The Contract

Chapter 13

I groan in frustration as I stare blankly at the sheet of paper in front of me. I hated math more than anything in the world. I sigh knowing that I'll never be able to avoid math in my whole life. Especially in the course I want to take. "I'm barely even halfway done." I mumble to myself. I don't even think I need to find the equation of the circle using the Pythagorean  theorem in the future.

After probably 5 minutes of trying to answer my math homework, I decide to take a break. I get my phone and see a few text messages from Dylan. I smile to myself knowing how close Dylan and I are getting. I know it's not exactly right that I'm texting the brother of my pretend boyfriend, and I don't know if I should feel guilty or not. Cole isn't my real boyfriend but something inside me is telling me that whatever I'm feeling for Dylan is wrong. I know I have a small infatuation with Dylan, but Cole doesn't have to know that. Halfway through replying to Dylan my phone suddenly rang. I look at the caller ID and see Cole. I furrow my eyebrows wondering why Cole would call me now if we just saw each other at school awhile ago. He rarely ever calls me.

I pick up his call. "Hey"

"Jean!" He exclaims excitedly through the call "I need you to come over now."

"Why?" I ask. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. I just really really need you to come over!" His voice was shaky, I was starting to get worried.

"I can't go unless you tell me why. My mom is home and I can't just leave." I hear him groan in annoyance on the other side of the phone.

"Fine" He grumbles impatiently "I'll just go to your place. Wait for me." My eyes widen. He can't go here, I don't want my mom to see him.

"Wait, what? No-" but before I could even say anything else, he ends the call. As much as I'd want Cole's company, I wouldn't want my mom nosing around about what we have. My mom doesn't need to know that the school bad boy/childhood friend of mine is now my "boyfriend."

Pacing around my room and thinking about how I'm gonna explain to my mom what Cole and I have. He didn't have to meet my mom, that wasn't part of the contract.

Constantly glancing at the window, I finally see Cole's car pull up. My stomach suddenly had butterflies, and it's not the good kind. I quickly changed my shirt and ran downstairs, hoping my mom wasn't anyone near the door. Maybe I could sneak Cole in my room without my mom knowing. But right when I got at the foot of the stairs, I already heard Cole's voice "good morning, Mrs. Tyler. Is Jean home?" My eyes widen. Once I'm by the door, I see my mom already letting him in, with (surprisingly) a smile on her face. "Oh Jean, Cole's here for you." She says as if that wasn't obvious enough. I look at Cole and he looks kind of different today. He wasn't wearing his signature leather jacket, like he always does. This time, he was just wearing a blue polo shirt. Cole had a huge smile on his face. It was only know did I notice that he was carrying a shoebox. The one Bob stays in. The box was covered, but it was poked with a lot of holes. "Is that..." I ask, but before I could finish my sentence, Cole nods. I cup my hand on my mouth as I slowly approach Cole. My hands were practically shaking when I carefully and slowly lift the cover of the box. I gasped when I saw a little chick, snuggled OO in a small fleece. The cracked egg shell just at the side "Oh my god" I say looking up at Cole who was still smiling brightly. "What's that?" My mom asks curiously, looking into the box.

"It's a chick" I say, not taking my eyes from the small bird, currently sleeping.

"Oh" my mom says "Why do you have a chick?"

"It's for a science project" Cole says.

"Cole, do you want to go in my room first?" I ask before my mom could ask anymore questions. He nods, and I quickly push him up the stairs as my mom stares at us with confusion. Once we get to my room, Cole carefully places the box on my bed. He sat down and just stares at Bob.