LOVE LIES ☆ HENRY DANGER

Chapter One

"Charlotte," the boy said.
"Charlotte," he said again.
"Charlotte!" she felt herself being shaken as she woke up.
"I don't even know who-"
"Hey, chill! We just had a movie night at my place and you fell asleep. No biggie." Jasper said after his best friend finally woke up.
"Aw man, again?" Charlotte said, disappointed. She didn't have to act much this time, anyways, as she was kind of upset that she was interrupted in the middle of her dream. She had just been voted Class President and then had been celebrating by having a party and was in the middle of a moment with some boy that felt like it should have lasted forever. She shook the thought off. She didn't know who the guy was! Still, that didn't keep her from being a little upset.
"What time is it?" she asked, sleepily rubbing her eyes.
"10:30," the curly-haired blond replied, checking his phone.
"Your mom said she texted you, but you didn't answer so she texted me, and I told her you fell asleep watching movies here with me and that you'd be home a little later."
Thank the mother of, well, Charlotte for being more lenient than most parents. It wasn't a school night, so her curfew was one, but her mom liked for her to be home by twelve. On school nights, she could hardly leave her house because her curfew was ten-thirty and most of the time her homework took up that time (and maybe more). Homework came first in Charlotte's house. Charlotte's mom even had a picture hanging up in the kitchen that said "Work first, then play," and it was basically Charlotte's mom's motto. She had to admit though- she was cool about a lot of stuff like if she was going to be home late then she trusted Charlotte not to abuse the once-a-week curfew extension as long as she let her mom know exactly how long she was going to be.
"Wanna play some games? To make up for me falling asleep, I mean, since I don't have to leave for another thirty minutes."
"Nah," Jasper said. "I think I'm gonna hang my hat." He stretched his arms behind him in a circle. "Besides, you need to get some rest at somewhere that isn't my lumpy couch." he was right, his mom never bothered to do anything around the house and his dad wasn't around so his house would be another Area 51 if Jasper hadn't started taking the initiative to do anything and everything in the house. He just hadn't figured out how to fix the lumpy couch mess.
"Okay, I guess you're right. Maybe we can get fro-yo tomorrow or something."
"Yeah," Jasper agreed. "We don't have to go back to school till next week so we have all night of every week of every day to hang out tonight-"
"-Lemme stop you right there, tiger," Charlotte laughed. "I still have to finish my campaign speech."
"But isn't that due, like, two months always from now?"
"Yeah, so?"
"You have two months to do it."
"Work first, then play." she quipped, pointing her finger at nothing in particular.
"I think your mom will understand. She's not gonna make you do it now." Jasper said, getting off the couch and heading back towards his room. "Night, studyholic." he teased.
"Night, procrastinator. See at least my-" she put her hand up to her chest playfully and snarkily moved her head. "-insult is an actual word."
They both laughed at each other as they both turned and headed out for different doors. Charlotte, the front, and Jasper, his bedroom.
It wasn't long before Charlotte was wishing Jasper had offered to walk her home. Sure, there was no sense in it, since they were already at his place and there was no point in him getting out again- they discussed it before they even started watching their movie.
But Charlotte had never necessarily been fond of the dark that came with her curfew so she usually made Jasper walk home with her. Now she was out by herself in the dark at 10:30 and she didn't really want to be-
"Ah, sorry, I'm a klutz," a person said in front of her.
"No, no don't worry about it, you're fine," Charlotte said, not even bothering to look up as she helped the figure gather up all her groceries she had dropped when Charlotte had run into her.
"I'm so sorry," the person repeated again. "I didn't see you coming because I was texting my dad back telling him I was on my way home. I bumped into you and I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry." Charlotte stood up, dusting off her ripped jeans and yellow and black shirt. "I was lost in my thoughts and I didn't see you coming. My bad."
"But you were walking here first," the person replied. "I just walked out of that store right there and didn't see you." The person pointed to the lit-up gas station they were standing in front of. The big sign was going out and buzzed with electricity, but it was clear that it said "Quarter Store".
"There?" Charlotte jerked a thumb towards the old run-down store. She knew for a fact the place had been open since the 1900s and maybe longer and no one shopped there anymore.
"Yeah," the person replied. "I just moved here last week from Sunset Hills. I didn't know what else to do so I just asked my phone where the nearest grocery store was and it led me here."
