ALL I WANT #1

Chapter 10 : Friendships and Family diners.

Song recommendation: When I grow up - NF.

Chapter Ten.

"Beauty is a short-lived tyranny."

-Socrates

***

Two weeks had passed since Mute's impromptu sleepover at my place.

Day by day, I grew accustomed to the rhythm of life in Rock River, or more precisely, I adapted to the people who shared my life here.

I have to admit, Mute and his friends were even more awesome than I could have imagined.

Awesome possum.

Every day after school, the girls and I had a routine of regrouping at Eden's Garden, our new favorite coffee shop. I had grown much closer to them.

Not close enough to call them my friends, though. They would always be Mute's besties for me.

Asher and I had also clicked. And when I say clicked, I mean he must have been my twin spirit in another life.

He and I had so much in common, it seemed like a joke at first. We texted almost every night, and I found it effortless to open up to him without having to lie or fake it.

With Locki, we didn't talk as much, but he always had a soothing effect on me. He was always zen and hakuna matata, and I always felt relaxed around him. I loved hanging out with him and just listening to music, saying nothing in particular.

About Mute.

Cute Mute.

Well, he's not so mute now. At least not with me.

We went from being arch enemies to becoming friends. And in that short time, we even developed our own little habits.

Whenever things got too much at his place, we had a system.

First, he'd flick his bedroom light on and off three times to signal me that he was coming over. I always kept my window cracked open in case he needed it.

Then he'd sneak into my bedroom. And we kept talking and talking until we became so exhausted that we crawled into bed.

He'd tell me a story. All of them involved some sort of ninja fighting a villain. The ninjas never won.

Then we would sleep. The sleep was incredible. His mere presence had a miraculous effect on my insomnia, and whenever he spent the night, I drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

He felt the same way, too. After waking up in my bed one morning, he told me he had never had such restful sleep before.

Mornings were awkward for us, though. We'd wake up snuggled, act embarrassed, and go to school in our separate ways. Rinse and repeat every time he came over.

We only became friends at night. Like an unspoken agreement between us, nobody in the friend group had a clue. We never addressed it, and it seemed better that way. Easier for both of us.

It became our dirty little secret.

We would also often hang out at Nana's after our therapy sessions. Since our appointments had the same time slots, I claimed it was our thing, and he pinky swore it was.

Those two weeks were amazing. And it seemed I could get used to life here.

But there have been some hardships too. People noticed that something wasn't right with me.

Teachers. Students. Mom. Everyone, really.

Stopping my meds messed with my brain and made it hard for me to regulate my mood swings and focus on things.