The Van

Chapter 2

Two Months Later

Peyton's POV:
It was a rainy Saturday in April and I was extremely bored. I had gone to Sage's around 10:00 that morning since I was home alone. The rest of my family was at my ten year old brother's soccer game that no one bothered to wake me up for so that I could go too, which was okay with me after I saw what the weather was like outside. I had rushed to Sage's house after the electric went out at my house because of the wind and I did not want to be home alone in the dark. I went to Sage because her house always seemed to have power, it was strange. At least I had someone to count on for wifi in times of crisis.

We were laying around watching movies with piles of blankets on us, our moods matching the outdoors. We were in the middle of The Amazing Spiderman 2 when we heard the front door slam and then footsteps stomping down the stairs. A soaked James soon marched into the room and flopped face down onto the couch I was laying on and groaned quite dramatically. Since he was so tall, he was partially laying on me, his feet in my face. I pushed them off, causing the rest of his body to roll off the couch. He landed on his back and he just stared up at the ceiling and then let out another dramatic groan.

"What's your problem?" Sage finally asked.

"Tess is driving me absolutely insane." James cried out almost immediately, like he was waiting for someone to ask. Tess is James' girlfriend of one month. When she asked him out, he was ecstatic. He's had a crush on her probably since the fifth grade, but never had the courage to ask her out. The rest of us weren't very happy about it because we all knew what Tess was like. She was just another one of the gorgeous, obnoxious, popular girls that everyone falls for, and then later crushes them. Plus, I've had my experience with Tess. One time, in sophomore year, Tess and her group pushed Jordan and I into some lockers and then threw our books across the hall. Everyone laughed at us. Then, when we told James in hope he would forget this crush of his, he just brushed it off and said to give her another chance. We tried, but then the same thing happened to Coen a few days later. We decided to just give up on James though, he was in too deep. I just wish he would catch her in the act.

"What did she do now?" I sighed sitting up. This is not the first time he has come to us with Tess troubles. The first time it was her wanting to copy his Biology homework, the next was her wanting him to skip Church on Sunday to go to a beach party. We all knew exactly what she was doing: using him for his extreme smarts and then changing him into one of the popular guys who only cared about parties and girls. We thought James was too smart enough to not turn into one of those guys, but we've all seen it happen.

"She asked me to go to one of those awful parties at a stupid football player's house the night that we were all going to hang at Coen's," said James, still staring at the ceiling.

"And what did you say?" asked Sage slowly, glancing at me.

"That I'd go. I don't want to though! I panicked and I really like her and I was afraid she'd get upset and dump me right then and there and I just don't know what to do!" Seeing James like this broke my heart, and I knew it broke Sage's as well because James has always been a free spirit with a great sense of humor and always knew the right thing to do and say. Tess has already changed him for the worse.

"I think that she isn't worth it and that you should dump her. She's not right for you, James, and you'd be better off without her. You guys have nothing in common anyway," I said, putting it as blunt as possible.

"Other than the fact that you both like her," Sage pointed out. She was right, no one could like Tess more than herself. We tried to hold in our laughter, but we both failed miserably. James just glared at us.

"This isn't funny, guys! I need serious help with this situation!" he whined.

"I know exactly what you need," Sage said after she calmed down a bit after laughing so hard and then jumped out of her chair and ran to her room. She came back a few seconds later with her speakers and placed them on the coffee table. "A dance party!" She plugged her phone into the speakers and clicked on a song. His face immediately lit up when he heard what song it was. We all knew it was one of his favorites, Sadness Disease by Urban Cone. I stood up and pulled him up off the floor and started dancing as stupidly as I could while belting out the lyrics. All three of us just ran around the room singing and dancing, free in the moment from stupid popular girls and drama and all worries. It was moments like this that I lived for.

After the song was over, James was noticeably more relaxed and not as stressed. Me and Sage looked over at James with hopeful looks on our face, praying he decided to do the right thing and get over Tess.

"I think I'll just tell her I can't go to the party because I don't feel well," James said with a smile, thinking he's doing the right thing. Our faces dropped. He wasn't going to break up with her after all and was going to lie to her instead. Great, now he's a liar.

"Good plan," Sage said and rolled her eyes.

"What? That means I get to hang out with you guys and still get to keep Tess as my girlfriend." Yeah, but that's not what we were telling you. "Whatever, I've got to get home before the storm gets worse," James said and then he was gone. We both sighed and got back under our blankets and continued watching the movie.

You'll figure it out soon, James.

Author's Note:
Chapter 2! It'll get more interesting after this I promise. I'm going to start doing a song for each chapter. So the song of this chapter is Sadness Disease by Urban Cone.

I hope you guys like it! Don't forget to vote, comment, and share :)
(And check out Moments Like These it's pretty swell)

-HarperAddisonBlue

//edited//