11| Strawberry
"That was... weird," I said as we walked out.
"Very," he mumbled.
"I'll uh, see you at..."
"The cafe, right, bye," he said, quickly walking the other way.
"I... okay," I said to myself, watching as he walked away.
I shook it off as nothing and went to my locker first where I put away my books and then I took out my keys from my bag and headed to the parking lot.
On my way to my car, I saw Kendall standing at the gate talking to Brandon.
Light bulb. "Kendall!" I called out, running over to her.
"I'm so sorry, I can't drive with you, I have to stop by at home, it's uh. .. an emergency," I lied.
"What? What happened?" she questioned.
"Uh, an emergency?"
"What emergency?"
"My period," I shrugged nonchalantly, "Brandon, drive her, please? I'll meet you guys there," I said, quickly running away and slipping into my car. I started the car and drove off. I actually did drive to my house and I circled the block one time before heading to the cafe.
When I got there, I saw Brandon's car parked but I don't really know what Nathan's car looks like so I have no way of telling if he showed up or not. I walked in and spotted them at a table, talking and studying together. They're actually studying... ew.
"Hey, guys," I said, sitting beside Kendall.
"Hey," they said in sync.
"Is uh, is Nathan here?" I asked. They both looked at me suspiciously. "I need to talk to him about the creative writing contest thing," I lied.
"He went to the bathroom, he'll be back in a minute," Brandon replied.
"Okay, cool. What are you guys studying?" I asked, looking into Kendall's notes.
"Fundamentals of Chemistry," she said. It's like the easier level of chemistry that our school offers just in case you haven't been taking it since the beginning but want to pursue it now.
"You both take that class?"
"Yup," Brandon sighed, flipping through the textbook with utter confusion.
"We both lack science credits and that was our only option left," she explained.
"Oh," I nodded in understanding, "The easy sciences were taken?" I asked.
"This is the easy science," Nathan said while sitting down. "I meant like environmental science and stuff like that," I clarified.
"Those classes are just learning key terms and applying some theories, chemistry isn't that hard, I took it for freshman and sophomore year," he said.
"Okay, smartass, everyone doesn't understand chemistry," Brandon huffed.
"Okay, dumbass," he retorted before turning to me, "You wanted to work on the creative writing thing?"
"Uh, yeah, do you have any ideas?" I asked.
"No, this was your idea," he replied.
I rolled my eyes, pulling out a pen and paper, "Okay, then we'll brainstorm."
"Maybe we should switch seats," Brandon said looking at me. "It'll be easier, you study with him, I'll study with Kendall rather than uh.." He gestured between us. He's not wrong. I was sitting directly opposite Brandon which meant Nathan was sitting diagonal to me. Which made this complicated.
I shrugged, gathering my things and switching seats with him. "Since it has to be fictional, maybe we can just start easy, decide a genre," I suggested.
"Whichever has the easiest style to write." They're all pretty easy once you know what you're writing about.
"Horror?"
"Too easy," he scoffed.
"Uh, romantic?"
"Too boring."
"Mystery?"
"Overrated."
"Poetry?"
"I'm not very good at that."
I gave him a blank look. "I'll just wait till you have something to suggest," I rolled my eyes.
"Can I take your order?" a waitress asked, skating up to us. Yes, skating. It's one of those old vibes, old-pop types of a cafe. Where the staff skates.
"One chocolate and one vanilla milkshake, please," Brandon ordered for himself and Kendall. He remembers her order. Aw.
"And for you two?" she turned to me.
I eyed Nathan for a minute. "Can we get two strawberry milkshakes please?" I smiled.
"Coming right up," she nodded before leaving.
"Why do you know that he orders strawberry milkshakes?" Kendall asked.
"I didn't, I guessed," I shrugged.
"You just magically guessed that?" Brandon arched a brow at me, smiling.
"He... looks like a... strawberry type of guy, I don't know," I mumbled.
