Philophobic : Tyler Galpin

7: Caught

Thursday, October 18th

[victoria's pov]

Damn, was I exhausted. I'd just finished my test for Ms. Thornhill's class. Hopefully I had done well since it kept me up until four in the morning. Who knew we'd be learning about devil's snare relations this early in the school year?

I now had an open hour. In other words, violin practice.

The music room was usually empty as I stood alone, playing a piece of The Beggar by Franz Gordon. Even though he was a pianist, I appreciated the exhilaration his pieces brought me. To me, he was ingenious. His music was like the discovery of the moon landing to me.

I played mostly by memory–since I started playing at the age of seven. Though I didn't like it at first, it wasn't until I discovered Gordon's music to make me appreciate the art.

Playing the instrument made me feel seen. It made me feel visible and open-eyed toward the small world I lived in.

But that moment was interrupted as I heard the door open. Resting my arms, I turned to see none other than Eugene, one of my other friends.

"Oh. Hey, Eugene?" I greeted, feeling at ease that it was just him.

Although he looked a little tense–more annoyed than tense. Did I do something wrong?

He approached me, arms at his side as he stared between me and my music sheet. "Is this why you missed club this morning?"

"What?"

Eugene sighed. "You were supposed to help harvest some honey for fundraising."

"Right!" I exclaimed, setting my violin and bow down with disbelief at my memory. "I'm sorry, I forgot. I was kept all morning with science."

Eugene crossed his arms. "Yeah right, are you taking anatomy too?"

My eyes widened. "What're you talking about?"

"That same normie boy has been dropping you off for this entire week," Eugene began. "And he's totally your type."

I swung my arms in disagreement. "What-? No way, you're being ridiculous. He's just my drop-off and pick-up neighbor."

Eugene's sternness turned into a grin. "Right... you can forget it since Wednesday helped me out this morning."

"She did?"

"Yeah, your mom made her join a club yesterday so she didn't really have a choice," Eugene explained. "Besides, I've got another task for you."

I raised a brow. "I'm kind of scared to ask what."

Eugene smiled. "You're going to help me run the honey stand at the Harvest Festival."

Both my hands palmed my face with woe. "The Harvest Festival? I wasn't really planning to go, Eugene."

"Well, now you have to," Eugene said. "To make up for this morning's hours. You'll only run the stand for two hours anyway since my moms are gonna help too."

I sighed. "Fine."

Looks like there was no way out of the Harvest Festival. And there was no way I was telling Tyler, especially now that I knew he was going.

Eugene left as I packed up my things and headed for the instrument closet to put my violin away. Before I could step out of the closet, I was tackled by someone and yelped.

"Agh! What the hell, Enid!" I exclaimed as I caught my balance. I had bumped into a row of cellos and immediately began picking them back up.

"No, what the hell, you!" Enid exclaimed, about to burst with shock. "You're talking to a normie?"

"What the- who said that?" I asked. "And what does it matter if he's a normie?"

"It's the fact that you're actually talking to someone!" she shrieked. "I've been waiting for this moment my whole entire life."

"I'm not, I swear!" I snapped, hushing her as the dismissal bell rang. Enid quickly skimmed through her phone frantically and shoved it in my face, the illuminating screen blinding me for a second as the contrast in the room grew.

On her phone was a photo of me from this morning leaving Tyler's car. And as she scrolled, there were countless photos of her in and out of Tyler's car–as if they were shot multiple times from a video.

"What- where did you get those?" I demanded. "Did Eugene send them to you?"

Enid grinned. "Some rando number sent it to me. But can you please tell me what I've been missing and explain why your dear neighbor is giving you a ride to and from school everyday?"

"It's only been a week."

"And you haven't told me!" Enid exclaimed.

"If something happened, I would've told you," I said, moving her phone out of my face. "But nothing happened."

"You wouldn't know if someone liked you even if they wrote you a love letter," Enid rolled her eyes. "I mean, what kind of young man has the time out of his day to do this kind of gesture?"

"Normies," I shrugged. "I've got to get to history... Wanna walk me to class?"

Enid rolled her eyes, dragging me out of the closet with her. "This conversation is not over, you understand me? I'm still coming over to sleep on Friday night."

- - - ✦ - - -

I accidentally published part eight first lol.

Your author, riddlefiqs.