Homeroom

38: Shay's Fam

[A/N] THANK YOU FOR THE 100,000 READS YOU ALL ROCK ILY ALL. Song for this chapter is Pray to God by Calvin Harris (feat. HAIM).

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I'm very surprised that no one in my friend group got hurt the next day. I didn't see Zander anywhere in school, and after what I did yesterday, I'm surprised he didn't come at us swinging.

"Want to hang out after school?" Shay asks as I slam my locker closed. It only takes five minutes at the end of the day to empty out the school.

"Yeah, your house?"

"Yup."

"Okay," I agree. "Let's go."

We head outside and bundle up against the blistering wind as snowflakes coat the ground. In a week, it'll be Christmas, and the weather matches the festivities coming up soon.

A car drives by blasting "Jingle Bells" so loudly that I can hear is crystal clear even though the car had its windows shut. "Excited for the holidays?" Shay asks as we continue on our walk home.

"Not as much as that guy," I reply, pointing at the Prius down the road.

Shay laughs, wrapping her scarf tighter around her neck. "Luke said he's going to surprise me."

"That's nice," I say, genuinely shocked that he can be a good boyfriend. "What are you going to give him?"

"My virginity."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "I thought your first time was with Tristen Jacobs during the summer before junior year?"

She smiles guiltily. "Well, I wasn't thinking when I said that."

"So that's a lie?"

She nods, and I let that sink in. "Are you sure? About Luke, I mean."

"Yeah, I am. I really like him. Besides, I have it all planned out. I'm going to--"

"I don't need to hear about that! La la la la la!" I quickly say, closing my ears with my hands as we walk up her front porch steps and enter her house.

"Hi, girls!" Shay's mom says from the sofa, eyes glued to the Ellen Show as Paige, Shay's five-year-old sister, lays her head on her mother's lap.

"Hi," I reply as I kick off my snowy shoes. I know to keep the talking to a minimum when her favorite T.V. show is on. Shay and I head to the kitchen to get food to take upstairs. I grab a pack of Oreos from the cabinet while Shay grabs the peanut butter and two bottles of water.

We sneak up the steps and head up stairs into Shay's room. After laying our school stuff on the floor, we eat. "This must be what heaven tastes like," I moan, dipping my Oreo into the peanut butter.

"Hmmm, yes," Shay replies as crumbs fall from her mouth. We both laugh as she wipes her face off with the back of her hand.

The bedroom door squeaks open. "Do I smell Oreos?" Hutch, Shay's older brother, asks. Shaggy, brown hair spills out of the baseball cap he's wearing backwards. 

"Hutcherson, get out!" she exclaims, throwing a hairbrush at him. Hutch catches it easily and tosses it on the bed.

"I play college baseball, sis, you have to know that I can catch anything you throw at me with ease," he laughs, sitting down next to me and popping a cookie in his mouth. I can't help but notice that his cologne smells really good.

"Yeah, well, get out!" she exclaims. "We were having girl talk!"

"You see," Hutch says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pointing at his sister with the same hand, "you can tell when Shay is lying when her left eyebrow quivers ever so slightly and the corner of her lip right there--"

"You mean the right corner?" I joke, chuckling.

"Yup, see it?"

"Alright, fine, you can stay. But get your filthy hands off my best friend before her boyfriend burst through the door and tells you who's boss."

"Boyfriend?" he asks, letting his hand drop off my shoulders.

"He's a southern boy," she laughs. "Isn't that right, Callie?"

Hutch replies before a single word escapes my lips. "Well, that's my cue to go, and I'm taking the food with me." He abruptly gets up, grabs the Oreos, and slams the door loudly on his way out.

"What's his problem?" I ask, confused.

Shay smiles knowingly, "I think he still has a crush on you."

"What? Are you crazy? No way, he probably is dating some college girl or something."

"You realize he only ever comes in here when you're here, right? What other reason would there be?" she points out.

"He's just hungry, that's all," I reply with the roll of my eyes.

"Stop being denial, it's true! He asked you to prom in 10th grade, remember?"

"That was a long time ago," I huff, thinking back to the memory.

I was at my locker, shoving my chemistry book, when Hutch leaned against the lockers next to me. "Hi," I greeted, glancing at him. I wasn't used to talking to any guy accept Charlie back then. The male species made me uncomfortable.

"Hey, Callie, what's this?" he asked. I looked over at him and pause as he reached behind my ear and "pulls out" a folded up piece of paper. "Read it," he insists, handing it to me.

I take it with slightly trembling fingers. My eyes skip over the one word written in big, bold letters.

"So what do you say, will you go to prom with me?"

I'm so shocked, surprised, and confused that I hear myself say "yes" before I allow myself to process what just happened.

I snap out of my trip down memory lane and dive back into the present. "Besides, I don't even like your brother. He's nice and all, but he's not Aaron," I admit. "Now, let's get started on that Math project."

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[A/N] Sorry for the filler chapter