I had woken up early today. I put on a white short highwaist skirt with a black turtleneck, tucked in securely. I wore a black sandal, which is more comfortable; I don’t know how people walk in heels. After I was done with dressing, I threw in some natural make-up and ran downstairs to have breakfast.
My parents and Asher were still around; they are leaving on Friday, the same day as the game night. I don’t know if Hayden is aware of the arrangements our moms made, but I will ask him later today.
I ran to the kitchen, taking a few bites of my cheerio’s. I grabbed my backpack before racing out of the door, bringing my journey to school. I plugged in my earpiece and listened to my favourite songs as I walked to school.
The distance wasn’t that long, so I got there on time. I made my way to my locker to see Sofie and Maddie already waiting there for me. Sofie had her phone out while Maddie was chewing gum, twirling her hair as she talked to Sofie, who seemed not to be paying any attention to her.
“Hey guys,” I said when I got to my locker.
“Bree, finally, you are here. Sofie is no fun; she wasn’t even listening to anything I said.” Maddie huffed, and Sofie let out a sheepish smile.
” Sorry.” She said this to Maddie, who turned her face to mine. Ignoring her.
“I wonder what got all her attention.” I say, grinning.
“I’m sure it had to do with a certain British boy.” Maddie mumbled.
“Actually, Australia,” I said, correcting her.
“Still the same thing, babe.”
“No, it’s not”.
“Yes, it is.”
“No it…”
“Okay, break it off, you two.” Sofie cut me off before I finished my sentence, making me huff. “You both are like babies.”
“I didn’t do anything.” I replied, pointing towards Maddie. “She started it.”
Maddie gasp. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No i…..”
” Ugh! What will I do with the two of you?” Sofie banged her head at the locker, Maddie and I gave her a cheeky smile, and we all burst out laughing.
“How was your date with Dylan yesterday?” I asked Maddie, opening my locker, to put my things in and take the books I needed for my next three classes before lunch.
“It was okay.” She replied, avoiding our gaze.
I looked at her sceptically; it was obvious that she was lying. “Did something happen?”
“What? Everything is fine.” She said it again, still avoiding eye contact with Sofie and me.
“Is something going on between you and Dylan?”
“I thought things between you and Dylan were great.”
I asked at the same time as Sofie, and Maddie just sighed in response, looking behind us. We both turned to see what she was looking at, and there stood Dylan, Hayden, and Daniel. But the look on Dylan’s face caught my attention. He looked sad and depressed. He was staring at Maddie but didn’t make any effort to walk towards her.
He had a look of longing in his eyes. Hayden tapped his back gently, and the boys walked away, going separate ways.
“Okay, what the hell is going on? I’m confused.” Sofie asked, looking confused like I was.
“Maddie, what happened yesterday?” I asked very slowly, waiting for her reply.
“Can we not talk about it, please?” She turned to walk away, leaving Sofie and me in a more confused state.
“What is going on? I have never seen those two act this way before.” I murmured, watching Maddie’s retreating back.
“I have no idea, Bree. I think it’s best you hold off telling her about Hayden.” Sofie suggested, and I nodded, agreeing with her.
The bell rang, announcing the beginning of class. Sofie and I walked together to class. We got into the classroom; my eyes scanned for Maddie, but I didn’t see her in our usual seat. Sofie and I both walked to the back of the classroom, where our seat was. The teacher enters the classroom, beginning the day’s lecture.
The first part of the class passed through; now it was lunch. Let’s just say it was beyond awkward. Maddie was here with us, but she didn’t say anything and couldn’t pick up her food. It was the same with Sofie and me; we couldn’t say anything because of the tension.
The boys were not sitting with us like they used to; they were in their usual seats. Even when Oliver sat with them, he waved at us, and we waved back. Well, Sofie and I did, but Maddie just ignored him, her face cast down. That was how lunch went; the atmosphere was very depressing. After the bell rang, I hurried and stood up. Throwing out my leftovers.
“Where are you going to?” Sofie called out.
“I will see you in class; I just need to take care of something.” I told her, racing out of the cafeteria. I ran in the direction I saw Hayden and the boys go.
” Hayden.” I called out to him, stopping him on his track.
“Go ahead; I will catch up with you later.” He said this to them, and they nodded. Going along the way.
” Hey.”
” Hey.”
“I wanted to talk to you.” I said, taking a step forward.
” Okay.”
“Can we go talk somewhere else?” He stayed quiet, like he was thinking about it. He took my hands in his, leading me upstairs till we got to a door that leads to the rooftop.
