Chapter 3

  Song: I feel it coming by The weeknd

  Aiden POV:

  “You’re actually dating her, man?” Zen chuckles, shooting the basketball through the hoop, “Do you know how much that can destroy our reputation?”

  I’m sitting on the bleachers, reading while the guys, Zen, Alex, Noah and Sam take turns shooting hoops.

  “How exactly would she destroy our reputation, Lorenzo?” I gaze up at the guy that Charlotte loves so much. What exactly does she even see in him? She calls me a jerk when this big-headed doofus over here is the real jerk.

  “C'mon man, you know that someone like her could never be a part of our group, no matter how long you’ve known each other”

  I put down my book, glaring at Zen, “Someone like her?”

  “Y’know, she’s not even originally American or anything,” Zen shrugs, “Now that’s just embarrassing”

  Before I realized it, I’m up and grabbing Zen by the collar, carrying him up to my height, “Look, I don’t understand why I’m wasting time on scum like you, but if you don’t stop talking about Charlotte like that, I won’t hesitate to punch that smug look off face.”

  “Woahh man chill, I thought you’d be more understanding about this,” Zen smirks, the corner of his mouth tilting up mockingly, “Seeing as you’re not exactly the interfering type.”

  “Nah man, that was just messed up,” Noah comes up to us as I let go of Zen, pushing him to the ground.

  “For real, Zen you can be a bit insensitive at times,” Alex and Sam join as well, helping Zen up.

  I don’t stay to hear Zen’s reply.

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  Charlotte POV:

  Aiden: I’m picking you up on Friday 7 pm, we’re going to a party.

  I roll on my bed, staring at Aiden’s message. Is he inviting me to a party hosted by Zen perhaps? If that’s the case, I need to prepare something to wear on Friday, since it’s currently Wednesday.

  As I'm still fussing over what to wear on Friday, I receive a text from Jessica.

  Jessica: Get ready!! Me + u going dress shopping on Friday at 6!!

  Shit, Jessica didn’t get invited to the party, did she? If I tell her that I'm ditching her for a party with Aiden and Zen, she’ll hate me for sure. I'll just have to lie to her, just this once, nothing could go wrong.

  Me: Sorry, jess, working on Friday.

  My chest aches at the fact that I have to lie to Jessica. I know that if I had to do that in front of her in real life, I wouldn’t be able to.

  That ought to be worth something.

  “Charlie!!!!!!!!” My little sister, Leila yells from downstairs. She’s only 2 years younger than me, but she acts like she’s five, “I can’t find my sweater!! Can I borrow yours??!!!”

  The worst day of my life was when Leila became the same size as me in clothing, now all she does is come to my closet and steal my clothes. I’m lucky that today, she happened to ask me.

  “No, you can’t!” I yell back, with a grin of satisfaction.

  “Don’t be selfish Chisi!” My mum yells at me, coming into my room with my sister, “Go pick one dear,”

  “Mom! They're my clothes!”

  “That I bought with my money,” My mother rolls her eyes, walking my sister out of my room after picking a white sweater with black stripes from my closet.

  I breathe out a sigh, walking to my closet to pick out an outfit for Friday.

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  Friday comes faster than I expect it to, wrapping its nasty claws around my neck. I decided on a white cropped top and a pair of black flared pants, with a black zip-up hoodie on top, trying to look casual but not too much, so I don’t look lazy.

  My excuse to Jessica about why I can’t go dress shopping with her, makes my stomach drop with guilt whenever I think about it. If only Zen would fall in love with me fast enough, so that I can end this thing with Aiden. Then I could leave him for Jessica and never lie to her again.

  With a heavy sigh, I pick up a white handbag, slipping on my red and black Air Jordans and running down the stairs and into my living room, where I spot my father, watching a live football game between ‘I don’t care about the team name number 1’ and ‘I don’t care about the team name number 2’.

  “Hey, Baba,” I sit next to him on the couch, trying not to disturb him as his eyes stick to the screen, following the movement of the ball and the players. I’ve called my parents ‘Mama’ and ‘Baba’ since I was two, making it a little nickname. Usually, people find it weird when they hear me calling my father, ‘Baba’, and soon after that, they discover the rest of my hyperactivity and weirdness, causing them to shrink away from me. So far, the only people who have really stuck around are Jessica and Aiden (In his own boring way).

