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Chapter Nine: "Like A Sea Monster That Took A Bath In The Mediterranean Sea."

THERE WERE THOSE moments when there's a certain part of your life you'll never forget. Sometimes those moments find a way to appear in different places so you keep having flashbacks to them. My example of this was:

I like your hair.

I like your hair.

I like it when you rant.

I like it when you rant.

I almost banged my head against my desk as I tried answering the stupid questions on my paper. This moment has played over and over in my mind for the past couple of days. His voice enchanting. I don't know what the hell was going on with me.

It was Tuesday night and tomorrow I would be heading right to the Cahill house right after dance practice. Would I see Lucas right away? Would he be somewhere else? It was a pretty huge house. Huge wasn't even a word that could come close to describing it. But I probably wouldn't even see him anyway.

He could be busy.

He could be doing homework.

He could be working on a new piece of art.

He could have a girlfriend. I almost smacked my head with my hand at that thought. He could have a girlfriend. I mean look at him:

He was undeniably hot yet cute like those nerdy guys from Dylan O'Brien from the Internship especially with the beanie thing he has going on.

I sighed under my breath, quickly scribbling out some answer that would not possibly make sense but I could make sense of it tomorrow in first period. I could my binder and put it away, checking to see if Wesley was online.

As soon as I got on Skype, he called in and his face popped up on the screen as I accepted it. His hair was wet and patted down on his face. He shook his head like a dog and that's when I noticed that my best friend was shirtless in his room. "Sid..." He said my name in a creepy way. I mean Wesley creepy not exactly pure creepy.

"What?"

"Oh my God put on a shirt you idiot!" A familiar voice was heard and I for one was surprised when my own cousin appeared next to him, shoving him off the bed.

I gaped at her. I mean I was happy to see her. I really was after only talking on the phone with her but from what I could see she was only wearing a tank top and shorts, her glasses on the bridge of her nose. "Why are you at Wes' house?" I questioned slowly.

"Um," Her gaze flickered to somewhere else that was probably Wesley and she looked panicked.

No way.

"Project." Wesley appeared on the screen again, almost sitting on Michelle just to annoy the hell out of her.

"You have a project that made Michelle stay at your house until nine o'clock?" I didn't understand this even though she lived down the street from him. I mean I've seen the tension between the two of them for at least two years. I wasn't blind but this girl could not stand him. What he had said about her being calm was a hell of a lie but she as I had asked, she shoved him off of her and he almost hit his face on the screen.

Michelle huffed, pushing her hair away from her face. "Yeah and I literally just told him to take a shower because he reeked of chlorine. You know this guy made me wait three hours for him to stay at practice-"

"You didn't mind! You were too busy looking at Timothy the entire time we were there!"

Michelle continued talking as if Wesley had not just called her out. "So after we came here to his place after the whole swim thing he decided to not take a shower so after some precise persuasion that took hours I finally got him to not stink up like a fricking sea monster that took a bath in the Mediterranean Sea."

I was barely listening when I felt myself perk up at a name. "Timothy? He's going to handle swimming and dance at the same time?"

"It's the school team not competitive so he's going to be alright," Wesley tried shaking his hair, getting droplets on Michelle to which she smacked him for. "He asked about you by the way. You haven't talked to him since you moved?"

Timothy was a person I have known the longest that wasn't related to me. He's been my dance partner since we were five. We done so many duets together I couldn't even count them. We weren't close outside of dance but when we found we were going to the high school together it was different and was kind of part of our group. I didn't like him. I never have. He's more like a brother like Wesley was.

"I talked to him the day before my audition but honestly no I haven't heard from him in a while."

"He's dating someone you know?" Wesley said, picking up his phone and scrolling through it. I noticed Michelle's eye roll. If she wasn't meant to be with Wesley then there was definitely Timothy...if he noticed her more often.

"Who the lucky lady?" I asked sarcastically.

"I don't know. She's that girl that was in my auto class last year. Brown hair, grey eyes, kind of a huge rack-I'm guessing she's a-"

"Can we not talk about this?" Michelle groaned, slapping Wesley on the shoulder and lying down in his lap.

I didn't say a word about their position but as we continued talking I felt a buzz in my pocket. It was continuous so I knew someone was calling me. I looked at the screen and noticed it was Mary Anne.

"Uh guys, I'll talk to you tomorrow okay?"

They both looked confused but agreed, signing off. I closed my laptop and sat on my bed answering the call. "Yes?"

"Okay you might be mad at me but I doubt you actually will be-you might actually be really happy."

She spoke quickly and I could barely make out the words. "Um what did you do?"

She laughed nervously and I didn't hear anything until another voice came onto the line. "You are going to kill her Siddy." Eduardo said.

"Wait why would I kill her?"

"She gave someone your number."

"What?" I said sharply.

"I didn't mean to...I mean I did but-"

"Who did you give my number to?" I asked her in anticipation.

"Lucas-Luke whatever you want to call him."

