TTEOTB -- Ch. 6

Chapter 61

A few days later I woke up depressed as ever. I had the dire nightmare about my mother and brother again. 2

What time was it? What day was it? I had no clue. 3

I went downstairs to find that my dad wasn’t home. Where the hell did he go? He never leaves. I hoped that today wasn’t a school day because if it was, well, I definitely wasn’t going. I looked at the calendar on the side of the refrigerator. Sunday. Really? I shrugged my shoulders and went on a search through the kitchen for breakfast of some sort. 4

I decided on waiting for lunchtime and then going out to eat. Before I could reach the living room to watch some T.V. [which I rarely did] the doorbell rang. 5

I walked down the short hallway to the door and looked through the peep hole. What the hell? I unlocked the door and pulled it open.6

“Good morning!” Announced a very vibrant looking Arianna. 7

“Uh, right, good morning.” I said, raising an eyebrow, “How did you know that I live here?”8

“Because you told me?” She said staring at me hard like I was crazy. 9

“I did? When?” I asked, cocking my head to side. I couldn’t remember.10

“In Steinberry’s room when we did that Bunsen burner lab together.” She said slowly waiting for my face to light up with nostalgia or something.11

“Oh, okay, I’ll take your word for it.” I laughed. He was probably telling me about how I’d fail the lab or something and I probably wasn’t paying too much attention to Arianna at all. 12

“Hah, okay.” She giggled. “Oh! The reason I came here was to ask if you’d like to hang out today.” 13

“Oh, just me and you or?” 14

“Uh, Me, you, Autumn, Anabelle, Quinn, Teigan, Aiden and Donnie.” She counted off on her fingers. 15

“Who’s Donnie? And I don’t think Teigan and Aiden like me too much.” I told her, looking down at my feet. 16

“Donnie.” She looked down at her feet now. “He’s, uh, my boyfriend.” The vibrant feel about her disappeared now and the look in her eyes was far away and kind of sad. 17

“Ah.” That was all I could say as I wondered what had brought her so down so fast. 18

She shook it off fast though, “Oh, and Teigan and Aiden don’t hate you.” She laughed. “They’re just hard to get to know. They’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember, practically brother and sister if you ask me. Anyways, will you come?” She was smiling again and I couldn’t say no. 19

“Sure, I’ll come.” I said smiling back. 20

“It’s a scam. They’re all just going to ditch you in the end.” I held back making a face. 21

“You can come in.” I told her, stepping back from the doorway to let her through. I wasn’t going to listen to his B.S. putdowns. Not now at least. 22

“Thanks.” She stepped in onto the rug in front of the door.23

“Oh, could you please take off your shoes?” I asked as I took off my own before stepping onto the wooden floor. She mimicked me and we both headed upstairs to my room. I was still in pajamas and needed to change.24

“Where are we going anyway?” I inquired, wondering how I should dress. 25

“Lunch, pizza probably, and a movie? Maybe the mall.” She plopped down on my bed cross-legged. 26

I settled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a Metro Station shirt. I quickly applied a bit of make up and brushed my hair. Lucky for me, my hair was straight but had a bit of volume. Thanks, mom. 27

I turned around to look at her. She was looking at her arm and so my eyes dropped to look too. I saw a few pink lines that she was rubbing over with her right index finger. Maybe she had a cat? I’d ask later on. 28

“Are you ready to go?” She asked, a slight blush ran to my cheeks, I didn’t mean to stare. 29

“Oh, yeah, I’m ready.” I closed my closet and started out of my room and down the stairs. Arianna followed.30

There was a small black car parked in the driveway. I saw that there was someone in the driver’s seat, most likely Donnie. Arianna climbed into the passenger’s seat and I slid into the back. How were we all going to fit in here? 31

“Um, Arianna?”32

“Hm?” 33

“How are we all going to fit in here?” I looked at the diminutive space around me. 34

“Oh! Teigan, Aiden and Quinn are coming in a separate car.” She told me. 35

“Cool, cool.” 36

“So, Anika, Arianna tells me you’re new here. I haven’t seen you around school yet.” Donnie told me. He had clean cut black hair and from what I saw in his rear view mirror, steel blue eyes. He wore a red polo with jeans. 37

“Yeah, just moved here from Oceanside.” 38

“New York?”39

“California.” I corrected him. 40

“Ah, very nice.” He said.41

“Most definitely.” I concurred. 42

He seemed nice enough, what had made Arianna so sad earlier? 43

We arrived at a pizza place a few minutes later after picking up Anabelle and Autumn. 44

Donnie made it out of his seat fast enough to open the door for Arianna and help her out. I thought that was nice of him. 45

After Anabelle, Autumn and I slid out of the car we headed into the restaurant and immediately caught sight of the rest of our gang. They waved us over, smiling. They all didn’t seem so intimidating at this point. 46

That is until they all stood up and I noticed how tall Teigan and Aiden were along with how short Quinn was. They were giants compared to Quinn who looked the size of a teddy bear. 47

“Hey, dudes, what’s up?” Aiden asked, high-fiving Anabelle. I hadn’t ever heard him speak before; his voice was light and very laid back. His dark brown hair barely touched his shoulders and his bangs just hit the eyelashes of his metallic hazel eyes. His flawless skin was slightly tan and like Anabelle he had snake bites. 48

“Not much, kid.” Anabelle replied. 49

“Hey, man.” Donnie said, doing a knuckle-touch or whatever it’s called with Aiden. 50

“Hey!” I heard a very laid back female voice. Teigan came walking up behind Aiden. Her hair also just touched her shoulders, it was very choppy and her bangs matched Aiden’s going in the opposite direction. It was dark brown mixed with light tints or red and blonde. Her eyes were a mesmerizing green, yellow, grey color. Her porcelain skin was also a bit tan. She also wore snake bites and I could see that she had multiple piercings in her ears. 51

Arianna, Autumn and Anabelle all gave her a hug hello. 52

I waved. 53

She hugged me and I hugged her back. Quinn hugged me as well. 54

After the past few months without anyone but my dad, who didn’t ever hug me at all anymore, this all felt kind of awkward but it was more than welcome. 55