What You're Not | ✔

12. Just Friends

Cameron's house was on the other side of town, where the houses were bigger and the lawns were greener. I had to find my way around the maze of identical homes. After losing my way a few times, I decided to the GPS on my phone, finally finding his house at the end of a cul-de-sac.

"Hey," Cameron greeted when he opened the door, letting me inside. "I was starting to think you got lost."

"I did, actually," I confessed, a nervous laugh escaping my lips. "I suck at directions."

"Luckily for you I have a method for following directions," he said.

He lead me into the dining room where two other people were seated. They both had their Algebra 2 books out, but their focus was on their cellphones.

"Alright, now that everyone is here," Cameron said, grabbing a small, plastic bucket from the table. "Phones off and in the bucket."

"Really?" I asked, grabbing my phone from my pocket.

A girl with pin straight black hair and bangs, shot me a dirty look. "Yes, really," she snarled, dropping her phone into the bucket.

"I take tutoring very seriously," he told me as I placed my cell in the bucket.

He motioned for me to take a seat at the table and I did. Opting to sit next to the husky guy with a buzz cut rather than Bangs. I pulled out my textbook, notebook and a pencil, preparing for the lesson.

Cameron started going over quadratic expressions, explaining it way better than Mr. Tozzi did. It seemed like only a few minutes had passed before the timer went off, signaling the end of our session.

The other two—Darrin and the Jessica that Miles warned me about—quickly gathered their things and left. I, on the other hand, had one more matter of business to handle before enduring my forty-five minute bus ride home.

"Can I use your bathroom?"

Cameron nodded, pointing down the hall. "Last door on the left."

I walked down the hall, locating the last door. However, when I opened the door I didn't see the porcelain throne but instead a bedroom. A messy bedroom. Occupied by a black and white cat that was perched on a dresser and a guy sitting on the window seat looking out at the dark clouds that filled the sky.

Just as I was about to walk away, he started to speak. That's when I realized the mystery guy was Miles. At first, I thought he was talking to me but I soon realized he wasn't.

"Dad's pissed at me again," He told, who? Was he on the phone? Was he talking to the cat? Himself?

"Threatened to pull me off the football team," he continued. "All because I got C on a test. This your fault, you know? You set the bar too high, Rose."

Who was Rose? Was that who his tattoo was for? I was so engrossed in my own mind that I didn't notice the cat about to pounce on me until it was too late.

I let out a loud yelp as the sneaky feline jumped on me. Losing my footing, I crashed to the floor. My cover was officially blown.

"You spying on me, Mermaid?" Miles now stood over me now, a playful grin on his face as he scooped up the cat. "Thanks for standing guard, Oreo."

He then held a hand out to me, helping me up from the hard wood floor.

"I wasn't spying," I told him, dusting myself off. "I was looking for the bathroom."

"Across the hall," he said, nodding in its direction.

Left, not right. I really sucked at directions.