━

AUDREY BIKED HER WAY HOME, an unfamiliar feeling taking place in her entire body.

she hummed to the tune of every song on her playlist as the songs echoed in the background of her loud thoughts.

who would write her a love poem?

not only that, why?

she pondered deeply throughout every stoplight, every song and every single pedal. it was the one thought that occupied her thoughts for days.

a week later, the girl sat in her bed looking at all the small sprawled out papers laid across her duvet. the same person who had given her one poem, had now given her four.

"audrey, come eat!" her mother called from the living room, "coming!"

she walked into the kitchen, quiet as ever as she served herself the chicken alfredo, corn dip and grabbed a bunch of corn chips.

as her parents stared her down weirdly, she sat down in her seat and began to eat, pausing every so often to stare ahead of her in thought.

"audrey, are you.. alright?" her father asked, as she brought her head up to look at him, "what? no–yeah i'm fine. why?" she asked, as she shoved another corn chip with dip into her mouth.

"you're awfully quiet and you're actually eating dinner without a full conversation or monologue." her mom replied, "it's probably a boy." her twelve year old brother snickered, as he drank his orange juice.

"oh my god, shut up aaron." audrey groaned, rolling her eyes. "mhm, yup, definitely a boy." her dad chuckled, getting back to his food. "this pasta's delicious, honey."

"thank you.." her mom replied to her father, still eye-ing audrey. "so what's this boy look like, huh?" she asked, noticing audrey's cheeks flush, "there is no boy." she sighed, "i swear mom."

"fine. i believe you." her mom nodded, "no, boy. she swears." she shook her head. "i mean it! it's freshman year, i have far more important things to get worked up over." she mumbled, referring to her school work.

"i didn't say that i didn't believe you." her mother smiled, as she chewed her food, looking up at her daughter. "just finish your dinner, odds." the woman laughed, looking over to her dad.

━

miles laid in his bed staring at the ceiling, smiling. he had sent audrey four letters over the past a week weeks, and he couldn't wait to send her another one tomorrow.

the boy rolled onto his side, staring at his drums and guitar across the room before his eyes flickered to the analog clock on the floor next to his mattress. 8:32 pm.

he stared at the hallway light under his door before bringing his eyes back to the drums and guitar.

he wanted to play a song. even better, he wanted to write one.

just then, there was a small knock at the door. "yes?" miles smiled, knowing where the hallow knock came from as the door knob slowly turned.

"hiiii," flora sang, peeking her head into the room, "hi, flora." miles smiled, closing his eyes as he heard the girls footsteps run up to his bed. "are you sad?" flora mumbled, as she sat down on in front of miles.

"no!" he laughed, opening his eyes and looking at her, "oh, okay good." she giving him a wide smile, looking down at the dolls in her hands. "wanna play?" she asked, staring at him nervously.

"sure," he whispered, getting up. "yay, you can be mary and i'll be phoebe." she smiled as she took his hand and they walked out of the room.

━

miles and flora had been playing for a few hours when kate knocked on the door, opening it slowly. "time for bed, flora." she softly said, smiling a bit.

the little girl gasped dramatically before begging the woman for a few more minutes, however it was already nine o' clock and way past her bedtime.

miles got up, brushing off his jeans before hugging flora goodnight, the little girl hugging him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"goodnight!" she smiled, waving as he closed the door behind him.

the tired boy walked into his dark room. the lamps from the long yard ahead of the house lighting up his room through the windows. he sighed, looking around in the dark before walking over to his bathroom to get ready for bed.

miles looked at himself hopelessly in the mirror as he quickly brushed his teeth, leaning back to look through the door at his bed. he spit out his toothpaste, washing his face and walking out the door.

he looked out the windows before walking over to one of the large windows, sliding one open, staring at the gravel parking lot ahead of him. he glanced around at the grassy fields before turning around.

taking off his jeans, he changed them for some dark sweats. he looked around for a shirt to wear to sleep before deciding on taking off his sweater and getting into bed.

he looked to the side where another letter he wrote lay next to his school bag and notebook, this time a little dried flower carefully glued to the end of it.

miles was excited for tomorrow. he couldn't wait to give audrey another letter, maybe instead of copying a poem he would write one that was more.. personal.

the boy closed his eyes, carefully falling into sleep's arms.

maybe high school wasn't all that bad.

