wrapped around your finger || l.h.

+ 1 + something's up

i don't even know how i feel about this chapter asdfghjkl ehhhh

"Hey, Charlie?"

     He doesn't look my way.

     "Charlie," I say sternly, no longer smiling. He still doesn't turn as he speaks to Tyson, his cousin.

     "Charlie!" I almost yell.

     He finally looks over at me, smiling and nodding. "What's up babe?" he asks, as if he's not been ignoring me all day.

      I roll my eyes. "Nevermind. I'm gonna go talk to Calum."

     His expression changes and his grip on my waist tightens. "No. Stay here."

     "You're not even paying attention to me. I don't get why I need to stay," I say, prying him off me.

     He grabs my wrist tightly, making me squeal a bit in pain. "No. You're. Staying. Here."

     I shrink back into his side and he lets go, smiling again and continuing his conversation. I rub at my wrist a bit, feeling the bruise start to form. I sigh.

     My friend Calum, the one I mentioned before, laughs with his friends across the courtyard. He sees me and waves me over, but I just shrug and point up to Charlie. He pouts a bit and nods.

     Calum and I have been good friends since the fourth grade, neighbors since birth. He's been there for me through a lot, but since Charlie and I have gotten together, we haven't gotten any time to hang out. I had hoped that this year would be different, but I was definitely wrong. Calum and his friends have been busy with band practice and I'm--you guessed it--nailed down by my jock of a boyfriend.

      Two other boys that I recognize but haven't actually met, I think their names are Luke and Michael, sit with Calum at a bench eating thier lunches, laughing, and just making conversation.

     I feel bad for myself, stuck under the stupid, overrated Senior Tree with my boyfriend, his friends and my... "Friends".

     I suddenly wish I could just leave Charlie to go hang out with the other guys, but I know he won't let me out of his sight.

     I feel hot breath upon my neck. "Maybe later we can go to my place and," Charlie says, his lips sloppily nipping at my neck. "Study or something."

     I push him off, tired of his desire for sex. "I told you Charlie, I'm not ready."

     He huffs a bit. "Fine."

     I'm done now. "I'm going to the bathroom."

     He finally lets go of me and I walk off in the direction opposite the bathroom (the library) and head in to take a breather and think for a bit before seventh period.

     I shoot a text to Calum.

     Claire: Hey u wanna meet me in the library? I escaped. Wanna meet ur friends. :-P

     I get one back not much later.

     Calum: Sure. We'll be there in a sec.

     A minute or two later, I'm sat at a small wooden table with three other boys. 

     "So you're Michael," I say, looking to the boy with bright green hair. He nods, taking a swig from his water.

     "And you're Luke," I say to the other. He's got blonde hair styled up and piercing blue eyes. We stare at each other for a minute and I can't seem to look anywhere else; his eyes are so beautiful.

     "So how've you been these past few years, Claire? We havent' talked for a while," Calum says.

     I snap out of my daze as well as Luke and we both turn to Calum.

     "I'm good. I do miss hanging out with you, though. There's always tons of noise coming from your basement."

     He laughs. "Yeah, maybe you could come over for band practice one day."

  I smile and nod, then remember something. "Except for the fact that Charlie never lets me go anywhere without him."

     Luke and Calum exchange a look and the dark haired boy shakes his head. "It's okay. Maybe you can sneak out one day," he jokes, laughing a bit.

     I give a weak chuckle and nod.

     "So Luke. I'm sure Calum's told you all about me," I say shooting a wink over to my neighbor. He just laughs. "I wanna know about you."

     "Me?" he laughs nervously. "There's not much to know. I mean, I like penguins-"

     I'm sure my eyes light up at the word. "Penguins?" I ask, leaning forward to grab his hands. He flinches but doesn't remove them from my grasp as I smile at him.

     "He's obsessed with them," Michael says exasperatedly, his eyes now focused on his phone.

     "I love penguins!" I squeal

     He squeezes my hands a bit tighter and smiles. "Really? Oh my gosh, that's so cool! I love how they're so clumsy and-"

     Calum laughs. "Like you?"

     Luke lets go of my hands. "Shut up, Calum."

       Before I can say anything the bell rings and I get up to go to class. Luke follows me as I make my way over to Mrs. Kirker's class.

     "Are you following me?" I ask, laughing a bit at the stumbling boy beside me.

     "We have AP Calc together seventh period."

     "Oh. I didn't know that. Guess it's only been a week since school started, right?" I ask.

     He's regained his composure now and nods a bit, his eyes trained on the ground. "Yeah. Right."

~

A week later, I'm at home, and Charlie's thankfully not with me. The bruise on my wrist has almost finally healed. I've had to tell my mom it was because Charlie was pulling me out of the street when I was in the way of a car. I'm starting to get tired of our relationship. We've had nothing in common lately, he hasn't noticed when I sneak off to hang out with Michael, Luke, and Calum in the library, and he's been disappearing all the time during World History. We haven't spent any time together, and when we do, we're always with other people and he doesn't pay attention to me. 

     I start to miss Sophomore Year when we were happy and in love and spent more time together alone and went to school events together.

     I mean sure, he's changed me for the better and I've come out of my shell a bit, but I don't think our relationship is at a productive level right now.

     I decide to call him to have him over so we can talk, but it rings twice and goes to voicemail.

     I call again. Three rings and voicemail.

     Okay, Charlie. You purposely ignore my calls, I'm going to see what's up.

     I grab my sweater before heading out the door.

     "I'll be back in an hour, Mom! I'm going to see Charlie!"