14. Alive

"Come on, explain." Aunt Carrie kept tapping her foot on the floor being impatient while I gulped visibly.

"Uh, w-what do you want to know?" I asked with my voice still throaty but it was getting a bit better.

"About this girl and why did she say that you love her?" Aunt Carrie asked and I blushed while looking at the floor.

"You do love her! Oh my God!" She squealed and before I knew it, I was on the floor with aunt Carrie hugging, and crying on me.

"My little niece is in love." She cried more as I awkwardly patted her back. She suddenly got off of me and pointed her index finger at me.

"I need to meet this girl. I need to approve of her." I smiled at her before I got up as well.

"But y-you've already m-met her."

"I have?" I nodded and she made a thinking face before she made an 'o' face.

"The girl that came over that day to tell you about this party I-I was invited to." I spoke with my voice raspy.

"Oh, that girl with glasses!" She suddenly snapped her fingers as she remembered.

Girl with glasses? Claire doesn't wear glasses.

"What? Claire doesn't wear a-any glasses." Aunt Carrie frowned at me and made a thinking face.

"But that girl wore glasses. I'm sure of it."

"Then, it wasn't C-Claire." Aunt Carrie shrugged and sat down on her chair. I sat down next to her, still thinking about who the girl would've been.

Aunt Carrie didn't say anything else and we ate dinner silently the whole time.

After we ate dinner, aunt Carrie got up to clean the dishes while I went to my room. Maybe Claire knows who this glasses girl is.

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and typed a text for Claire.

"Do you know a girl who wear glasses? " – Hayden

I waited for to reply back as I picked the book I was reading earlier.

A beep notified me that a text was received and I immediately opened the text which was from Claire.

"Yeah dummy, Allison wears glasses. ^. ^" – Claire

Allison? Did she come to my house that time? How did she find out where I lived? Ugh, these questions were giving me a headache.

"Okay, thanks." – Hayden

Almost instantly I got a reply from Claire.

"Why did you need to know?" – Claire

"I'll tell you later, okay?" – Hayden

"Okay. But you better tell me." – Claire

"I will." – Hayden

Allison came to my house. Maybe I'm just overexaggerating but I've never talked to her before, then how did she know where I lived?

..........................................

I chewed on a fry as I looked at Allison talking to Claire from across the table. Josh and Clayton had other ideas for this lunch and they wanted me to be a part of it, that's why I got separated from Claire.

"Maybe we should do another movie night at your house, Josh." Clayton spoke excitedly as he took a spoonful of pasta into his mouth.

Kyle had detention so he couldn't join us.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Josh spoke hurriedly as he took a bite from his sandwich.

"Aw, why not?"

"Because, my sister's gonna stay at home for a month. Something about getting her house re-modeled." I stared at Claire as she talked to Allison and I just wanted to sit beside her. A sigh came out of my mouth unconsciously which made both the boys look at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Someone's missing their girl." Clayton nudged me with his elbow and Josh wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"I've got something on my mind." I lied but not completely. I did have something on my mind which involved Allison.

"Oh, what is it?" Josh asked as Clayton nodded.

I took a deep breath as I looked at the two boys. Maybe they sent her to my house.

"Did you guys send Allison to my house that time? When you invited me to that 'party'?" I hesitantly asked and the two looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Your house? We don't even know if you live in a house or not." Clayton laughed but immediately stopped when he got disapproving looks from Josh.

"Then, how did she know where I live?" I wondered aloud which caught both of their attention.

"Well, maybe you would've invited her to your house before." Josh spoke, I shook my head.

"That can't be possible because I used to live with my parents before and I moved to my Aunt's house." Josh made a thinking face.

"She told me once that you both were friends in kindergarten." Clayton said and Josh looked at him in disbelief.

"When did she tell you that?"

"Hm, when we went to that Indian restaurant with you." Clayton answered which made Josh frown.

"And where was I when she was telling this to you?"

Clayton laughed with a distant look in his eyes before he turned to Josh, "You were in the bathroom. Don't you remember? You ate some really spicy stuff and got a bad stomach."

"Hah, good times." Clayton wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye, while Josh was busy frowning and talking to himself.

"She told you about herself, you out of all people." Josh grumbled childishly while Clayton and I looked at each other with a smirk.

"Does someone have a crush on Allison?" Clayton teased Josh which made him shake his head. "No."

Clayton and I gave him the look which said 'Don't lie to us, we can read your face', which made him frown.

"I'm gay, for God's sake, I don't have a crush on Allyson." Josh said defensively.

Clayton laughed as I nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"Then I was right about you and Clayton being a thing." Clayton spit his pasta out of his mouth while coughing like a mad man.

"Oh my god, me and Josh. No way. He's like a brother to me, err more like a sister-brother type thing." Clayton spoke nervously while laughing oddly, which also made Josh laugh nervously.

"O-kay." I stared at them with squinted eyes. They were totally obvious.

We all laughed when Clayton choked on his food after his nervous laughter, and Josh had to pat his back. After a minute, we all were laughing again, and to be honest, it felt nice.

Laughing again, talking again with friends. This felt really good and I didn't want it to end.

As I laughed with the two boys, I forgot about Allison and how she and I had been friends before.

........................................................................

"So, how was your day?" Claire asked as I laid my head on her lap with a smile.

School was over and we were both at her house because her parents weren't there. Claire didn't want to be alone so she made me come over.

"It was good but it would've been better if I could've eaten lunch with you." I pouted as she laughed, moving her fingers in my hair.

"You're such a cheese ball. I didn't even know you could be this cheesy."

