Piper

"You know you've worn that sweater for three days this week." Nolan's voice is projected around my room, the phone lying on top of my physics textbook turned to speaker.

I look down at my black cotton sweater, its long sleeves pulled high over my hands.

"Ever heard of a washing machine, doofus?" I snap, and I hear him laugh and smile.

"Not sure, isn't that the monster in the basement?"

"Okay, I haven't been afraid of the washer since I was seven."

"Nine."

"Whatever!"

"You still working on homework? Piper, I can literally hear your brain crying." I look down at my notes filled with equations and theorems, then over at the clock on my bedside table. 8 p.m. Shit. I started studying at 3.

"Almost done." I lie, flipping to the next page of the textbook. "How's your tiny thot?"

"She's not that much of a- She has a nice personality." He stutters, and I laugh out loud.

"Nolan, I've seen watermelons smaller than her boobs."

"Those are part of her nice personality!"

"Sure, ducky."

"You ever gonna let up on that nickname?"

"Don't count on it."

I sigh, redoing my half-assed bun. I try to focus on the symbols dancing around the pages of my textbook, but at this time of night, they just start looking like a bowl of alphabet soup.

"Why the fuck does this have to be so complicated?" I groan, and throw my head back onto my pillows.

"You know, you don't have to get a hundred percent every time, Piper. It's okay to get an A minus every once in a while."

"Says the guy who cheats off of me, but won't talk to me in the hall."

There's silence on the other end. 

Crap.

"Sorry, never mind, I'm so tired, I have no idea what my mouth is saying right now."

Silence again.

"Nolan?"

"Yeah, I'm here." I wait for another response, but only static comes from the device on my bed.

"Forget what I said, ducky." I whisper, but loud enough for him to hear.

"Stop frowning, your face will stay like that."

I turn towards my open window, and see Nolan, peeking through his curtains, his messy hair sticking out in every direction. I stick my tongue out at him and he flips me off, before disappearing back into his room.

"You do realize that stalking is a crime, Mr. Nolan Howard."

"Only if I get caught, Ms. Piper Reynolds."

I laugh, remembering how Nolan had been complaining of several girls creeping on him at a party, before the party got busted up by cops. I have not had the luxury to go to such a party, which is both a blessing and a curse. I have too much homework to do anyway.

My stomach rumbles, reminding me that I haven't eaten all day; I was in too much of a hurry to get to school before the bell to eat breakfast, and I was studying at lunch so I forgot to eat then.

"You forget to eat again?" I jump at Nolan's voice breaking the brief silence.

"I'm fine, I wasn't hungry today anyway."

"Do you want me to come over and make you dinner, my mom said your parents left for a vacation yesterday."

"My parent, singular, Nolan. Jerry is not my dad."

"He's not that bad, Piper. He came over the other day to have a beer with my dad, and he helped me with my throwing."

"Well, maybe if I had some more male anatomy, he would actually acknowledge my existence. But alas, I am the female here, so he doesn't even give me a second glance. Last week, I needed tampons, and I put it on the shopping list, and he got everything else on the list, and said he 'forgot' to buy them."

"Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"TMI!"

"Oh come on, you've bought me tampons before, remember 8th gra-"

"We promised never to speak of it!"

I laugh out loud, and crawl up from my bed, gripping my phone in my right hand and skipping down the steps to make dinner. I nearly slip on a pacifier at the bottom of the steps, but I grab the railing in time.

"God dammit, Elaine." Elaine, our nanny for Jack, my baby half-brother, never cleans up after him. She's still at his doctor's appointment, should be home any minute.

"She forget to clean up?"

"Does she ever remember? Like she's the third nanny we've had this year, but mom is too busy with Jiggly Jerry to pay attention to little details like my possible broken neck."

"Hey, give your mom a break."

"Nolan, as my best friend, it is your duty to agree with me, even when I'm wrong."

"Of course, sorry your highness."

"That's better."

I open the fridge, finding it empty save for a few beer bottles, Jerry's.

"And, she forgot to buy groceries. I swear to god, if I was the one in charge of her salary, I would have fired her a while ago."

"You want to come over? Mom is almost done making dinner."

"I would, but I have to-"

"Yeah yeah, study shmudy. Get your ass over here."

The corner of my mouth turns up into a smile and I grab my jacket and boots as I walk next door.

I open the door, which is hardly ever locked.

"Honey, I'm home!" I call, remembering all the "I love Lucy" specials Nolan and I used to watch.

"Oh darling!" He calls out in a faux southern-drawl.

I punch him in the stomach lightly, no longer able to reach his shoulder. He's more than half a foot taller, hitting his growth spurt within a few months.