"When you say Luke I really hope you mean Hemmings or your trying to say someone else's name like ASAP Rocky or something."

"Um...I mean I'm not a five saucer I'm more a directioner-Zayn Malik is mine and all but no not Hemmings. Cahill."

"Cahill? One of twins? Beanie? Glasses?"Insanely attractive?

"Zayn Malik is yours?" Eduardo asked, kind of offended. "I swear this relationship of ours is just going downhill if I keep hearing about other guys."

"Ed shut it. Yeah he needed your number for a question in one of your classes."

"But why didn't he ask Sarah? She's in our class too." I whined, throwing myself back onto my bed and looking up at the ceiling.

"Wait, why is this a big deal?" Eduardo asked.

"Because Sydney likes Lucas."

"Sydney likes Jesus?" For some reason I started laughing very loudly.

"What? I didn't say that. Get your hearing checked. I said she likes Lucas."

"You're lying." Eduardo sounded like he was in disbelief.

"No, no I am not. It's so obvious even though we've been at school for over two weeks and now he got her number to talk to her."

"I don't like him guys." I tried to tell them but they weren't listening.

"Prove it." Eduardo said as if they hadn't heard me.

There was a pause and all of a sudden I heard another voice. Wow tonight was just filled with conference calls.

"Octavia speaking. Mary what do you want before my mom takes away my phone for the third time this week?"

"Do you have any proof for me that Sydney may or not possibly like Lucas Cahill?"

"Well they did have a moment in the hallway when he walked by. It was probably like one of those slow-mo moments like in the movies and the wind was blowing in his hair like a fan was blowing or some shit like that."

"That's not how it was!" I exclaimed. Was it really a moment? I doubted that.

"Come on Sydney. I mean it was clear on your face the second you looked at him. I mean I understand why you like Lucas. I mean he's pretty hot if he took off the glasses and-"

"Dude you're practically saying he would be and I quote 'hot' if he were more like his brother." Another voice chimed in and I almost jumped because it was Zen.

We all sounded weird over the phone to be honest but I knew my friends' voices.

"Add Sarah would you?" Eduardo said sarcastically.

"Already here." Her voice chirped up and I almost groaned at the fact that they were all here to discuss this topic.

"I can't reach Kim her phone is off for some reason." Mary Anne said.

"Zen that's not what I meant and you know it. He's cute all on his own and he kind of has this whole mysterious thing going on with his atmosphere-"

"That is true." Sarah added in.

"See! But if he spoke to a hell lot of more people and..."

"If he were as popular as his brother and didn't hide himself in the shadows then he would be and I quote 'hot'?" Eduardo said.

Octavia didn't say anything, possibly thinking about what she was about to say. "Kind of."

I heard beeping and I froze. There was a unknown number flashing on my phone. My breath hitched. "G-Guys?"

"Yeah?" They all said in unison.

"I think he's calling me." I whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Sarah asked.

"She's nervous." I could picture a grin on Mary Anne's face at this fact. I was extremely nervous.

"ANSWER THE CALL WOMAN!" Eduardo said.

I put my friends on hold as I quickly answered the phone, being sent to another line. "Uh-hello?"

I didn't hear anything for a second just shuffling then a voice spoke. A voice I really wanted to hear more of. "Hey Sydney. It's Lucas."

"Oh...hi." I think that literally became a thing between us. Him saying 'hey' and me saying 'hi'. Was that a thing? Did we even have a thing? Was it possible to over think something this much?

"What are you doing?" He asked me as if it was a normal thing to say. It was a normal thing to say what I didn't think was normal was how fast my heart started beating and how I took deep breaths for my breathing to become regular.

"Um-just laying in bed," I told him quietly. "What about you?"

"Listening to some music."

There was a huge pause before I broke it. "Um...did you call for a reason?"

"Not everyone has to have an exact reason for everything," He whispered, his voice low and deep. "But I called for the homework Mrs. Olivera assigned today. It's honestly the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life."

"What? Advanced Functions?" I asked.

"Yes it is a complete waste of time. I have no idea why the hell I actually took it."

I laughed quietly, trying to control myself from bursting out loud in fear of embarrassing myself over the phone. "It's not a waste of time."

"You actually like Math?" he asked me and I heard faint shuffling in the background.

"Yeah kind of. I'm guessing you don't."

"I don't." He said blandly.

"I figured."

"So are you..." He trailed off and I almost forgot that there was a completely other thing going on another line I was involved in.

"Um, Lucas can you wait a second?"

"Yeah sure."

I put him on hold and switched back to the other call.

"No are you fucking dumb?" Octavia practically yelled.

"Am I? Do you hear yourself?" Sarah said.

"Yes I think I do because I just heard you actually say that young Leonardo Di Caprio was hotter than young Johnny Depp."

What?

"Oh my God," Zen said in a dark tone. "Both of you annoy the hell out of me. I'm considering pulling my hair out because of you both."

"Mary Anne pick one."

