The Boy and His Guitar

The first week had gone by quickly. I was happy to report that no matter where you are, school is school, boring and unoriginal. Somehow they all find a way to make people miserable, unfortunately.

Everyone had been nice… some nicer than others. As predicted, Cam had been welcomed by what he referred to as the “babe pool.” Lucky him, his life wasn’t over. I suppose mine wasn’t either. I got by, nothing to complain about. Things could always be much worse, right?

I had two classes with Cam, a handful with Blythe and Ryder, and every single period with the green-eyed wonder. Colton had been so excited I thought he might pee himself. At least he wasn’t flaky, consistently strange from day one. And as for the animal himself, I had a single class with him that I had come to worship, music.

Fox was interesting. From what I could tell he never really missed school, he just chose to avoid any class that wasn’t music. That wasn’t a problem for me though. If all he wanted to do was attend music class when I happened to be there, I wasn’t going to protest.

I had been on my way to the bathroom on my second day of school when I heard a strange sound. I followed it and realized that the whole situation ironically resembled the eerie scenes in crappy horror movies where the girl is an idiot who brings it upon herself to investigate. I was the idiot.

I searched for the source for what seemed like hours until I decided I should give up. That’s when I realized I had no idea where I was and I had regrettably left my backwards, good for nothing map back in class. So a decision was made, I couldn’t back track since I had no idea where I came from, just move forward. Besides, isn’t that the way things should be in life? Progressing in a forward motion?

Somehow I managed to get myself near a stairwell where the sounds seemed louder and could easily be interoperated as music rather than nonsense noise. The notes reverberated of the walls in the confined space. “Hello?” I called out into the distance hoping someone would respond rather than me just standing there like an idiot by myself.

“I see you’ve found my hiding spot…” The sound stopped and out he came from a little alcove tucked beneath the staircase.

“The next best thing when there aren’t any trees available?” I asked thinking I was pretty darn clever.

I studied Fox. He propped his guitar up against a wall and walked toward me. His body was inches from mine and if he took a step forward we’d be touching. A delicate smile had formed on his face and he quietly, but strongly said one simple word, “Welcome.”

---

“So, why are we sitting here?”

I looked over at my brother sitting to my left. His frame took up nearly half the couch, how obnoxious could a single boy be? His arm was slung against the back of the couch while his legs were sprawled out awkwardly in front of him in a way that seemed like it could never be classified as comfortable. “Because we’re losers with nothing better to do on a Friday night other than sit here?”

He sighed loudly, “Didn’t Colton make plans or something?”

“Or something… I don’t know… I wasn’t paying any attention to him. I’ve known the boy for a week and I already subconsciously tune him out when he opens his mouth. He’s your friend, that’s your job.” I looked over at Cam, an evident scowl forming on his face.

“That’s right, you only listen to your precious Ryder,” What…? Ryder? MY Ryder? Sure, it’d be cool to own a Ryder of my own. I could laugh, “I’m sure he’s thrilled by it”

What was Cam trying to get at? Sure Ryder and I spent time together. I didn’t act any differently when I was around him compared to anyone else. Besides, I definitely had not seen Ryder treat me any differently than anyone else either. Of course he was nice to me, I was one of the few girls who didn’t throw themselves at him.

“What are you saying?” Cam rolled his eyes overdramatically.

“It’s obvious the guy has some sort of weird British thing for you,” Cam said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ryder was plenty of things, but obvious definitely was not one of them.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I told him in a matter of fact tone. The again, it’d be nice if any cute English boy liked me. If said boy was Ryder it’d definitely be a plus.

“Me?” I asked him incredulously, “What about you?”

“I haven’t got any weird girl issues. I thought girls were supposed to like guys with accents.” Cam crossed his arms over his chest and readjusted himself. His body was now positioned facing away from me, like that was going to change anything. He studied his fingernails… what a girl.

We both sat like that fuming when our phones went off simultaneously. Neither of us moved as if the first one to make a motion would lose at some unspoken game, “I call truce,” I said. “I’ll pet you a dollar it’s something from Colton.”

“Agreed on the white flag waving… as for Colton? I’d have to be stupid to take that bet. It’s definitely him.” Cam dug his hand into his pocket producing a sleek phone. I on the other hand, had to lean forward and grabbed my phone from where it resided on the coffee table. I stared at the brightly lit screen trying to figure out the cryptic message.

‘Par-T @ Fox Renard’s
B there ro B [ ]
BBE Horse’

“Is that supposed to be a square…?” Cam asked aloud, “BBE Horse…?”

“Only Colton would find some dysfunctional way to spell party” I turned to look at my brother before continuing, “He used the same amount of characters too! I bet he didn’t even save any time! And look at that, he referred to himself as a baby horse! All of this in one horribly constructed message.”

“He spelt or wrong…” Cam commented scratching the back of his head. Fortunately, he recovered quickly, “Well, what are we doing? Don’t you have to go fix your hair or something? Why are we still sitting here?”

I looked at him before closing my eyes praying for the best, “Because we’re losers with nothing to do on a Friday night other than attend an animal’s party.”

Cam got up off the couch and extended his arm. I placed my hand in his and he pulled me up. Once I was on my feet and balanced, I shook my head, something had to go wrong tonight, “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” I looked over at my excited brother and took in his appearance.

“Don’t get too excited, we’re not leaving until you fix your hair…”