Westbrook
Last January
"So, Stephen..."
For the past...going on too long now, I've been smirking my way through Em's small talk as we sit in a corner area of the student lounge, waiting for Becka. She's fetching drinks from the college café.
"...Big soccer star, huh? Not many people like it. Well, Brandon does. And you, too. Everybody else I know thinks soccer sucks. ...No offense. It's just boring to me, you know?"
I nod. I know.
Talk!
About what?
How about manga?
No. I don't want to sound like a crazy fanboy.
"S—"
"So, tell me...how old are you?" Em asks.
I guess I'll talk about ages instead. "Seventeen."
"...No."
"...What?"
"...Seventeen?" Em's surprised by my genetic youth. "No, you're not. You look fourteen! ...Okay. Maybe sixteen with that stubble."
I smirk because...why not? And if you ask Kenzie, it's not stubble. It's a fuzzy face. I hate it. Why does it keep growing?
Because you're—
"Okay. We've been sitting here for like five minutes and I'm the one who's been talking. Why don't you talk?" Em pulls out an age-old tease that reminds me of those bad middle school days. "You nervous? Shy? Scared? What? Why so red? What's wrong, Quiet Boy?"
Quiet...talk? I have been! I've been answering her questions!
"High schooler?" she asks.
"Online," I say, talking. "Too much...yeah."
Cue the lack of help and lack of socialization stereotypes.
"Sounds better than going to Maple Park High," is...not the response I was thinking. "Becka takes a lot of shit there."
Your high school shadow day proven right.
"So, why here? Bet it's scary without a screen! Ooh!"
"Uh, not really," I smirk. "It's here or Arbourton. With...Mackenzie."
"Arbourton? ...Wow! Think you're too good for H.J.M?"
"Yeah. ...Wait. No! I—"
"Is Mackenzie that girl I see walking by my house?"
"Hm?"
"That girl you're always walking with. I knew you looked familiar. You walk by my place like every night."
Wait. She's that...loud girl before the Triangular Information Station. I know her. I'll hear her yell at a little brother, who's...Brandon's, too?
That's Brandon's house?
That white one with the covered porch.
"You two look so cute together. She your girlfriend?"
Why do people keep assuming that?
I shake my head. "Uh, no. We're just friends."
"Really? Could've fooled me!"
It's getting warm. And awkward. I should've gone my separate—
"You like her."
"...What?"
YOU ARE READING
Earhart & Noonan: An "Us Club" Novel (#1)(NaNoWriMo15)
Teen FictionFor the first twelve years of Stephen Vaughn's life, just trying to get others around him to pronounce his first name the right way ("Stee-vehn Vawn") has felt like the hardest task he's had to try and cope with. That is, until his perfect life with...
