Introvert

thirteen

Instantly walking to her locker when she arrived at school the next day, Dylan was surprised at what awaited her. Edwin was talking to Everett at their lockers with a wide grin. As she approached the boys, she looked between them. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked Edwin first.

"Hey to you, too." Edwin laughed at her bluntness. He knew she didn't really mean anything by it, considering he was normally in the parking lot with the rest of the boys. Handing her his black leather book, the boy said, "I brought you my sketchbook as promised."

Dylan held it as she smiled back at him. "Cool."

"I'll meet you at the library during lunch to get it back," he said then turned on his heel and headed to his own locker.

The girl didn't have a chance to say anything else, so she looked back at her other best friend. "What were you two talking about before I got here?"

Putting his last book in his bag, Everett looked back at his best friend. "Nothing."

"Seriously, Ev, what were you saying?"

"Seriously, Dyl," he mocked, "it was literally nothing. He just asked if this was your locker because he wasn't sure. I said 'yeah, why?' Then he explained that he had something to give you."

"Oh," she mumbled. Swiftly opening her locker, she grabbed the books she needed. The two friends then walked to their homeroom together per usual.

During her homeroom, instead of drawing in her own book, she flipped through the pages of Edwin's. Unlike her's, the boy's sketchbook was filled with color. He used paint, but not just acrylic paints. There were a few watercolor pieces and what Dylan assumed were oil paints. Each painting was completely different than the rest, but they all somehow had this quality that had to be Edwin. The girl couldn't put it into words. Simply put though, each detail was incredible.

Dylan couldn't wait to talk to Edwin about it.

When lunch finally rolled around, Dylan kept her eyes on the door, waiting for him to walk into the library.

That morning, Austin had woken up much better and made it to school. During their free period and lunch, he sat at the table with Dylan like he had been doing for the past three weeks. One thing was different though. Instead of her focus switching between her art and him, her brown eyes kept flickering to the library door. Austin didn't understand what was up with her, but he didn't want to question it.

All of a sudden, Dylan's face broke out into the largest smile he had ever seen from her. Her eyes stayed looking past him and this time she waved to someone in the distance. The blonde boy turned his head to see exactly who she was waving at. To his surprise, Edwin was headed directly to their table.

Expecting him to keep his distance, Austin's jaw clenched as the curly-haired boy pulled out the chair right next to the girl.

As Edwin sat down, Dylan grinned from ear to ear while passing his book back to him. "Edwin, those were amazing."

"What was amazing?" Austin asked, trying to keep his composure. He tried to not spit out his words, but it was difficult. The way Dylan lit up just by seeing his best friend bothered him. To his knowledge, they barely spoke and all of a sudden she's so excited to see Edwin. She never seemed to be that excited when it came to spending time with him.

Although he was upset, Austin acknowledged that his feelings weren't fair to Dylan. He was the one who encouraged her to befriend his friends. It was a good thing that Dylan was getting to know more people. But it still hurt deep down.

Dylan's eyes flickered away from the boy next to her to the boy across from her. "Edwin's paintings are amazing. He promised me yesterday that he would let me look at them."

"Only because you showed me your sketchbook first." Edwin flashed her a smile then turned his attention to Austin. "I sat in here yesterday cause everyone ditched me during lunch."

It still stung. Not once had Dylan let Austin touch her sketch book, let alone look through it. The golden-haired boy had asked plenty of times before to just look at what she was working on, but she would always say no. There was no explanation, just a 'no, Porter' and the conversation would be over. How could she trust him more than me? Austin thought as his gaze shifted between the two.

Dylan and Edwin didn't notice the change in Austin's mood, so they went about their business. The curly-haired boy sat on his phone texting his parents about his plans for the weekend and the brunette girl worked on the plant drawing she had started in her free period. Austin just watched Dylan and wished she would show him what she was working on.

The final bell ending the school day echoed through the halls.

The girl pushed through the crowds of people trying to make it to her locker. Keeping her head down, she skipped through the songs on her playlist while putting her earbuds in. Between the commotion of everyone around her and her music, Dylan didn't notice that she had passed Edwin in the hall. She also didn't notice that he was calling her name.

Reaching her locker, she started to put her books back. Fortunately for the girl, she didn't have any homework over the weekend.

The feeling of an ear bud being pulled from her ear made the girl jump. Her eyes met Everett's as she scrunched her nose. "God, Ev, I told you to not do that," she said as she hit his shoulder. "You know it freaks me out."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. It's not my fault you play your music hella loud."

Again, she hit him on the arm while closing her locker door. "What did you want anyway?"

"I wanted to double check that you weren't ditching me on Sunday for your boyfriend."

Dylan scoffed, but still blushed at Everett's use of the word. "No, I'm not ditching you. Also, he isn't my boyfriend."

"Yeah, okay," her best friend said with his eyebrows raised before pressing his lips together. Before either of them could say anything else, his phone began to ring. Dylan glanced down at the screen and saw that it was his mom. "Got to go," he whispered as he walked away.

She waved 'goodbye' until she lost sight of him in the crowd of students leaving the building. As she turned to shut her locker door, Dylan was met with an out-of-breath Edwin. 

"Are you okay?" The girl asked. Holding up his index finger, he tried to catch his breath before saying anything. Chuckling a little at his state, she waited until he was okay to speak.

"I'm fine, just chasing after you," he said with a laugh, "You know you're really fast and good at disappearing."

Dylan laughed with him. There was something about him that made her feel at ease. But it wasn't like Austin.

No one was like Austin.

"Anyway, are you doing anything tomorrow?" Edwin asked.

She shook her head 'no'.

"Good," he said with a smile, "cause I have a project that I know I'll need help with."

"What's the project?"

"My parents are letting me turn our garage into an art studio. I'm taking a gap year next year after I graduate and while I have the free time, I'm trying to open like an Etsy shop or something like that. Try to commission my work."

"That's so cool, Edwin." Dylan was so excited for him because she new how much of a big deal this could be.

Edwin's smile didn't leave his face once. "Yeah, anyway, I'm trying to paint a mural on one of the walls and I thought that it would be easier with someone helping me."

Dylan's phone buzzed as Edwin explained the mural.

B: where the hell r u?

She turned her attention away from her phone and back to the boy across from her. "I will definitely be there, B's just texting me that I need to get to his car. I'll have him send you my number and text me everything I'll need to know."

Edwin nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Dylan."

"Bye," she waved before she walked to the exit for the school.