Neighbors

T W E N T Y - T W O

PIPER

A week passed since I lost Paps. Things around haven't been the same since we found out about his passing. My parents weren't as enthusiastic or charismatic as they usually were in the morning. My aunt and uncle rarely held a conversation with each other or anyone of us in the house. Even Lynn was affected. All week, she kept to herself at school and at home.

After the funeral, however, things slowly began to return back to normal. My mom and dad were a bit more lively with every passing day. Lynn was her bitchy self once again, belittling anybody and everybody. I, however, was stuck in a rut. No matter how hard I tried to get back to my usual self, I couldn't force myself to be happy and fake a smile. But I was getting better each day with the help of Catherine, Adrianna, Bryce, Garrett, and Beckett. Even Sadie was helping by just being her bubbly and cheerful self.

As I walked through the halls this morning, I ignored all the judgmental glares from Gabrielle and her posse. She constantly spouted rude comments in my direction but I refused to acknowledge them, which only pissed her off even more. She loved having people cower in fear in her presence, but I wasn't about to give her that satisfaction. Every time she saw me in the hall, or in class, or at rehearsal, she took that as her opportunity to mock me. Especially now more than ever because I was spending more time with Beckett. She was clearly jealous that he was giving me all of his attention rather than her. I had to admit, it was nice to see her whine and pout because her "boy toy" didn't pay attention to her.

My classes were the same. My teachers would ask if I was doing better and I gave all of them the same answer. By the time math rolled around, I tried to focus on the notes on the board.

"Hey, are we still on for movies and ice cream after rehearsal?" Beckett turned around and whispered, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Shouldn't you be focusing on the lesson?" I countered, pointing to the complicated calculus equation that was on the board.

Beckett rolled his eyes, "it's not like I'm going to understand it any more than I do now so why worry? But seriously, movies and ice cream?"

"Fine, but only because it's a Friday and I'm in the mood for some Ben and Jerry's," I complied.b

Recently, the two of us often hung out by ourselves. For awhile, we would only do things with our group of friends that consisted of Bryce, Garrett, Cat, and Dri. But ever since Paps passed, we'd spent a lot of alone time together. One of our traditions that had developed over the past week was that we would eat pints of ice cream while watching Disney films. I often found Beckett looking at me and not even paying attention to the movie that was playing on screen. Every time, I mentioned this to my mother or my other friends, they always insisted that he had serious feelings for me. While they were certain that was the reason, I was pretty hesitant to agree. Beckett and I may have kissed several times and been on a few dates, but nothing was official.

Once the final bell rang, I exited my english classroom and waited for Beckett at the end of the hallway. When he arrived, we walked down to the auditorium together.

"Hey do you mind if Sadie joins our little movie night? My mom has to work late and my dad is out of town on a business trip," he explained, looking down at his phone as we walked briskly to rehearsal.

I nodded, "yeah that's fine. Just make sure you get some ice cream for her too."

"Okay, my mom is at home with her for now," he informed.

Shortly, we arrived at the auditorium and made our way inside. After dropping our things in a seat, we switched into our character shoes and went on stage for warm ups.