Write on me

Chapter 9| You want to be my friend?

As twins my sister and I shared some characteristics other than DNA as well, we were both intelligent, hard workers and had similar physical features but those weren’t the only things we had in common.

Growing up side by side, we shared many of the same interests, we would have little book clubs, reading contests and Harry Potter marathons and we even had a comic book phase. We connected in every way then and while we still had a close bond due to blood, it just wasn’t the same that it used to be. Being bonded by everything made being upset with one another for a long period of time that much harder.

The older everyone got the more their interests changed though, but mine only became stronger because of how they all repelled from it. I didn’t see any reason to give up something that made me feel happy and follow the crowd.

My sister had done the opposite but I knew it was because she loved the things they did as well. But she wasn’t just what they praised her for, she still had the part that everyone else appeared to give up on.

There were times I would notice a book missing from my shelves and knew my sister had snuck it out to read but I never called her out on it. I knew she still had a few posters in her closet hidden behind her clothes that she sometimes liked to look at. She had protected me from all the bad from the world, but I also played my part in allowing her to keep shades of herself hidden from the world.

I set the photo frame down that held a photo of Melissa and I at the age of 10 in our cloaks as we held our wands. It was the last birthday we shared together before everyone’s views on what was popular started shifting and I didn’t feel comfortable having parties with kids that didn’t want me around.

I walked down the staircase and allowed my eyes to fall on the many family pictures we had taken over the years. We weren’t exactly the Brady Bunch, but we were happy for the most part, my parents had been trying for years for a baby before they were blessed with us.

I was sure that’s why they made certain we had the best childhood we could have, and they had succeeded. Me being unhappy here and there was only because of the kids, not my parents, so I loved my family more than anything.

I knew I didn’t have much time for breakfast and grabbed a cereal bar as I wasn’t that hungry anyway but noticed that it was only my mom at the breakfast table.

“Where’s Melissa?” I asked as she was usually almost finished with her breakfast when I made my way down.

My mom glanced up from her notebook she used to write down ideas for the restaurant and seemed confused by my question, “I thought you knew. She left about ten minutes ago”

“Why would she just leave when she knows I would be late if I left now?” I glanced at the clock and it was fifteen minutes to go before school would start.

“If your dad hadn’t taken the car I would drop you off” My mom sighed with a soft tone as she suspected it was some sort of revenge in our war that had yet to be over.

“It’s fine. Just don’t be concerned if I am home late because I will probably have detention.” I groaned and grabbed my bag before I greeted my mom and made my way out of the front door.

I didn’t mind walking, it was mostly quiet and peaceful as most kids chose to carpool and any one that went to work had left half hour before to start their working day. I enjoyed taking in the early morning views but I wasn’t keen on being late so I tried to walk briskly. Even if I was going to be late, I didn’t want to miss too much of first period because it wasn’t like I could be filled in by a friend.

On a normal day, I would have been entranced by everything happening around me but there was just too much on my mind. I had tried to avoid people so much and certain situations but no matter how much I tried to escape reality it had a way of sneaking up on me.

In the last two weeks I had somehow stolen the attention of the new boy that everyone believed was dangerous, caused friction with my sister and managed to have the entire school and even town talking about me.

How had I gotten myself into this mess when all I wanted to do was get an education and get lost in my books?

I didn’t want to feel all the annoyance towards my sister and the rest of the town and I didn’t want to feel weird feelings for Dane. I also didn’t want to believe that he had heard my sister saying mean things about me because she would never do anything hurtful behind my back when she chose to protect me all these years.

I heard the familiar revving sound and assumed it was Dane but as I briefly turned I was met with twenty motorcycles flying past me down the road.

So many people despised them.

Maybe it was because I had never experienced the danger they brought along with them, but I found it fascinating how they all grouped together with their leather jackets on their motorcycles and just looked badass. Fear wasn’t the emotion that ran through me when I saw them, but excitement and curiosity instead.

My thoughts were interrupted as I noticed one of the bikers had briefly glanced back and knew it must have been him. I was sure no one else would spare me a glance and risk colliding with one of their other members by doing so.

