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Chapter 5

It was weird how fast the night and next day went by. I really don't remember doing anything important except for taking a shower and getting ready. I ate a sandwich that was less than impressive, I watched TV, I took Cubbie for a walk, and that was really all that happened. During the day, of course.

I walked outside, and Toph met me at his car, opening the door for me. He introduced himself as "Christopher Woods, even though I like Toph better." He had the best manners I'd ever seen, and I wondered where he had come from. I told him a little bit about myself, but not too much. He said he had a little brother who's 6 and a little sister who's 12. I told him I had a dog. It was just small talk, and it was nice. We drove for what seemed like hours when we pulled up to a wrought-iron gate. I recognized it as the famous Bishop House, which was the single biggest house in our neighborhood. It took me a moment to realize that it was now the Woods House. He punched in the gate code and drove in, parking his Mercedes-Benz in front of the mansion.

"So, your family bought the Bishop House?" I said awkwardly as we walked towards the huge mahogany double-doors.

"Yeah. My parents are both doctors. We just moved from Miami." He opened one of the doors, revealling the most glamorous foyer I'd ever seen in my life. The whole room was white marble and along the right side, a huge staircase spiraled upwards. Directly in the front was an indoor fountain with a window perfectly above it. It was like walking into a movie... or a dream.

"Oh... cool." I couldn't help but be embarrassed at how pathetic my life was compared to Toph's. He walked towards a huge hallway leading to an even bigger living space and kitchen area, all of which were littered with family pictures. One of the walls was a huge window which fanned open for parties on the back deck. The whole room was lit beautifully by the sunlight which seemed ten times brighter form the hill the house sat on. I carefully took a seat on the leather couch which faced the scenic veiw from the windows.

"You know you don't have to sit all nice and act like my parents are watching us. They're out of town and we don't have any cameras in my house, I swear!"

"That's actually pretty surprising considering that your house is so..."

"Yeah, I know. So do you want to do anything in particular?" Did I? I was already happy as it was just sitting here looking at the veiw from inside. I shrugged and Toph took a seat next to me.

"It's pretty nice just looking at the veiw from here..."

"I know what we can do!" He grabbed my hand insticntively, but retracted right away. I looked at him to try and tell him it was okay, but he looked away, and I didn't bother. I followed him out to the deck which was fit for parties of hundreds, and we walked to the very edge. We looked over at the forestry which had a perfect golden glow behind it. He walked down to the stairs, passing the huge swimming pool and continuing past the gazebo to the forest.

"Where are we going?" I said, trailing right behind him.

"I did some exploring when we first moved here, and I found... this." He said, pulling away some branches and revealing a meadow with a perfect veiw of the sunset.

"Wow. This is really beautiful out here..." I said, scoping out the untouched meadow.

"Yeah. I've come out and watched the sunset a a few times, but I've never shown it to anyone. It's so quiet and peaceful."

"If I had a place like this I don't think I'd ever leave."

"It's hard sometimes. I mean, my family is nice and all, but they expect me to be perfect and sometimes I just don't want to be. You know?"

"Yeah, kinda. My family is pretty dysfunctional." I regretted saying that the second it came out of my mouth.

"I don't mean to pry, but why?"

"You aren't prying. And Joey, my dad, is a pretty heavy drinker. He can't control his actions sometimes, and I just have to deal with it because he's the adult not me. It's just annoying sometimes."

"Yeah. My uncle's that way. My dad is so ashamed of him, he doesn't talk to him anymore. It's sad." It was even more sad that Joey was the equivalent of Toph's uncle to his family. We sat in silence for a little while, letting the sun heat up our bodies. He turned to face me, but I didn't look back. I wanted to remember this place even if I never came back. "So are you pretty popular at Freeman?" I burst into laughter.

"Popular? Not in the slightest. The only real friend I have is that freshman, Jenna."

"Really? I have a lot of trouble believing that."

"Why do you say so?" I realized he had only been at Freeman for a couple of days; how could he know anything about me?

"I don't know. You're just different. You'd think people would respect that and like you for it." I laughed again.

"You really are new." He smiled timidly and my heart melted; it must've been the perfect lighting. "Anyways, you've met Jamie Meyers, right?"

"Yeah, but not really by choice. Her friends told me she thought I was cute; she just likes me because she thinks I'll be her eye-candy." I rolled my eyes. That was par for the course for Jamie. Toph looked behind him, then laid back, closing his eyes and letting me look at him for a second before I laid back too. He was perfect; his messy hair shone golden-brown in the sunlight and his face seemed tan to perfection, most likely from the Miami sun he had gotten previously. I laid back, closing my eyes and wishing that I could stay here forever instead of going to school or back home or anywhere else. I fell into a trance of thought and emotion.

When I opened my eyes again, the sun was almost completely down, making the whole meadow shine a shade of gold unlike any other. I sat up, only after looking at Toph's super toned back muscles. I hadn't fallen asleep, but a wave of thoughts had come over me at once, and I felt oddly relaxed afterwards.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh... uh, yeah. I was just thinking about stuff. It's so quiet out here."

"Yeah. Sometimes that's what you need; quiet time." For being as well-off as he was, Toph was probably one of the most down-to-earth people I'd ever talked to, not that there was too many.

"Why did you ask me to hang out with you?" I blurted out.

"I... uh, well..." I had caught both of us off-guard.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud. I was thinking and-"

"No, I should answer it. I mean, for starters your friend caught me checking you out, and you seemed like a really cool person. Just looking at you I could tell you weren't trying to be like everyone else. I like it." I smiled to myself. Apparently I wasn't the only crazy one at Freeman.

We got up after the sun completely went down, Toph constantly looking back to make sure I hadn't tripped or gotten behind. We made it back to the monumental house where we each got some iced tea and headed to the living room. We sat around for a while before deciding that I should go home, even though Joey had been expecting me at no particular time.

"Since you have to leave so early, maybe you can come back over tomorrow at sunset. I'd love to watch it with you again..." He said timidly, his fingers running through his thick, brown hair. He was too adorable... and hot at the same time.

"Definitely. That place out there is absolutely perfect." I said as he pulled up in front of my house. I kissed him lightly on the cheek and thanked him for inviting me over before stepping out of his car. I went upstairs and sighed as I plopped down on my twin bed next to Cubbie. I knew what I was going to dream about that night...