Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 67

KATE 

I headed back over to my lunch table to grab my lunchbox, still waiting for Axel's reply. Finally, he said,

AXEL - Yeah, that's fine. We actually got a new guy today so I didn't need u, but I still wanted u to be there... You know, cuz I kinda love ya ;)

I smiled, no longer feeling guilty.

KATE - Ha ha, aw, and what's the new guy's name?

I didn't get a response from him before the bell rang so I just tucked my phone into the pocket of my shorts and headed to my next class.

Eventually, halfway through the period, Axel responded.

AXEL - Uh, I think his name's Connor... Why?

I bit my lip, a habit that I had whenever I was thinking about something. Do I know him? I wondered.

KATE - No reason, I was just curious if maybe it was someone ik from school.

The dots appeared seconds later before he said,

AXEL - Nah, he goes to my school. He's in my grade.

I smiled to myself, partly grateful that I was not going to be working with someone from my school because that would be kind of awkward since he knows Axel.

KATE - Oh, r u friends with him?

He responded, but I didn't get the kind of response that I was expecting. Instead, he seemed almost angry.

AXEL - Jesus, Kate, why do u suddenly care so much? No, he's not my friend.

My heart sunk and I didn't understand why at first. So what if he's pissed? Lots of people get pissed. But then I read his text over once more and I realized that it wasn't about that at all. It was the fact that he'd called me Kate.

✡ ✡ ✡

After school, I met up with Corey by her locker.

"You should probably bring your math book," I suggested to her once she reached toward the door of her locker to shut it.

"Oh, right," she said, opening it wider and stuffing it into her bag.

We left the building and Corey pulled me to her car. "Thanks for doing this," she said.

"I'd be an idiot not to, I don't want to lose my best friend to the wrath of her mother," I replied, laughing, but then I stopped. I had just called her my best friend, I thought to myself. And I liked it.

"Hey, child genius, you getting in or not?" Corey called to me from the driver's seat.

I sighed and hopped in, dropping my backpack at my feet before buckling my seatbelt.

"You know that I have a backseat, right?" She asked, gesturing to my feet that were now hidden beneath my backpack.

"Yeah, I know," I replied, shrugging it off. "I don't mind it there."

She nodded, passing me her phone. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "It's a twenty-minute drive," she explained, "and I'm pretty sure you don't want it to be a silent one."

I nodded and scrolled through her playlists before discovering that she had one for Julia Michaels as I did. I hit play and put her phone into a cup holder between us. "Feel free to put your face ID into my phone," she said, "everyone else has."

I picked up her phone, realizing that she had the new iPhone that was just released not too long ago. The iPhone 11. I turned it over, not surprised that it was the purple one since she'd mentioned that it was her favorite color. I went into her settings and discovered that, sure enough, she had Amy and Kyle's face ID's on her phone. I hit "add new face" and moved my head around until it worked and my face ID was in her phone. I typed my name and hit "add" before going back into her Spotify and hitting "shuffle play".

We reached her house and I handed her back her phone. She thanked me and opened her door before grabbing her backpack from the backseat.

"My parents most likely aren't home yet, so it'll just be us for a bit," she said, unlocking her front door using a key that was hidden under a mat placed in front of the door.

Once the door was open, she tucked the key back under it and turns on a few of the lights. "So, do you want to work in the kitchen or my parent's office?" she asked behind me.

"Either one's fine," I responded.