I watched as he seemed to slow down, and his bike soon came to a halt in the distance, I wondered if he would reverse as he remained fixed to the spot.

He hadn’t looked back at me once he stopped so I wasn’t sure what he was doing but I was soon proven wrong about him possibly reversing as he drove off after them once again.

I had gotten a late slip which didn’t surprise me, and I was no stranger to it, it just so happened that this time my sister wouldn’t be joining me in detention. I had made it fifteen minutes into my first period much to the annoyance of my English teacher and had basically screamed for the attention from the class.

“Did you have a little adventure with your boyfriend before school?” Lilly questioned as I reluctantly took my seat beside her.

“I don’t have a boyfriend, Lilly.” I stated what should have been obvious yet each day she had something to say to me regarding Dane, I wonder if she even knew his name.

“Come on, Michelle. There is no need to hide it anymore” She playfully poked me with the back end of her pencil.

“It’s Meredith, and I have absolutely nothing to hide. Maybe if you focused more on our assignment instead of the gossip around here we would be further along” I groaned and I didn’t like how I let her get to me when I usually politely shut her down but as I said before, there was too much going on in my head.

“Wow. No one said you had to be a b***h about it. If I were you, I would be grateful for all the attention you are getting” She cast a dirty look my way before she sat back in her chair while I placed my textbook and notebook onto my desk.

“I guess I am not an attention seeker like you then” I shrugged, and it was like I couldn’t control the snappy tone of my voice.

Who was I?

Her eyes widened before she shook her head, “I don’t look for attention, I reel it in just by being my amazing, authentic self.”

I rolled my eyes as she smiled and flipped her hair for effect, “Really? Cause as far as I can remember before you became too cool for me we were pretending to be wizards in my backyard at 11 until my sister called us dorks.”

“It was a lack of judgement on my part, I have definitely outgrown that. You should try it sometime.” She shrugged dismissively with a knowing tone.

“Yet you’re wearing Harry Potter themed socks right now hidden beneath those jeans. I am fine with everyone choosing to hide their interests that doesn’t match up with what everyone thinks is popular. But don’t hate on me for owning who I am despite all the judgement.”

She gasped before she narrowed her eyes, “You say that, but you keep denying that you have the hots for the drifter”

“I don’t have the hots for anybody!” I unintentionally screamed out due to my frustration as she wouldn’t back down and everyone’s eyes fell on me because of it.

Mr. Englewood cleared his throat, “I suggest everyone stick to the topic of their assignments and not be concerned with their social life during school hours”

“Isn’t that what school is for? Building our social life?” One of the jocks in the front row chimed in, much to the annoyance of our teacher.

“That it is but while you’re in my class the only thing we are building is our knowledge. Now back to work”

I made my way down the hallway during the period change and spotted my sister on her own at her locker. I walked over to her since it was the first time I had seen her for the day.

“Thanks a lot. I got detention” I complained and showed her my late slip I had dug out of my jeans pocket.

“Great! I hope you enjoy walking home after that.” She nodded as her eyes briefly fell on it before she focused on what she was busy with again.

“Really? I am still being punished.” I groaned and leaned against the locker beside hers as she rummaged through her things.

“No. I am just done babying you like I have all our lives and just letting it all slide. I have always made it clear that I like to leave early but you just ignore me. I bet you were late this morning again and took advantage of the fact that we would get on time with the car.” She raised her eyebrow as she closed her locker and stared at me and while she was technically right, she had just done it to be spiteful.

I scoffed, “The only reason you even care about being early is because Adam gets here early. What’s the point of showing up twenty minutes before school so you can suck face with Adam?”

I could see her bite the inside of her cheek before she picked up her bag off the floor, “I have other priorities that don’t involve my boyfriend and you know that.”

“Fine. I will be ready on time next week. Happy now?” I smiled brightly.

“Ecstatic!” She smiled in return before she turned on her heels and I frowned at the interaction but tried to brush it off as we would sort things out eventually.