  The only time I call my parents by ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad’ is when I’m mad at them, but sadly, they never seem to realize. They just think I switch it up whenever i feel like it.

  “Good morning, Ada,” My dad passes a small smile to me before turning back to the screen, only paying half attention to our conversation, “Where are you going?”

  “Uh..to Jessica’s, we’re going shopping,” The lie rolls easily off my tongue, causing guilt to unravel in my stomach, making me nauseous. I barely ever lie to my parents, but I highly doubt they would approve of my going to a party, knowing only two guys, one that I barely speak with.

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  “Ok, I'll call you guys at 9 pm to check on you,” He replies, his tone gruff.

  “Oh, uh...actually Jessica would be leaving early so I'll be walking around alone for a while,” I lie again.

  Damn I am on a roll tonight.

  “That’s fine, I'll still call you,” He glances at me but before I can reply with another lie, the doorbell rings, signaling Aiden’s arrival.

  I rush to the door, happily welcoming the interruption, but as I open the door, I’m stunned to see Jessica standing there, confusion spread on her face.

  “Charlie? I thought you were working?” She stares at me, waiting for a reply that I fear to give, but once again, the lie comes easily to me.

  “Yeah, I was getting ready to leave, i was going to be a bit late,” I laugh nervously, turning the conversation back to her, “Why are you here?”

  “I was going to invite your parents to my house for an adult barbeque on Sunday,” She frowns, shrugging, “My mum sent me”

  I nod, ushering her out of the door, “Okay, I'll tell my dad about it. I'll text you when I can okay?”

  Jessica nods slowly, eyeing me suspiciously before walking down the street, just then, Aiden steps out of his house, and Jessica proceeds to run up to him, distracting him from approaching my house.

  Groaning, I shut the door, walking back into my living room to see my father, raising an eyebrow at me, “Wasn’t that Jessica?”

  “Oh, yeah I was just coming to say that she invited you guys to a barbeque on Sunday,” I smile, trying to seem innocent, “I’ll be going now, bye”

  I dash out of the door, running up to Aiden and Jessica. I lock eyes with Aiden, who has been roped into conversation by Jessica.

  “Hey Jess, uh Aiden was supposed to drive me to work. My car broke down,” I lie again, struggling to keep track of my never ending web of lies, “We should probably get going.”

  Jessica passes me a look of confusion before shrugging and waving goodbye to Aiden and I.

  As she walks out of view, I let out a soft sigh, grabbing Aiden by the arm, “What the hell was that?”

  Surprisingly, Aiden doesn’t give me one of his smirks or snide comments, instead, he scowls, looking down at me like an insect that’s crawling on him, “Can you tell your friend to back off from me?” He pulls his arm out of me, still scowling as he walks towards his car, forcing me to run after him.

  As I get into the passenger’s seat, he doesn’t even do so much as glance at me as he puts the car in drive, backing out of the driveway.

  “What’s up with you?” I ask, leaning in to get a better look at his face, “You don’t always have to act like a jerk, y’know?”

  He ignores me as he drives onto the street, and our houses slowly fade into the distance.

  The drive to Zen’s house is a long, silent one, with only the unmatched sounds of our breaths to keep us company. I gaze out the window, trying not to look back at Aiden as we approach the house, a big white one, not big enough to be called a mansion, but not small enough to be seen as a regular house.

  Without a word, Aiden steps out of the car, opening the door to my side, letting me step out as well.

  Still in silence, we walk towards the door of the house, knocking.

  When I pull myself away from the thoughts of Aiden, I can make out the muffled sounds of music through the house.

  Finally, the door opens, with Zen smirking, his eyes roaming up from my hair and down to my shoes. I feel myself blush.

  “Hey guys, come in,” He steps back, giving us space to walk in on the psychotic shit show that is called a party.

  Aiden POV:

  Taking Charlotte to this party was the worst mistake of my life. I see in her eyes that she is absolutely terrified.

  Boys and girls dance around like drunk teenagers (which they most likely are), the smell of alcohol coats the air, making me slightly dizzy. Colorful lights fill the room, doing nothing to help the headache that grows in my head.