━

as audrey rushed across the parking lot to her friend's usual meet up spot, she searched through the second bag she brang to school, a messenger bag with pins from her favorite bands that she'd made at her middle school with the librarian.

"woah, you're in a rush." marina said, pushing herself off the wall she leaned against. "dude, i need to show you guys something." audrey mumbled, pulling out the bunch of different colors that were tied with a string.

"what are these?" lilith asked, as she looked through the different papers, marina taking some for herself to read. "is this like.. for some new 'about me' presentation?" marina sighed, putting her phone under neath her arm as she looked through the letters.

"no, they're letters. poems, kind of." audrey cleared her throat, her face slightly heating up. "oh my god, someone wrote you love letters?!" lilith asked, looking up at her. "sort of.." she nervously looked around.

"these are actually so cute," marina said softly, looking down at the letters. "damn, rina's soft over these." lilith laughed reading through a few.

"do you know who left them?" marina asked, "no?" audrey shrugged as she bell rang. "well, whoever wrote you these; i think you found your man." lilith winked, patting her on the shoulder.

"oh yeah, i hope." audrey rolled her eyes laughing, "could be a girl," marina shrugged, turning with lilith, "see you guys at break!" audrey smiled rushing to her locker which was a few feet away.

she fumbled with her lock before finally opening it, and setting down her bag and taking out the letters, putting them safely on the small corner of her locker.

the girl picked up her bag in a rush, taking out her textbook and leaving it in the locker. she picked up her bag, about to shut the blue metal door when she noticed a light green slip of paper.

another one, she thought with a smile.

she picked it up, before closing her locker and reading the slip as she walked to class. she smiled, seeing the familiar handwriting and the heart at the bottom which she recognized as the signature.

your eyes silky just as,

your voice sounds

your laugh like honey ,

at the tip of one's tongue

i linger to tell you,

and take the words off the page

you are so gorgeous

the stars cannot compare

the way you smile,

the way you flip your hair

it all ties into the gift

that is you.

- ♡

she read the poem twice, trying to remember who had written it but she couldn't understand. it wasn't emily dickinson, or shakespeare, it wasn't even walt whitman.

had.. had they written this, themselves?

audrey sighed, about to re-read the poem for the third time and recall who could have written it, when she bumped into something.

"sorry," audrey mumbled, looking up, expecting for another angry teenager to cuss her out; "you're good," a voice muttered, audrey whipped her head up to see the same kid from the office that day.

the scowl on his face disappeared once he saw her; his lips parting a bit. he turned back to the hall in front of him and walked past her until he walked to the back halls.

she stared weirdly at the door before realizing she had to get to her first period.

━

miles sat in his fourth period english class, staring at the board full of the next presentaion's instructions. the only thing on his mind was the small interaction he'd had with audrey in the morning.

the way she looked up at him, it was almost as if she recognized his voice or something..

it piqued his interest so much so he couldn't pay attention to much else.

not just that, she was holding his note, with his poem this time. she looked confused reading it though.. he thought, bringing his hand up to rest his cheek on it.

she was probably trying to figure out who wrote it or something, he smiled at his thoughts, then realized how the coincidence that took place this morning could very easily worm its way into someone's brain.

the boy shrugged it off as he rummaged through his bag for a certain composition notebook. finally taking it out, he glanced at his name and doodles scribbled on the cover before opening it and flipping through the pages with different poems and songs written on them.

"oh, what's this miles?" a familiar brunette boy asked, snatching the notebook from him, the page he was writing on, teared from the notebook. miles immediately tried grabbing the notebook, clutching the paper in his hand.

"give it back, fucking jerk." he demanded, "oh, dude, give it back.. he called you a jerk," one of his friends laughed, clapping him on the back. "let's see what's in this pretty special notebook."

