Dear Pup

Chapter 5

Eden's POV

Ugh, I absolutely despise Mondays. And school. I despise Mondays and school. That about sums up my life. Eden Shapiro: the girl who despises Mondays and school. What a title...

I walked through the familiar halls, wishing I could just skip these last few months and head right into summer. Sadly, that wasn't an option. The least I could do was partially try my best. I mean, I was gonna have to get into college before I straightened out any of my dreams. Junior year had already been a burden, and the fact that I could slightly glimpse the exit of the horrifying year was practically torture. My mom didn't even want me to get a job. She just wanted me to focus on school so she took an extra shift at work. God, I needed to buy my mom a million nice dinners before getting anywhere close to being even with that woman.

My locker was at the end of the building, right next to Ray's, as we'd planned it freshman year. She was always late to school, so I just sat down by her locker and waited.

"Hey creeper," a voice said next to me, "move away I don't want your mental herpes to spread this way."

"Hey, Ray," I replied, not looking up from my phone.

"Seriously, dude. I can't get to my locker," she said while pushing my leg with her foot.

"Moooovvvveee," she whined while she pushed me with all her might. She opened her locker enough that she could stick her hand through, and then jabbed the door violently into my back.

"Damnit, Ray!" I said, rubbing my back.

"I asked you nicely," she cooed, rummaging through her locker.

"Yeah, telling the world about my mental herpes is soooo nice," I said, still massaging the afflicted area. I stood up after she closed her locker and we walked to our classes.

"So, how uneventful was your weekend?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Very. How 'bout yours?"

"More than you could know," she giggled. I stopped and turned to her with a serious look on my face.

"What was that?" I asked sternly.

"What was what?" She asked back.

"That was a giggle. You don't giggle. What happened?"

"What do you mean what happened?" She asked, trying to hold back a very evident smile.

"You found someone! Tell me about it!" I exclaimed.

"Well..." So then continued a long boring story about some party and a new boyfriend. I only listened to the parts where he came in, kinda blocking out the rest.

"That's great! Does he go here?" I asked.

"Well," she began, "that's the thing. He's a little older. He's in college."

"Well...he's probably more mature than most high school boys, anyways," I assured her. As we were pushing through the crowd to get to our class I caught a glimpse of a familiar face. I know they saw me too, because they stared for a second as if in awe.

"Julian?" I said to myself. As he started trying push through towards my side, I panicked. Running towards the door before he could cut through the crowd.

"Eden!" Ray yelled, "Where are you going?" I stood against the wall and waited for Ray to come out.

"What the hell was that about?" She asked.

"Nothing," I said, realizing he wasn't coming outside. "Nothing at all."

***

I barely caught the bus, for like the fiftieth time this year. If my last period wasn't so far away, it wouldn't be a problem. Besides, my bus driver loves me. She would stop in the middle of the street for me. I sat down in my usual seat and stuck my headsets in. All I needed was some music to calm- Damnit. A text interrupted my daze, which annoyed me. It was Mrs. Gates asking if I was available tonight at 6:30. I almost wanted to say no, to avoid awkwardness, but that would be stupid. I wrote back telling her I'd be there.