“Melissa.” I blurted out as Dane’s angry words filled my mind.

“Yes, Meredith?” She sang as she turned to face me again.

“I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but Dane mentioned that the Saturday you ditched me you were saying some things about me and…” Her eyes widened before she glanced away as I continued, “Were you making fun of me behind my back?”

She sighed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “It was just some harmless humor, sis.”

The fact that she chose those words didn’t make me feel any better when it was what her friends often told her if they made a distasteful comment towards me. “Everything is harmless until it hurts someone’s feelings”

“I didn’t mean it when I called you needy and clingy. I just… He didn’t tell you what I said did he?”

I shook my head as the disappointment filled me because he had been right, “Maybe because he actually considers my feelings unlike my protector”

“Meredith…” I heard her but this time I was the one walking away.

“I have to get to class.”

●●●

I had been doing my homework for the past five minutes since I sat down in the corner of the room for detention.

There were about five other kids in for detention along with me, but it was safe to say everybody was in their own world. The teacher supervising upfront was dosing off every few seconds much to their amusement as well.

I wasn’t sure why being late resulted in such drastic action as detention. I felt that a warning would have been punishment enough, but I guess I should have just not been late.

I heard brief mumbles and tore my eyes away from the page filled with algebraic equations and saw that Dane had entered the classroom. He was slowly making his way through the tables with his head down and it wasn’t until he was in the table next to mine that I registered he had been making his way to me.

“Why are you in here?” He questioned as soon as he sat down and glared at the other students who for some reason took that as a sign to direct their eyes away from us. I didn’t understand how with one look he instilled fear into them but allowed the jocks to constantly mess with him and everyone to talk badly about him.

He waved his hand in front of my face and I realized that I hadn’t answered his question or maybe I hadn’t answered because the tone of his voice held some sort of disappointment. The detention room didn’t really fit my image I guess but it wasn’t like I had vandalized the school or anything, I had just arrived late thanks to my sister.

“Why are you here?” I narrowed my eyes and he chuckled softly before he turned his entire body in his chair to face me. The space between the desks wasn’t much which caused his knee to be located a couple inches from the side of my thigh.

He briefly glanced at the book in front of me before his veiled eyes settled on me, “I was late.”

“Same” I shrugged and hoped he wouldn’t question the reason for it because I chose not to acknowledge that I knew it was him I had seen this morning.

He nodded, “Here I thought you might have attacked someone for tarnishing your name,”

“I am certain if that were my intention I would have been attacking you, don’t you think?” I wiggled my eyebrows which seemed to amuse him, and I sat back as I wasn’t sure where that came from.

“Why do you always do that?” He gazed at me as if he were trying to pinpoint something.

“Do what?” I frowned as I picked up my pencil again and tried to work through the remaining sums I had before me.

I felt his breath in my neck that interrupted my train of thought unfortunately but I didn’t dare shift from my position. “Get all smart with your mouth and once you catch yourself, you get all awkward”

I briefly glanced to the front as I felt like everyone was watching but no one seemed to pay us any attention. “Because awkward is me. I don’t know who the person is that comes out when I talk to you”

He frowned as he sat back which led to me looking at him, I wanted to see his face properly but knew he wouldn’t take off his hood, especially if I asked.

“I think that you have listened to what they had to say about you for so long that you believe it. Yeah maybe you like cliché books and s**t and you’re a nerd but it doesn’t mean you can’t be the bubbly person you are with me” He shrugged.

“You call that bubbly?” I smiled slightly, mostly due to shock at his observation of me in the short time we had known one another.

“You don’t see yourself” He simply said and almost seemed upset with the fact that I didn’t see what he did.

I dropped my pencil and turned in my chair to face him. I hadn’t anticipated the fact that our legs would intertwine with one another because of it but I was thankful for the jeans I wore that failed to reveal the goosebumps on my skin.

He rested his head against the wall and gazed at me in silence, so I chose to speak as he seemed to be pretending that our argument hadn’t happened.

