- 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 !

15. 𝘍𝘙𝘐𝘌𝘕𝘋.

" chapter fiffeen "
.FRIEND.

☆•. 15. | "NO!" Tao groaned as he lost more money to Charlie Spring in the board game, Monopoly. The group were all waiting for the game to finish. Elle sat next to Tao and Charlie while Isaac lay down, his feet next to the board. Henry was also invited, he just sat on top of Charlie's bed, wrapped in a blanket while the two argued.

"—No, I'm winning because I have more money." Charlie explained.

"No, the winner is the superior businessperson, and that's me!" Tao argued while Henry watched, eating popcorn from the bag in his hands. He and Elle shared a look before watching the two squabble.

"No, I'm the superior businessperson seeing as I have more money, which is the goal of Monopoly!"

"You only have more money 'cause you know the Monopoly cheats."

"Wait, there's cheats?" Henry asked, his hand filled with popcorn as he had a look of disbelief on his face. "There's cheats?!"

"No!" Charlie shook his head at his brother before looking at Tao again. "You can't cheat at Monopoly!"

Suddenly, Isaac moved his foot kicking the board with it causing all the board pieces to fly onto Tao. The tired boy let out an non-apologetic gasp. "Oh, whoops!" He muttered before fixing his sleeping position once again. Henry and the group looked with disbelief before the other Spring Twin looked at the boy in front of him.

"Draw?" He suggested.

Tao sighed. "Draw."

"Thank god." Elle smiled, looking between the two.

"Okay, quick second!" Henry suddenly stood up. "I've ran out of popcorn!" The boy rushed toward the door, rushing down stairs with his black nirvana shirt and red pyjama bottoms. "I'll be right back!" He shouted up as he ran toward the kitchen. Meanwhile, Charlie and Isaac had vanished leaving Tao and Ellie to talk of what happened at the rugby match...

"There's never a good time to tell someone their crush is going on a date with someone else." Tao looked at Elle. The two had moved from the floor to the bed since Henry was downstairs raiding his own cupboards. "And I just don't like Nick. I've seen him with those nasty Year 11s at the school gate. If they say anything mean to Henry or Charlie... I'm going to crush them."

Elle couldn't help the snort that left her as she heard that. "Crush them?" She questioned.

"Verbally." Tao corrected.

"Doesn't sound like the safest tactic."

"Well," The boy straightened his back. "I don't like playing safe." The girl beside him laughed once again. "Crisp?" He offered letting the girl take one from the bowl in his hand. "Let's tell him when he gets back."

Elle rolled her eyes. "Fine, if it'll make you stop talking about it."

"I think that Nick—"

"Tao! Can we please talk about something else?"

Tao looked at her offended, "Oh? Am I not being entertaining enough for you?"

"No, you're not!" Elle scoff smiled as she looked at him. "You're being annoying."

Once again, the boy looked at her offended. "Oh! I'm sorry. What would you like instead? Should I perhaps perform a piece of interpretative dance? Would that be less annoying?" He asked as he placed the bowl of crisps on the table next to Charlie's bed.

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Elle spoke but Tao just pointed at her with a smile.

"Too late, you've said it now!" The boy rushed up and started... dancing? It looked ridiculous. Elle laughed as she watched the boy. "How's this?" He asked.

"This is worse." She laughed.

"I just think you can't recognise talent when you see it."

"Oh, I can, and this isn't it."

"I can't believe this whole conversation was a ploy for you to witness my incredibly erotic dance moves." Tao spoke as he danced around. Elle watched with complete and utter embarrassment but the smile never let her face. "Twerk!"

"Oh, my god, stop! Stop!" Elle smiled as Tao came closer to her causing her to smack him with a pillow. Unknowingly, Henry had stood at the door for most of the dance with a horrified face. Charlie and Isaac soon joined, cups of hot chocolate in their hands.

"What the fuck did I just walk in on?" Henry questioned.

"Do we even want to know?" Charlie asked as they watched Elle smack Tao in the back of the head with the pillow. Henry shook his head as he walked toward the floor, sitting cross cross with his popcorn and cup of hot chocolate. "So, Henry was thinking of inviting Nick to our birthday thing on Saturday."

"Yeah, I'd really like it if he came." Henry smiled as he took a drink of his hot chocolate. The boy didn't even notice the strange looks Elle and Tao had. "Charlie said he's okay with it but I don't want it to be awkward or anything because you lot don't really know him that well."

"No, it wouldn't be awkward." Elle smiled at him.

"I assumed he was coming anyway." Isaac smirked, nudging the boy beside him lightly.

"Okay— You're going to make me spill it!" He screeched lightly as he pulled away from Isaac's nudge. The boy only laughed as he watched Henry put his Hot chocolate beside him. "Okay, okay. Good. Thank fuck because I was going to invite him anyway and make you all suffer."

"You're such a nice friend." Charlie muttered sarcastically.

"I know, I should get an award for being this nice." Henry shrugged before taking another drink from his cup.

.•

THE next school day was the day Henry was going to ask Nick to attend his and Charlie's birthday thing. It was bowling. Thick on the other hand was trying to think of a way to reject Imogen's date offer. He sat on the bench where he usually wood, his friends all behind him, Imogen right next to him. "Imogen..." he started. "About our date... see, I wasn't sure if..." he paused.

Imogen sniffled. She was crying. He eyes were glued to her phone as she did so. "Are you okay?" He asked, worried about his friend.

"My dog died last night." She told him. Nick looked down.

"Um...I'm so sorry." He muttered. Imogen showed him her phone which had a photo of the dog.

"He was really old so, like, we knew it was coming. I loved him so much." Imogen looked at Nick before looking at the phone again. "This is the worst week ever." Nick looked at her then at the phone again, silently regretting his decision to try and stop the date.

"Yeah." He nodded.

Imogen glanced up at him. "What we're you going to say about our date?"

Nick shook his head, shrugging it off. "Nothing."

"So, shall we meet at Nando's for dinner and then we could go to the cinema?" Imogen suggested, a smile now on he face as she thought about it. Nick tried his best to give her a convincing smile.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Okay."

.•