She's Too Naive

Chapter 7

They made a list.

I can't believe they stooped to this type of cliche and made a list.

Well, I guess technically we made a list as I insisted on some changes. There was no way I was going skinny dipping. Every skinny dipping scene in history had ended badly. The List started out as things to do over this next month, but turned into goals I wanted to meet at the end of the summer. Ara and Lynn insisted I kept a few of the 'activities' so I relented.

(AN: the one's in parenthese are crossed out, but that format doesn't work on wattpad for some reason)

The list read:

1.(flirt with a random guy) Be more spontaneous

2.(Dye hair) Be more Carefree

3.(skinny dip with a guy) (skinny dip with friends) (skinny dip) Jump into the lake at night

4. (go out with Rosen) Have a summer fling

5.sneak out past curfew

6.Stop stressing

7.(Buy a whole new wardrobe) Wear something outside comfort zone

We decided to end it there, and possibly just add on in the future. None of the things were that bad. All of them seemed pretty doable. The hardest one would definitely be the summer fling. I still wasn't too keen on the idea of laid back dating. The whole idea seemed kind of pointless to me, but plenty of people did it so there must be something to get out of it.

I stared down at the list and went over it in my head a million times a minute. "I don't know if I can do all these things..." Lynn rolled her eyes.

"El, it's for one summer. You'll be fine, grow up and live a little," She grumbled. I shut up immediately. I could tell when my friends got annoyed by how I acted, and now was one of those moments. I was going to have to jump out of my comfort zone this summer, but wasn't that what I wanted?

Ara and Lynn stared at me expectantly. With great reluctance, but a small thrill of excitement, I nodded my head.

*

When I got home later that day, I paused when I saw my front door cracked open. Had I forgotten to shut it earlier? I pushed the door open, almost expecting someone to jump out of the shadows with a gun to my head. I stopped in the living room, taking a moment to listen for any abnormal sounds or something that seemed off. The laptops were still piled in a corner, the TV still on the wall. I shrugged to myself, realizing I probably did leave the door open in my haste to get out.

I threw my bag down by the steps and bounded up the stairs to my room. When I swung my door open, the scene in front of me made my heart leap into my throat.

"Do you have any ex boyfriends, enemies, or someone you know who would do this?" I shook my head even though my mind immediately went to that night in the alley. But I wasn't looking to get involved in all that with police, especially since Rosen said he already talked to them. Plus, what were the odds that this even had something to do with them. I had been answering the police officer's questions for the past forty-five minutes. My mouth was dry, and I was exhausted.

"Ellie!" I looked up, blinded by the flashing red and blue lights, and found myself wrapped up in Tristan's arms. I sighed in relief to finally be in the company of someone I knew. My neighbor, a nice old lady who goes by Mrs. Dorothy, had been keeping me company as i talked to police. Although, she ended up leaving a few minutes ago to go to bed.

"What's going on? Lynn and Lee are on their way. They should be here soon" Tristan said worriedly. I had called him first, since I knew he wouldn't be busy. Lynn and Lee had been at the movies, Ara was at a family dinner, and Josh was probably out of town with some basketball buddies from the traveling league.

"Someone was in my house. But i'm okay and nothing was stolen," I said in a rush when i saw his horrified expression. "The Police say that it seems like they were looking for something, but didn't find it. They only trashed my room, nothing else,"

"Ellie?" I turned around, out of Tristan's arms, surprised by the familiar voice.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked confused, looking between Cole and Rosen. Cole was emotionless, and Rosen just looked worried.

"Saw the commotion, thought we'd check it out," Rosen replied. He glanced at the police talking nearby, shifting his feet.

"Yeah, someone broke in. Didn't steal anything, but trashed my room," I explained with a frown. Rosen and Cole shared some type of look that I didn't understand.

"Alright Ms. Charleston, We've done all we can. Now we are just going to hope one of those security cameras caught them." The officer pointed to the cameras on a store across the street.

"Thank you so much," I said relieved. He gave me a small smile, and patted my back before starting up his car. The other remaining police cars left my driveway, and the night air suddenly seemed deafeningly silent. That was, until a black beat up car pulled up moments later. Lynn jumped out and rushed into my embrace.

"We got here as fast as we could," She explained quickly. She glanced back at Rosen and Cole, her eyebrow raising slightly. I laughed and hit her shoulder, silently indicating to shut up about it.

"Where are you staying for the night?" Tristan asked. I stared at him, having not even thought of that problem. I didn't really want to stay at my house alone after I knew someone got inside so easily.

"I didn't even think about that to be honest," I admitted as I looked at the group of people around me.

"I'll stay with you," Lynn jumped in quickly. "My parents won't care so it should be okay," She explained. I sighed out in relief, and gave my friend a grateful smile.

"I'm not letting you guys stay by yourselves. What if whoever was in here came back?" Lee argued, taking on the protective boyfriend role. Lynn rolled her eyes and shot him a glare.

"That's so sexist," She muttered and I laughed lightly.

"I'm not being sexist," he glared right back at his girlfriend. "the more people, the better." He casted a look to Tristan who nodded his head, backing his friend up. "I'm staying with you guys."

"I'm staying too," Tristan added, crossing his arms. Both boys turned their gazes towards Rosen and Cole who had remained silent this whole conversation.

"I'll stay with you guys," Rosen shrugged, a casual smile on his face. Cole glowered and shot his friend a look, shaking his head.

"I can't," Cole answered. "I have to stay back at the house, because I have stuff to do," It was probably the poorest excuse in history, but Cole knew that. Rosen frowned as Cole turned around and started walking back down the sidewalk. "Have fun with your slumber party," He called over his shoulder as he disappeared down the dark street.

"Don't listen to him," Rosen broke the silence.

"Is he always like that?" I asked, remembering the way Cole acted the first time I met him. He had been pretty quiet, and wasn't overly friendly towards me.

"It takes him a while to warm up to new people. Don't worry about him too much, he'll get over it," Rosen shrugged. All of us looked at each other, a bit unsure what to do next.

"let's do this!" Tristan yelled and ran for my front door. We laughed and followed after him inside the house. I already had a feeling tonight would be very interesting.

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