𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐮𝐩|𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲

chapter 1

it was the middle of spring. kids were anxious for school to be over with, adults were constantly working, everybody awaited the summer.

caleb sat at his desk, working on a chapter for his next book that was coming out 8 months from now. it was entitled, "take me to the forest,"

the living conditions for everybody was kind of complicated. caleb and sydney lived together - they were and have a kid on the way.

jules lived in a house with jayden, who would be moving out soon due to being engaged.

luke has an apartment, that he barely stays at since it's so far from his work, so he usually crashes and syd and caleb's.

hayley's living conditions were probably the most confusing. sometimes she'd stay with jules and jayden, sometimes she'd fly back to maryland and see family, or stay with ms. katie in her apartment in hollywood, or she'd stay with caleb. she had been trying to find a place, but it wasn't as easy as she thought it'd be.

alexa lived in a small apartment alone, but always visited hayley wherever she was staying.

caleb was about to finish chapter eleven, when hayley entered the room. she was wearing a black sweatshirt, sweatpants, and nike air forces. she had a purple bag over her shoulder, and began walking towards the door.

"i'm heading out," she said, "i have to go find something presentable to wear to playlist."

"cool," caleb said - giving her a nod.

hayley began walking out, before caleb stopped her, "hayley?" he said.

"what?" she asked - peaking behind the apartment door.

"make good choices kiddo," caleb teased.

"caleb, i'm 23." she said with a straight face.

"really?" caleb joked, "i thought you were 86."

"goodbye caleb," she said - leaving and shutting the door.

caleb turned to his desk, and started writing again.

•

hayley entered "cafe la" which was a big food place that was always pretty busy. except today, it wasn't so crazy like she'd expected it to be.

hayley looked around, when the person she was looking for caught her eye. her best friend since childhood, alexa. she was wiping the counters - with a stressed expression on her face.

hayley trotted up to the counter, and sat at one of the stools in front of it.

"hey lex!" she said, which startled alexa.

she jumped, "geez hay, you scared me," she said - catching her breath.

"your welcome," hayley said - giving alexa a grin.

"hey, what're you doing here anyway?" alexa asked - bending down to find a glass, then coming back up with one and setting it down on the counter.

"ouch." hayley said.

"not like that, it's just that you said you were going shopping or something." she explained before finding a drink for hayley.

"well," hayley began, "i thought you could come with me."

alexa looked back at hayley - who gave her a pleading smile. it was never easy to get her out of work.

"are you serious?" she questioned hayley - who nodded.

"yes, come on," hayley tried to convince her.

alexa walked back over to the counter with a bottle of sprite, and poured it into the glass with already fresh ice cubes in it.