New Friend

The rest of school was dreadful and somewhat unbearable. Why? Because my idiot of a almost stepbrother kept staring at me. Not only was it awkward because if this morning, but it was freaking creepy! I'd rather go back to where he barely noticed me. It'd be a lot easier.

Thankfully Maya stuck by my side the whole day or I probably would have left screaming. Because not only was Mason staring but the entire school population was. One of my teachers even asked if I was new! I had to hold back the urge to scream in her face.

And what's even worse is Lily started talking to me. She told me that she was thankful that little nerd, me, decided to leave the school. Because she couldn't look at someone who thought she could get away with bumping into the Queen B. Not her words exact but her rant went a little something like that.

The period before lunch seemed to drag on which was unfortunate because I was really hungry and being at lunch brought me two hours closer to going home and forgetting this day ever happened. Which was going to be impossible seeing as the cause of this horrible day lived in the same house as me.

The bell rang dismissing the class and as I walked out the teacher gave me a weird look. She had been looking at me the whole hour probably trying to guess who the hell I was. After today, I'm sticking to the messy buns, baggy clothes and going back to the good ol' days when no one knew I existed.

I walked to my locker and shoved my books inside. Slamming my locker close, I let out a little scream. Tyler laughed at my reaction. "I didn't mean to scare you Charlotte. I was just simply going to ask you if you wanted to have lunch together." He gave me an award winning smile.

"And you thought scaring me was going to get me to say yes?" I grabbed my bag off of the ground and pulled it onto my shoulders. I had dropped it when I saw Tyler. I started to walk away but Tyler quickly caught up. He walked next to me until we got to the cafeteria. "You know, I never said yes."

He smiled. "Yeah, but who could say no to this face?" He folded his hands and put them under his chin and started blinking really quickly. I laughed and walked in front of him in line. "Hey, I was here first."

"Well if you want me to sit with you, know one thing, food is my life so don't interfere with it or I'll end yours." I put on my most genuine smile. And grabbed a tray.

"Ya know, that's kind of creepy how you talk so dark with the brightest smile on your face." He shivered.

"It comes from years of practice." I winked at him and he laughed.

The line continued to move and once we reached the front, I pulled out my money to pay but Tyler quickly gave the money to the lunch lady. "I could have paid for my own food." I pouted as I waited for him.

"Think of it as a favor. And know you owe me something." He smiled as we walked to an empty table with our trays.

"But I didn't ask you to pay." I whined. I looked over at him and he frowned. "Okay okay, what's the favor?" He smiled and stole a carrot from my tray. "Heey!"

"I paid for it." He smiled as he chewed on the carrot."

"Touché." He nodded. "Anyways, the favor?" I picked up the water bottle beside my tray and took a sip.

"Go on a date with me." He smiled confidently and I spit out my water on the table in front of me. That was really lady like. Yup, way to impress him. You go Charlie. "Was that a no....?" I quickly shook my head.

"No it was an umm..." Water dribbled out of my mouth and into my hand. That is soooo attractive. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my chin and mouth. "Um, I'm sorry. That has never happened to me before."

"What, the whole water thing? Or being asked on a date?" He smirked.

"Both?" He laughed and grabbed some napkins to clean up the water I had spit on the table.

"It's kind of hard to believe a beautiful girl like you has never been asked on a date." I blushed. And not a shy blush, a full on blush. Like I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and I'm sure if you were close enough, you could feel heat radiating off of my cheeks. "Oh by the looks of your cheeks, I think I might be the first one to ask Charlotte....." He pondered for my last name.

"Fray."

"Charlotte Fray on an actual date. And if I'm lucky, I may be her first boyfriend!" I blushed again. He had caught the attention of a few people at the table. So of course they were staring and of course the overheard that I've never had a boyfriend.

"Tyler shhh. Please." He laughed and took another carrot off of my tray. "Yes." I looked down at my tray and pushed around a fry with my finger.

"Yes?" He smiled. "I knew you would say yes. I mean, I'm kind of hard to resist." He smirked and then ate another carrot.

"Ya know, I could always change my mind." I grabbed the carrot he was going pick up and put it in my mouth. " I mean, we haven't made it official yet." I smiled as he frowned and picked up a fry off of his tray.

"That's mean."

"And you're cocky." He frowned again. "But you're cute" I said quietly, mainly to myself.

"I knew you thought I was cute." He laughed and grabbed my water bottle and put it on the other side of his tray. I opened my mouth to complain but he cut me off "We don't want another accident." Haha.

"Oh shush, you just caught me by surprise. I mean, we technically just met each other today. We barely know each other." I reached over his empty tray and grabbed my water bottle back.

"Well that's technically what first dates are for. To get to know each other. So how about tonight?" He smiled and grabbed his tray.

"Tonight as in tonight tonight?" I stood and grabbed my tray. And walked to the garbage where I dumped the contents of my tray. Tyler followed behind and we walked to last period together.

