Student Exchange (FINISHED!)

Chaper 9

AUTHORS NOTE: hey guys!! I made the characters name Ash but i'm not sure if i like it. Tell me if you want me to change it x. Enjoy!

3 weeks later, Patrick came into Cleo's room at about 2am and jumped on my bed.
"Patrick? What are you doing?" I mumbled.
"I had a bad dream. Can I stay with you?" His high-pitched voice made it impossible to say no.
"Ok. You have to go straight to sleep."
"I will. Promise."
Patrick was the cutest 4 year old in the world. He loved Spider-Man and always pretended to shoot webs everywhere. He would wrestle Pepper - who was a border collie - and pretend she was the bad guys. He constantly came into Cleo's room and asked me to fight off monsters. I'm glad he was comfortable around me enough that he trusted me with such an important job.
He was a bed-hog but it wasn't that big of a deal. I felt like Patrick was my little brother, temporarily he is, and it's going to be impossible to leave him behind.

Cleo's alarm went off in the morning and I dragged out of bed to get ready. I'm not a morning person! Me and Cleo chatted easily and got ready together. Three weeks ago Marcus asked me to be his girlfriend and Cleo couldn't have been anymore excited for me! She squealed and danced and squealed some more. It meant a lot that even though Martinus didn't seem to like her the way we thought, she was still happy for me.
We walked outside to see Marcus walking up the steps.
"Hey," I said, Marcus grabbing me by the waist.
"I thought I could walk you two lovely ladies to school," He said, smiling.
Cleo nodded and smirked at me. I hit her shoulder softly and she backed off a little. Marcus took my hand and we walked to school in easy chatter.
"Wanna come to the field after school? We're going to play football," Marcus directed the question at both of us.
"Who is 'we'?" Cleo asked.
"Me, Tinus, Justin, Owen and hopefully you two."
"Ok. But it football soccer? Or actually football?" I asked.
They both laughed loudly.
"Oh baby. It's soccer." Marcus laughed some more.
I stopped abruptly. "What did you just call me?" I asked.
"What?" He asked.
"I recall you calling me 'baby'. Am I correct?" I teased.
"Uhh... yeah you are correct." He looked worried.
"You're so cute, Marcus." I leaned and kissed his cheek. His face filled with relief.
"Ew you guys are gross." Cleo contorted her face.
Marcus and I just laughed.
As the long school hours dragged along, I kept daydreaming about Marcus. Would he kiss me? I've never kissed anyone before! What if I'm terrible...
Cleo bumped my arm and she pointed at the math teacher. He was staring at me with his hands on hips.
"Pay attention!" He scolded.
"Sorry, sir," I mumbled. Marcus was up the front with Tinus and he looked back at me and smirked. I started blushing but didn't look away until he did.
But I saw Tinus staring at me too. When I caught his eye, he turned away.

When school ended, Mac, Tinus, Justin and Owen met Cleo and I at the school gate. Owen had a soccer ball under his arm. Marcus took my hand and Justin and Owen made kissing noises. Marcus punched each of them in the arm and they all started laughing. Tinus just stared at the ground. He seemed sad. I hoped Cleo would talk to him and figure it out.
We all walked to the soccer fields and Justin brought up math.
"You were completely zoned out!" He said to me. "What's with you today? You're always teachers pet!"
"I keep getting distracted," I answered.
"He said your name about 10 times and you were just staring into space. Didn't you hear everyone laughing?" Owen said.
"I didn't hear anything. I'm lucky Cleo hit me!" I laughed.
"So what were you thinking about?" Owen said. "Marcus?" He kidded.
Obviously I was thinking about Marcus but I didn't want to say that!
"Uh... I was thinking about... uhh... my family back home..." I'm a terrible liar!
"Suuuurree..." Justin said. Cleo burst out laughing.
Marcus just squeezed my hand. Tinus still hadn't said anything.
"So Tinus, who's better at, uh, football? You or Marcus?" I asked him, trying to start a conversation.
"Uh, I think I am but Marcus thinks he is." He sounded distant.
We walked in silence a little more when I heard Marcus humming a song. It took me a while to figure out it was 'Grenade' by Bruno Mars. Figures, he loves Bruno. It must be contagious because then I heard Cleo humming as well. She's a really good singer and I'm sure she'll dazzle Martinus if she started to sing.
Owen started dancing and everyone laughed. Martinus then started singing the lyrics, which led to Marcus singing. They were so damn good! Then Justin started singing (even though it was terrible) and Cleo started to quietly sing. She's soo good! She should be belting out the notes!
I just stuck to humming because I'm not that good. Owen just kept dancing. It was a nice moment where everyone was having fun! And they sounded amazing! I hoped this lasts forever...

