Chapter 8

I woke up to my alarm ringing in my ear, but I had started getting used to the alarm so it wasn't much of a surprise for me anymore. I stretched a bit before turning off the alarm and grabbing my glasses, then putting them on. When I woke up, I made sure to pick out something nice to wear. Especially since Y/n would be coming over. When I was living with mother and father, she didn't get to actually come inside my house very often, due to my father and what he would do. When he was at work though, my mother would gladly invite her in. It was then that we could play inside. We would usually hang out either in my room, or in the living room. Sometimes we would even play cards with mother, or she would just sit in the living room and watch us as we played. Y/n would get frustrated with the rules of the card games we would play, so we would switch to board games like checkers.

When I got up out of my bed, I picked out something formfitting to wear to school. I chose a white buttoned up shirt, dark brown suspenders, brown bow tie, black pants, and my regular shoes.

I've been leaving my school bag in my room, instead of the living room where I used to. So, I grabbed my bag and went downstairs.

"Alastor? You're awake?" Aunt Mary asked as I made it down the steps.

"Yes, and good morning. I'm about to go to school." I said.

"Good morning, are you hungry? You should eat before leaving." She said.

"No, i'm not hungry right now. Besides, I took a little more time that usual to get ready so I should probably get going." I said.

"Hm, alright. I'll have some food ready when you get home then. Have a good day at school, i'm excited to meet that friend of yours too." She said, I smiled a little.

"I'm sure you'll love her. Now, I gotta go. Bye Aunt Mary!" I said before going out the front door. I heard her muffled goodbye's as I began my walk on the way to school.

~~~

Since I speed walked, I made it to school early enough to have a few minutes before class to talk to Y/n.

"Hi, Al." She said as I sat down.

"Ah, Good morning. H-" I said as Caleb walked over and rudely interrupted me.

"Hey Y/n, Hey Alastor." He said, leaning his elbow on my desk.

"Hello, Caleb." I said, annoyed. Not even going to apologize to me?

"Hi Caleb, you need something?" She asked as he nodded.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to the park with me after school." He said.

"Oh sorry, I can't. Another time, maybe?" She said as he sighed.

"Yeah, alright." He said, walking away and sitting down.

"Sorry about that, what were you saying?" She asked.

"I was just asking how you slept." I said as small smile formed on her face.

"I slept well, you?" She asked as I nodded.

"I did too. Oh also, what did your mom say? You did ask, right?" I asked.

"Mhm, yeah. Of course I did, but she said no." She said as the smile on my face was replaced with a frown.

"Kidding! Hehehe she said yes." She said as I chuckled a little bit.

"I-" I tried to talk, interrupted twice in the span of a few minutes? Not very nice.

"No more talking, class." The teacher said as I slouched in my chair.

"Today, we wont be doing anything too difficult. Just a little bit of math, a group reading and writing assignment, and then we'll be reading a few chapters of a book. Sound good everyone?" She asked as the class replied with "Yes" in unison.

But the group assignments? Like, as a class or..would people be paired up? Its not that i'm bad with other people, actually, i'm pretty good with them. But I don't exactly want  to work with them. Not unless I get to choose who I work with, because in that case, I would just choose Y/n. I decided that it would probably be a good idea to actually ask instead of just sitting around to find out. So I raised my hand.

"Yes, Alastor?" She asked when she noticed my hand in the air.

"For the group assignment, do we get to choose who to work with?" I asked as she nodded.

"Yes, you have to form a group of three people. But that's not for a little bit now." She said as I nodded my head.

Three? I know Caleb is going to try and join me and her.

"Now, anymore questions?" She asked but no more hands were raised.

"Okay, then class is going to begin now." She said.

~~~

As the math portion of the school day ended, the group assignments came up. I had made up my mind that I would pick Y/n as a member in our group, but that was already the plan. It's not like I talk to too many people in the classroom anyways. I knew that either he would walk over to us, or she would invite Caleb over to join our group. Not that i'm against her having friends, of course not. That would be selfish, and greedy. I'm not opposed to her hanging out with people, and making friends but out of all people..Caleb? He's incredibly rude, and just plainly infuriating. Mother would always tell me to treat people with kindness and respect, but I think I can bend the rules when it comes to him. After all, why should I respect him when he clearly doesn't do the same to me? When the teacher explained and gave directions on what to do, like I expected, Caleb walked over.

