HONEY HONEY, john ambrose mcclaren ✓

( six )

HONEY HONEY
CHAPTER SIX

For the first time in months, Carly sat in the cafeteria. She never liked the ambience of the cafeteria. There was too much shouting, objects being
thrown across the room, too many people trying to talk to her. She much preferred to eat her lunch in the library or on the benches outside on summer days. However, now with a friend, eating in a silent library didn't seem like the right step forward to a good friendship. If she wanted this to work she was going to have to make an effort, and that meant conversation. Maisie was sitting in front of her. Communicating was going very well for the two. They were discussing the relationship between Hyde and Jackie after their binge-watch the previous night. They discussed the topic for twenty minutes of their lunch break before concluding that Jackie and Hyde were a good couple but not the endgame. 

Surprisingly, another tray landed on their table. Beside Maisie, John Ambrose McClaren removed his bag placing it beside him as he sat down. He smiled at the two girls and started to dig into his pasta. He paid no attention to the two girls that found his presence highly confusing. When he looked up he noticed their stares, his own questioning look forming on his face. "What?"

"What are you doing here?" Carly asked the question both her and Maisie had on their minds. 

John looked at the girls with his own confusion. He didn't understand the abnormality of his presence. "We're friends now, friends eat lunch together."

"You're friends with John Ambrose?" Maisie asked.

John noticed the judgement in her voice and asked defensively. "Why is that so surprising?"

"I didn't think Carly could have one friend, let alone two" Maybe Maisie was a little jealous. She had been trying to be Carly's friend for a year. John Ambrose had been around for a whole two months that they were practically besties. It suddenly felt that Carly was doing Maisie a favour by being her friend. 

"You're friends with Carly?" Both looked at Carly with eagle eyes. Carly felt an enormous sense of pressure to deliver the correct answer. She looked into Maisie's green eyes that held hope and desperation. 

"Yeah, she is." The fact was Carly wasn't doing Maisie a favour. She was doing herself a favour by allowing herself to be friends with somebod.y. The more they spoke, the more Carly enjoyed Maisie's company. She liked Maisie and the thought of being friends made her smile. "This is Maisie." she introduced. 

"We've met, we have Math and Physics together. We sit beside each other" John made aware. Carly was baffled by the fact that the only two people in her life had known each other for more than a year now. The fact that John Ambrose and Carly hadn't crossed paths earlier was remarkable. 

"Did you get a response yet?" Maisie asked, remembering the last conversation she had with John Ambrose. 

"You know about Lara Jean?" Carly asked. Had he just been running around telling everybody?

"John Ambrose tells everybody." Yes. Yes, he had. 

Carly looked at him, a judgemental look in her eyes. "What? I needed to prove that someone actually liked me in middle school." John proclaimed. He turned to Maisie, looking straight into her green eyes. "No, I haven't gotten a response. I think it's a dead-end."

"That's too bad. It'd be a wonderful love story. Two souls who haven't seen each other in years fall in love all over again over an old love letter. It's like Romeo and Juliet." Carly rolled her eyes as she released a pained groan at the comparison. John chuckled at her reaction and Maisie sat confused at the responses to her comment. Carly turned her attention back to her food and Maisie annoying tapped her nails against the table. Maisie didn't have anything to eat today. She hated cafeteria food and she had woken up forty minutes late this morning, leaving her no time to grab a snack or her purse that lay on her bed. Carly had offered to purchase lunch for her but Maisie refused. She didn't like taking money from people and believed she could last until the end of the day. 

"Have you guys decided where you're going to volunteer?" Maisie asked as she viewed the stalls that were being set up for the next period. The school authorised students to volunteer at a site of your choosing to add to your college applications. They believed it developed skills and experiences that would be key for interviews. Carly hadn't really thought about where she'd sign up. She had liked the idea of assisting the librarian but her mother said that she needed to pick a task that required more social skills. 

"I'm signing up for Belleview." John Ambrose chirped, a proud smile on his face. 

Maisie's face twisted into objection and confusion. "Why do you wanna hang out with old people? That sounds so boring."

"That's actually a good idea." Carly mused and John's smile grew. "My grandmother lives at Belleview. It'd be great to see her more often."

Carly loved her grandmother to pieces. She was the most adorable woman in the world with the wildest stories. Most people wouldn't believe some of the things she did, sometimes Carly didn't either, but Bernadette Roth swore that her words were true. Even about the time she apparently met Audrey Hepburn. Even though Bernadette has never even left Portland. 

"We should sign up together." A shy smile grew on Carly's lips as she nodded her head. The next period, John was quick to write both their names on the sign-up sheet. Carly had told her mum that night her plans. Her mother was ecstatic of her choice and gave Bernadette a phone call in advance. Her mother ended up spending the rest of the night gossiping to her mother-in-law, a bad habit that had passed through generations. By seven o'clock, Bernadette was off to bed and Carly had completed three worksheets of homework, none of which were English. 

( this wasn't great, sorry. this is kinda just a filler chapter as we move on into the introduction of lara jean )