Hayley's P.O.V:
He smelled really good. And he was incredibly cute, too. Oh, the high school feelings you get when you are close to a guy. How could I dare like him though? He was out my league. Many others already like him, I know this for a fact. I've heard so many whispers all around the school, saying how incredibly cute he was, how he was handsome, the basic things you'd hear from lovesick teenagers who talked like morons when it came to that one special guy.
I couldn't say I disagreed.
At least we were friends. Somewhat.
I felt numb as he approached my locker. My knees buckled as that hint of his scent hit my nose, and it more or less increased the churn of nervousness in my stomach.
"Hey," he greeted me.
I cracked a smile and unlocked my locker. "Hey."
"Aren't you glad the first day is over?" he asked, a complete smile on his face that I feared if I looked at too long, I'd get too lost in it.
"Yeah, I'm pretty glad it's over," I answered with a shrug. "But I have to walk home today. It's not that big of a deal, though, I just don't like walking home...alone."
"Really?" he asked with curiosity, a slight glimmer in his eye. "I am too."
My not-so-good feeling changed at that very moment.
"Seriously?" I asked, still disbelieving.
"Yeah, yeah," he began, "I was going to walk with a couple of my friends, but I could walk with you if you'd like."
My face was a red, I was sure, because the heat struck up in my cheeks so fast I was sure I'd combust. But there was no way to hide my excitement. "Thank you, Josh," was all that I could muster.
Yes, thank you Josh for being my friend. The first of firsts.
We made our way up the dirt path on the track, and onto a sidewalk. My eyes couldn't seem to keep off of the concrete floor, never looking up. I walked forward only to be almost hit by a bike, it was a move much too fast for my still delayed senses.
Josh only laughed. "You're prone to accident, Hayley," he pointed out.
"I know," I agreed nervously, still in shock after the almost-accident. He laughed again. His laugh was musical, happy. So much so that I pictured myself listening to it like I listened to music--all day.
He offered to buy me Starbucks, and I remembered it was his favorite store, so I willingly agreed, just so we could spend more time with each other. Yes, that seemed selfish, but I wanted to get to know him more.
He bought himself a sugared blueberry muffin, and I just got the same. We took a seat on the wooden cafe chairs. He looked into his muffin, like he was studying it closely.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing. It's just...this muffin. How does it fluff like that?"
I laughed. That was completely random. "It's probably yeast. Bread, something. It's not like I cook much."
He smiled. "Yeah, me either."
So he bit into his muffin and so did I.
Our conversation went on with topics that definitely helped in getting to know each other better, topics that new friends would often talk of. Questions were asked back and forth, and soon it felt more like an interview than anything. But despite it all, I enjoyed everything, and how could I not? I was here with Josh Farro. Something that seemed so amazing that, for a moment, I was swayed to believe that I was the luckiest girl in the world.
After that, we crossed the sidewalk, and Josh stopped at a crosswalk intersection. He looked down toward me. "Yeah?" I asked, confused because of his abrupt stop.
"Well...I'm going left. You?"
My smile dropped. "Oh. I'm going right. My house is towards there. I guess we're walking separate now."
He seemed sad too, his face crumped into what I could only describe as a melancholy expression. I turned my head toward the other homes, looking at them with a newfound perspective--hating them for separating Josh and I.
"See you tomorrow, then?" I asked him meekly.
"Yeah. Nice getting to know you Hayley," he said in a suddenly formal, on-edge way. That eluded me. I asked, "Why did your voice change all of a sudden?"
He raised a brow and seemed...nervous? "What? No it didn't."
"Yes it did." I replied. "You sound, well, formal. I don't know--it doesn't sound like you."
He smiled like I was stupid. "Sorry Hayley," he apologized. "I didn't mean to. Please forgive me." The mock-drama in his voice sent a convulsion through me for a reason I couldn't explain. He sounded funny, and nice, and--
God, you sound like a lovesick puppy, my conscience said, hushing the rest of my thoughts.
"Of course I forgive you, Josh. Well...uh..." The awkwardness was a bit hard to recover from, therefore, it takes me multiple tries to press the stopwalk button sufficiently. My world was in a daze with Josh Farro around. Once the "walk" sign finally blinked on, I didn't hesitate to begin my stride. "See you tomorrow!" He called after me.
