Polaroids

8|Assistance

"oh...hey you startled me" I say breaking the few seconds of silence we had between us. He looked at me seemingly annoyed, but doesn't speak.

"What is it?" I ask suspiciously hoping to God he didn't notice the letter he kept on the windshield scrunched up in my hand.

"Nothing.." he replies tucking his fists into his varsity leather "... Where's Emma?"

"What?" I ask feeling a bit defensive. "I asked where your friend is" he repeats taking a small peek at her car behind me.

Where the letters for her?

"I.." i pause straighten up "why are you looking for her?" I ask suspiciously.

"That's none of your business" he shoots back walking past me and standing by the front of her car.

I let out an offended gasp "okay but it is my business, your looking for my best friend" I say trailing behind him.

"Oh yeah? I didn't know you were her girlfriend now, don't worry I'm not planning on stealing her from you" he says as my cheeks turn red at the thought leaving me shocked at his sudden demeanor.

"You know that's not what I meant" I say.

He ignores me.

"What are you doing with her car?" I ask watching him fiddle with the lock before pulling out a familiar key from his pocket and opening up the door.

"Hey how did you get that?" I exclaim running infront of him and closing the door. "Again, none of your business, move" he pushes me out of the way.

"What's with the sudden rudeness? Just a while ago I thought we were bonding" I say angrily "well you thought wrong" he hops into the driver seat "now get in she says I should take you too"

Wait, did Emma send him to get her car?

And if so, why couldn't she tell me?

I stare at him angrily from the glass of the car door deliberating whether or not to go.

If she did send him to me, it means it's okay to with right?

Right?

"Fine" I say between gritted teeth as I throw my backpack into the backseat and get into the passengers.

He pulled out of the parking lot and drove out of the school quickly, making my anxiety worsen.

Now he's going out of school, where on Earth was he taking me?

After a few minutes on the road, he takes a right and goes down a familiar road making me calm down a bit as I spot a well known building.

'ADV dance and musicals' the giant gold banner read on the two story brick building. This was Emma's weekly dance class.

Before cheerleading, she'd always been into dancing, but after we got to highschool and she became a cheerleader, she never had enough time to balance it all, so, I advised she kept it up by going for dance classes atleast once every week.

I unlocked the door quickly, about to jump out the car to go see her and ask why the hell she didn't tell me this mood swinging maniac would be driving me here.

"Sit your ass down Anderson" he says pulling me back in and driving out of the parking lot "Look at the time, it two o'clock she's not done yet" he adds pointing at the digital clock. Her classes ended at three.

"Then why'd you bring me here and hour earlier? And where are you taking me now?" I ask glaring at him, he shrugged. "I wanted to show you I wasn't kidnapping you before I went were I wanted to go" he replies.

"Wait why did Emma give you her keys anyway?" I ask as he drives further down the road "I needed a ride so she told me If she gave me her car I'd have to pick her up... and you as well"

"A ride? Aren't you like crazy rich you have like a garage full of cars" he chuckles mockingly.

"I know someone as naïve as yourself would think that" he says annoyed. "My car's in the shop it broke down yesterday, and I don't spend my crazy rich money on buying a new car whenever one has a problem" he spat back.

"Well why Emma's car? Aren't you like crazy popular anyone would love to take you anywhere" I interrogate crossing my arms

"Your use of the word crazy annoys me" he says not minding my question.

I roll my eyes at him "that isn't an answer" I say, he Huff's and turns away ignoring me

"And aren't you an athlete? An mvp even, right now your supposed to be having practice, so why are you here?" I ask. I noticed his face harden in anger.

"Coach benched me for the next game" he let out angrily. My eyes widen in surprise, how could a player as good as Josh be benched?

"Why? You were rude to him too?" I ask. He looks out the window hesitantly.

"Grades" he replies blankly "I have to have a B+ average to play" he adds.

"Well you've been playing for so long what happened to your grades all of a sudden?" I ask. He shrugged.

I hate that stupid shrug.

He stays silent for some moments just driving down the sunkissed roads. His behavior right now annoyed me thoroughly, it wasn't my fault he was failing his classes, and what happened to the time we had in the library?

What happened to hope?

I tried reminding myself why I even liked or wanted to spend time with this guy, but then I got an idea.

"You know..." I begin in a sly tone looking away.

"I know what?" He asks "I could tutor you..... that is, if you'd like" I reply .

He looks at me somewhat surprised.

"You wanna help me?" He asks and I nod.

Silence.

"But I've been so rude to you" he adds leaving me a bit Taken aback.

So he was aware he was being a massive jerk.

"Hey I was rude to you first, even though you had kinda saved my life" I say staring into his eyes. He lowers his gaze. "I'm sorry" he whispers under his breath suddenly stopping by an ice cream store.

"What?" I'm surprised to hear him say that "I'm sorry.." he says louder resting his head on the car seat looking up at the clouds from the skylight. "Look I was just annoyed okay? I got benched on the first game, my car broke down, my grades are terrible, and the person I wrote to didn't even-" he stops quickly realizing what he said.

So he did write the letters! I thought.

The question left is, to who?

"Ah- nevermind.." he says looking at me and I could have sworn I saw a little blush on his cheeks

"Look I'd appreciate it if you'd tutor me but.." he says "but what?" I ask looking at him as he crosses he runs his fingers through his curly Brunnette locks.

"I don't like help" he confesses stubbornly and I couldn't help but let out a giggle.

Boys are so egotistical it's actually amusing.

"Oh haha very funny" he says sarcastically noticing me laugh "okay fine" I say in-between giggles "I'm not helping you, think of it more as... Assistance" I say, and I was surprised to see a small smile from him.

He looked away and got out of the car, turning around to open the door for me and leading me into the pink and white themed ice cream store.

"Fine... assistance"

Song: October by Alessia Cara.

Hope you enjoyed :)

XO Ani