𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥

02

TUESDAY

"Hey, Quinn." Logan comes into my room unannounced. "You know the new girl, the one you hit in the face?" The one that I silently gawked at for like two minutes straight? Yeah.

"Can you stop bringing that up? I didn't mean to!" I groan, "Also how many times have I told you to knock?"

"Too many, but anyway, shes the new renter across the street." She says, catching me off guard.

"Oh, nice." I say, attempting to sound completely chill when I was in fact not. I'd pretty much solidified earlier and probably freaked the girl out on top of giving her a bloodied nose, now she was a neighbour. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she didn't break her nose. Her names Madeline by the way. She's coming over this Friday for movie night with the others." Logan sits down on the other side of the window seat. "You gonna be here?"

"Probably, I have a shitload of homework to do though so I'll stay up here." I reply. "Did Madeline say anything about me? I kind of made a bad impression."

"Not much. Although, she mentioned you just stared at her without saying anything." Logan says, raising her eyebrows. "What's that about?" I was a flustered teenage boy.

"Nothing. Was just surprised since no one usually goes by that side of the field." Which is true. It's usually only the rugby players over there. So I wasn't technically lying.

"Sure." She says in a skeptical tone. She always saw right through me. "Night, bro."

"Night." She walks out, leaving the door wide open. I roll my eyes and shut it before sliding into bed and turning off my light. I had practice for the game on Saturday tomorrow so I decided to get an early night or coach would be up my arse

_________

WEDNESDAY

"Quinn!!" My mother thumps on the door, "It's half six, you need to get ready!"

"Give me a minute." I groan, turning over on my mattress

"I'm sending the dog in!" She opens my door and a retriever puppy darts in and launches onto me, licking my face.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" I sit up and pick the dog off of me. "Alright, good morning Marley." I say, scrunching my nose up as he licks my face. "You need a mint."

I plop him on the floor and get up. I walk to bathroom, rubbing sleep out of my eyes and stop in front of the mirror. My hair had dried into a horrific mess. I brush my teeth and wash my face before getting changed into uniform. Running a comb through my hair and heading downstairs for breakfast.

"You're giving me and Madeline a ride." Logan says from her place at the kitchen island.

Amazing. "Okay." I'm a seventeen year old boy I can take my sisters new friend, really pretty new friend, to school without completely humiliating myself.

I grab a piece of bread and shove it in the toaster while I wait for the kettle to boil.

"Quinn, feed the dog, will you?" My mom shouts from upstairs.

"Marley!" I call out while pouring his kibble in the bowl. He scurries in and dives into his food.

I walk back to the kitchen where the toaster is smoking. "Shit, my toast!" I say, popping it up. "Why didn't you remind me?!" I ask Logan and pick off the burnt bits.

"Your toast is done." She says, not even glancing up from her phone.

I roll my eyes and butter my burnt toast. I didn't have time to make another. I sit down at the kitchen island with my toast and cup of coffee.

"Hurry up, it's ten past!" Logan whines while she packs up her bag and swings it over her shoulder.

I shove the rest of my toast in my mouth and drink my coffee. "Okay, I'm ready." I say, grabbing my backpack and keys.

"Shoes, you moron!" She says.

"Right." I grab my shoes and hop around to put them on.

"Okay, now I'm ready." We walk out the door and get in the car. I pull off the drive and a second later Madeline comes out of her door and heads towards the car. Fuck me. She had a small braid on one side of her hair and a small locket around her neck. She had a book out, mid reading while walking towards the car. She climbs in the car and fastens her seatbelt before flashing a smile at Logan. God I wish that smile was for me.

Logan turns to face her. "Good morning, bookworm." She grins.

"Morning." She says and turns to me. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem." I reply. Hey, that actually sounded normal. I'm doing great. "How's your nose?" I ask. She still had a bandage on but it looked like a new one and the redness around her nose had gone down.

"Better." She responds bluntly.

I nod, "Good." Good?

Logan and Madeline start chatting while I drive to school. At the red light I slow to a stop and look in the mirror. I had no idea what they were talking about, partly because I didn't care and partly because my brain was still trying to make me look cool, but I could see her laughing and my god, her laugh. I wanted to play it on repeat in my mind until I was sick of it. Which would be never.

"Hey, green light." Logan clicks her fingers in my face and I snap out of my thoughts and drive forward. What is wrong with me?

We arrive at school and hop out of the car, parting ways. I head to English where my friends are. They talk to me about laters practice but I don't pay attention to most of it. Couldn't get her stupidly perfect laugh out of my mind.

✧

"Nice one, Quinn! Keep that up for Saturdays game and we'll win, no problem." My coach shouts from across the field. "Get another try and you can finish up." He says to my team.

We play another until my teammate scores a try and then head to the locker room. I take a quick ten second shower and change to go home. I had the house to myself because Logan and my mother had gone to my grandparents tonight. I jog through the rain to my car and clamber in to the drivers seat, reversing out the space and driving home.

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