"Okay," Eduardo said. "Mary Anne picks her boyfriend Eduardo." Now I could picture Mary Anne rolling her eyes.

"What's going on?" I had to ask.

"Yes Sydney pick one. Young Leonardo Di Caprio or young Johnny Depp?"

"Leonardo duh. I'll see you guys tomorrow." I could envision Octavia and how she was going to talk about how I turned sides on her tomorrow.

"You're talking to Lucas." Mary Anne almost sang and I huffed.

"Bye Mary Anne."

"Bye!" she said happily, knowing that she was correct.

I cut off their call and went right back to Lucas'. "S-Sorry about that. Um what were you saying?"

"Are you nervous," My eyes widened. How the hell did he know? "About the showcase?"

"N-Not really. What about you?"

"All I have to do is stand next to the artwork I submit and have everyone stare at it for like five seconds. So no not really either."

"Yeah..." There was a pause but it wasn't awkward from this side of the phone. It was calming.

I rolled onto my stomach facing my shelf that was filled with trophies over the past years. Holy shit there was a lot. The tiara that was crowned on top of a trophy of some guy doing pirouettes glinted at me. "What are you doing now?" I asked him.

"Talking to you and reading a book my mum decided to give me. Ever heard of Me, Earl and the Dying Girl?" Wow what a title.

"Um...no. I don't even read much."

"What?" He sounded he was in disbelief and suddenly I started laughing at his tone, regardless if I sounded weird.

"I don't read."

"You don't read? Like anything?"

"If I have to then I'll read a book for like school but other than that I don't really find it amazing to read about someone else's life when I could live my own." My boring own life.

Lucas scoffed and I heard a soft thud. "Wait would you rather watch someone else's life than read about them?"

I got more comfortable, taking out the bobby pins that were in my hair. "Yeah I love movies. I mean why look at words on a page when you can see the role play of what happened right before your eyes?"

"Sydney I don't think we're going to get along." He laughed a bit at the end of the sentence and I smiled to myself, almost hiding my face in the pillow to let out a scream but I restrained to.

"Maybe we're not."

"I can't believe I'm talking to a Canadian girl that doesn't read."

"And you're a boy who loves to. You make it sound as if you don't live in Canada."

"I do but I moved to Canada when I was about eleven-twelve from Bath, England."

"That's why you sound a little bit different when you say certain words. Where is Bath in England?" I mentioned.

"It's southwest, not really known more as London or Yorkshire or Manchester are. Is that different a good thing or a bad thing?"

I bit my lip for second, sitting up and swinging my legs over. "D-Different is a...good thing. It's good thing."

There was a moment and I heard a ruffle of a bed, he was probably turning in it. I wanted to know what he was doing exactly. How he was sitting on his bed? Or was he lying down? "You're different. And I'm different too. Different is good. But different is hard. Believe me, I know."

"That sounds interesting for a seventeen year old guy to say."

"That's because a seventeen year old guy didn't say it. Matthew Quick did, Canada girl."

"Are you going to keep calling me that?" I asked him, fiddling with a loose thread on my tank top.

"I might." He chuckled.

"Fine British boy."

"British boy? Seri-" I didn't get to hear the rest of what he was saying because suddenly my door opened and I jumped startled by my mom's sudden entrance.

"Uh hey mom."

"Who are you talking to?" she asked me, gesturing to my phone that had put down on the bed, screen first.

"Wesley." I lied. I had too or else she would go off on a rant about how I shouldn't give my phone numbers to people I barely knew.

Mary Anne was right when she said overprotective parents raise the best liars because just then my mom nodded. I remember when I used to talk to my friends- my girl ones Michelle and others. She used to say that we'd gossip all the fricking time when in reality we didn't. That's the thing with my mom, she assumes way too often and it got on my nerves. "Well get off the phone, its nine o'clock and it's a school night."

My eyes widened in disbelief because I really wanted to continue talking to Lucas. We barely conversed at school but tonight was a chance to really talk to him. "But-"

"I'll take away your phone if I don't see you off when I come back here in one minute." She warned. Even though she was smaller than me, my mother let her power show in her stance.

I nodded and she retreated out of my room, leaving the door open because I had to have the door open. I quickly brought the phone up to my ear. "Uh hi."

He heard a short breathless laugh. "Hey, was that your mom?"

"Yeah."

"I'm guessing you have to go?"

"Yeah." Come on your vocabulary can expand better than that.

"I'll see you tomorrow Sydney." He said quietly.

"Bye Lucas." I almost whispered. I looked down at my phone to see that he didn't hang up and honestly I didn't want him too but I had too. I was the one that hung up that call but pressing that button on my crappy phone with the red sign.

I put my phone on my drawer and laid back on my bed, looking up at my beige ceiling. We talked for like five minutes.

It was only five minutes and now I was wishing it was more but I was pretty glad I talked to him. But I took in something. Boy did I take in something.

Mary Anne told me that she gave him my number because he needed to ask about a question in Advanced Functions.

Yet I never got to know about that question.