12 | Smile

When Charles went home, he was a smiling mess. He was happy beyond words and was so proud of himself he didn't know what to do. He took out his phone and opened Perfectly Imperfect.

[ Perfectly imperfect ]

_MaD_

how you holding out, mr. 'IGOTHISNUMBERSHIT'?

Simonster

prolly screaming into his pillow or smth

_MaD_

hm you bet

Charle_s

well

you aren't wrong

Simonster

ofc I'm not

_MaD_

did you text him?? like a hi or smth??

Charle_s

no I didn't I'm way too out of it rn I need some time

Simonster

'some time'

remember that's what you said before about talking to him and it happened like 6 months later

_MaD_

damn right

if your 'some time' lasts as long as the previous one did I'm gonna text Sam myself and tell him that I like him

Charle_s

YOU WOULDN'T

_MaD_

yes I would

Simonster

and I will too :]

I'll send him screenshots of all the times you gushed about him

and he'll be confused af and that'll be your fault :]

wow I'm such a genius I could do that

Charle_s

or

you could

not

_MaD_

but where's the fun in that?? :)

Charle_s

ok that smiley face is creeping tf out of me bye

Simonster

ok jokes aside

I'm actually rooting for you charlie

after a long time you're gonna befriend someone who isn't us and it's someone who you actually like

who knows maybe he likes you too and that's the reason he's so flustered everytime you both talk

Charle_s

nuh huh

don't get my hopes up like this I might actually believe you

_MaD_

stop that omg

it's not like you're a bad person who nobody likes or smth

don't you hope that too??

Charle_s

of course I do...

_MaD_

exactly

so what you need is some confidence and trust in yourself

Simonster

ye

Charle_s

*yes

and yeah

thanks

I do feel like I got this inexplicable amount of confidence today

like idk would you have imagined me going and asking someone if we could be friends?? and on top of that their nUmbER??

Simonster

omg ikr

maddie and I were holding our jaws so they wouldn't fall

'R-really?? cAn wE eXcHaNgE nUmBeRs ThEn?'

we were so shook you have no idea

_MaD_

yES

Charle_s

you both are so dramatic

anyway

I need to get some work done

freaking political science

that woman has no other work

"pLeAsE wOrK iN pAiRs aNd ExPlAiN tHiS cHaPtEr To YoUr FriEndS, cHiLdrEn"

like why is she the teacher if we have to explain all that shit to ourselves

_MaD_

oh yes

charlie's with some dude named brain??

Charle_s

*brian

_MaD_

yeah same thing

ironic considering he doesn't even have a single brain cELL

he literally does notHING but gossip all day

Simonster

I got work to do as well

all the best working with mr brainless brian

Charle_s

lmFAO

ok yeah

thanks guys

I'll see yall later???

I mean obviously

'kay

bye

_MaD_

lol cute

I meAN

BYE

!!

!

Simonster

what's wrong with her

* * *

Charles was almost done with the whole "paired activity." He was certain that Brian wasn't going to do anything, so he didn't even think about talking to him about it. He just said he'd do everything and that Brian didn't have to worry about it. Once he thought it was enough for the day, he checked the time and saw it was really late. His parents would've finished eating dinner. For the past few days, Charles wasn't dining with his family at all and he could tell how it bothered his mother a lot. Since it was just the three of them - him, his mother and his father - his parents always insisted on doing things like eating, or playing during the weekends together. Charles, however, hadn't been following that for the past few days because of the things going on in school and in his head. Many things worried him a lot and it didn't help that the days were going by like a flash of lightning. Thoughts like this kept surfacing his mind often:

What would be their reaction if I tell them I like boys?

He had never brought up the topic in front of his parents ever before, and didn't even know if they were against it or not. Sighing, he got up and went over to the kitchen, only to see that all the lights had been turned off and everyone had gone to bed. He saw a small night lamp on his kitchen island and below it was a plate that had some food and a post it beside it that read:

"Come out, Charlie! We're supposed to be a family, and you're ruining it. hmph."

WHAT THE FU-

Oh.

She means come out of my room.

Charles was sure that he needed rest. Quickly swallowing whatever was in the plate, he dumped it in the sink and went to sleep. After making his bed comfortable enough with all the pillows around him, he took out his phone to text a "gn" to Madeline and Simon. Below that, he saw Sam's number and his heart skipped a beat.

I'll test him a "good night," too, he thought, smiling in spite of himself.

Charle_s

Was your day okay, Sam? I hope you aren't stressing out too much because of that one test, the way you cried yesterday was really upsetting to see. I hope we'll be able to make good friends, you seem like such a|

He stopped once he realized what he was typing.

What the actual hell are you doing?

Just text him a "Good night." Not paragraphs about how he made you upset. And who the hell said you could call him "Sam"? It's Samuel for now.

Charles knew his mind was correct, so he facepalmed and backspaced what he'd typed.

Charle_s

Good night :)

Before he could change his mind he pressed send and buried himself under his covers, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

I tried doing this sort of text thing, I hope it wasn't too boring lol it's really fun to write