After All, I'm Your Secret Admirer~!!

Prologue

Paige Woods is a normal, everyday average kid.

Well, he was a Teenager, but... you know.

Just like every day, his alarm blares at 6 AM. He yawns as he clicks it off and gets up from his bed.

Ahh. Time for another day of school.

Paige does his morning routine-use bathroom, brush teeth, take shower, towel off and get dressed. Once that's all done, he goes downstairs.

"Morning honey!" His mom greets. "I made you your usual. It's on the table."

"Thanks Mom!" Paige smiles, walking past her and into the kitchen. There, on the table as promised, is two slices of toasted wheat bread, an overeasy egg, and of course, a cold glass of orange juice.

Paige could jump for joy. This was his favorite breakfast!

He sits at the table and munches at his food until it goes away piece by piece. He always had everything in the same order. Not for any particular reason, of course. It was just his preferred method of eating. He did this with all of his meals.

At 6:45 AM, Paige is finally ready to start his day.

"Mooom!" he calls into the house. "It's time to gooo!"

"Coming, honey!" his mom yells back. "Just have to find my keys!"

"I'll wait for you outside, then!"

"OK!"

Paige gathers his things-backpack, house keys, wallet and finally his phone. He taps at it to activate it and inputs his password. A cute picture of a kitty greets him as his background. He grins at it as he enters his texting app.

paige: Hi good morning.

branflakes: GM!

branflakes: is it time 2 go?

paige: Yes. Meet me outside?

branflakes: OK!

Paige closes his phone and pockets it in his hoodie. It was getting kind of cold with it being October soon. His standard get up was his burgundy uniform pants along with a plain white t-shirt. His hoodie was actually barely allowed, but because his teachers liked him, he was allowed to wear a burgundy hoodie.

Lucky for him! Sorry to anyone else, though.

Paige makes his way outside and waits by the front of his fence for his friend.

"Paiiige!"

The teen turns and smiles wide.

Running down the block was Brandon-Paige's best friend and right hand man.

"Hi!" Paige greets once Brandon is close enough. "How was your night?"

"Awesome!" Brendon exclaims between panting. "I got... a new trophy... on Worms Armageddon!"

"Oh, congrats!" Paige claps. "Is that one of the games that Bro let you borrow?"

"Yeah!" Bradon's face looks a little red. Perhaps he should stop running to meet up with Paige everyday? "Bart finished it all, so I got to hold onto it indefinitely!"

"Cool!" Paige says, giving a thumbs up. "You'll have to let me see you play sometime, okay?"

"Of course!" Brandon's face turns a little sly. "I can't wait to beat you into the dirt."

"Hey!" Paige pouts. "I resent that!"

Brandon laughs as Quinn finally exits the house. "Come on, boys!" she shouts from the garage.

"We're coming!" the both of them shout back.

"Race you!" Brandon grins. "Onetwothree GO!" He takes off like a rocket, leaving Paige to blink in his wake.

"Wait!" he cries, beginning to run after the other. "Cheater!"

"Don't hate the player, playa!" Brandon calls back, sticking his tongue out. "Hate the game!"

"I'll hate the player all I want!" Paige laughs.

The two of them are a panting mess by the time they get to the SUV. Quinn is clearly trying very hard not to laugh at their antics, but she's failing. The teens don't seem to care one way or another though, continuing to rib each other even as the car leaves the garage.

The 20-ish minute drive there is filled with dad rock, poking and prodding and laughter. Tons and tons of laughter.

Just the way Paige loved it!

"I'll see you later, alright kids?" Quinn says as she finally drops them off at their destination.

"See you Mom!" Paige waves at the same time Brandon says, "Bye-bye Auntie Quinn!"

The car pulls off, students soon filling the spot it left.

The two teens turn to one another as kids of all shapes and sizes stream past them. "Ready for another bomb day?" Brandon asks, holding up a fist.

"Yep!" Paige grins, completing the fist bump. The two of them make explosion noises as they pull their hands away, slowly opening them.

"Dorks!" someone from the crowd shouts. A small amount of giggles ripple through the crowd. But then Brandon puts on his one and only Scary Face.

The Scary Face consisted of a scowl so scathing it almost hurt to look at, eyes being squinted so much it was surprising Brandon could even see out of them, and to really sell it, he tilted his head downwards. It immediately shuts everyone up.

"C'mon, Paige. Let's go," Brandon says, turning back to him and dropping the Scary Face like it was nothing. In its place is a genuine smile, one that Paige had noticed he only really shared with himself and Bro and Sue. It made him feel special. After all, the four of them were pretty good friends! It felt great to have someone as close as Brandon in his life.

The school bell rings out. For a moment, the sea of students still. Then, they all scramble towards the front doors like rats about to be caught. Brandon quickly grabs onto Paige's hand, not wanting them to get separated.

"Bomb day?" he asks, looking back at the other as he pulls him through the crowd.

"Bomb day," Paige smiles back.

Even though people were already being mean to him today, Paige figured it didn't matter. It would just be another boring day of school, nothing exciting happening. Nothing ever happened here at Inanimate High.

Why would today be any different?