outside looking in. // h.s.

one.

"you've been so preoccupied lately." my bestfriend, matilda day observed.

i frowned a little and fumbled with the sleeve my oversized striped polo. tilda and i were having a day out. we were at the coffee shop that we both love—coffee crumble.

"what do you mean?" i asked her.

"i don't know. you're just not yourself lately and i'm worried because you barely pay attention." she answered while she sipped on her iced white chocolate drink. i cocked my head to the side and sighed.

"i don't know...school is starting to stress me out, i guess." i lied.

"not your parents?" she asked me. i shook my head 'no'. quite surprisingly they've been nice to me this week. my friend half-heartedly shrugged, knowing that i won't tell her anytime soon. hell, i'm not telling anyone ever.

"how will you spend your summer, tilda?" i asked her. school was about to end in two and a half months and i'm about to enter college. sadly, no college has sent me back a letter so i'm really worried.

"i don't know. you know we rarely have the money for extra vacation, especially since my grandma's still in the hospital. but i do want to go to los angeles. i mean, i love new york and there has always been this competition with west coast and east coast but i really wanted to go to los angeles. i've never been there. as a family, we always just went to kentucky, oregon, mississippi, and canada because our relatives live there." she said. we were sort of opposites and similar in some ways. matilda's parents are too busy working just like mine but the difference is my parents' jobs pay off while matilda's doesn't because they're taking care of their grandmother. matilda told me that her uncles and aunts didn't want anything to do with their mother and i know, she gets sad about it. she lives in a run down apartment and i live in a house—that's how different we both were.

"i'm really sorry, tilds. you know you can always come to my house and live there for a week so you won't have to deal with your family at home." i offered. it was true, tilda's parents would always fight because of their bills and low-paying jobs.

"i know. maybe some other time, when my grandma's all better." i nodded at her.

"anyways, let's get out of here. i finished my drink. have you finished yours already?" i asked her.

"yeah...i was just waiting for you to tell me to leave cause i know you're always so slow." she teased. she poked her tongue at me and i laughed.

"oh my god, tilda!" i chuckled and tucked my arm with hers.

"where to next?" she asked me.

"i have to buy a new set of paints." i was painting something interesting and i ran out of the colour that i needed.

"blick?" she asked me and i nodded.

when we arrived at blick, i immediately went to their wide array of paints. i grabbed a big bottle of reeves acrylic in different colours. i grabbed one in green, yellow, payne gray, gray, black, white, blue, and other colours that will help me achieve the aesthetic that i was aiming for. i then grabbed a fan brush, a detailing brush, a flat tip brush, and a round tip brush. then, i went to the palettes and grabbed a cute metal one.

"i could never understand how much you spend on art supplies." matilda said while she holds a new notebook and a new set of pens.

"speak for your self, tilds." i replied while eyeing her new stash.

"i just received my salary! i deserve this."

"do you?" i asked her sarcastically. she nodded and we both chuckled.

we then proceeded to the check-out to pay for our new purchases.

"good afternoon, ladies. i'm claude." the cashier greeted as he scanned my items. tilda and i looked at each other for a brief moment. this claude guy is attractive.

"hey." tilda greeted back while i just smiled.

"that will be $19, miss." claude told me and i gave him twenty dollars. he then gave me my dollar back. after he packed my things, he full faced tilda and smiled at her.

"hey, i'm claude."

"yeah, you just told us. i'm matilda."

the guy blushed and smiled sheepishly. he quietly scanned tilda's items and packed it. tilda paid for it and waited for a change.

"thank you for giving $15. here's your $2 back. hope to see you again sometime, matilda." he said and proceeded to serve other customers.

we left the store laughing.

"matilda day charms another guy again. a world record!" i announced. she clapped her hand over my mouth to stop me from saying. it was true though. matild has a lot of admirers. who wouldn't? she long blonde hair and her over-all physical appearance could turn heads everywhere. not only that but she's super kind as well, lots of girls in our school are jealous.

i looked at my best friend, matilda day, and smiled.

"hey, tilds?" i called.

"yeah?"

"thank you for being my best friend even though the situation's like this."

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chapter 1! sorry it's a little short but the futur chapters would be better. will update on sunday! thanks for reading!

-el 🌻