"nothing, it's just homework." miles muttered, shoving the paper in his back pocket and covering it with his sweater's hem. "iTs JusT hOmeWork, then why's it so personal?" the kid's friend asked, "because i was working on it?" miles scoffed.

"yeah, sure–" the boy with the notebook mumbled, before he burst into laughter. "bruh the kids out here writing love poems," he laughed, throwing the notebook to his friend. "give it back." miles scowled, pissed.

"nah, we'll keep it." the kid laughed, taking it and throwing it to another kid across the classroom, "keep throwing it, it's miles' notebook!" he shouted across the room. miles sighed, standing there with his arms crossed.

just as miles was about to lose it, the lunch bell rang, the two walked out of the classroom laughing with all the other guys as miles waited for everyone to leave.

he searched the floor of the classroom looking for the notebook before finding it half torn near the trash. he bit down on his lip in anger before grabbing it and folding it carefully.

he looked around the classroom, noticing even his teacher had left for lunch break as he packed his bag up and slung it over his shoulder.

━

"bro, this person totally likes you." lilith smiled, reading the most recent poem as she sat across from audrey, "okay we're past that, my point isssss.." she pressed down the paper with her fingers.

"who wrote it?" audrey asked, "dude it's called 'secret admirer' for a reason," marina mumbled as lilith laughed, "no shit! i mean who originally came up with the poem." she sighed, spinning the small slip back to face herself.

"well, if you couldn't tell who wrote it and you read tons of poems then maybe he came up with it." lilith shrugged, "i mean c'mon 'auburn,' 'audrey,' they sound pretty similar," she smiled.

"well auburn could be used for anything, it reminds people of fall and it's brown." audrey said, trying to justify something. she just couldn't tell what.

"well you're born in fall and you're.. brown?" lilith smiled giggling as audrey's jaw dropped. "i'm.. okay, puerto rican is considered brown." audrey shrugged, "still, how would they know i'm born in fall?" audrey tilted her head.

"yeah, nobody's ever written that." marina mumbled, switching off her phone and putting it back in pocket, "just searched every phrase, nothing." she shook her head, "well then it's confirmed, they wrote it especially for you."

━

miles stood just outside of the cafeteria, sitting on the concrete border of the grassy hill just before the entrance of the large auditorium.

he watched as the girls all hovered over the table. he wiped his mouth a bit, his brows furrowing as he tried to catch a glance at what they were looking at.

his lips parted when he noticed audrey take the green slip of paper from lilith's hands, she was showing them the note? then out of nowhere, marina moved out of the way, exposing all the different colored slips of papers folded, laying in a pile on the dark brown table.

he stared in awe as she folded them all carefully into a bunch, tying them with a small string.

as he watched, miles felt a small smile creep up onto his lips; she kept all of the letters. just knowing that had flipped his day around into a better one.

he had totally forgotten that all the papers from the notebook he had originally wrote those poems in, were in his bag were scattered; because at least she had kept them. he watched carefully as the girls packed up their bags and looked at the clock inside the cafeteria.

they were three minutes early; getting ready to leave for.. class?

"what's good," the same kid from earlier smiled, him and three of his friends walking around him, "alright honestly dude, i'm really not for this right now." miles muttered, already annoyed at the guys's voice.

"i could easily take you all out right now." miles said, getting up and brushing off his corduroy jeans. "oh no, you're not going anywhere." one of his friends said, miles turned noticing he was a junior.

"oh you're fucking kidding me–" he sighed, ducking as the junior swung at him. "fifty dollars if you get away from the toddlers and go back to your big kid friends." miles said, grabbing his backpack, watching as the junior contemplated.

"fifty bucks? right now?" he asked, as miles nodded, "right now." he crossed his arms. "alright, man, whatever." he muttered, as miles opened his backpack and shuffled through it for a wad of cash.

miles held out the fist of crumpled bills as the two sophomores stood there dumbfound, miles just bought his way out of being bullied.

"cool, see you around man." the junior smiled, leaving the three tenth graders alone, "sure, sure." he rolled his eyes walking into the cafeteria.

"fucking hate high school."

━

i promise the next few chapters i'll write a little longer . . .

lmk what u guys thought of this chap

gtg. byee