On My Own

I walked into Matt’s classroom with Stephanie and he grinned at us. I smiled back at him and took my seat. He put some papers in his bag and greeted his students. When the bell rang, he walked around his desk and wrote on the board. Secrets. “Everybody has a secret. I want to know about a secret you’ve had or the concept of keeping things secret. What do people not know? Why do we keep things secret?” Mark explained to us. “You have one hour.” I pulled out paper and began to write.

People keep secrets for various reasons. They keep them to protect themselves, to spare peoples’ feelings, to just keep their life private, or they can’t trust the person. I, personally, keep secrets when I find it necessary, to protect myself.

I wrote the entire class period, until the bell. And then I continued writing in study hall. When the final bell rang, Matt walked over and couched down so he was eyelevel with me. “Do you need extra time?” Matt asked. “I still have grading to do if you want to keep writing?” Matt looked at the four and half pages I had already written.

“I’m good, just let me write a conclusion,” I told him. He nodded and kissed my cheek softly. I blushed and wrapped my paper up. Ten minutes later, I brought it up to Matt’s desk and stapled them together. I set them in the pile with my classmates’. Matt clipped the papers together and put them in his bag. “I didn’t even realize how much I was writing.”

“That’s what happens when you get lost in your writing, time just flies by,” Matt chuckled. “Come on, I think you can just come into the teacher parking lot. Most of the teachers had meetings or else they had grading to do.” I followed Matt out the side door and hoisted myself up, into his truck. “You’re becoming a pro at that.” I flexed my arms, causing him to laugh. “Do you have a lot of homework?”

“None, actually,” I told him. “Almost all of them use today as a blow off day. It was all in class work.” Matt nodded and pulled out of the school parking lot. “What’re we doing with the guys?”

“We’re going bowling,” Matt explained. “We’re going to leave soon. I need take care of a few things. Would you mind walking Bella?” I shook my head and Matt turned into his neighborhood. He pulled into his driveway and he left his truck in the driveway.

I followed Matt inside, so he could make sure Bella was pushed away from the door. I walked through the house and set my purse on the kitchen counter. “You want to go on a walk, Bella?” I asked, patting her head as I walked past her to the laundry room. I grabbed her leash and connected her to it. Matt was on the phone at the kitchen table, a bill in front of him. I went to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head so we pecked our lips. “I’ll be back.”

I walked out of Matt’s house with Bella walked her quickly in the yard. After she had done her business, I headed down the street with the dog. We walked down the street and headed around the block. I liked walking Bella. It was fun to watch her sniff different plants and have her almost run after other dogs. It was cute.

When we arrived back at the house, Matt was ready to go. The two of us said ‘bye’ to Bella. Matt opened my door and I pulled myself up with Matt’s hand on my ass. “You look really happy today,” Matt told me as he started driving.

“I am really happy,” I replied honestly. “Things are really good right now. I have an amazing boyfriend, an awesome best friend, and I think this is the healthiest I’ve been since I’ve arrived.” Matt raised an eyebrow. “I’m actually eating three meals a day and sleeping really good.” Matt raised an eyebrow again. “It took a long time to adjust to here, that’s all.” Matt nodded and pulled into a parking lot. I saw Brian, Zacky, and Johnny getting out of a car and they waved. I waved back and Matt parked next to them.

“Adie!” Brian yelled loudly as Johnny pulled open my door.

“Boys, down,” Matt chuckled. We all laughed and Matt and I got out of his truck. I hugged his best friends and waited for Matt to come around and put his arm around me. When he did, we all headed inside the bowling alley and got a lane and shoes. While I put in our names, the guys got their balls and Matt handed me a ten pound one.

“Matt, I need a fifteen,” I giggled. He pulled teasingly on the skin on my arm, but got me the ball I asked for. Johnny was up first, followed by Brian and Zacky. None of them managed to knock all the pins down, but they did get decent scores. Zacky managed to get nine down. Matt was up next and got a gutter ball, followed by him knocking five pins down. “Good job, Matt.”

I pecked my boyfriend’s lips and my phone chimed. I bit my lip and Matt nodded. I pulled out my phone and told Stephanie that I wasn’t going to be sleeping over at Matt’s. “Sorry about that,” I told the guys, who told me it was okay. I got up and picked up my fifteen pound ball. I groaned a little, the fifteen pound ball was heavy.

“Careful, don’t drop it on your foot,” Johnny snickered.

“Matt, you should’ve gotten her the ten pound one,” Zacky chuckled.

“We better watch in case it rolls at us,” Brian laughed.

I shook my head and ignored them. I walked up to the slipper lane and focused my eyes on the arrows down the lane. I straightened out my arm and took four steps forward before letting go. The ball rolled down and nailed the center pin, causing the other nine ones to fall with it. “You were saying?” I asked, sitting next to Matt with a giant smirk.