Be careful who you love

Freshman-16

I woke up the next morning to Dart licking my face. "Hey there, easy boy." I got up. I realized I had fallen asleep on the floor. Right next to my bed. Ugh.

"Let's go boy." I filled his bowl and then went for a shower. After the shower, I thought about what to do. Study? Yeah, I should. I have tests in every class next week. I sat down with all my notes, going through everything. Then I heard my phone buzzing.

Mira: Wat r u doing?

Arin: Studying, and use proper grammer.

Mira: HA. Says the person who spells grammar with an 'e'.

Arin: .-.

Mira: I want to go to the amusement park today. Wanna come with?

Arin: I really should be studying.

Mira: You can study when we get back. And tomorrow. And Monday morning.

Arin: Fine, should I meet you there?

Mira: Yay! I'll text you the park address.

Arin: I'll be there then. What time?

Mira: 12:00

I checked the time. It was 10:30.

Arin: WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE NOW I ONLY HAVE 1 ½ HOURS TO GET READY.

Mira: Oopsies. 😊

Arin: ...

I jump out of bed and go shower. After showering, I try to decide what I'm going to wear. I felt casual today, so I decided with jeans, and a plain black shirt. I checked in the mirror. My hair was a curly hair. "I look beautiful, don't I, Dart?" Dart just looked confused. I laughed. "Who am I kidding? I'm a mess." I try brushing my curls, but they just don't stay down. I shake my head sadly. "Talk about untamable hair."

I got in my car and drove to the address Mira gave me. Sure enough, it was an amusement park. I saw her standing in line. "ARIN, OVER HERE" I face-palm and walk towards her. "I saw you." She smiles. "No, I'm just so happy." She looked sideways, and I saw why she was happy. Right behind us was Matt. I glared at her. "You just called me over here to be a third wheel, didn't you?" She smiled, but I could tell it was the devil's smile. I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, I'm leaving." We were next to get tickets. She grabbed my arm. "At least get tickets with us. Then leave." I sighed and got tickets. They left me. I sighed sadly. "I should just go now."

"Why?" I turn to see Nam. "Oh Nam, you're here!" He smiled. "I didn't know you'd be here, Arin." I see Mira smiling out of the corner of her eyes. She set this up. "I was going to do my homework, but Mira dragged me here, only to learn she was going to ditch me." I shook my head. He laughed. "Well, my friend also called me here to leave with a girl. Wanna ditch this park and catch a move?" I thought about it. It was better than studying. "Sure." We left to go watch a movie. When we got there, he wanted to let me pick, but I insisted on him picking. Me and my big mouth. He picked a horror movie, and whenever I got scared, I squeezed his hand. He'd squeeze back, and then I'd blush. Thank god we were in a dark hall.

After the movie, we decided to get ice cream. The ice cream place was right next to the amusement park, so when we came out I saw Mira, Matt, Jin, Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook, and J-hope coming out of the amusement park. I had just offered some ice cream to Nam and when he went to eat it, I pressed it onto his nose. "That's revenge from the white nosed reindeer." Then he offered me ice cream, and I knew what he was going to do, but he didn't let me refuse. He just jammed it onto my nose. "It's ok, I like Rudolf the white nosed reindeer."

"Hey lovebirds, over here!" I realized how close our faces were. We separated and walked over to them. "What're you guys doing out of the amusement park so early?" I shrugged. "I ditched the moment you left. Matt had ditched too, so we went to go watch a move and then got ice cream." Her mouth opened wide. "Movie? Ice cream? Without me? How could you?" I rolled my eyes. "And you called me here to be a third wheel. Call it payback." She folded her arms and huffed. "You could've just kept the pay. I didn't need it back" she muttered.

"Since we're all here, let's all go to the café." I shook my head. "I'm actually kind of tired. I'll go ahead and go back home." She looked at me confused. "I thought you were scared at home." I shrugged. "I still live there don't I?" Jin gave me a concerned look and pulled me aside. "Are you scared at home?" I shook my head. "That was a few days ago. I'm fine now. And besides. You sent the prince of vampires to look after me when I go home, didn't you?" I hissed.

He scratched his neck. "Well, I wanted you to be safe." I sighed. "I know you mean good for me, but I found out, he was the one that killed my brother. And he was drunk at the time. A powerful drunk vampire that hates me isn't exactly going to keep me safe." Jin widened his eyes. "Oh I'm sorry. If you want, I'll tell him not to come." I sighed. "Will he really keep me safe?" Jin nodded. "He owes me." I nodded. "In that case, he can continue to do that. I need to keep my promise to my brother."

I threw away the remains of my ice cream and said goodbye to everyone. I got into my car. "Time to go home." I drove home in silence, occasionally humming to myself. I got home after a while and decided to study a bit more. After all, I had multiple tests all next week.

~

After a few hours of studying, I think I was good. Finally prepared for all the tests of next week. I checked my phone to see it was bursting with Mira's messages.

Mira: I have news

Mira: I need to talk to you

Mira: I need your help finding one.

Mira: Talk to me

Mira: Can I come over?

Arin: Yeah, sure. I was studying, that's all.

Mira: I'll be there soon.

Mira didn't seem ok. Whatever was wrong, it was important. I waited for her on the couch with Dart in my lap. I heard a knock. I opened the door to see Mira, close to tears. I pulled her in for a hug. "Tell me what's wrong." I sat down with her on the couch. "M-my parents kicked me out." I stared at her in shock for a while. "Why?"

She sat in silence. "Don't tell me if you don't want to." She nodded and sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?" I looked around. "You can live here." She looked at me hopefully. I gave her a pointed look. "You came all this way and I won't give my friend a room? I'm not that crazy."

"But I don't want to be much of a burden." I shake my head. "Why don't you try getting a house, that way, we can both pay for things." She nodded. "That would be the best course of action." I took her things to my old room. "Here, you can stay here. It's empty because no one sleeps here anymore, but you can arrange it however you want. She nodded to me gratefully.

I turned to leave. "Wait." I turned to her. "Yes?" "Do you believe in vampires?" I stared at her. She rolled her eyes and laughed. "I mean as in Twilight stuff. Wanna do a twilight marathon?" I sighed. "Yeah sure, but after I come from the café." She clapped her hands.

I still couldn't get over her question. When she had asked it, she looked so serious. It may just be my imagination. I put on my uniform. "Wanna come with?" She nodded. "What else am I supposed to do?" She got ready and we got in the car. When we headed there, Scott nodded at me. "You're always on time. Are you just never busy?" I shrugged. It was true. I wasn't busy these days because I had nothing to do.

Scott looked over at Mira, then back at me. "We're thinking of getting two cashiers to speed up the lines. Is your friend here interested?" Mira looked surprised. "Yeah, that'd be great and convenient." He went inside and brought out a uniform. "Same as Arin, 15 per hour, 4 hours, 4:00-8:00. You start Monday." Mira nodded. For now, Scott pulled up a stool and we sat together.

The first few hours were boring anyway so Mira and I chatted. Mostly talking about vampires. "So what got you interested in vampires?" I asked, and something flashed in her eyes. "A friend recently told me about twilight, and I'm a total believer." I wanted to talk about how she asked me if I even believed in vampires, but I decided to hold that back. She obviously didn't want me pushing further.

But one thing's for sure, she's hiding something from me.