True Friends & Hard Times (Emblem 3)

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing. "Hello?" I answered. "Hey." "Drew, is that you?" "Yeah, I just wanted to be the first voice you heard this morning." "Awe, that's cute. Is something wrong though?" I asked curiously. "No, that's really why I called. Have a good day at school." "Thanks Drew. Still coming over tonight?" "Sure thing. What time to be there?" He asked. "Seven would be great.", I told him. "Seven it is then. Bye Nicole. Txt me later." "Bye Drew, I will."

I got out of bed, quickly got ready, and headed downstairs when I thought I looked alright. I didn't go all out on my make up or hair because I knew I was going to come home this evening and shower and re-do it all anyways. I knocked on Alise's door. She hollered for me to come on in. I sat on her bed and used her laptop to check my Facebook. We weren't talking so I guess she suspected something was wrong. "Everything okay Nicole?" "I don't know.", I answered. She came and sat down next to me. "You can talk to me." "Yeah I know Alise, but the problem is I really don't know if everything is okay." "What do you mean by that?", she asked me. "Well Drew called me first thing this morning to wake me up for school just because he wanted his voice to be the first I heard this morning." "Awe. That's sweet. Why are you so upset because of that?" She asked obviously clueless. "I guess it's pretty dumb right? It just seemed like there was more. It's sweet and all but we've only known each other a couple days. We're not even dating we're just kind of talking I guess you'd say." "Same for me and Keaton. But I get what you mean by that." She assured me. "Everything will be fine though maybe he really is just doing it to be sweet." "I guess. Maybe. I don't know. I'll find out for sure tonight.", I told her. "Tonight?" She asked. "Yeah, he's coming to meet my mom." "Aw. Mind if I ask Keaton to come and meet mine at the same time?" "Course not, coming together might be easier for them.", I answered her.

She finished getting ready and I logged out of Facebook and we headed downstairs earlier than usual. Her mom was up cooking us bacon and eggs. "Smells so good Mrs. Bryan.", I said walking into the kitchen. "Thank you sweetie." "Hey is my mom up yet?" I asked. "Getting ready now, better catch her while ya can." She told me. I walked into her room and knocked on the bathroom door. My dad was still asleep so I knocked quietly. She opened up and let me in. "Hey mom I was just wondering if Drew can come over tonight? I'd like you two to meet.", I asked politely. "Yes, that sounds lovely, I'm excited to meet this young man." "Great, I told him to be here 7ish. That good?" "Yes Nicole that's fine. I'll cook spaghetti. He should like that right?" She asked. "I'm sure mom. Who doesn't?"

I hugged her bye and told her to have a good day, and she did the same. I walked back into the kitchen and Mrs. Bryan already had my plate fixed. It was 7:30 and the home room bell rang at 7:55. We took our time eating and left for school. We went in my vehicle this time. "Did you talk to your mom about Drew coming?", Alise asked me. "Yep, everything's planned out. He'll be there at 7:00 and she's cooking spaghetti." "Sounds fun. I asked my mom about Keaton too and she said we'll all eat together." "Figured that.", I laughed. "Hey let's stop at the store so I can get a monster.", Alise requested. I pulled in and she ran and got one and quickly got back in the car. "Got you a red bull." "Thanks girl.", I told her.

We pulled into the school parking lot at 7:46. We went ahead and walked towards the building and waited for the bell to ring. When it finally did we went to our home room. "Hey Keats.", Alise smiled at him. He got out of his desk and hugged her. "Morning Alise."

"Coming over tonight to meet my mom while Drew meats Nicole's mom right?", she asked him. "Yeah, I'm a little nervous though.", he said. "Don't be. It's fine, I think she loves you already. She asks about you everyday.", Alise laughed. Keaton just smiled and nodded his head. First hour bell rang so they went to their separate classes and I went to mine, which was Fine Arts.

I walked in and on the board said: 'Find A Partner, And Only One'. I hadn't had time to make new friends yet so I didn't have one. A short, skinny girl with long brown hair and blue eyes walked up to me. "Hey, I'm Maggie." "I'm Nicole." "Wanna be my partner? My two best friends won in Rock Paper Scissors so they're together.", she told me. "Sure, thanks.", I said nicely. "No thank you, I didn't wanna be stuck by myself.", She laughed. Turns out she was really cool. And fun to work with too. We agreed on everything so the assignment went by smooth and quick. We even had time to get to know each other afterwards because my teacher, Mr. Sheen, told us we couldn't separate until the class was over. But it was no big deal, I enjoyed getting to know her. The second period bell rang and I told her I'd see her at lunch.

Second, Third, and Fourth periods went by quickly. At lunch I met up in the hall with Maggie and we walked there together. I passed Alise and Keaton in the hall and she gave me a questionable look. I kept walking and just told her to text me. I felt my phone vibrate shortly after. *hey* It was Alise. *heyy* I texted back. *why aren't you walking with us and who's that?* *just a friend Alise, and wanted to give y'all some time alone for a change, dnt worry its jus for today* *okay Nicole. & that's thoughtful but your no problem with us.* *yeah Ik girl, jus wanna get to know Maggie so I have a friend here besides u an Keaton. C u nxt hour* *ok bye Nicole*.

Lunch with Maggie was fun. Her and her friends are great and it wasn't awkward like I was afraid of, they treated me like one of their own. We laughed and talked for ever. When the bell rang we parted ways but I realized I had sixth hour, Home Economics, with Maggie so we were only seperate for an hour. When sixth hour bell rang we went to class and Maggie sat on one side of me while Alise came in and say on the other. "Alise, this is Maggie." "Maggie, this is my friend Alise." They said their hello's and the teacher came in and started on a new chapter. While she was teaching Maggie turned and said something and I laughed, even though I didn't get it, I didn't want to sound rude. Alise tapped my shoulder, "what was so funny about what she said?" "Nothing, but I didn't want to make her sound dumb.", I told Alise. "But she kinda is.", Alise argued. I then quietly turned around because her little remark slightly pissed me off.