"Yes?" she asked. She was absolutely dreading the conversation to come. Maybe we could try being friends? See how it goes? But , a whole lot could go wrong. . .
She really didn't understand why it was so hard to let go of someone who had reentered her life only a few hours ago.
He could tell she wasn't in the mood to talk. "Never mind,'' he said about to head off before saying. "It's great to see you again." with that he just walked off with a small wave.
“Um- Okay then,” she said, and kept walking. It started raining on her walk back to the housing area, and she was soaked through by the time she got back. She absentmindedly changed into more sweats and flopped on her bed.
After a while, Tanner walked in he looked like he was crying. 'Maybe she won't be your friend again…' he thought to himself.
He went to go get changed and noticed his face was still red. " crap…"
Piper and Tanner had been the best of friends up until they were about ten. Piper remembered the day she was dragged into her Dad's broken down Honda, just seconds before Tanner got there to say goodbye. She often played that moment back in her head, where she made the little hand motion they used to do for fun, and he made it back. Now, when she looked down at the necklace, she thought of how much time had passed since then.
Tanner did the hand motion noticing the bracelet. 'You never said bye…No wonder she wouldn't want to see you again.' He thought almost crying again.
Just then, Cassie came in the room that she and Piper shared. Cassie, Piper's only friend at school. She was always bright and happy, which sometimes made Piper sick to her stomach. But, all in all, Cassie was what was holding Piper together.
"Helloooo," she said, tilting her head and making jazz hands. "Don't you just love the rain?"
Tanner curled up into a ball his hands on his head. 'She won't talk to ever again. why even try?' he tried to shake the thought away. 'She hates you.'
"Um, yeah, sure" Piper said with a sideways smile. Of course Cassie decided to pop her head in at this very moment.
Tanner just sat there crying. He couldn't stop thinking about the past and everything that happened. 'She left so she could get away from you. You shouldn't have moved.'
"hey," Piper said, looking a bit bothered. Cassie picked up on it, and sat to listen to what Piper was gonna say. "I just saw a boy today that I knew before I came." Cassie looked surprised, but she let Piper finish. "The new guy, Jared? I knew him a while ago. We weren't really that close," she lied. She didn't want to tell Cassie everything, because they hadn't known each other for long, and there was a lot at stake.
Tanner cried himself to sleep. His mind going off into what seemed like the past if piper stayed. It would've been so much different than how it is now.
The next morning, Piper and Cassie walked to class together. They always did because they had the exact same schedule, all accept for chemistry (they had different teachers). They walked into their first class, English, when Piper suddenly tugged on Cassie's sleeve.
It's him, she mouthed.
Tanner noticed her but looked away quickly. 'She won't even notice you…' Then Nancy walked up to him. "So where's Corina?" she said with a smirk.
"Can you leave me alone?"
Cassie pulled Piper over to the back corner, and they sat down together.
"Just don't pay attention to him?" she encouraged Piper.
"It's not that simple."
Tanner was clearly panicking. He was curling up into a ball. "Seems we have a shy person on our hands. Isn't that lovely." Tanner was about to walk of when Nancy stopped him. "L-Leave me alone…"
"Uh oh, trouble," Piper said to Cassie, and pointed at Nancy.
"She never quits," Cassie said sarcastically. Nancy was the one person who could make Cassie angry. "You want to go over?"
"Nah, lets just ask him to sit with us?" Piper said. The entire time she was talking, she was telling herself to shut up. Don't do that! That would be stupid!
Still, she waited to catch Tanner's eye, then she waved him over.
Tanner quickly walked away from Nancy. "Please don't be following me…" he said quietly trying not to look back at her or her friends. when he got to Piper he looked away slowly
"Hey, dude, you're quite the talker I see," Piper teased him. Before he could introduce himself as Tanner to Cassie, Piper introduced them. "Cassie, Jared. Jared, Cassie."
He nodded slightly. "H-Hi…" After the "chat" with Nancy, he didn't feel much like talking right now. He sighed messing with the bracelet absent-mindedly.
Piper was super tempted to keep talking to him, thinking that she could trust Cassie, so it would be fine. But, she knew better. People would see them together and start asking questions. And if she told Cassie what their real names were, she could potentially lose a friendship and she wouldn't be able to trust Cassie anymore.
"U-Umm…W-What do you need?" He said not looking up her or her friend. He felt very awkward at this point. He's usually in a corner alone or sketching in a book.
"Huh?" Piper looked up from her daydream and shook her head a little. I really hope I didn't say any of that out loud. . .
"You waved for me to come over… D-Do you need anything…?" He said quietly. 'Dude…You're being an idiot…Calm the frick down…'
"Oh, I was just, um, wondering if you wanted to sit with us? You know, since you're new and all,? If you don't that's okay too, I was just, yeah. . ." now it was Piper's turn to be nervous. Because her skin was a bit dark, you could rarely see her blush, but Cassie thought she saw "Corina" turn a bit pink.
"I-I…Guess…I'm not sure actually…" He said looking back at Nancy. "She…won't leave me alone…I'm tired of it…" he Messes with the bracelet again.
Piper saw him messing with the bracelet she gave him, and it gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Before she knew what she was doing, she jiggled the necklace at him and smiled. Cassie raised an eyebrow.
Tanner jumped slightly. "C-Cool necklace…Looks a lot like my bracelet huh?" He nervously laughs hiding his bracelet from Cassie.
"Yep, yeah it does." In order to avoid things getting weirder, Piper decided to go ahead and let Tanner know what Cassie knows. "I was telling Cassie yesterday that we had known each other when I was in California, and that we weren't really great friends but we went to the same school. Do you remember that, Jared?" She hoped he would get the hint.
"O-Oh…N-Now that you mention it…." He nervously laughs. "We were in the same art class right?" He said going along with piper.
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