Beside You

Weekend Plans

The bell rings, signalling the end of the school day, and the beginning of the weekend. I head to my locker with my friend Maddox Shields at my side. "Are you getting a ride with Arya?" I ask her. 

 "Yeah, when's your car gonna be fixed anyway?"

 I sigh. "It's in the shop now. It should be ready by Monday." A tree fell on it, causing some minor damage to the roof. "I'll meet you there in a few minutes."She continues down the hall to her locker and I turn to open mine. I grab my books and start to head out to the student lot.

 "Hey Hadley! Wait up!" I turn to see Ryder Shaw, my brothers' best friend, running in an attempt to catch up to me. "Are you getting a ride with Grayson and Mitch too?"

 Grayson and Mitchell are my brothers. Grayson and I are twins, and Mitchell Thompson (now Dryden) is our adopted brother. When we were 12 his parents lost custody and since he was at our house so much anyway my parents decided to adopt him so that Grayson didn't lose his best friend. My parents are Alex and Elena Dryden. My dad is a world-famous mystery author and my mom is a doctor. We're a pretty busy family.

 "No, I'm getting a ride with Maddi and Arya." 

 "Okay, well I'll see you later." He waves and jogs over to Mitch and Grayson.Looks like my brothers are taking advantages of our parents being out of town for a book signing and having some friends over. In that case I'm going to need some back up.I reach Arya's car.

 "Hey guys, wanna hang out tonight?"

"You know I'm always willing to hang out at your place if your brother's there." Arya has been in love with Grayson since the beginning of grade nine when I first introduced them. 

 I roll my eyes. "You in Maddi?" 

 "Yeah, sure, I don't think I have any plans with Max." 

Max is Maddi's boyfriend. He goes to one of the public high schools, Lakeshore High, whereas my friends and I go to Preston Academy, a private school.On the way to my house we stop by Maddi and Arya's houses. They're neighbours, which is really convenient when we hang out.I wait in the car while they go into their respective houses. 

Maddi gets back first and turns around to talk to me. "Hey, so change of plans. Max just texted me, and Carter is having a party. We should totally go!" Carter is one of the guys on the school soccer team with my brothers. 

"I can't. My parents would kill me if they found out I went to another party. Do you not remember last time?" I went to a New Years party a couple of months ago and got a little carried away. I thought my mom would kill me when she picked us up. 

 "Come on, they aren't even home until Sunday night, they wouldn't even know." 

"Know what?" Arya asks as she returns. This argument just got a lot harder for me to win.

"Maddi wants us to go to some party. Tell her she's crazy." 

 "Wait, do you mean Carter Jackson's party?" Maddi nods at her. "I heard it's supposed to be insane. I mean it's the first party since winter ended. We won't have to be crammed inside. Can we please go?"

 "I'm not going-" I say. 

 "You ruin everything." They complain before I can finish. 

 "But you guys go ahead." I say. 

 "Actually? Are you sure?" 

"Yes, I'm sure. I'd never hear the end of it if I stopped you from going. Besides, I have an English Lit essay that I need to finish." 

 "Thank you Hadley! You're the best!" 

 "I know, I know. Just please don't forget the fact that I need to get home." I joke. "You guys have a few hours before the party. Wanna get ready at my place?" 

 "Of course," they day in unison. 

When we get to my house we go into the kitchen and eat some snacks. Eventually we go up to my room. It's really nice and big and even has a walk in closet and bathroom just for me. I flop down on to my bed next to my cat, Poppy, and pet her. I can hear Maddi and Arya rapidly texting on their phones, likely trying to find out who's going to the party. 

 We gossip for quite a while when Maddi suddenly says "I still can't believe you're going to the spring semi formal with that jerk." I sit up, confused, and see that they're looking at my dress. 

 I sigh and give them the same answer as always. "Well, he asked me and it's not like anyone else was going to so why wouldn't I go with him?" They exchange a look as they know something that I don't. It's probably just because they think my semi formal date, Brody King, is an idiot. It might be true but he was nice enough to ask me and I wish they'd just back off. 

"Are you guys going to get ready or not?" They begin to change out of their school uniforms and into the party clothes that they conveniently packed. 

There's about half an hour before they have to leave for the party so we decide to go down to my brothers' room to see if they can coordinate rides. When we get to the basement Mitch, Ryder and Grayson are playing video games like typical teenage boys. Arya automatically gravitates towards Grayson and sits next to him. 

They decide that the best plan of action is to take Arya's car to the party and drop Grayson and Mitchell back here when the party is over.

 "Well I think you have it all figured out. I'm going to go upstairs. Have fun." I give my brothers, Maddi and Arya hugs before I go back up to my room. I get ready for a lazy night and change in to track pants and a t-shirt and throw my hair into a bun. Then I get out my laptop and make myself comfortable on my bed. I turn the TV Netflix, and my current addiction, How I Met Your Mother, and then set out to finish my English Lit paper. I get a couple of words down when I'm distracted by Poppy jumping down and running to the top of the staircase leading up to my room, purring. 

 "Hadley?"

 I turn to see Ryder. "I thought you went to the party with everyone else," I say, very confused. 

 "No, I try to avoid getting dragged to parties. If I ever get into trouble with the cops I could lose my scholarship to Preston." I had forgotten that Ryder was one of two students in our grade that was at Preston on an academic scholarship. "Addie was supposed to come pick me up but I guess she had other plans," he continues. Unlike her brother, Adelaide Shaw did not get a scholarship and is in grade twelve at Lakeshore. "Anyway, I was hoping that you could give me a ride in Grayson's car."

 "Fine, but can I at least finish this episode? I just started it." I half joke, indicating the paused TV. 

 "Okay, sounds like a deal."