"You guys got room for one more?" He asked as Y/n went to speak, I noticed there were two girls in the front of the class. Everyone was paired up by now except them, I saw this as my chance to get Caleb away.

"Ma'am, Caleb and those two girls don't have partners. Perhaps they could form a group? Me and Y/n don't mind working as a pair. In fact, we'll probably work better that way." I said, though I muttered the last part to myself.

"Ah, thank you Alastor. Are you sure you two don't mind?" She asked.

"Mhm, positive." I said as she signaled for Caleb to come over towards her. He gave me an angry glare before continuing to walk to the the front of the class where they were.

"Alastor." Y/n said as I turned my head.

"Yes?" I asked as she frowned a little.

"That was rude, you know. He could have joined us. You did that on purpose, didn't you?" She asked.

"Oh of course not. I just noticed that they had no one to pair up with, I was only trying to be nice." I was lying through my teeth, but she seemed to buy it.

"Okay, as long as you didn't mean it like that. Should we start working?" She asked as I nodded.

We worked through the reading parts, taking turns back and forth, then answering the questions that were given. Caleb would glare at me every so often that I would look over at him, clearly he was angry with me. But I couldn't get enough of this, I was enjoying it. During one of his many glares towards me, it turned into something almost like a staring contest. I grinned as the time passed that our eyes were locked, I wanted to see this through. I could only imagine what he would say to me after school was done.

"Alastor. Al-uh what are you doing?" She asked, as much as I wanted to win the staring battle, my eyes returned to look over at her.

"Nothing." I said as she giggled.

"Come on, pay attention." She said as I complied. As the next ten minutes passed, we quickly finished the assignment and turned it in. We finished a few minutes before some of the other groups so we had that time to ourselves to chat while we waited. Caleb's group was another one quick to finish, but I doubt that he helped the girls. Too busy staring. As me and her sat back down, Caleb walked over to us.

"Oh hi, Caleb." She said as he looked at her.

"Hey. Alastor, can we talk when schools done?" He asked, he didn't have a snarky smile or anything. Maybe he was mad? No, what am I thinking of course he is. Not that I really care but, is he going to start something with me? A fight after school? If that's what he wants, well I don't intend on participating in something like that. I don't exactly know how to fight anyways.

"Yes, I don't mind. Just try and make it quick, me and Y/n will be hanging out." I said, this only made his brows furrow as he mumbled something I couldn't make out before walking away.

"He seems in a bad mood." She said as I nodded.

"I wonder why." I said with a shrug. As I did, the teacher announced that all the papers were turned in, and that we were to take out the book from our bags that she had handed out a few days ago.

A good 30 minutes passed as we finished chapter 10 of the book. And, it was time to leave for the day. Me and Y/n put the book away, then grabbed our bags and walked out of the door. As we made it out of the actual building, someone put a hand on my shoulder but it was easy to guess who it was. And when I turned around, I was right. it was Caleb.

"Alastor, we got to talk. Alone." He said, Y/n understood and quietly made her way to a tree not to far to sit at as we chatted.

"So, you wanted to talk, did you?" I asked as he nodded.

"I'm not blind, I can see what you're doing." He said as I raised a brow to him. What does he think i'm doing? He let out an annoyed sigh then looked back up at me.

"Stop trying to push me out. You act so protective over her, she doesn't need your protection. She can take care of herself and i'm not going to do anything to hurt her. I wanna be your friend Al, but I can't if your gonna push me away from Y/n. I'm her friend too." He said, he was more civil than I thought he was going to be.

I just don't want him near her, but I know that she's friends with him. If she were to notice that I was trying to get him away from her, she might not react kindly to that. In order to make her happy, I suppose I would have to play nice with Caleb. I could just think of it as putting on an act, I guess.

"Alastor? So?" He asked as I looked at him and held out my hand.

"I think we'll be great friends." I said, I think i'm getting good at lying.

"That's what I like to hear." He gave a smile then shook my hand.

"Could I come with you guys then, to hang out?" He asked, letting go of my hand.

"Afraid not. My mot-" I paused, clearing my throat.

"My aunt isn't expecting anyone else besides Y/n, sorry." I said as he nodded.

