Pinky promise? (gxg)

Chapter 2

Anna

I skimmed through the row of tattered library books. M. Shelley, where was it. Ah there. 

I reached my hand for the book. But then my hand brushed against another one, it had also reached for the same book. I looked over at the other person and my breath caught in my throat. My gaze fell down to the warm brown eyes of the girl. She looked puzzled.

"Jo?"

"What are you doing here?" she said as an answer.

"Chase said this book is really good so I thought I would try it", I replied shrugging.

Anger and...hurt? flashed across Jo's eyes. A small frown was now on her lips. She glanced at the book then back at me.

"Yeah whatever, just take it", she muttered and left the library.

_____________

I munched on a chip distractedly. I had met up with Chase after his swim practice at a diner. He had his hand on my knee while he was talking about something. I had the urge to shrug it off. Wait what? He was my boyfriend, I wanted to be here.

I glanced out the window. It had just stopped raining, so there were small water droplets on the window glass. I watched them race down the smooth surface. 

Across the street there was an ice cream parlour. It was the same place Jo and I used to go to every Friday when...when we were still friends. I was reminded of our encounter at the library the other day. Why had Jo seemed so angry all-of-a-sudden?

"Annie?" Chase ran his thumb across my knee shaking me to the present.

"Huh?" I muttered.

"Are you coming to Josh's party on Friday?" he asked.

"Yeah of course", I said.

 I didn't really want to go but Sam, Olivia and Amy would be there. They would never let it go if I missed it. 

"Were you even listening?" Chase asked a little annoyed.

"Yeah sorry, I'm just a little stressed about the history quiz", I lied. 

I wasn't really, I had already revised for it and knew the material well. But I didn't want to admit I had spaced off. I should really try to pay more attention.

"You'll do fine, you get top marks every time in that class" Chase gave me a smile and gave my knee a reassuring squeeze.

"Look", he said gesturing to his plate. He had made a smiley face out of the chips on his plate. I smiled and gave a small laugh. I was reminded of why I liked Chase, he made me smile.

_____________

"I'm home!" I yelled out to my brother Marcus as I arrived home, hanging my coat on the coat rack. "Is mum home yet?"

"No, she took an extra shift", Came Marcus's reply from his room upstairs.

I made my way through the hall to our small kitchen. I sighed at the unwashed dishes in the sink. Marcus was such a pig sometimes.

I contemplated calling him to wash the dishes but I knew he wasn't going to do them anyway. With another sigh I opened the tap to fill up the sink and grabbed the dish sponge. I didn't want mum to have to worry about the dishes when she got home, she already had so much work to do.

Mum was like a superhero. She always did everything she could for Marcus and I. It had been just the three of us for most of my life. Our dad had left when I was just a toddler.

I didn't know much about my dad, mum never talked about him. Marcus sometimes told me about him when I asked. About how he used to take us to the park and we played hide and seek.

Sometimes I tried to ask him about why dad left but he always changed the subject . Only onetime he told me about how mum and dad would always fight in the middle of the night, and how I would climb beside him in his bed and he would read me stories until they stopped. We tried not to talk about dad around mum though, it always made her sad.

After washing the last plate and setting it on the drying rack, I peered in the fridge and poured my self a glass of orange juice. It was the watery kind again. Then I made my way up the stairs to my room.

I smiled at the brown furball curled up on top of my bedspread. Charlie, our cat, lifted his head lazily at my arrival. I petted his back and sat down beside him on the bed. He yawned at me.

I opened my phone. There was a text from mum informing me that she would be working another shift and that there was leftovers in the fridge. There were also a few texts from Chase and a few from the group chat with Sam, Olivia, Amy and I. They were talking about the party on Friday. Apparently Sam had a plan to get with Miles Bracey at the party and Olivia was in distress because she didn't know whether to wear a blue or pink skirt.

I closed my phone and fell back on the bed, sighing.  

My thoughts drifted back to Jo. I wondered what she was doing right now. Reading a book probably. She was a total bookworm. Her nose was always buried deep in a fantasy story or a sci-fi novel. Where there was Jo, you could guarantee was also a book. 

I could picture her sparkling eyes moving across the letters. And how she would blow an escaped strand of hair from in front of her eyes, huffing when it just fell back. I could imagine my self there with her, chuckling and tucking the strand behind her ear. 

I caught my thoughts. I reminded my self of my promise not to think about her. This was for the best.