Like Chocolate Stars and the Sun

I climbed out of the pool when Jesse and Little Miss Evil had disappeared and was quite cold now I was no longer surrounded by water. Brandon came to the sliding doors of the kitchen once he saw the fact I was soaked to the skin to let me in.

“What on earth happened?” Brandon asked me.

“Jesse threw me in the pool.” I laughed and shivered at the same time. “Don’t worry though I pulled him in as well.” Brandon nodded. He didn’t really seem to care anymore. The attention span of a fish. Seriously.

“Mum will kill you if she sees you soaking wet with all your clothes on you know.” Brandon stated as he opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. “You better get changed quick.” I nodded. He did have a point. Even thought all the floors in our house were wooden she would still complain about me getting them all wet and slippy. I ran upstairs and changed. I couldn’t be bothered drying my hair for the second time that morning so I just tied it up. I walked back downstairs and was quite shocked to see Tyler sat in my kitchen with my brother.

“When did you get here?” I asked pointing at Tyler and smiling.

“Just now,” He smiled back. “Brandon just told me you and Jesse ended up in your pool? Should I ask?”

“We were talking, he jumped over the fence and started saying he was going to push me in.” I laughed. “And when he did I pulled him in with me.” Tyler smiled.

“Punish him for pushing you in the pool in the first place.” Tyler grinned. “I like it.”

“I did warn him,” I chuckled as I searched the fridge for some chilled water. “But he didn’t listen.” I closed the fridge and turned back to Brandon and Tyler, water in hand. “So Tyler, what brings you here?”

“You asked me to come round last night if I wanted to.” He smiled. “Forgotten I see.”

“I don’t think my brain is working very well to be honest.” I giggled. I saw Brandon roll his eyes and get up.

“Well I’m going to... go.” Brandon said and pointed to the door. Then he swiftly walked out of the room.

“Bye then.” I waved and raised an eyebrow, and then I sat down where Brandon had been sat. Tyler looked at me and then looked down again. I think he was blushing slightly as well. He was adorable at times.

“Does Jesse know about what happened last night?” Tyler asked after a few minutes. I nodded my head.

“Yeah, he text me earlier about it and he was desperate to know because apparently no one would tell him.” I laughed a little, “He was really eager to know.”

“Doesn’t surprise me.” Tyler added. “Jesse needs to know anything and everything.”

“Well I didn’t tell him everything, just the shortened version.” I took a quick sip of my drink, “You know, that his girlfriend is a bitch and all that jazz.”

“Such ugly words coming from such a pretty girl.” Tyler winked at me. “You need to wash your mouth out now young lady.”

“Oh my gosh, your so funny.” I faked laughing so hard my ribs were hurting. “You should really be a comedian.”

“Don’t take it too far Frankie,” Brandon walked back into the kitchen and headed straight to the cupboard where all the biscuits and what-not where kept. “Your really not that funny.”

“Oh thanks and bunch Brandon,” I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for being a supportive big brother.”

“Anytime.” He grinned and swiftly exited, biscuits in hand.

“So...” I asked Tyler.

“So...” Tyler replied.

“Don’t copy me.” I giggled. “Do you want to go outside?”

“Are you sure?” Tyler asked and pointed to the door, “Its freezing outside.”

“You wuss, its not that cold.” I jumped off my stool, grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. “I was in freezing cold water this morning, and I didn’t complain.”

“But you didn’t have much choice about that did you?” Tyler asked as we both walked to the bottom of my garden. It wasn’t too far away from the pool, but it had a nice tree that we could sit under. Just as I was about to sit down Tyler took hold of my hand and pulled me closer to him. His lips met mine and I couldn’t help but smile.

“What was that for?” I asked when he pulled away.

“Thought you might want a special treat.” Tyler laughed.

“So kissing you is a special treat?” I laughed as well and sat down on the grass. Tyler sat next to me and took my hand in his. He ended up stroking my knuckles affectionately, which is new to me.

“Indeed, its a privilege you know.” Tyler looked down at our hands that were still intertwined. “Your really cool Francesca, you know that?”

“To be honest with you I didn’t.” I smiled. Being the new girl doesn’t automatically place you as the coolest person in the world. “Its nice for someone to say something nice about me for a change.” Tyler laughed and looked back up at me.

“Stacey isn’t going to hate you for ever,” Tyler told me, “She will get bored eventually.”

“I hope so.” I sighed and started pulling grass out of the ground with my free hand. “Because to be honest, its not fun being her punching bag ”

“Well she isn’t exactly punching you is she.” Tyler laughed.

