Deranged Youth | book one

Chapter 20

The wind brushes against my face and I hide my hands into the sleeves of my hoodie for more warmth. I let my ankles hang off the branch as I swing them back and forth. I look ahead at the trees, shrubs, birds, and the school roof peeking through the woods. I came to school a little early on purpose to just come up here and think. To think about what happened with Johnny. The kiss. The fact that he told me that he really likes me.

I take a deep breath to calm myself a little bit and close my eyes.

I start walking away towards my car. But, not even taking two steps, Johnny grabs my wrists and pulls me towards him. He puts his other hand around my back, pulling me closer, and softly puts his lips on mine.

My eyes widen at what's happening and I pull back. Johnny opens his eyes and looks at me, worried about how I'm gonna react. But not letting that get in his way, he tells me, "Maddie, I like you. Really, I do." He takes a hold of my hands and looks me right in the eyes.

I start shaking my head slightly to throw that memory in the trash. I run a hand through my freshly washed hair and stop swinging my legs.

No, I'm not letting Johnny bother me like this. I don't like him and I will make that clear to him. I like Matt and only Matt. All I need to worry about is packing for tomorrows flight.

I open my eyes. There, I feel a bit better. I take a deep breath and exhale all of the worries away. But then, I hear leaves russeling below me. I can't really look down because I will definatley end up falling. But I try to take a little peek to see if who it is but I lose balence slightly and my hands grip the tree to prevent me from falling.

Yup, I will definatley end up falling.

I take another deep breath and sit back up. I look at where the ladder is and I hear someone coming up. "M?" Asks a husky voice. That voice belongs to only one person. 

Matt.

My heart starts beating faster and a smile grows on my face. "Matt?" I ask. I watch the ladder until a head pops up, showing Matt and his messy hair. I get out a sigh, one that I didn't know I was holding. "Hey." I say, trying to hide the excitement inside of me.

"Hey, I had a feeling you'd be here." He finished climbing the ladder and sits down next to me. Did I ever mention that Matt smells like a mix of mint and chocolate. Delicious, I know. I look down and notice there's no space between us. "What are you doing up here?" He asks as I'm fanned with the smell of mint from his mouth.

I shrug. "Just thinking." I stare straight ahead and slouch a tad. In the corner of my eye I see that Matt is studying my face. Hopefully he doesn't see how much this bothers me.

"What about?" He asks gently wrapping an arm around my torso and resting his hand at my side. He keeps looking at me with worried eyes.

I look at him and meet his eye. Maddie, don't let those eyes distract you. Letting out a light sigh, I say, "I went to talk to Johnny yesterday. Not voluntarily, though, Gabby and the others kept bugging me about it because they think I'm the reason why he's acting like this."

Matt furrows his eyebrows, "Are you the reason?"

It takes me a little while to respond. I finally say, "I don't know. I guess." I look down at my hands and whisper, "When I went to talk to him, he told me that he really liked me and then he...he kissed me." I feel Matts arm, that's wrapped around me, tighten a bit. I look at him and he's looking straight ahead, "But I don't like him that way." I clarify. "I just don't understand why he would act like this because of some crush he has on me." He looks back at me and I whisper, "It doesn't make any sense."

I take advantage of the comfort he's giving me and I rest my head of his shoulder. We both look at the scenery ahead of us for a while. Matt turns his head to look at me and says, "Well, how could any guy resist a girl like you." 

I chuckle at his comment, "You're funny."

He smiles, "Who knows, maybe I'm being serious."

****

You give me that kinda something
Want it all the time, need it everyday
On a scale of one to ten I'm at 100
Never get it off, I can't stay away

The Way by Ariana Grande plays in the backround as I pack for Flordia. I love Ariana Grande and all her songs so I sing along. 

Johnny was, surprisingly, here today at school. I tried my best to avoid him and, luckily, he didn't show up for lunch. Gabby and everyone else kept asking me what happened between me and him so I just told them that he said he really liked me and left to go to the library for the rest of lunch. Before I left, though, I saw the sadness in Gabby's eyes and I felt so sorry. The rest of the school day went by as usual and in math Matt would not stop distracting me. The seats changed and now he sits right beside me. So every minute he'd ask, "M, I don't get this." or "Is this right?" or he'd tell me jokes or tell me about how excited he is to go to Flordia with me, which makes me blush every time. I knew he was joking but, boy, he would not shut up. It's cute though.

If you want I got it, I got it everyday
You can go on playing it for me
Stay by your side, I'll never leave you
And I ain't going nowhere cause you're a keeper

I dance over to my small dresser and pull one of the drawers that keep my swim suits. I take out my pastel pink bikini top and a pink floral bottom for my first swim suit and pack it into my suit case. I walk back and take out my triangl swim suit I got for a birthday present from Emma and shove it in my suitcase along with the first one. 

I decide to walk downstairs and grab a bottle of water before I continue packing. When I'm about to run up the stairs the doorbell rings and I turn around to walk to the door. I also have no choice but to get it myself because my dads at work. Plus I don't usually have people come over so this is very excited for me.

I unlock the locks and open the door. Standing before me is Matt who changed into a hoodie, with the hood over his head, and shorts. Paired with his vans of course. I tuck a loose hair that escaped my messy bun and I greet him, "Hey Matt, what are you doing here?"

He shoves his hands in the pockets of his shorts and replies, "Well, I finished packing for this weekend and I thought that we could hang out."

I lean against the door and pout, "I can't. I'm packing right now."

He chuckles, "That's fine. We could chill here."

I blink a couple times before saying, "Uh, sure." I open the door more and step to the side for Matt to come in. "But just warning you, I'm probably going to be asking you what clothes I should and shouldn't bring and entertain you with my amazing dancing." I smirk.

Matt purses his lips and nods his head. "I'm fine with that."

****

Authors note: Hello, hello, hello! Getting back on schedule and this week, for me, is pretty chill so expect some good chapters coming!! Be sure to vote, comment, share, and follow because that would make me very happy!!

xoxo deliriousociety