Charlotte noticed that the figure was a girl, she had glasses on her face and green eyes. They had similar clothing styles, and she was blond, her hair tucked in a bun.
"I'm Carmen." she shuffled her groceries around in her arms until she could get a hand free and outstretched her arm- well, half of her arm- to Charlotte.
"I'm Charlotte." she nodded, outstretching her own hand to make it as easy as possible for Carmen to shake.
"So last week, huh? Where did you say you were from?"
"Sunset Hills," she said shyly. "it's a pretty good bit away from here. The rest is a long story."
Long story?
"Ah, I've heard of it. Don't they have, like, the best places to watch the sunset from?" Charlotte asked.
"That's the one!" the blonde said excitedly. "Sorry, I got a little excited."
Charlotte laughed. "Man, don't worry about it. I'm used to it. Most of the people in my life are guys."
"Guess it'd be nice to have a girl around for a change," Carmen said politely.
"Yeah, it would." Charlotte pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hey! I'm not busy Tuesday. We should hang out or something. Have a girls' day."
"I'd like that," Carmen smiled. "Most of the people in my life are guys, too, and, uh, I don't have any friends yet. My sister, Cadence, she's the outgoing one. She's already got, like, ten friends."
"Older or younger?" Charlotte asked.
"Twins, actually," Carmen answered truthfully. "But I'm still older, by, like, five minutes."
"Nice," Charlotte quipped.
Carmen nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you Tuesday."
"Yeah! Sounds great." Charlotte laughed. "Nice to meet you, Carmen."
"You too, Charlotte."
The girls shook hands again and went their separate ways. It was now eleven and Charlotte still had two hours before she had to be home. If it was daytime, she would've taken a walk, but she wanted to get home since it was so dark and, like before, Charlotte was not fond of the dark. Okay, maybe a little bit more now since she might have a second friend, but the people who mugged in Swellview for fun were a scary thought to Charlotte and she did not want that to happen to her. Not saying that Swellview's superhero, Captain Man, wouldn't protect her. It was just a plain scary thought.
She made it home just before eleven-thirty, where she walked in to see her mom sprawled on the couch watching her favorite movie, just as Charlotte and Jasper had done earlier.
Galaxy Wars 9.
"Seriously, mom, again? You know it's for like, people my age, right?"
Charlotte's mom craned her neck towards the front door. "Oh, hey, baby! How was your movie date with Jasper?" she paused the tv, sitting up as Charlotte sat down.
"Okay. One: it was not a date," Charlotte had to get that out of the way first because her mom had kinda-sorta been rooting for Charlotte and Jasper as a couple ever since they were kids.
"Two, I fell asleep. Again."
"Gosh, what can make you so tired that you fall asleep anywhere?"
"I don't know, but, Mom," Charlotte lowered her voice and her head as her mom lowered her head as well and listened to her daughter's low voice.
"I think I made a friend."
"That's great, Charlotte!" her mom exclaimed joyfully. "What's his name?"
"Her,"
"Oh!" Charlotte's mom cupped her mouth with her hand. "Sorry. I just assumed-"
"I know," normally, Charlotte wouldn't have cut her mom off like that, but she really wanted to get to the point. Her mom didn't seem to care about being cut off.
"I asked her if she wanted to have a girls day out Tuesday. I'm going to do something with Jasper tomorrow. I just-" Charlotte was disappointed in herself. What kind of friend would she be after she made her opinion known?
"You just what?" Charlotte's mom comforted.
"I don't want Jasper to know," she huffed. "He's my only friend and I feel like if I tell him it'll make him feel bad."
"Charlotte, you can't spend your whole life obligated to one person." she reasoned. "That's what you've done with Jasper. You two have been inseparable since diapers. Doesn't Jasper have other friends?"
"Yeah, but it's Sydney and Oliver. "
"He likes hanging out with them, though, right?"
"I mean, yeah, I guess."
"Then tell Jasper something came up. I know I taught you it's rude to bail on someone you've already made plans with but you need this, Charlotte. You know what? I'll tell Jasper myself. You worry about letting your new friend know."
Charlotte smiled, standing up. "Thanks, mom, you're the best," she said as she spread her arms out and her mom outstretched her arms to engulf herself in a mother-daughter hug.
After they let go, Charlotte told her mom about her new friend.