Is it just me or is writing on here scary, like, you never know whether or not the person reading the story likes it even though they say they like it.

It's like talking to a person you don't know is fake or not soooooo yeah.  That was my little observation.  Hopefully someone feels the same

Happy reading xx

I look at the clock and plop my head back on the pillow seeing as though I was already 10 minutes late to school.

"Mom," I call from upstairs in the most strained voice I could pretend to make.  I was still mad about the talk that we had but if it takes these lengths to not go to school, I would do anything.

"Yes, baby," she says slowly walking into my room.

I put my hand on my forehead and held my breath for a little so my face could be red.  "I don't feel well at all," I complain, closing my eyes.

My mom puts on a sympathetic look, "is it the cold?"

"Probably, I was outside in the cold a lot yesterday," I said and my mind drifts somewhere else.  When I look into my moms eyes, I can tell she wanted to ask me what I did yesterday but she was scared to.

She better be.

She gives me a small smile and I fake a groan.  "Okay, will you be safe at home?  I have a business trip to Pennsylvania for a week, remember?"

"Yeah," I lie when really I forgot all about it. 

My mom literally finds anything to blab on about during dinner so, I adapted, and a lot of what she says flies out my other ear.  I don't question it or tell her to stop because I know why she does it.  During the first few weeks after my parents' divorce, my mom could barely speak or communicate with me.  I guess all of that silence built up inside of her and exploded into that.

"I'll be fine, mom," I say as I hide under the covers and cough dry coughs into my arm.

"Hope you feel better, honey," she says before closing the door softly.

__________

"My God, Juliet," Amanda says as we lay our backs on a book shelf in a nearby library.  "I mean, I'm not judging you but, my god," she clarifies.

I bury my head in my hands hoping the embarrassment would go away.

She reaches her hand out to rub my back.  "Noah would never do that," she adds, her face full of sympathy.

Noah.

The word replays in my head over and over again as I try to replace it with Ethan.

"You haven't even talked to him yet," I say looking up at her, a little offended by her words.

"When I look at him, it's like I've talked to him 100 times," she says looking off, completely love-struck.

"If anything, he's a lot more mean than the other boys."  She rolls her eyes not wanting to believe my words.  "He literally is emotionless."

She pushes my comments aside,"I say that you should stand up to him.  Make a point and stick with it," she starts. "Show him who wears the pants in the relationship!"

My eyes grow wide as people from the other rows look over and I am forced to smile politely.  "Amanda," I whisper.

I look down, not caring about the people still staring anymore.  "I don't even know if we are in a relationship."

A part of me is telling me to go for it but another is asking whether or not he will agree with me.

Probably not.

Will he even listen to me?

Probably not.

Will I end up falling for him even more?

Probably no-,

probably.

__________

I head back home as I walk through crowded sidewalks full of students.

I keep my head low in hope nobody will notice me and right when I peep a look up, I see Ethan on the opposite sidewalk corner.  My heart made a flip but... he wasn't alone.  I immediately put my head back down as I hear the girl crying.

"You are so fucking annoying.  Why are you so emotional?"

The girl stammers but couldn't make any coherent sentences so Ethan groans and ruffles his hair impatiently.

"Okay, well, I'm going to walk away now and don't bother trying to ever talk to me again."

And that was it.  He had so much dominance over the conversation I almost felt bad for the girl.  Then again, that girl is stupid.  Then again, I'm stupid.

If only Amanda knew what she was signing up for...

__________

I hear a light buzz from the desk in my room and immediately get up to see what it was.

I was so alone at home that the slightest notification on my phone would spark happiness and relief even if it was the daily Subway Surf reminder.

We're coming over.

The text is from Noah and I roll my eyes, amused.

Hilarious, you don't even know where I live.

As if on cue, right after I send the text, I hear the doorbell ring.

"Juliet!" I hear the boys call as they continue to bang the door.  They started off with knocking too but as I took my time to get to the door, it turned into lazy slams.

"What's the magic password," I say through the door.  I open the first wooden door leaving a second clear door in the way.  I lean on the door frame with a playful smile.  None of them look amused so I continue to close the wooden door slowly before Ricky and James speak up.

"Starbucks."

Ethan and Noah look at the two like they were the weak link in the group, obviously saddened with how they gave up so easily.

"Juliet."  They continued

"Magic password."

"I swear on my life, if you don't open this door Juliet I will break it down with my own-" Ethan chimes in, his backpack lazily over his shoulder.

"Wow, how'd you guess it?" I say sarcastically.  Right when I open the door, Ethan marches right in pushing me to the side a little.

I tell all of them to gather and sit on the couch so they don't go around touching and breaking things or my mom would go all godzilla on me when she gets back.  "Why and how are you here," I say.

"It was actually pretty easy," Ethan smirks.  "I just called up your little friend Amanda, spoke in my always sexy voice," he smirks, "and she instantly told me," he says high-fiving James.  "It's not that hard when every girl is on their knees for you."

"And," Noah stretches the word.  He is laying on a single person seat, his feet on one arm rest and his head rested on the other.  He already made himself at home by grabbing a cup orange juice and Doritos.  "Our landlord said we were disturbing the neighbors with what he says is 'inappropriate behavior' and that we have to move out," he says like that was such an unbelievable reason.

"And what makes you think you can crash here?" I say skeptically.

"Because you're our fweind," Ricky says like a child.

Ethan rolls his eyes at Ricky, "we only need to stay here for a little less than a week."

Noah gets up from his couch opposite the room from me and walks over to me, his body now hovering over mine.  "Please?" he whispers, his hot breath on my ears causing me to bite my lip.

And one word was all it took.