"What does a 'strawberry type of guy' look like?" Nathan questioned, amusement glinting in his eyes.
"Stop interrogating me, find a genre," I said, aiming the last bit at Nathan.
All three of them looked down at their paper, smiling.
Except for Nathan, he bit back a smile but you get what I'm saying.
"Oh, my God, Jesus. I get strawberry, I just assumed you'd get it.
And if you don't like it, I'll take it," I groaned.
"Maybe we should write it in article form."
I turned to Nathan. "Article?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"It's only 500 words."
"So? A short article. Or actually, we should write it in poetry form, you're right."
"Like... spoken word?" He nodded. "Okay, but what about?" This will take a while. Let's cut.
???????????????
I sighed, leaning back, "I need a break.
I don't understand criminal minds," I groaned.
We finished with creative writing. The whole thing and we both sent our responses to Mr. Cole for submission.
We're now working on psychology. I want to continue being ahead of the class because once you fall behind in psychology, you don't get it. I made that mistake in Miami.
"What don't you get? We're only two chapters into the topic," he said, looking at me.
"I understand the changes love makes to the mind okay, not what drives people to kill someone," I rolled my eyes.
"We're not even there yet," he argued.
"Shut up, strawberry," I mumbled, "Drink your milkshake."
He is a strawberry type of guy. He's had three.
I sat there, looking at my arm. I need lotion.
"You know you skipped a page, right?" he asked.
"What?" I looked down at my notes.
"From the textbook," he clarified. He clicked his tongue, going one page back, pulling the two apart because they were stuck together.
I let out a groan, putting my head down on the table. "I can't study anymore. I've reached my limit, it's beyond my capacity." I leaned my head on his shoulder, staring off into space.
"Chlo, you just-"
"Huh?" I looked at him in confusion.
Did he just call me Chlo?
"Could you just pass me a pencil?" he requested, clearing his throat.
"Uh, yeah," I said, grabbing a spare and handing it to him. I must have heard him wrong. I noticed both Kendall and Brandon looking at him. "Did you just call me something else?" I asked, looking at him.
"No," he shook his head, "What did you hear?" I eyed him for a second before dismissing it.
"Nothing, I'm taking a break," I said, standing up. "Scoot, scoot."
He stood up and moved out of the booth so I could go to the bathroom. I walked out and went, using it as a minute to stretch my legs and refresh myself. We've been here for three hours.
Three hours?
It's almost 7 pm. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. I ran out and back to our table, gathering my stuff and shoving it all into my bag.
"What the hell just possessed you?" Kendall asked.
"It's almost 7 pm!" I groaned.
"And?" they all asked in sync.
"Oh, right," I clicked my tongue, "My dad's coming home. I have to go, he was supposed to be there by 6 o'clock, shit," I mumbled, throwing my bag over my shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Brandon chuckled.
"I'm perfectly fine," I laughed humorlessly, "Bye, Kendall," I hugged her, "Bye Brandon," I hugged him too.
"Uh, bye Nathan," I patted his shoulder before running out.
He doesn't do hugs, I know that much. I ran out and straight to my car, unlocking it and climbing inside, tossing my bag into the passenger seat.
"Sorry, I'm late dad, sit tight," I said to myself, backing out of the parking spot as fast as I could and speeding home.
My dad is nice, okay? He's chill, he's funny, he's sweet. But he doesn't like people
a) being late
and b) lying.
I got home and ran inside, running straight to the kitchen where I heard their voices. "Hi," I let out a huge breath of relief. Only about an hour and 15 minutes late, good going, Em.
"Where were you?" he asked.
"I was at the cafe with friends," I cleared my throat, "And Kendall, duh," I chuckled awkwardly. I sat beside him, "I'm so sorry, I forgot. We were working on a project and making notes, and... I just lost track of time, I'm sorry," I explained.
"It's okay," he nodded, "Come here." He pulled me into a hug.
I sighed in relief and exhaustion. "So, how have you been?"
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