Hide Me In Your Thoughts

Song - Someone To Stay by Vancouver Sleep Clinic .../... “Don’t tell me you’re gonna go to school wearing this,” I said, facing him. “Why? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” he says, in defense. He walks towards me, showing his amazing hair off by flipping it and swinging his head both ways.  His hair has a bit of curl to it but it’s long. His hair was reaching his shoulders, not until recently that he had it styled for school.  He had the back cut off, and a little of the front trimmed, so it kinda looked like the haircut, 'Fade'. The only features of his that I find compelling are his eyes and the dents on his cheeks.  Those ocean blue eyes and dimples are on either side of his face. “Like what you see?”. I shove him and say, “No, I don’t. Can you dress properly now? We’re late”.  “What’s the point of going to school early on the first day of school?” he asks. I stop to think about what he had said for a few seconds, then he uses that opportunity to say, “You see? There’s really no point”.  Suddenly, it came rushing down into my head. “We’re gonna miss the book,” I yelled. The only thing we love to do more than running around and talking with fake accents is reading. Every first day of the term at Kinston High School, the librarian would open the aisle of sealed books and that’s where the juicy ones are kept.  There’s absolutely nothing more fun than reading under the staircase while having lunch with your best friend.  “The book?” “The tale of the Lonely Ferris Wheel”. “Oh my gosh. I completely forgot,” He says, covering his mouth with his hand. We made plans to get that particular book last term but we were too late and the reviews online about it are amazing, plus it was written by our favorite author of all time, Layne Brooke.  He put off the hideous-looking shirt he had on and put on the blue shirt Carl had gotten him on his birthday. “So, he knew what to wear,” I said in my mind and rolled my eyes. We both rush downstairs and as he runs past the kitchen, he yells, “Mum, we’re skipping breakfast. Love you”. “Huh, I definitely didn’t agree to do that”. Leaving him to rush to the car, I entered the kitchen to pick up three sandwiches and an apple. “Bye,” I yelled to Mace’s mum after kissing her cheek. Mace’s mum had become my second mum since I was little. When Mace and I were younger, his mum would take us to different cities, and we’d have playdates there, but the only condition was that we’d dress up like the people of the city. I loved the conditions. My mum would rather bring the city to us, giving us antiques and cool artifacts.  “You still got food?,” Mace says in disbelief as I entered the car. “Of course I got food. I know already that I’d have to run around the school to find someone who has that book and I need all the energy I can get”. “We’d get there in time,” Mace says. …/… We didn’t get there in time, and I couldn’t get Joyce’s constant laughter out of my head, it was driving me semi-crazy. Joyce, my other best friend, had dragged Carl to the library to help us pick up the book. “I knew you guys would be late,” she says.  “It’s totally Mace’s fault. He always makes me forget the drill and then goes on about how we aren’t meant to get to school early on the first day of the term”. “Typical,” Joyce says as Mace rolls his eyes. She tries to put her arm over his shoulder, but then it dawns on her that he’s visibly taller than she is now.  “When did you get so tall?. “Tried to tell you during the holiday, didn’t I?” Carl replied. “I’m just gonna look away and not fuss about the fact that Carl here hasn’t said anything to me all morning”. I fold my arms in a weak attempt to feign hurt. He finally looks up from his phone and walks over to my side, “I’m sorry, how are you?” he says, kissing the right side of my head. “Fine now,” I reply, smiling aggressively. It didn’t matter how it looked to other people. Of course, there were rumors about Joyce dating Mace and me dating Carl and how we switched up at some point and how all four of us might even be in just one relationship, but I guess that’s all humans would ever do, talk. …/… “It’s quite hot today,” I said. We had just finished the last class and, like every other day, there is the problem of whose house to go to or where to go. “Yeah, we could go swimming. Philip cleaned the pool yesterday,” Mace says. “Yeah”. “I’m down”. “Ditto”. “I’d need to stop at my place though,” I say. “Yeah, me too,” Joyce says. “Why? There’s absolutely no need”. “You know why,” I replied, then hit the back of Mace’s head with my hand. I watch as his scalp turns red and smile in delight at the sight. We all disperse, Carl follows Mace and Joyce, me. “Is Harry home?” she asks as we walk. “No, why?”. “So, I'd know whether to fix my makeup or not”. I rolled my eyes at what she had just said. Harry is my older brother, adopted but still my older brother. My blood brother, Chris, is in college. Harry was adopted, so I wouldn’t be alone most of the time, but now, he’s in college too.  For as long as I have known Joyce, which is since 8th grade, she has had a crush on Harry. I have watched the feeling grow from mere shyness to an outward display of love, only amongst us though, she’d never do it to Harry in his presence.  “You still have my swimsuit, right?” Joyce asks. “Yeah, definitely”. It had become a thing where we had to keep a piece of clothing or numerous clothes in each of our houses, in case of emergency sleepovers and other related situations. We grab everything we’d need from my house and head to Mace’s. …/… “You guys couldn’t wait for, I don’t know, fifteen minutes,” I said when we got to Mace’s house, which is a mansion by the way. I don’t know if that word does justice to the description of the house. It’s really big, with a yard at the back. There is an underground garage with lots of cars, a swimming pool and a reading room which used to be where the gym was. The living room is massive with the colors silver and gold giving it a royal theme. There’s a theater and a hall in it too. I think that’s where it stops being a mansion and starts being a castle of the modern-day or something close to that. “You saw what he wore today?” I heard Carl say, as Joyce and I made our way out of the changing room to the swimming pool. “Who?” Joyce asked. I put my leg in the water first, then jump in. “Ire,” Mace replies. “His fashion sense gets better every day,” Carl adds. “Yeah, I actually like Ire,” I say, with my eyes closed. I imagine myself still in the water, so I lie still, enjoying the peace and quiet. A few seconds pass when I’m forced to open my eyes. The shock of seeing Mace so close up in my face, made me slap him almost immediately.  I contemplate telling him sorry but then I decide not to, “Serves you right for trying to scare me”. When he gets over the slap, he says, “I wasn’t trying to scare you, I was trying to kiss you”. I looked at him in disbelief, then shoved him into the water. His laughter fills the air as he stands back up, that contagious laughter. Soon enough, we were all smiling and that was good enough for me.