Forever

chapter 8

Erik's PoV

"we have a new house guest..." he says. You and Lyle trade looks. Did he expect us not to notice?

"Why is she here?" Lyle asks

"Business related... we still have some things to work out though" you get a lump in your throat thinking about Julia involved in your fathers business. "Now I expect you to introduce yourselves like men, and Erik you'll be taking her to school tomorrow. She's in the same grade as you " your father says before leaving the room and giving you a look of disappointment for no apparent reason.

"Really dude, you sweatshirt" Lyle turns to you smirking

"Oh shut up she needed new clothes" but you find yourself smiling at what Lyle had said

"Ooookay if you say so" he says before turning away and putting a piece of bread in the toaster. You head upstairs to tell Julia about school, but when you knock on her door you get no reply. You open the door slightly and peek through were you see her asleep in her bed. She looked cute sleeping all peaceful and stuff, you let out a laugh. Wait. Did you just say she was cute? Shit You think to yourself.

"Erik?" you hear Julia say. Whoops

"Oh hey, sorry that I woke you. I just wanted to let you know that your coming to school tomorrow"

She scoffs and lets out a small laugh "I still have to go to school?"

"Don't worry, we have a lot of classes together and you can sit with me during lunch."

Time Jump// Dinner

Julia's PoV

You had lied in bed all day on your phone, not knowing what else you could do. Maybe you'd be more occupied when you went to school, or you'd meet people to hangout with. Your thought were interrupted when Lyle came in to tell you it was dinner. You were worried about actually meeting Mr. Menendez for the first time but Lyle reassured you and said he and Erik were gonna be there.

Mrs. Menendez has prepared spaghetti with a tomato sauce and meatball which you thought you were going to have to fake liking, but was honestly pretty good.

"So Julia tell us about yourself" Mr. Menendez said, starting conversation.

Saying that you were unprepared was an understatement "oh um okay... i'm- I was a junio-"

Your interrupted but Mr. Menendez "Louder!" he shouted which caused you to jump. Erik put his hand on yours under the table and squeezed it, which made you feel better but you were still scared of Mr. Menendez

"Okay" you say much louder than your previous mumble " I was a junior at West Valley, um I did track and field for school as well as lacrosse"

"Very interesting" Mrs. Menendez said

"Were you any good?" Mr. Menendez said bluntly

"I believe so... I had the fastest time in most of the events I competed in and helped win our team the championship" Lyle and Erik looked at you surprised, but impressed. You shrugged your shoulders mocking them and gave them a smug look.

"Did you participate in anything outside of school?" this felt more like Mr. Menendez was interrogating you than getting to know you, but you would complete 5 essays for Mrs. Winwoods class before saying anything.

"Yeah, I took martial arts for a while before my dad hit a rough patch. I was a brown belt but was mid testing for a black belt when I had to stop." Mr. Menendez seemed slightly impressed "I also worked as a paid intern at a vet a few miles away from my house. I got promoted because of my work ethic and I was helping in surgery and prep/ after care, it was probably what I was gonna focus my career towards." By now you had shocked Erik and Lyle to the most extreme extent, and it took all your self control to not start laughing at they're supposed faces.

"That will be... useful" wut? i- he uses very weird wording "We have a personal gym that you can use to sharpen you martial area skills... I insist you do" Mr. Menendez gave you a weird look. Did you just get... threatened?? This guy seemed wack, but dangerous enough that you knew not to cross him. The family continues to engage in friendly conversations, but every so often you caught Mr. Menendez staring at you, which made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. About 15 minutes later you, Lyle, and Erik were excused from the table and you all head upstairs.

You say good night to Erik as he heads into his room and you start towards yours, when Lyle grabbed your wrist softly.

"Uh Julia- I mean Juls." he says letting out a slight smile and rubbing the back of his neck"I didn't know a lot of that about you and I think it was really cool. We should talk more often"

"Yeah of course! I don't see why we wouldn't" you say honestly

"Okay cool. Well goodnight.. and have fun at school tomorrow" he says and both you start to laugh

"goodnight!" you answer, heading into your room. You were surprisingly exhausted for doing all day, but you decide to take a shower so your hair is clean for your first day of school. That sounded weird saying since it was April... but whatever. This time youre able to navigate the shower with more ease, but still took a long shower. You set your clothes out for your day for tomorrow and get in bed, looking at your phone almost expecting a text from Laurie. It was gonna be hard going to school without her... even just being without her was hard enough, but you know she would want you try and move on because she loved you. You clutch your phone remembering the memories and slip into sleep.

A/N: ooh i'm so excited for Julia's first day of school... and be prepared for some drama in the next few days as well as a PoV switch to Lyle. Also is it just me or is Jose mad sus 👀 foreshadowing maybe but i'm not quite sure and POV is all🕺over🕺the🕺place