~Martinus view~
I was jealous. I wish Ash liked me! But she was dating Marcus... I can't say anything to her now because Marcus will be so angry with me! Brother of the year, standing right here.
She kicked the football into the goal, past Marcus, and spun in the air to celebrate. She was actually really good at football! We'd been playing for nearly an hour and everyone was exhausted. But not her. She was dancing around the field, dribbling the ball, while everyone watched her.
She was so beautiful. She had a good energy and you couldn't help but want to be around her more. Marcus is lucky. I wish I was... I guess I'm lucky to be her friend or to even know her!
I've written so many songs about her... about her personality and how she acts and about how I wish she was my girlfriend. No one is allowed to hear those songs. I wanted to play all those songs to Ash, to make her fall in love with me, but I can't. It hurts a little to know she doesn't think of me that way.
She ran over to Marcus and threw her arms around his neck, they laughed and stumbled a bit. They were a cute couple, but I don't really like to see them together. I don't go on group dates with them anymore because it's so awkward and painful.
I looked at the ground and kicked at the grass. When I looked back, Marcus was giving her a piggyback ride. Ash kissed him on the cheek and he grinned. They were that gross couple that can't be around other people...
I turned to everyone's school bags and got my drink bottle. Cleo came up besides me and sat down.
"They're gross aren't they?" She asked me. Cleo was pretty and a good singer but she seemed to be hung up on me. I don't really like it when girls do that. Maybe I was getting the wrong vibe and she's just a really chatty and bubbly person, but she doesn't seem to be striking up a convo with Justin or anyone else. And she isn't...
"I'm happy for them..." I said flatly. I realised I sounded like a jerk but I'm just a little deflated.
"I wish I had a boyfriend..." she said, still watching them. What does she expect me to say now?
"I'm sure you'll find someone," I said to her. Marcus had put Ash down and they were walking with Owen and Justin over to us.
"I'm so tired!" Owen complained.
"I could play for so many more hours!" Ash said, grinning. Her smile was so contagious, I caught myself smiling too. You can't help it, she's just magical like that.
Someone's phone beeped and Justin said "oh man. I gotta go. See you on Monday!" He said running off with his bag.
"I better go as well..." Owen said reluctantly. "Bye!" And he chased after Justin.
The four of us just sat in a circle, drinking water and picking the grass.
"Just so everyone knows, I go back in 6 more months... it seems like a while but if we keep having this much fun, it's gonna fly past..." she was right. She didn't have too much longer here... I wish she could stay forever.
"Don't mention it please. That process is going to be hell!" Marcus said.
"You're coming back though, right?" Cleo asked.
"Yes of course! You're like my family Cleo! I can't not come back. I think I would need to see Mac and Tinus again, maybe once or twice," she teased.
"Good," I said. "We're all going to miss you while you're gone..."
"Can we stop talking about this depressing subject and go do something fun?" Marcus asked.
"I agree!" Cleo said. "Oh wait! My mum booked me into the dentist... ugh."
"Oh yeah. We'll have to go back soon."
"Well I'll go back, you can do something else. You may as well do something fun because watching me get my teeth cleaned isn't a pretty sight," Cleo laughed.
"It's probably going to rain," Marcus said. "We should go watch a movie at our place."
"Really? That would be so fun! I can meet Emma and your parents!" Ash grinned.
Great. A movie date night with my crush who's dating my brother...