Cheers to the Teenage Years

I was glad that it was Friday. After surviving my first week of school I was excited to go home and relax, when I say relax I mean catching up on my studies. I hadn’t confronted Harry about what Hollie and I had saw, honestly I didn’t want to. I was fine wight hat memory slipping to the back of my mind. Not feeling inspired, I threw on a pair of printed pants and a slouchy, white tee shirt. I tossed a pendant over my head and tugged at my boot socks before slipping my favorite pair of ankle boots. (http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=125991514 )

I was going to meet Hollie at FreeState coffee before school so I left the house a bit early. I grabbed my keys and sunglasses before heading out the door to my beloved car. I paused when I heard someone on phone.

“How am I going to get to school? My car is broken!! No i am not going to walk.” It was Harry who seemed to be upset as he was pacing on his porch. he ended the call with an angry goodbye, we awkwardly made eye contact.

I waved at him and asked, “Do you need a ride?” He looked at me as if he was questioning my intentions.

“It’s a bit early to be leaving for school.” He replied but began to walk toward me with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

“I’m going to meet up with Hollie at FreeState.” I replied while shuffling into my car. “If you need a ride, don’t be shy.” I waited for his answer, I assumed it was a no by the way he shook his head. I rolled my eyes and began to back up to the main road soon enough I sped through the neighborhood to the coffee shop.

———

Hollie and I arrived at the same time which was really weird. We laughed about it as we entered the café, there was no line so we waltzed right up to the barista and ordered two hazelnut lattes. We paid for our drinks and found a two person table near the large window in the front. I sat across from Hollie and took a sip of my steaming coffee. We chattered about little nothings until she noticed a figure walking with his head tucked into his chest.

“Is that Harry?” She asked and nudged her head in his direction. I snapped my head up and sure enough Harry was walking to school. I laughed and shook my head which resulted in a strange look from Hollie.

“I offered him a ride…” I shrugged and watched him as he waited for the walk signal at the end of the sidewalk. We once again made eye contact but I quickly diverted my attention to a package of sugar on the table. When I looked back up, he was gone.

Hollie and I said goodbye and trudged to our separate cars. I got to school with a few minutes to spare, I decided to go find some of my friends. I noticed Niall standing with Harry and another guy by the front doors. I felt a tap on my right shoulder but when I turned around there was no one there. Shrugging I faced forward and almost screamed, Hollie had appeared out of no where, she started laughing which caused me to also laugh. We had attracted the attention from many bystanders, including Niall.

“What’s so funny?” He asked when we approached him and the two other guys. Hollie and I refused to tell him so he pretended to pout but returned his attention to the athletic guy who was talking. “So Pax, when is this party?”

“Saturday night, it’s going to be hype!” Paxton replied very energetically. He noticed me and Hollie standing there and grinned mischievously. “You two can come as well”

Parties were not my thing, besides I had so much homework to do that I wouldn’t have time to go. Before I could open my mouth to decline the bell rang and everyone scattered to go find their class.

“Well that party got ten times better now that you’re going.” Niall said to me and put his hand on the small of my back. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I wouldn’t be attending.

———

English was a bore, we had a vocabulary quiz but i had memorized every word so I flew through it and I was the first to turn it in. I took my seat and pulled out East of Eden, I needed to catch up because I was a few chapters behind, I planned to finish the book over the weekend. From my pants pocket I felt my phone vibrate, I nervously poked my head up at the teacher, phones were not supposed to be out in class. I tried to go back to reading my book but it was no use, I needed to see what the message said. I daintily pulled out my phone and hid it behind the book.

The text was from Niall, he asked me if I wanted to grab some lunch with him. I immediately thought of Hollie but I quickly remembered that she had a Key Club meeting during lunch today. I replied with a yes and then put my phone away before I got into trouble.

Soon the bell rang and I collected my books and waited for Hollie to follow. We walked out of class together and talked about the quiz.

“It was easy but I completely forgot what ephemeral meant.” Hollie sighed. I knew the definition off the top of my head.

“It means short-lived.” I replied, I was distracted with the thought of why Niall would ask me to go to lunch with him, and his cheeky comment after the bell rang. I could hear Hollie speaking but I wasn’t listening, I blinked a few times before turning to her, “What?”

“I said, do you think he posted the grade on Edline?” She asked while smirking at me, she knew that I wasn’t paying attention.

“We just turned it in, how could he of posted them?” I asked, Edline was this convenient website where teachers posted grades and the students could see them. “I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?” Hollie replied, she seemed very interested. I wasn’t sure how she was going to react but she was the closet thing I had to a best friend.

“Uh, Niall invited me to lunch later.” I laughed nervously and peeked at Hollie who was goofily making kissy faces at me.