"Then, we'll hang out some other time. Tell Y/n I said bye." He said walking away to where I assumed to be his home as I walked over to Y/n.

"What did Caleb want to talk about?" She asked, standing up.

"Oh, nothing much. Just talked about how he wanted to be friends and all that." I said, which made her smile.

"I'm happy that you guys are getting along."  She said, as she began to walk by my side.

"Mhm." I hummed. I led her the way that I took to get to aunt Mary's house, it didn't take very long. Before going inside, she took in the design of the house.

"Wow its pretty." She said as I laughed a little.

"Its even prettier inside, so come on!" I said, taking her hand and walking in.

"Aunt Mary! I'm back, and i'm with Y/n." I said, a few moments later I heard footsteps approaching us.

"Oh! You're so pretty! I'm Mary, its so nice to meet you." She said when she made it over me to and Y/n. She got flustered almost immediately due to the complement that aunt Mary gave.

"Its nice to meet you too, Ms. Mary." She said.

"Are you two hungry? Dinner should be ready in a bit, I decided to make it a little early." She said, to which me and her both nodded.

"Yeah, i'm starving. I haven't eaten all day." I said.

"Good, that means you'll have plenty of room." She said with a small laugh.

"I'll let you both know when its done." She said.

"Thank you, and also, can I show Y/n around the house?" I asked.

"Of course, go ahead. Just be careful and don't break anything." She said as I nodded.

"Here, i'll show you around." I said, I clutched her hand a little tighter and started walking.

I decided to show her my favorite part of the house last. So, I started by showing her things like the kitchen. Though, we didn't go directly in there since Aunt Mary was cooking. I showed her where the restrooms were, in case she needed to use them. After that, I showed her my bedroom. I skipped over Aunt Mary's room because it didn't seem important to show her, and Aunt Mary doesn't really want anyone in there. Lastly, I showed her the basement.

"Woah, I like it down here. Its like a mini library!" She said, looking around and taking it in.

"I know, I saved the best for last. This is my favorite part of the house." I said as she nodded.

"I can see why, its so cozy in here." She said.

"Dinners done! Come up here before it gets cold." Aunt Mary called out. Me and Y/n ran up the basement stairs and out into the dining table.

"I made red beans and rice, along with some buttered bread on the side. I hope that's okay." She said, bringing out plates for the two of us.

"Mhm, its okay. Thank you." Y/n said.

"Yes, thank you aunt Mary." I said as she nodded, setting down a plate in front of each of us along with silverware.

"You're both very welcome." She said with a smile.

After we finished eating, we went downstairs and played. We listened to the radio while she made little doodles. She tried to get me to draw, but I've never been artistic like that. So, I just watched her as she did. After a bit of time passed, she proposed a game. She wanted to play tag out in the backyard. Even though she always complains that I always beat her, that i'm too fast. The sun was only beginning to set so we still had some time to play.

"Should me or you be the tagger first?" I asked.

"I want to try. Besides, if you're the tagger, you're gonna catch me immediately." She said as I chuckled.

"Alright then, but don't complain when you can't catch me." I said as she stuck her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes and the began to run, to my surprise, she caught up fast. She was right behind me. I looked behind my back to see her, and that was a bad mistake. I lost my balance and tripped over my foot, falling right onto my face. I heard her stifle a laugh before rushing to my side.

"Alastor! Are you okay?" She asked as I sat up and brushed myself off.

"Yes, i'm okay. I just didn't expect you to catch up so quickly." I said as she smiled.

"You wanna know something?" She asked.

"Sure, what is it?" I asked.

"I. Got. You." She said, tapping my head.

"Congratulations." I said with a laugh.

We played three more rounds of tag before it got dark. Since it was, I didn't want her walking home by herself. She said it wasn't necessary but I insisted. Aunt Mary said it was fine if I did, but to be quick so I didn't stay out for too long. She didn't want me out in the dark either.

While I walked her back home, she made small talk with me.

"You didn't have to, you know." She said.

"I wanted to. Especially since its dark out, I wanted to make sure you got back home safely." I said as she paused.

"Well, this is my stop." She said.

"Thank you." She said with a small smile before giving me a hug.

"Good night, Al!" She said, running up the steps to her house.

"Good night."

~~~

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and heres a little drawing I made of Caleb (＾ｖ＾）

Word count: 2819