“Don’t say it, you’ll jinx it.” I stuck my tongue out. “If she does start hitting me now, its your fault Tyler Ashcroft.”

“If she does then she’s going to have lots of people to deal with.” Tyler began rubbing my knuckles gently with his thumb again, I had forgotten that he was still holding my hand. “Because I’m sure Charlotte can get an army of haters together within about five minutes if needed.”

“Good old Charlotte.” I tucked my brown hair behind my ear and looked down at the grass. I felt Tyler lift my hand up and then let go of it.

“I better go, my dad wants me to look after my cousin this afternoon.” Tyler sighed. “Know anything about looking after six year olds?”

“Not sure, try every Disney movie known to man. If that doesn’t work then I don’t know what will.” I smiled and dropped a blade of grass that was still in my hands. Tyler laughed and caught my lips with his in a short kiss and stood up.

“I’ll try that.” Tyler winked as he walked backwards slowly. “See you on Monday.”

- - -

School on Monday wasn’t really fun. Mondays are never fun. Not only was I tired beyond tired, my straighters had just happened to break the night before, so my hair was stuck in its curly state till I either bought some more out of my own pocket, or steal my mothers when she isn’t looking.

I think I prefer option two.

By the time lunch rolled around I was thankful I had a whole hour to do nothing. Well apart from eat. But that doesn’t take much brain power really. There were only three of us when I sat down, including myself. Nick was ill and I'm not quite sure where Jake ended up. He just wasn’t there. So that left me, Tyler and Charlotte. Not that I'm complaining. It was actually quite fun.

Jesse was sat on a different table with Stacey. He had shot an apologetic glace at the three of us when he walked past with Stacey in tow.

“Cant he just ditch her for a change?” Tyler asked as he opened a can of coke he had got from the vending machine a few moments before. “Were friends and family for heavens sake.”

“Why don’t you ask him that?” Charlotte asked, “He is your cousin after all.”

“You know what he’s like Char.” Tyler replied after taking a long drink from his coke can.

“I could try and talk to him at some point if you wanted?” I thought I would make myself part of the conversation. “I seemed to get the point about his girlfriend being a bitch without too much pain.”

“You can try if you want.” Charlotte laughed, “Good luck though.”

“Francesca told Jesse about what happened Saturday night and Jesse just threw her in her own pool.” Tyler informed Charlotte who laughed.

“I hope you pulled him in with you.”

“That I did.” I grinned and took a bite of my ham salad sandwich. “It was fun until Stacey turned up.”

“Ah but you had more fun with me didn’t you?” Tyler winked and I couldn’t help but blush and smile. Charlotte raised an eyebrow and looked from me to Tyler and back.

“Ok you guys spill.” Charlotte dropped her spoon and folded her arms. “Whats going on?”

“What do you mean?” I asked and took a drink of water.

“What I mean is you guys have been quite ‘friendly’ today.” Charlotte explained. “If you know what I mean?”

“And is that a problem?” Tyler asked and laughed. “Not getting jelous are we Charlotte?”

“No, I just don’t like being kept out of the loop.” Charlotte rolled her eyes, “You should know that by now Tyler. So are you going to tell me whats going on?”

“Does it really need saying?” Tyler raised an eyebrow and took another drink from his can.

“How about Francesca says something?” Charlotte looked at me and I was a bit taken back.

“Erm... well,” My eyes went wide and I must have looked quite amusing at this moment in time. For once in my life I didn’t know quite what to say.

“Lost for words Francesca?” Tyler joked

“No its not that, I'm just not quite sure how I should be answering that question.” I confessed. “I'm not quite sure what you would class us as.” It was true, we had kissed a few times but that didn’t automatically make us a couple. Unless it has been said, which in my case it had not. I was officially confused.

“Well I would like us to be a couple.” Tyler also confessed. “Because you are really cool. But its completely up to you Francesca.” I heard Charlotte make an ‘awe’ noise from the other side of the table.

“Answer the poor boy then.” I heard Jesse’s voice coming from behind me. I turned round and looked up at him.

“I will but first,” I just had to ask, “How come your over here? Not that I'm complaining but I just want to know how you got away from Stacey without her following you.”

“I'm sneaky.” Jesse grinned and sat down on our table next to Charlotte. “So carry on your conversation.” I turned back to Tyler and though about what to say.

“Okay.” It was the only thing I could think of that wasn’t a load of rubbish. Tyler looked really happy about what I had just said. His face was quite amusing actually. I turned back to my lunch, but not before gancing in Jesses direction. I might have been seeing things but his eyes looked quite ... well sad.

Should I be worried?