"There's a lot of stuff you don't know." I spoke as I wiggled my eyebrows at her.

"Oh, and there are a lot of things that you don't know about me." Claire smirked and I smiled at her.

"I love you." I spoke absentmindedly which made her blush a deep red.

"Idiot." She murmured and I laughed.

"Is that your way of saying 'I love you too'?" I asked innocently and she smiled before nodding.

"Then, I'm happy to be your idiot." She laughed and I smiled at the second most beautiful sound, the first being her voice.

I raised my hand to touch her face while I still had my head on her lap. She had stopped laughing and stared into my eyes with love. I stroked her cheek as I, too, stared into her eyes with love and affection.

I don't even know how she fell in love with me, she's so beautiful.

"You know, if you keep staring at me like that, I'll kiss you." I spoke in a whisper to which she smiled gently at me. "Go ahead. I want you to."

I smirked before I raised my head a little so that I could kiss her but before our lips could meet, her door slammed open. Standing there with a smirk, stood Mr. Brown.

"I knew someone was here, darling." Mr. Brown smirked at me as he spoke to his wife, who appeared beside him with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Honey, let's not disturb them." Mrs. Brown tried to drag away Mr. Brown but it didn't work at all.

"Dad, leave." Claire whined as I moved to sit up on her bed.

"I don't want this door closed and especially when she's here." Claire frowned as Mr. Brown pointed his finger at me.

I raised my hands up in surrender as Claire whined to her parents like a little girl.

"But why? It's not like we're having sex." Claire crossed her arms and pouted towards her father.

"What if you are?" Mr. Brown imitated his daughter and I would've laughed if he hadn't turned to me so suddenly.

"And you. I think it's time for you to leave." Claire immediately grabbed my arm as I began to get off of her bed. "No, Hayden stays."

"No, it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Okay?" I looked at Claire, who was giving me her best pout but I just pecked her lips with a smile.

"No kissing my daughter in front of me. Kids these days don't have any manners." Mr. Brown mumbled the last part but I heard it. I smiled towards him as I got off of Claire's bed and made my way towards her bedroom door where Mrs. Brown and Mr. Brown were.

Mrs. Brown gave me a small smile while her husband smirked at me.

"Well. I'll be taking my leave then." I looked back at Claire before walking out of her room.

I made my way downstairs and then walked out of her house with a sigh.

I missed her already.

.................................................................................

The next day, Zeke and Jordan came up to me to 'talk', but I knew better. They wanted to beat me up together.

"Hey." Jordan waved his hand awkwardly while Zeke looked at me with a disgusted face. I raised my eyebrow at them both, confused.

"We just wanted to say that maybe you should stay away from Claire." Jordan said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, are you done? Because I need to get back to my girlfriend." I said with an attitude because I knew that neither Zeke nor Jordan deserved my respect.

"Look here bitch, you better stay away from Claire because she's mine. She's just a little confused about her sexuality right now but I know who she'll pick. Me. She'll always pick me because I'm a guy and you're just a girl." Zeke pointed his finger at me as he smirked in my direction.

The hallway was beginning to get empty and I knew that the warning bell would go off anytime now. I smiled fakely at Zeke before I pushed him away from me. "First off, Claire isn't an object. Second off, I don't take orders from you and last off, it's her decision who she chooses to be with so back the hell up. I may have been silent before but not anymore. I don't need to listen to some heterosexual douches like you about who I should stay away from. So, get lost."

Zeke smirked and I looked at him confused as to why he would smirk after I insulted him.

"You think you have a choice. I know some deep shit about you and I'm not afraid to use it." Jordan stood awkwardly beside Zeke while he spoke.

"Oh, and what would that be?" I folded my arms across my chest and waited for him to talk. He smiled devilishly before he spoke, "I know that you dated a girl named Amanda."

I squinted my eyes at him, "And?"

"Do you know where she is?" Zeke asked and I shook my head at his question.

"No, she moved away from this town without telling me where she was going." I answered truthfully to which he smirked.

"You see, sometimes the school has a lot of information to give about students that study here or in this case studied here." Zeke spoke and I ran my hand across my face at him.

"Just get to the point."

"I know where she was going and I also happen to know where she is, right now." Zeke smirked.

I stayed silent as he smirked at me. I wasn't in love with Amanda but she was my first girlfriend, I did care for her.

"Where?" I managed to ask and he smiled at me before he spoke, "New York."

"She was going to New York and the most ironic thing is that she was in the same plane as your parents." Zeke spoke before he laughed.

What?

I couldn't control myself from grabbing the collar of his shirt and pinning him against the lockers.

"You're lying."

"Go ahead, go check the stupid school files. She transferred to some school in New York and she was going there from the same flight as your parents." Zeke smirked showing me that he wasn't scared of me.

I let him go as I stumbled back. I lost her just as I lost my parents.

"You haven't heard the most shocking thing yet," Zeke continued to talk while Jordan came to his side and told him to stop talking.

"Out of all the people in that plane, she was the one that was found the last, and the only one to be found alive." I snapped my head up to look at him, he still had that smirk on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"She's alive." Zeke repeated.

"Why're you telling me all this?" I asked him.

"Because I want you to leave Claire. I'll tell you where Amanda is, so leave Claire and go back to Amanda." Zeke said seriously as his smirk was long gone as well.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out, a smirk came onto Zeke's face again as he laughed at me.

"I'll give you some time to think. But don't take too long." Zeke walked away from me followed by Jordan leaving me in the empty hallway.

Amanda's alive.

"You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free"

-Thich Nhat Hanh