Collin's gonna start dating."

"No," I said and shook my head. "I'm-I'm not ready to get into a uh relationship. B-Besides, she's just a friend."

"Calum was just a friend but you know." Michael said and winked at Calum. Everyone but me laughed and I just shook my head.

"Idiots." I muttered and played with my food. Suddenly, the conversation moved to Luke and his date, who's name was Sabrina.

"I'm taking her out for dinner in a few days. It was going to be tomorrow but we have a concert tomorrow." Luke said and the three all congradulated him.

"Aye, Hemmings actually got a girl, I'm shocked."

"Get it bro."

"I'm proud of you Lukey."

I stayed quiet as they talked about it and then Michael spoke up. "I met a girl when I went to GameStop today. She had the prettiest red hair and the nicest green eyes ever. She was so pretty and likes video games, beer, and pizza, just like me."

"Did you get the digits? Tell me you got the digits." Calum asked and Michael nodded. "Aw man, they grow up so quickly." Calum said and cried into my shoulder.

I tensed up a bit but no one seemed to notice because they were all too focused on the fact their two friends got dates. I just sat quietly and took small bites from my food.

"My boys are growing up so fast." Ashton said and pretended to wipe a tear away. "I'm in tears."

"You're all a bunch of idiots." I muttered and Calum laughed. He agreed and the other three looked at us weirdly.

"Indeed we are Collin. Indeed we are."