One day, Joshua have told me we were friends since Pre-K.
CRAZY RIGHT?!
And he sent me a picture to prove it. Which made me crap my pants. There was 5 year old me, in a pink jacket next to Joshua.
Our friendship is bigger than I've ever expected.
- - - -
I. Think. I. Like. Somebody.
So basically I texted him. Caleb. And we began to talk every single day, building up our dirty, sexual, yet strong friendship. He moved to our middle school last year, from a private school. We met officially at this thing my stupid math teacher held for extra credit.
And to be honest, I only came for the extra credit and the cookies. Those cookies were really good too..
He was and still is dang attractive. He gets me, at some points we end up texting the same thing. We make sexual jokes and..well I'm not going to explain or get into it.
Caleb will be going to the same high school as us, woohoo!
But to be honest, I won't admit it to him about me liking him. Friendships are more important, right?
The only people who knew were Joshua and my two best friends. And they did ship me..well my two best friends. Joshua..well I don't know actually. A little a both I suppose?
- - - -
A week later, I wanted to get over it. I no longer wanted to like Caleb, which could potentially ruin our friendship.
I told Joshua. And you know how he answered?
"You know what my friends always told me when Aria told me she couldn't accept because of her parents? GET OVER IT JOSHUA!"
I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. I didn't know whether he was being funny and just telling me to get over some dumb shit. I told him I'll try however and he told me he'll help me all the way.
And eventually, it went away after a few days.
- - - -
Group conversation? Totally.
Once Joshua told us a story where he wore a suit and went to an Asian place. They thought he was part of the Triads.
So eventually me, Joshua, my cousin, Kelly (who I love to pieces) and Caleb decided to make our own Triad group.
Joshua's idea of course.
So our group conversations consisted the Triad members and we constantly talked on there. I live in a small, somewhat messed up neighborhood while the rest of the group lives in a semi-gated community.
Rich people.
So one day, they started talking about this pool party thing their neighborhood is holding. And of course, I was confused.
But I did want to go, so Kelly shall bring me.
But the thing is I can't swim.
Kelly: IF YOU GET STUCK AT THE POOL AND CAN'T SWIM, ME AND CALEB WILL SWIM OUT TO SAVE YOU BECAUSE WE'RE YOUR LIFEGUARDS AND ASIANS WILL RULE THE WORLD!! GOD BLESS AMERICA.
...that's my cousin alright.
On Saturdays, we take piano lessons (Asian life is too strong) and after we were done, we left straight to the pool. As we walked into the canopy, filled with food that didn't look great at all, Joshua came to greet us.
And we hugged.
And right there, I felt something different. It didn't feel like a friendly hug at all, which I assume Joshua was giving me. Maybe it's just my hormones.
Yeah, probably. Maybe my period is coming soon.
"Where are you guys sitting?" I ask quickly, after pulling apart from him.
"Over there," he said, pointing to a table that was at the very edge of the canopy.
And there sat Caleb, eating away. Typical Caleb.
I decide to run out and scare him.
Which failed.
It was like he expected it. His mom beamed at me and exchanged a few words in Vietnamese, resulting in Caleb's mom questioning why he doesn't speak Vietnamese like me. I took that as a cue to get food.
Me and Kelly looked around for an empty table.
"Let's sit here," she said, settling at a table right next to Caleb and Joshua's.
"Oh no you don't," a voice says.
I turn and see Joshua picking up my food that had already placed upon the wet table. He gestures to Kelly and brings us over to his table.
I awkwardly settle down, not knowing what to do at all. I take small bites of the food, and of course, it tasted terrible. Which is really disappointing. As Kelly leaves to trash her stuff, I give her my food, leaving Caleb's mom surprised.
"Are you hungry?!" she asks.
"Oh no, it's fine," I say, smiling. "I already ate at home."
Lie. Oops.
Caleb sat across me, burping away his life.
"Let's go change," I tell Kelly. I get up, only to realize I have no idea where to go. "Er, where do we go?"
Kelly laughs and calls me and idiot. "Over there." She points at a building. We then go change.
Changing was the struggle. I had to worry about so many things at one time. How dirty the floor was, how I didn't want to take off my shoes because of that. How tight my swim top was. How I was afraid the door will get knocked down, exposing my body. Eventually, I made it.
We leave the bathroom to meet up with the boys.
And man oh man, CALEB IS DANG SKINNY. Like how do you eat so much and stay like that? He can eat all day and still be hungry!
The day was fine. Joshua carried me a whole lot, which was great! Less chance of drowning. Well..if I drown he drowns. We're in this together.
- - - -
"Who is that?" my dad asks, pointing at the name tag, stuck on my shirt.
"It's Jonah, dad," I say casually. Before I left, Jonah high-fived me, "sneakily" handing me his name tag. So I stuck it on me and claimed myself as the new Jonah.
"Who is he?" my dad asks suspiciously.
"Dad, he's a friend," I say.
"Is it the Hispanic guy?" he demands.
Immediately, I wanted to yell at him or cry. "No dad. I told you, we're over. We don't talk at all now and I don't even see him anymore. If you understood me, you would know I avoid him now. I don't mess with him at all. You know that I know he's a bad person!" I say, as calmly as possible.
"Piper, listen to me. It was just a question, why do you need to get worked up?" he asked.
"Why would you ask that? You know what happened, you know how much we went through," I say, getting angry.
He sighs and gives me a glare. He turns and leaves me. All I felt was anger and sadness. He didn't seem to trust me at all, even after how much I've done. Throwing my shoes into the closet, I run up the stairs, lock my bedroom door, and cry.