"Is there any other tonight? I'll pick you up at 6?" He pulled out his phone and typed my name into it and handed it to me so I could type my number into it. "Now this isn't a fake number is it?" I laughed and shook my head.

"No, it's my real number." He smiled and held out his hand.

"You asked me on a date, got my number, and now you're shaking my hand?" I laughed and handed him his phone back. "See ya at 6."

"6:01, I like to be fashionably late." I shook my head and walked into the last hour before homeroom.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.

"By the way, you're not getting any drinks on our date. Oh! And wear a dress. -Ty."

I smiled and shoved my phone into my pocket and sat in my seat next to Maya. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Whatever you say buttercup. I saw you with that hot kid from earlier. So what's up?"

"Nothing, he's just taking me on a date." I spoke really quickly and put my head on the desk.

"Oooooohhhh Charls!!! This is... Ahh. My little buttercup got a date. Awhh that's so cute. I'm tots helping with you hair, makeup and outfit. No protests. Oooohh. I'm so happy for you. Charlie." She squealed and pinched my cheeks like a grandmother would a child. I smacked her hand away from my cheek and sighed.

"Shhh, you're loud." I whispered shouted. She squealed again.

* * * *

Nervous didn't even begin to describe how I felt. Maya had to literally do my makeup 5 times because I sweat so much, it ended up running down my face. And in the end, we curled my hair, despite me telling her about my bad luck, because I couldn't keep it straight with the loads of sweat I was somehow making.

She brought over a dress of her own because she said that my dresses were not "good enough." And that hers were just simply better. I had two dresses, the one I wore when I first met Kelly and Mason and one that I wore to the funeral me and Maya created for my mom. It was a symbol that she was dead to me. That day, dad started me in therapy.

The dress she brought over was a simple light blue dress with a black belt in the middle. I grabbed my bow flats and slipped them on while Maya zipped the dress. She even made sure to put a bow in my hair for good luck even though the curly hair completely signaled bad luck.

When Maya wasn't looking, I tried to straighten my hair but she snatched the straightener out of my hands and put it in her bag. I whined that it was my straightener but she rolled her eyes and took her bag downstairs.

I stared at my reflection for at least 10 more minutes and then ran downstairs where Maya was talking to Kelly and dad was in the kitchen. "Oh Charlotte, you look adorable." I gave my dad a look that only he recognized as sleep with one eye open. He held up his hands and backed away.

The door bell rang and Maya stood up and ran to the door at the same time I did. She pushed me and then opened the door. "Hi, I'm Maya. You must be Tyler. " she smiled and held out her hand.

She let him into the house and led him into the living room. And somehow, he managed to completely overlook me behind the door.

"Soo.... Tyler." My dad took a seat next to Tyler on the couch and smiled. "I hear that you just met my daughter and you already asked her on a date. Kinda ballsy." Tyler coughed and scooted over on the couch.

"I mean... Uh technically she just met me today. I've known her since 1st grade."

"That's kinda stalkerish if you ask me." Mason butted in. He was leaning against the wall and had been doing it since Tyler showed up.

"Well no one asked you." Maya snapped. She was sitting next to Kelly.

I peeked my head from around the wall. Making sure to check the mirror one more time. I walked into the living and Tyler almost jumped up from the couch. "Uh. Hi." He smiled and held out his hand.

"You don't have to shake her hand in front of me... But that is the only place your hand should be tonight... Unless you want me to snap it off... Just saying." Dad smiled from the couch.

"Daaad. Please stop threatening my date." I whined and he smiled again.

"If he doesn't do it.. I will." Mason growled from the corner. Ohh great. My big and overprotective stepbrother, Whom I've barely known for the amount of 3 days defending me.

I rolled my eyes at Mason and grabbed Tyler's hand. "I'll be back at....." I pondered for a time. "11ish maybe earlier." Dad nodded and went back into the kitchen with to finish his coffee and newspaper. Yes my dad was "that" dad.

I dragged Tyler onto the front lawn and he smiled. "Your family is.." I held my hand up.

"The only person in there that is my family is dad. Maya is my best friend. Kelly is a replacement and Mason is.... Just there. I guess." I shook my head and smiled. "So where to?"

He smiled and grabbed my hand. "That's a surprise." We walked to the car and he drove.

After awhile of talking and driving, we pulled up in front of a carnival. The lights were flashing everywhere and you could screams, laughing and random chatter.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and nearly leaped out of the car. "Oh my gosh! It's been years since I've been to a carnival." The last time I went was when mom wanted to tell me her and dad were getting a divorce. I frowned at the memory but ran to the carnival nonetheless.

"My dad owns this one so I decided, hey why not take this beautiful girl to a free carnival?" I blushed for what seemed like the 6th time around him. I couldn't help it though.

He grabbed my hand again and led me to the front of the line. The lady behind the booth smiled and wrapped wrists bands around our wrist. We walked into the carnival still holding hands.

"Where To First?" I looked around at the rides and thought for a second.

"How about elephant ears?"