Shards fell and luckily I was wearing pants, but they fell at my feet. I kicked off the shards and brushed them off as I stood. Looking up I saw Intratcher lying on the ground and rubbing his head. It took me a few seconds to process that my pushing...
Tampcher ((—-) 555-0199)'s voicemail December 8, 2023 0:52 "Hey—I know this is unorthodox but you aren't answering me, and you left your entire backpack! Not just that, but your computer bag, notebooks, study guide, and just to note you're supposed to be studying this so I can keep skipping P.E. to tutor. Also because you-I don't know-need to pass maybe? I'd drop it off next door but I'm grounded after your stunt. This is the home phone-I got my own taken away! Just drop by, okay?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The final beep groaned on as I sat there; Criss-Cross petting the lion stuffed animal in my lap. His head sat under my chin and I dug my face into his mane. A few hours back I had tried to talk to Tampcent, not sure if his parents told him but I was restricted from calling or messaging or even walking near the driveway.
Pushing back my white-blonde hair I stood up, letting the plush fall limp to the ground and dragging my body over to the kitchen. Glancing over, I noticed it was 1:42 PM. The average day had me popping white bread into the toaster in the afternoon as I'm half the time too busy to catch 10. Whether I'm practicing for track season, sleeping, or staring at the wall.
The silence infected my ears and the only noise between toasting my bread and sliding it onto a plate was a sniff or two and a groan as I realized I stained my sleeping shorts. The clock ticked and I sat and ate my toast with butter and syrup because I couldn't cook.
Unexpectedly my mind was free of any thoughts as my all-nighter had scraped down any overthinking session to come. Suddenly I heard muffled talking from outside. Assuming it was my parents and my sister, Karen, returning from another one of her musicals I slid my sweats, tee, and hoodie on and peeked out from the living room curtain.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The window fogged as soon as I approached it and realized it was Taylor, shivering some. Rubbing the window with my sleeve to double check I heard her mutter."Don't-Dont shoot me down-" Taylor sang. "-Okay." Her hair was sprung in a bun again, although less formal as she rocked a blue tee shirt and bootcut jeans. The bun was held by a yellow silken curled hair tie.
Without a thought, I fiddled with the door knob and stepped outside. She had her headphones in her focus as she shoveled down snow on our sidewalk. A chunk of snow to my face is what I was met with and Taylor gasped. putting aside her shovel and taking off her headphones.
The hum of her music was overcome with the click of her nails on the off button. Her mouth hung for a minute as responses ran through her head before she spoke. "Huh...Hi!" Taylor sheepishly smiled, gave a wave, and leaned on the shovel.
I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. She had a charm I'd never come in contact with. "Hey, Taylor," I responded, revealing my smile and wiping the snow off my stubble. "What are you doing?" She began explaining how coming home so late over break got her in trouble with her mom and she thought it would be a good idea for her to shovel the entire block as punishment.
Taylor groaned and explained the whole situation through her hands if her words didn't express enough. "She's probably doing this because after my winter break started she started running the wave of 3 inches of snow was in her way." We began walking down the sidewalk and conversed, even talking about how she hoped her mom would just slip on the ice and fall.
We both could tell she would do anything for her mom but I let her let her anger out as she scooped the snow up and out of our path. "Hey-" I asked, accidentally cutting Taylor off while she spoke about music. Stopping in our track I swallowed before going on. "-Are you cold? here you can take this if you want, you've been shivering this whole time." Tugging off my hoodie I gave it to her regardless of what she said.
I wore the hoodie so that if it was my family outside they wouldn't see the fat syrup stain I got on my beige-white shirt but around Taylor, I didn't mind what she thought. Even if she was dressed up like the night before. "Well thank you, I guess." Taylor slipped on my hoodie and looked away. "This was the house from yesterday, right?" she asked.
Tampcents house. I hadn't noticed but we already walked around the whole block. I also hadn't noticed that she walked half a mile extra to further the conversation. "Yeah... That was so embarrassing." I started, although we finished the sentence together. "My house is actually next door." Adding, as we got closer to my driveway.
Before I let her go I turned my heels and looked at her for a second. I then spoke, "That was fun, seriously. I would love to talk again!" Smiling, I wrote my snap into her phone and waved her off. That smile stained my face until I entered the house.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Creaking the ground below me, I kicked my boots off and light footsteps peddled louder and louder toward me from Karen's room. They'd gotten home while I was out. "Who was that? She was so pretty!" Karen asked, bombing me with more questions before I could answer others.
Avoiding showing her the grin on my face I looked up as I answered. "She's this girl-a friend." The stars in Karen's eyes grew and she began laughing at me before walking off. No matter how old she gets she'll never grow out of the younger siblings stereotype, although I wonder how she is with her friends
Karen ran off before I could ask her how her musical went. I sprawled back onto the couch like before and curled by my stuffed lion. However, the buzz of my phone made me sit up and I checked what it said.