“I spoke to my sister about what you told me, and you were right. I am sorry I didn’t believe you, its just always been my sister and I against the world in my eyes but that’s only ever been from my side because I have needed the protection from the world” I said thoughtfully because that was the hardcore facts.

I was certain my sister could survive without me but I needed her, and she was probably counting on that so I would be the one raising the white flag.

“Then how about we change that?” I heard him and focused on him and not my annoying thoughts.

“What?”

“I give you protection, so your sister can’t throw it in your face” He leaned over and filled in the answer to the sum I had been confused about but I chose not to ask how he knew it because he might have been offended by the question.

“Some would say I need protection from you”

I wasn’t sure why he would offer that to me when it meant that he would be seen more with me. It was different with us hanging out in the library where no one really saw us, I didn’t want him to be forced to be with me and face even more judgement.

“Maybe if you hadn’t grown on me in the last few weeks, Meredith. But luckily for you, I just can’t seem to stay away from you even when you piss me off”

I tried not to read too much into the words and I was sure he just said things to say them, but it still made me smile. He often made me hate the fact that I didn’t have much interaction with other people because everything he said made me smile and I wasn’t used to it.

“I don’t think you want to be my protector, Dane. There are reasons I don’t have friends, I don’t make the effort to nurture interactions because I know how they see me. And if they don’t, the rest of the people will remind them” I spoke sincerely because I wanted to make sure he knew it had more to do with me than him.

“Those reasons don’t count here because we have good interactions and no one speaks to me” He smirked.

“I don’t want you to be even more judged than you already are. I know it just falls off of you but…”

“I don’t know why you are still wasting your breath, Meredith” He sighed heavily. “I already am what you don’t want me to be.”

I frowned but decided to just not protest because he wouldn’t take no for an answer to this.

“Fine, but I am really sorry about the things I said during the fight though. I let the words of everyone else cloud my judgement just because I was annoyed with you ignoring me even though I had avoided you. I am sorry about that…” I didn’t want to expect the worst of him even when the good he showed seemed harder to believe because of how he carried himself with everyone else.

He didn’t seem too affected by my apology, “I am pretty used to that by now”

“I would say I am not used to having the attention of a guy on me but that would be wrong, I think its just the attention in general” I admitted which caused him to look at me as he contemplated something.

“Maybe you just need to allow yourself to get used to it. So, consider me your first friend in this shitty town.”

“You want to be my friend?” I repeated just to make sure that’s what he meant.

“I wouldn’t say that’s what I want but I also don’t want to scare you, Princess.”

What did he want?

I frowned, “Scare me?”

“Don’t worry about it. For now.” He shrugged and as I was about to question him further until a throat was cleared from the front.

“Time’s up, delinquents! You are free to leave. And as a reminder, please try not to get into trouble so I don’t have to be stuck with you again this week.”

A chorus of uninterested agreeing was heard while I packed my books into my bag and in the corner of my eye I noticed my ‘friend’ patiently waiting for me.

“What’s your plans for the weekend?” I heard him as we left the classroom and entered the hallway.

“Why do you ask? Do you want to ask me out on a date? Friend date?” I quickly corrected myself while my mouth seemed to always want to charm him.

He chuckled, “I don’t do dates, Meredith”

“I just have a soccer game tomorrow” I answered and ignored my embarrassing question.

He nodded as he opened the door and we walked down the steps, side by side. I assumed he would be dropping me off until I spotted a man on a motorcycle next to his parked one.

He sighed with some frustration as he noticed as well, “I would offer you a lift home but seems I have some business to conduct.”

“That’s okay” I smiled, and he quickly left my side as if not wanting to be seen with me.

I didn’t take it personally because I was sure he didn’t want his two worlds to collide so I briefly watched them interact. Dane hadn’t looked back at me once he left me and got onto his motorcycle while the mysterious man’s eyes fell on me.

My eyes widened as he stared at me and I quickly made my way to walk home.

●●●

Author’s Note:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, lovelies!

What do you think about Mel making fun of Meredith behind her back?

Dane choosing to be her new protector?

Them agreeing to just be friends?

Let me know what you think!