"Hi, Mrs. H." I call to Nolan's mother, a petite woman with greying temples but a classically beautiful face. She looks a housewife from old 1920 commercials, but with much more attitude.

"Hi honey, sit down, you're just in time." She pulls a lasagna out of the oven, putting it onto the large, marble island tabletop.

"Thank you so much." I smile at her, pulling out my seat next to Nolan, who sits at the head of the table.

"Where's Claire?" I ask, blowing on a forkful of lasagna before putting the small piece of heaven into my mouth.

"She's at one of her little sleepovers, Tatiana I think." I nod. Claire, Nolan's 13 year old sister had transformed from a giggly little cutie to a full fledged teen, complete with pouting and tons of PMS.

We eat mainly in silence, nudging each other from time to time as Nolan kept changing the channel on the kitchen TV.

"Stop! Project Runway is on!" I pout, trying to grab the remote back from him. But he is so much stronger and taller, and raises it in the air, out of my reach.

"Nope, this is a man's house. And men watch ESPN."

"Then what are you doing watching it?" I tease and he growls at me.

As we watch the TV, I notice Nolan sending glances at me from the corner of my eye, but I ignore them.

My phone starts to ring, and I pick it up to see it's Elaine.

"I got to go, Jack's home." I say, standing up and putting my plate in the sink.

"Bye, Piper, tell Elaine I say hi!" Mrs. Howard says, hugging me quickly.

"See ya, loser." I say, and lightly flick Nolan on the head, and he grabs out to tickle my waist, and I jump, shocked. He is looking at me funny, his smiling eyes holding something else. But I shake it off, and I wave goodbye as I head back home.

"Elaine, before you go, just want to remind you that the fridge is literally empty." I say as I pick up Jack from his high chair, wiping apple sauce from his chubby chin.

"I'll do that tomorrow." She mumbles, before walking out to her car without a second look. I scoff as I shut the wooden door, and head back upstairs with Jack still in my arms.

"Hi, Jackie." I coo, tickling his little nose. He giggles, and I open his bedroom door, placing him inside his crib with a pacifier and a teddy.

"Night, night, wookie." I sing, and he giggles as I close the door. I walk quietly away, praying he doesn't start crying. I still have to finish studying. But all is silent and I breath out a sigh of relief, before returning to my room and burying my nose in my physics textbook.

"Class, please settle down, we have a lot to discuss today." Mr. Evans shouts from the front of the class, his large squashed nose turning redder by the second. The voices around me simmer down, as I pull out my textbook.

"Now, William Shakespeare," He says, scrawling the words on the blackboard in large, uneven letters. "Is arguably, the world's greatest playwright. For this semester, we will be studying his most famous work, Romeo and Juliet."

There are whistles around the classroom, coming from the jocks in the back. Of course, Nolan is with them, laughing along.

I roll my eyes slightly, before turning my body back to the board.

"Yes yes, I know, it is very tempting to look at this story as a whole bunch of teenage testosterone. But Shakespeare intended his story to be one of love and sacrifice. Love at first sight."

Mr. Evans begins to hand out books, dropping each thick square on every desk.

"In addition to reading the place, we will also be acting it out from time to time, and this will end with a performance!" Mr. Evans claps his hands together slightly.

Groans are heard around the room.

"Oh, cheer up students, remember there is a kissing scene!"

Several more wolf whistles are heard, louder this time.

"Alright, the bell will ring shortly, talk amongst yourselves for now."

I shove my books back into my bag, zipping it up. I hear snickers behind me and turn to see Melissa, Nolan's most recent fling, sitting a few rows behind me.

"Hi, Piper." She coos, her voice spilling from between red stained lips. "I love your sweater, I guess birds love it too." Her voice trails down to my shoulder, and I look to see a bit of spit-up from Jack this morning.

I groan.

"Well, it's not a total loss, once you wash it, your baby brother can wear it!" She sneers, and the group around her laughs. I just roll my eyes, about to turn back when I hear a distinct laugh, and I make eye contact with Nolan. His smile falters slightly.

I open my mouth to say something, but the bell begins to ring, and I quickly walk out of the class.

I don't even know why this still upsets me, we live in different worlds at school, I'm the smart one, the perfect straight A student. And he's the jock who everyone loves and who always has a joke to crack.

Two worlds don't mix. Not here at least.

I walk down the hall, as always hoping he'll stop me and apologize and call me one of the many nicknames he's given me. But this is the part of the perfect sandbox that doesn't exist.

So I just keep on walking to class as I usually do, as always looking forward to when I step out of here and get my best friend back, if only for the night. 

And so it begins. Please let me know what you think of this new story, I've been toying with the idea for a while! 

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