Dear Journal

Chapter 5

You've been staring out your bedroom window for about an hour ever since Brian from school texted you saying he was coming over. It's not that you're scared, you're just nervous and you don't know why. Maybe it's because he's Theo's friend, you're not sure.

With a sigh you go downstairs to the kitchen and look out that window instead. He said he was bringing supplies so that might be the reason he's late. It's around dinner time and you're getting more hungry since the only thing you ate today was a baby orange.

Deciding not to eat yet you get yourself some water instead and look back out the window while bringing the cup to your lips. The water slides down your throat filling your stomach, the same familiar feeling of being empty resurfacing.

Something catches your eye and you snap your head back to the window only to see the person you were waiting for walking up to the door.

He knocks and you wait a few seconds before going to the door and opening it, your breath instantly hitching. He looks down at you his dark hair shielding half of his eyes but you can still see them. His smile is bright and your heart clenches at the way his eyes turn into little crescent moons.

"Come in" you quickly say while opening the door more to let him walk in which he does.

His arms are full and you can't help but watch his biceps flex as he struggles to carry everything. "Oh uh, we can go to my room." you nervously say and lead him upstairs. Usually if your parents were home they'd make you stay in the living room since no boys are allowed in your room but you couldn't care less.

He's here to help with your project, nothing else.

"You can just put the stuff on my bed." You say while motioning to where you sleep. "Alright" he replies and you watch as he drops everything on your sheets before turning around and looking at your room.

"Sorry about the uh, posters everywhere." you say with an awkward smile and he shrugs. "Why? I think they're cool." he says before turning back around and setting up the supplies he brought.

You give him a quiet "thanks" and he returns the favor with a smile. "You're lucky, I'm not even allowed to hang pictures on my wall unless they're from awards." he says while glancing over his shoulder at you.

You frown and walk up behind him before standing next to your bed and helping. "Why?" you ask while leaning down and grabbing the display board from under your bed. "My parents don't want me to be distracted by things they think don't matter." he sighs and your frown deepens.

"But they do matter. They're a part of who you are." You say and he gives you a sad smile. "At least you can see that." he says and grabs his bag before opening it and pulling out a few pieces of paper with pictures on them.

He hands them to you and you grab the display board and sit on the floor where he decides to move everything. "Thanks for printing these." You say while tapping the stack a few times on the cardboard to even the papers.

"Yeah" he glances up at you while taking hold of a pen and leaning over to write in his notebook. You grab your scissors and decide to start cutting the paper before gluing it to the board.

***

"Do I need to fix anything or is it fine?" You ask while holding up the display board. "It looks great, I like the way you cut the paper it's cool looking." He says while pointing to the cutouts. You blush at his words and you don't even know why. "How's your speech?" You ask while looking at his paper full of words.

"I'm almost done with it and then we can do some more stuff to the board after." he looks into your eyes and you nod in agreement. "Okay, I'll wait for you then. Do you want a drink or something?" You ask while standing up.