𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒

15

"Sooo." I say sitting on Jaxon's bed. "What are we discussing today?" I try to hide my anxiety.

"How about we begin with, oh I don't know, James?" Jax says sitting on his computer chair.

"Didn't you say it was Jace? No... Joel... maybe?" Angelo pauses. "Wait! It's Jared." I give them both a 'what the fuck' look and shake my head with a smile.

"Jackson but continue."

"I don't care what his name is, it's now Jared." Angelo says seriously and I start laughing. "This is serious." He tried saying in a serious voice but fails.

"hEy iM jArEd aNd aLl tHe gIrLs wAnT mE." I say and Jax can't keep his serious face. After a few minutes of just laughing they put their serious faces back on.

"Okay, back to what we're supposed to be talking to you about." Angelo says. "Who is he?"

"Jackson, duh." I roll my eyes.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"What is he to you?" Jaxon says.

"Oh, eh, well, technically a classmate, I guess." I shrug. "Are you really worried about him? C'mon he's not even cute. I have taste when it comes to boys." I say with sass. They both raise an eyebrow and cross their arms. "Never mind." I say and put my hands up.

"I think we should be concerned though." Jaxon says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because we were told you had a hickey." Angelo says. My anxiety starts to rise.

"That wasn't a hickey. Avery, she um... well I scared her and like, she knows karate, so that didn't end well. And I guess it left a bruise." I lie.

"So if you text her right now, she'll say that it's true?" Angelo says and I nod. I silently pray in my head. I take out my phone and text her.

Avery🤪

so my brothers think the bruise u gave
me is a hickey😅
can ya plz tell em its not

lmfao it's not a hickey guys
i take a karate class n she scared me

I show them the texts and they exchange a look. I'm so thankful Avery came up with a backup story at the end of the day.

"See, I'm a good child." I say looking at Angelo.

"Barely." He rolls his eyes. I push him off the bed and me and Jax start laughing.

★
Friday Morning

"Teo, I'm going to Avery's house after school." I say opening the door.

"Is Cristina going with you? And are you sleeping over?" He says fixing his hair.

"No and yes." I say looking at the family picture Teo has on his nightstand.

"Okay?" Teo snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?... Oh uh yeah, okay." I say not knowing what he just said. "I'll be downstairs stealing someone's food." I say and he chuckles. I head downstairs then see Kyle with a bowl of cereal. I snatch it and start eating it.

"Oh Cheerios, my favorite." I say and take a bite.

"Come ooooonn!" He whines and tries to get it back. 

"No." I take another bite. He just glares at me while I eat it. I finish and put it in the sink, as I turn around Kyle knocks me over with a smirk.