“Do you have access to it?” I questioned. No one was allowed to enter here without an access key card. Hayden smirks at me, bringing out a card from his pocket. He swiped it through the door, and it opened.
I was amazed at the sight of it; I doubt anyone had ever been to the rooftop. Except for Hayden, because how else does he have the key card? The rooftop was like a green house, filled with different flowers, and there was a resting chair by the side.
Hayden pulled me to where the chair was, and I took a seat beside him. We both stayed in a comfortable silence before I decided to break.
“Do you know about our mom’s arrangements?” I asked, staring at the sunflower in front of me.
“Yeah, my mom told me this morning. I’m surprised you agreed to come stay with me, given the way you were trying to avoid me.” He voiced out.
“It was either that or my aunty Vicky. Believe me, you are a way better option than my aunt.” I joked, making him laugh.
“She can’t be that bad.”
“You haven’t seen her; trust me, she is worse.” I counter back. We fell into another silence again, and this time it was broken by Hayden.
“When is your parent traveling?”
“On Friday.” I whispered, and he nodded.
“You probably won’t tell me, but I just need to know. What exactly is going on between Dylan and Maddie? Maddie won’t tell us anything, and she has been looking so put down.” I was worried.
“I don’t really know what happened between them, but Maddie broke things off between them.”.
” What…” I screamed out, surprised. “Why would Maddie do that? They looked so in love just a few days ago, so why would she end things with Dylan?”
“Dylan refused to get into more details, but from what I got, Maddie seemed to be in love with someone else.”
I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. Maddie was in love with someone else. What the hell was going on?
“I doubt that. If she liked someone else, Sofie and I would be the first people to know.” I tell him, refusing to believe whatever he says.
He tilted his head, looking at me. “How sure are you that she tells you everything?”
“We are best friends; we tell each other everything.” I replied.
“So that means you told her about us.” His question caught me off guard, and I blinked rapidly.
“Sofie knows.”
“But what about Maddie?”
“I was going to tell her, but this happened.” I have been dejected.
“You don’t need to worry; I’m sure they would work it out.” Hayden placed his other hand on our joined hands, trying to soothe the nerves.
“I hope so.”
I was back home, and classes dragged out very slowly without a word from Maddie. Sofie suggested we let her be till she was ready to talk to us, even though I wanted to confront her to know the reason for their breakup and who this so-called guy was in love with.
I was so lost in thought till I heard a knock at the door. I got off my bed in my SpongeBob pyjamas and ran downstairs, racing to the front door. I opened the front door, and there stood Sofie with a brown bag filled with a lot of goodies.
A grin spread across my face as I ushered her in, closing the door behind me. We ran back upstairs to my room. Sofie plopped down on my bed with a bag of goodies still in her hand. She turned it over letting the content inside spill out on the bed, from Peanut Butter Nutella Candy Bar Brownie, some bag of chips, and an Oreo Funfetti Popcorn. I let out an exciting squeal.
“Let’s watch a movie.” She said, turning on my TV as she scrolled through Netflix looking for what to watch. “This looks interesting.”
I looked at the screen to see her reading through the movie intro for Free Guy, and it looked interesting. I climbed onto my bed, sitting beside her. Opening a bag of chips, I passed one to her, and she accepted it before clicking play on the TV remote. We both sat there munching off our snack while watching the movie.
After the movie, we laid on my bed in our stomachs, and our legs were raised up, swinging it front and back.
“I really don’t know what is going on with Maddie.” Sofie voiced out. “She has been acting starved, but I never thought she would break up with Dylan.”
“Same here, Sofie; she didn’t tell us about seeing or liking another boy.”
“I just hope she knows what she is doing. I have never seen Dylan so dejected, my heart broke.”
“Even Daniel, who was always lively, looked so down; he won’t even look at us.”
“I just hope things don’t change between us.” Sofie chipped in. “Speaking of things, I need more information about you and Hayden. You still haven’t told me anything yet.” She asked.
“I thought we were talking about Maddie.” I asked, trying to direct the focus away from me.
“Nice try, Bree, but it isn’t going to work. You own me a lot of juicy stories.” She countered back.
“He told me he loved me.” I whispered but didn’t hear anything from Sofie. I turned the look at her to find her eyes wide open and her jaw down. It was like she was in shock. I snapped my fingers, making him blink rapidly, and he stared at me like I just told her the world was coming to an end the next day. I guess it was a normal reaction, given the kind of person Hayden was before. I was shocked as well.