I'm in Love With a Fool

“Home!” I called through the house as I dumped my backpack on the sofa, wondering what time my mom would be home from her waitress job.

A squeal of delight coming from the den told me that Brittany and her friends had arrived home before me. Again.
“Cadence!” Brittney shouted. Apparently the ‘squeal of delight’ had been because I had arrived home.
Weird.

I made my way towards the den, discarding my plain black hoodie as I did so.
A group of jocks and cheerleaders met my gaze as I wandered into the room my sister had total control over.

“So, like, is it true?” Britt exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement.

I shrugged, biting my bottom lip as I said “I have no idea.”

One of Britt’s girlfriends giggled “Oh don’t be silly Cadence! I saw you!” she noted the confused expression on my face “With Valary DiBenedetto at lunch!”
All chaos broke loose upon mention of Val between Britt and her group of nine friends. Even weirder.

I laughed. Loudly.
“Yes,” I said, edging towards the door. “Me, Debs and Mon spent lunch with Val.”

“But…how?” Britt asked, amazement shining in her eyes.
I stopped my edging “Uhm…why?”

“We’ve been trying for, like, weeks to talk to Valary DiBenedetto and her bunch of hot friends!” A different (or it could have been the same, I have no idea) girl stated.

I shrugged again “She came over for a chat,” I explained “Said she was sick of the guys.”
Then, before any of them could say anything else, I slipped out of the door and headed for my bedroom.
A night of listening to The Misfits loudly and doing homework lay mapped out before me.

-*-

There was another note stuck to my locker when I reached it the next day.
I groaned quietly in the frustration of being ditched by my friends in the morning for the 2nd time in a row.

But, as I got closer, I realised it hadn’t been written by either of my best friends.

Cady (I remembered!). Don’t forget to come meet me today okay? I wanna introduce you to the dicks I call friends. Love ya. Val xo

I stood staring at the piece of paper. Rooted to the spot.
“Cady!” I heard Debs call out, I glanced to my right to see both her and Monique making their way towards me.

My hands suddenly reached up and grabbed the note off my locker in a panic. Unsure of why, I crumpled it in my fist.

“What have you got there?” Monique asked as the two finally reached the lockers.
“Huh?” I replied “Oh this?” I added looking down to my fist.
Debs laughed “Well, duh!”
“It’s a…er…” I sighed “A, uhm, note.”

Debs grabbed my hand, peeled my fingers open and retrieved the ball of crumpled paper that was Val’s note.
As her ice blue eyes slowly looked over the words a smirk grew on her face.
“First time properly meeting lover boy eh?”
She was halfway up the hall before I had time to retaliate.

-*-

Art. My sanctuary.

If anything was going wrong with my life I could guarantee this subject would help me forget.
I sunk into my own world every time I picked up a pencil or paintbrush. I paid no attention to what was happening around me as my right hand flew across the fresh page or canvas before me.
When I worked on my art it was the only thing that mattered in my life.

The school’s art teacher, Ms Coben, sent me a slight smile as I entered the classroom and found my usual place. A lonely table to the left of the class.

“Hey! Isn’t that the chick you were chatting to the other day Val?” A soft yet masculine voice said.

A delighted gasp filled the air “Cady!”

I looked up and a grin appeared on my face when I saw Val waving manically across the room.

I waved back “Hi!”

“Come join us!”

Without a 2nd thought I collected my things and made my way over to her table.

As I parked myself on one of the many empty chairs I understood who she meant by ‘us’.
The owner of the male voice sat, grinning, opposite me.
Brian Haner.

“Cadence this is Brian. Brian this is Cadence,” Val introduced us.

Brian stretched across the table to shake my rather tiny hand with his huge, rough one.
“You can call me Syn though.”

I blushed slightly as he let go of my hand to sit back down.
“And you can call me Cady.”

He tipped the front of his fedora slightly “Will do, love.”
As a smile tugged on the edges of his lips, lighting up his whole, handsome, face I found myself blushing yet again.