I turned my head backward to see him standing there, a cute, boyish friend that I knew stirred something inside of me--something more than just friendly feelings. I waved at him quickly. "See you."'
Not Hayley's P.O.V:
She got home around 3:45, and slumped herself down on the couch. Her mother was home already, baking cookies by the looks of it. "Hayles!" she exclaimed, looking down at her exhausted daughter, "How was school?"
Hayley sighed, not in much of a mood to gush about her first day. "I made a new friend," she replied.
Her mother frowned. "That's all you are going to tell me?"
"Yep."
"Hayley, come on. It was the first day of school! Isn't that exciting? Isn't there some news?"
"Mom, I really don't want to eat burnt cookies, so you should probably go watch them in the oven instead of listening to me," she announced, blowing the conversation off.
"Hayley Nichole Williams! To think you were so full of that energy. Now that we moved here you are a pile of...of laziness. Of dirty socks."
Uh oh. Hayley thought. The whole dirty socks phrase is a bad thing. "Mom," she began, while her mom turned her back on her, "The friend I made was a boy. His name is Josh."
"Oh! A boyfriend!" her mother cooed.
"Mom!!" Hayley groaned.
"Sorry. I meant boy 'friend'...as in literally a friend, not that there is anything going on, it is the first day of school and--"
Hayley interrupted. "Mom, this is why I don't like sharing my stories with you. You go on like it's a huge news story about the world ending or something. Look, I'm heading upstairs. Tell me when the cookies are done."
She hauled herself and her backpack up the stairs. It seemed like an eternity when Hayley reached her bed and laid down. She closed her eyes, just escaping it all for a brief moment. Once she opened her eyes, the sudden clamor of daylight hit her senses with such a shocking impact that she winced.
She looked to the left toward her backpack that lay on the floor. Homework was the only pain left to be endured. And so without another thought, she zipped up the zipper of her backpack and pulled out a stray pencil from the bottom.
Days passed on with school, a now regular routine for Hayley Williams, and Josh was talking to her everyday now. The weekend slowly kicked in, and as usual, Hayley had nothing to do at home, and she really didn't feel like moving around the town, either. It was just going to be a sleepy day for her--or so she thought.
"Hey Hayley!" Josh yelled out that Friday, obviously going to ask something.His voice was a happy one, an inviting one. Hayley automatically turned her head toward the sound of it.
"Oh, hey Josh." she said, unable to fight the smile on her lips.
"Are you doing anything this weekend?" his question popped a light bulb in her head. He is going to ask me to hang out with him. Yes! She thought quickly. Then, naturally, her mind shifted to pessimistic thoughts, Maybe he is going to introduce me to his new girlfriend, or maybe he will refuse to ever hang out with me again because I'm weird. No, no. That's stupid. Uh...
"Hayley?" he asked, confused why she had so abruptly stared into space, zoned out.
"Sorry Josh," she started, her voice only a breath, her heart thumping against her chest, "What is it?" her voice came out harsher, edgier than she had originally wanted.
"Oh, okay," he responded, "Well I wanted--no, I am wondering, maybe you'd...you know...want to hang out?" he paused, quickly adding, "There will be people. Like our classmates, you know. Jaelyn, Madison, Alexa, Mike and all of them. We are going up the hills to hike and start a bonfire. It's not going to burn the forest down, I swear. We've done this many times," he continued, trying to make it sound as safe as possible, "And we can easily evacuate because there are many rangers, and--"
Hayley stopped him with her smile. "Thanks Josh," she started, "for being so...persuasive. I'd love to come with you. It will be fun."
The only problem were Jaelyn, Madison and Alexa, the exact girls who annoyed her. She knew for a fact that they had whispered and gossiped about her behind her back more than a couple of times. It was irrational to hate such girls, Hayley knew, because it wasn't going to be worth it to pay any attention to people who were so self-absorbed. She figured as long as Josh was at the bonfire, all would be well.
"When is it?" Hayley asked, after the brief pause.
"This Saturday. I can pick you up if you want."
Hayley thought through this for a second. Her mom would probably be all embarrassing and ask too many questions if a pack of kids showed up at their house. "No, I'll walk to your house. You can email me directions," she announced, her mind made up. It would be too much of a risk if her mother was there.
"Sure, sure. I'll see you then," he said. Then they both began their walk home.
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