  I turn around, wanting to warn Charlotte but she’s nowhere to be seen. As I roam the party, trying to find a tall girl with a hyper attitude, I spot the girl that I met in the library, her red hair now flowing down her shoulders. Makeup covers the freckles that had once been on her face. She wears a shiny red dress that barely reaches her knees, making her short, stubby legs visible. She walks up to me-

  No that isn’t right.

  She stumbles up to me, barely able to keep her balance, “Heyy you’re the guy who rejected me, huh?” Her words come out as a slur, showing the level of her drunkenness. It occurs to me that since we are only in our senior year of high school at 18, this is underage drinking. We could be arrested just for attending this party.

  In a rush, I ignore the red-haired girl, resuming my search for Charlotte.

  At the other end of the room, I hear loud chanting, “Drink it!” “Drink it!” “Drink it!”

  I run up to the crowd, spotting Charlotte in the middle of it all, with a large bottle of vodka in her hands. Quick as a flash, I grab the bottle from her hands, interrupting the chants. I lean forward, my mouth right next to her ear, “We’re leaving,” I whisper, pulling her away from the crowd as they boo us for ‘giving up’ on the challenge.

  As I pull Charlotte away from the heat of the party, she wobbles, as if already drunk.

  “Are you drunk?” I ask, wrapping her arm around my neck so that I can support her.

  “NoooooOo,” She grins sloppily, waving her hands in the air like a mad person.

  I can’t take her home immediately, because I doubt that her parents know that she came to a rave party, so that’ll just put her in more trouble.

  Instead, I decide to take her to the back off the party where no one ever goes.

  I sit her down, pushing her braids out of her face as she grins back at me.

  “Stay here, I'll get you water to sober up, the quicker the better,” I turn around to look for a place to get water, but I realize that drunk Charlotte might not care whether I want her to stay put or not.

  I turn back around, eyeing her with a confused look, “How did you even get drunk that fast?”

  She doesn’t answer, instead she just gazes out into the distance, with a lost expression on her face.

  With a roll of my eyes, I fall into a chair next to her, groaning.

  Why the hell did I agree to bringing her here?

  That was stupid of me, obviously Charlotte would be drunk after some sips of vodka. There’s no one to blame but myself.

  Surprisingly, as I turn make a glance at Charlotte, I find her asleep, slouching on the chair.

  Sighing, I get up, wrapping my arms around her waist in an attempt to pick her up. Unfortunately, in the process, I make her fall to the ground, her body slump in an awkward position. I’m dumbfounded as to how she has not yet woken up. As a second attempt, I place my hands under her arms, lifting her up like a little kid. In her sleep, she wraps her legs around my waist, with her arms around my neck.

  This position makes her look like a big baby, it is also incredibly uncomfortable for me, considering how her braids fall on my face, and her elbows press into my shoulders. Alas, this is probably the only way I will be able to carry her, so I walk on, picking up her fallen purse on the way.

  People stare as we pass them, and when we finally get to the car, I let Charlotte down in the passenger seat, adjusting her neck and the seat so that she slumps down in a position that is slightly more comfortable.

  Finally, I get into the driver’s seat, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.

  As I drive, I can’t help but glance at Charlotte with her mouth wide open, slightly snoring as her braids spread out on her face.

  Smiling, I lean forwards to push her braids out of her face and place my hand underneath her jaw to close her mouth.

  It’s then that I realize that she hasn’t spoken to me since we got into the car earlier, and that’s all thanks to me.

  I suddenly have the urge to hear her voice, and it’s hard as hell to stop myself from waking her up, just to hear her angry comments.

  Since I have no idea when or how she told her parents she would come home, I stop the car at a local park, close enough to our houses that she could run home if she needed to, but far enough that her parents would never catch us here.

  I reach a hand to shake her and wake her up.

  “Leave me alonee,” She groans, rubbing her head once she wakes up, “Why the hell does my head hurt so bad?”

  “That’s probably the hangover...,” I reply, leaning in to touch the marks on her cheek that were made by the chair as she slept, but I know better, so I pull back, inspecting it only with my eyes.

  “Hangover? But I only had 3 shots...,” She rubs her forehead even harder, groaning.

  “Three shots of pure vodka,” I flick her forehead, making her smack my arm in return.