𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐨𝐞 ✾ (𝐧. 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩)

EIGHT !

DEAR CHLOE !

noah threw his head back in frustration, leaning back on rowan's couch, "ro, i can't think of anything to answer number four, what did chloe want to see change in our society?" that was his new nickname for rowan, ro. it was a surprise to the girl, she didn't think that he thought of her as a friend. more like mutuals, or partners, but friends worked too. anything worked when it came to noah.

"hmm, she wanted... what did she want?" rowan scratched her head, tapping the piece of paper with her pencil. "she wanted the world to have confidence, i think. not just in their appearance, but in their lifestyles and the choices they made. like, she wanted them to be themselves and not worry about anyone else judging them, i guess. she lived by the words 'you do you'." rowan worded the answer carefully, getting every detail that chloe had believed in, in her response.

noah finished jotting down the last couple of words, "that was good, and right. that is was she wanted."

"i know. you won't believe how many times she would rant on and on about how she saw somebody at school miss out on something they wanted, just because their friends were around, or something like that. she would get really upset over it," rowan chuckled at the thought of their many sleepovers they had spent together last summer.

noah shook his head, smiling, "hows the sketch coming along?" rowan looked down at the paper, cluttered in pencil marks in the shape of things her best friend loved.

"it's, uh, it's decent. not too good."

he shook his head, knowing she was sugar coating it. "let me see it," he ripped the paper out of her hands, the stapled papers flying after it.

"no! i'm not finished," rowan blushed.

"what do you mean? this is amazing! like the artwork looks so realistic, and it's cool how you got everything she loved onto it with just a bunch of little dots," noah gawked, making sure to observe every single detail.

"thanks," rowan shrugged, her cheeks still tinted red. the sudden boom of a car door shutting frightened the friends, causing rowan to jump out of her seat and pull noah up with her. mr lykemi, rowan's father, was home. considering he was about to lay on the couch and drown his sorrows in alcohol, rowan panicked.

"shit- um, we need to go to your house," rowan said quickly, stuffing hers and noahs belongings in a backpack.

"huh, why?" noah scrunched up his face. the sound of keys jingled from the other side of the door, and in walked patrick lykemi.

"i'll explain later," she said through gritted teeth, "just follow my lead."

"who's that?" her father grumbled, slamming his keys and lunch pail on the kitchen island.

"working on spanish homework. but actually, we were just leaving. noah has stuff at his house that we need for our project," rowan smiled politely at her father, then putting her backpack on her back.

"yeah? well don't stay out too late. i don't feel like talking to your mother about punishing you," he rolled his eyes, slamming down on the couch. rowan cringed, her father really was no help to her plan, trying to keep noah from her family life.

rowan huffed, "i know, i'll be back by seven or something. not like you care," she mumbled the very last part. the two teenagers slid the back door open. walking through the backyard, they opened the gate that lead from the lykemi's house to noahs house.

"what was that about?" noah questioned.

rowan quickly thought of an excuse, "it was another one of his twelve hour work days, he always comes home crabby on twelve hour shifts. i wanted to leave before he got in but... that obviously didn't work out as planned. sorry about that," she nervously giggled.

"nah, you're fine. as long as he doesn't hit you or anything, right?" noah looked at her, concerned. it wasn't that he physically hit her, but he did emotionally tear her down sometimes.

she sighed, "right."