“That’s adorable!! Do you like him?”

Do I like Niall? Sure he’s cute and he has a great personality but I didn’t think that I was ready for a boyfriend. My school work was too important for a boy to come and mess it up. “I mean as a friend…” I trailed off and looked at Hollie. She popped her lips and said some reassuring friendly advice.

I walked into biology with my head more clouded than it was before. Liam noticed my distress but he brushed t off, sensing that I didn’t want to talk about it. The teacher began the lecture and I intently payed attention while taking notes. The teacher was going on about the life cycle, I carefully drew the diagram from the board onto my sheet of paper.

“She said that wasn’t going to be on the quiz.” Liam whispered to me. I grinned and turned toward him.

“I bet you that it will be.”

———

After class was dismissed I walked out of class with Liam, we having a heated debate about which animal is the most dangerous. Liam didn’t believe that a hippopotamus was the most lethal. I was going to prove him wrong.

“Hey Avalynn and Mr.Payno.” Niall was standing out side the science room, grinning from ear to ear. Liam smirked and waggled his eyebrows at Niall who just blinked. I thought that they were communicating in some weird boy language. Perhaps Liam had known about Niall’s proposition.

“Here, I’ve got your books.” Niall took my binders in his arms and we walked toward my locker. I was shocked that he also knew which locker was mine. He paused and waited for me to put my combination in.

“What, do you also know my combination?” I joked and put the numbers in until it clicked. He laughed and handed me my books.

“Well, I know now.” He winked and shut it for me. “Keep your eyes out for any surprises.”

“I think I should be scared.” I giggled and followed him toward the front doors. He shook his head and looked down at me.

“Only good ones of course.”

———

“You never told me where we are going? Are you taking me to like McDonalds?” I asked while situating myself in his Jeep. He put the keys in the ignition and smiled, he told me that it was a surprise and that I’d find out soon.

The whole car ride we talked about utter nonsense, our topic ranged from sports to Toddlers and Tiaras.

“You watch that show?” I was laughing so hard that tears were threatening to fall from my eyes. Niall tried to defend himself but he had no credible response. “It’s okay, we can watch it together!” I said in hopes of making him feel better.

“Yes!! I guess watching Toddlers and Tiaras just helps me get the girls.” He laughed which caused me to join him.

We arrived at the restaurant, Honey and Co. which was a very cute, café style restaurant. Niall lead me to a two person booth, when we sat down a young waitress handed us a menu and asked for our drink orders. I ordered my favorited drink, an iced tea. I skimmed through the menu when she left looking for something appetizing but not too large. I decided on a chicken pesto flatbread, the picture of it looked delicious.

“I’m going to guess what you ordered.” Niall remarked while closing his own menu. He seemed to ponder for a minute before speaking, “you don’t strike me as the ‘I’m only going to eat salad and drink water’ kind of girl.”

“Are you calling me fat?” I joked feeling self conscious, did my choice of food reflect on my body type. I had never thought of myself being fat but then again, my own perception of myself was different then others. I looked at Niall who was staring back at me with a concerned expression clouding his face.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I mean’t it as you aren’t stuck up, as in you’ll just eat what you want because you like it. Ya know, you don’t really care.” He nervously ran his hand over his hair and smiled meekly. “I don’t think that you know how beautiful you really are.”

I gazed at him, lost in thought. I didn’t think of myself as ugly but I wasn’t drop dead gorgeous either. I wasn’t used to boys noticing me or even calling me pretty. I thought of myself more as a shadow, maybe even a buzz kill because I was so obsessed with my school work.

I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t want to not say something but I just kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t like he liked me or anything. He’d want someone more fun than me, someone more willing, someone who was carefree. I always thought of myself as a caged bird, watching the world be carefree around me but never having the courage to venture out of my own protection. In the end I just nodded and took a sip of my iced tea.

———

After lunch, the school day flew by and before I knew it I was getting in my car to head home to a weekend of studying. I threw my school bag onto the passenger seat and inserted the keys. For some strange reason I was really craving a frozen coffee. I decided that I’d stop by FreeState before I went home. I was about to drive off but someone stopped me before I could.

“Harry?” I asked in shock. He was tapping on my windowsill and pointing down using hand gestures to signal me to roll my window down.

Notes

Hey, so I updated. Haha thank you to everyone who commented, subscribed, voted and read! You guys are all the best and I'm glad to see that you're enjoying it. :) I hope this idea isn't too over played but I expect things to take a massive 90 degree turn in future chapters so keep your eyes open! Ahaha :D



lol, I'm listening to Disney music on my Pandora right now. I swear I'm a teenager!! Haha!

☆ BIBBIDI BOBBIDI BOOO!!!! ☆