Weightless [Jack Barakat]

Chapter Five

Eleanor's POV

"Did you listen to it?" Rian asked eagerly as I handed it back over to him when we sat back down together in our corner.

"Yeah," I said, finding myself excited to work on the project today with Rian. "They were really great songs. I heard the recording at the end, too."

He blushed, ringing his cheeks and ears a bit red. "Oh yeah, that. Sorry, I forgot it was on that on. I hope I didn't scare you away."

I shook my head, laughing lightly. "No, don't worry. Hey...what was that last song? The one about the bottle..."

He perked up a little. "Dear Maria Count Me In? Did you like it?" I nodded. "That's awesome! You talked to my friends, right? Jack and Alex?"

"They're your friends?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah. We're in a band together. Maybe you've heard of us, most of the people in school have. All Time Low?"

"It sounds awfully familiar," I said weakly. "But I can't remember where I've heard it."

He shrugged. "It's probably floating around in the hallways sometimes. But it's helped all of us a lot."

"It has?"

"Yeah," he said. "When we first met, we were all pretty pathetic. Alex and Jack were friends when we started high school, and the three of us along with our other friend Zack all met. I remember it was in the first day if school in freshmen year, and this really weird lanky dude started talking to me. I thought he was weird, then he introduced me to his best friend, who was Alex."

"The lanky weird dude...he was Jack?"

"Yeah," he snorted, amused. "He's still pretty weird and lanky if you ask me, but I absolutely hated Alex when I first met him. He was a little snot. He's cool though, and I wouldn't trade any if them for the world, now."

"Sounds crazy," I said, thinking about it.

"Yeah, it is. We're like a family, though, brothers. Sometimes we want to shoot each other, but that's how families work, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"So...I heard your hanging out with us after school tomorrow?"

I nodded, looking him in the eye. "You guys aren't...I mean, I know you're not, but like Jack and Alex...they aren't...creepy...are they?"

He laughed. "No, they aren't, don't worry! Trust me, you'll like them a lot once you get to know them..." He trailed off, staring into space. He cleared his throat, looking back at me awkwardly. "Right, um, lets finish asking each other the questions?"

I nodded, pulling out my notebook. "Do you want to go first? You still have two more questions."

He nodded. "Sure. Question number two-do you or do you not, play an instrument?"

I sighed, running a hand through my brown hair. "I took piano lessons for a year when I was little, gave up and forgot everything. When I was in middle school, I played cello for orchestra...but quit when I left eighth grade."

He nodded slowly. "Interesting..." He scribbled down a note, and was going to talk but someone interrupted him.

"Rian, have you seen Adam around anywhere?"

Rian pressed his lips together tightly, and shook his head. "No, Blake, I haven't."

I looked up to see Blake standing there, and he nodded, walking off to ask someone else.

"God, I hate him. He's so annoying," he said, glaring after him.

"Me too," I sighed. He's a jerk."

Rian looked at me, surprised. "You know Blake?"

I was flustered. "What-no. I mean yes. Well...no. I don't know him personally, but...can I trust you?"

"Hmm? Yeah, you can trust me!"

"He's...cheating on his girlfriend. And I know it doesn't concern me, but it just bothers me how someone could be so inconsiderate if another person. I just want to tell him off or slap him or...something. I don't know." He gave me a weird look. "What?"

"Um, nothing. You're right, he's a douche bag, and any guy who cheats on his girlfriend, come one who really cares about him, doesn't deserve her. Last question?"

I nodded, nervously clasping my hands together in my lap.

"Eleanor," he said, looking at me kindly. "Why don't you ever talk? I mean, I see you...you skip lunch, and you walk alone in the hallways, and you don't raise your hand in class, or have any friends, at least from what I've seen..."

I stared at him, confused at the personal question. "That's your last question for me?" He nodded, and I sighed, thinking about how to explain it the best way possible.

"When I was thirteen, I lived with my mom and dad, but my dad ran out in us because he was cheating on my mom. I was in seventh grade, and it hurt me so bad that he could do something like that to us that I dropped all of my after school activities, quit talking to the friends I had, and secluded myself from the world by only going to school or staying at home."

He smiled, urging me to continue. "I got so used to keeping quiet that I never really was able to talk to people after that, except for my family, and I never heard from my dad again. What he did gave me major trust issues, and it caused me to get really shy, and even more quiet. A year after he left, my mom tried to get us to be a family again, and it started to work. She started dating a guy named Bill, who was really nice even though it was hard for me to get used to the idea of her being with another guy.

"Her and Bill got married two years ago, and its the three of us living at home now, almost like a real family. But it's still so hard to talk to people. No one bothers to talk to me, so I figure I'm not good enough for them..."

A large smile spread across his lips. I was offended at first, because I thought he was laughing at me. Then I realized why he was smiling.

"I thought I wasn't good enough for people...no one ever talked to me...until the last few days. I got invited to do something this weekend for the first time in a long, long time...and you just listened to me practically tell you my entire life story... Why can I talk to you so easily? This is just so easy, I can't even stop talking now....."

He continued grinning, and I felt myself start to grin, also. He started laughing, and I started laughing too.

It felt great to laugh with someone my own age for once, who wasn't my parent or guardian.

I felt a weight lift off my chest.