chapter seven: smells like teen spirit

☾ ☼ Owen Grey

Thursday, September 24th, 2017

NELSON WAS PRETTY UPSET TO FIND OUT THAT I COULDN'T SMOKE WITH HIM AFTER SCHOOL.

"I can't smoke after school today," I say as I lay on my bed, fiddling with a loose string on my jean jacket, I hear Nelson let out a deep groan on the other end. He claimed that I never had time for him anymore, I couldn't help, but laugh to myself at how much of a girl he sounded.

"Why not?" He grumbles, annoyance woven in his words.

I sigh propping a pillow behind my head. "Because my mom is forcing me to hang out with this girl that has cancer."

"Oh shit...yeah, she's kinda hot, are you guys fucking?"

For some reason I blush, the thought of anything romantic or sexual with Sunny just felt weird, and all together wrong and besides, I had eyes for someone else—someone who barely knew I existed, I correct myself mentally, thinking back to the awkward encounter at the dance last week.

"Nelson, fuck off," I retort back, not knowing what else to say. Nelson had called her hot, I wondered if he actually thought that, or if he was just dicking around. Nelson didn't spare girls like Sunny a second glance, she was not his type of girl, Nelson preferred beauty queens, girls that wore makeup and skirts and were flashy with their looks, Sunny wasn't ugly, not by a long shot, but she had the type of beauty that guys my age didn't notice.

"Can I hang out with you guys, then?" He asks.

"No, that'd be weird."

"Why, it's not like you guys are fucking or anything....unless?"

"I hate you."

"You love me."

"Be at my house in ten," I say before ending the call.

He mutters out an "okay."

Nelson comes a half hour late, but he is quickly forgiven when I see that he has tacos.

"Do you think she likes tacos?" Nelson asks grinning at me, as he locks the doors to his car, as I close the front door of my house. Nelson and I make our way across the street together, the early autumn wind accompanying us, it wasn't cold yet, but it definitely wasn't summer anymore either.

"Who doesn't like tacos?" I respond, suddenly hungry. "She...doesn't eat much, though."

We stand outside her front door, I knock three times, Nelson furrows his brows. "Dude that means she likes you," he says nudging me.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"When girls are shy to eat around you, it's a sign they like you,"He says with a shrug, before I can respond to his idiocy, the door swings open, revealing Ms. Wright. She smiles a great big smile, and today she looks less tired, like maybe she snuck in a few hours of sleep.

"Owen, how are you?" she says, a smile still planted on her face, as she steals a few glances at Nelson, Nelson being the pig that he is, gawks her up and down, with a smirk I feel somewhat of a hypocrite, realizing I did the same thing a few days prior.

"I'm great, Ms. Wright, how are you?"

"Great, thanks...I see you've brought a friend."

"Oh....yeah, this is Nelson," I say looking to my best friend, he holds the bag of tacos in his left hand, but with his right, he holds it out to her, smiling brightly.

"Hello, I'm Nelson, pleasure to meet you," I stand and watch as Ms. Wright and Nelson stare at each other smiling and blushing, I nearly vomit in my mouth, Nelson flirted with any and everything.

"So, is Sunny in?" I say looking down at my dirty black Vans, avoiding eye contact with Ms. Wright, I see from the corner of my eye that she's blushing.

"Oh, yes...of course she's in, she's always in,"Ms. Wright says, running a hand through her light brown hair. "She's upstairs."

And with that, i'm making my way up the stairs, swiftly, I don't even check to see if Nelson is behind me.

When I make my way up the stairs, I see a light on in  Sunny's room, I knock on the door and hear her mutter a "come in."

"Hey—"

"Hey, I brought tacos!" Nelson says abruptly, from behind me, poking his head through the door, making his way in the room.

We both look down at Sunny, who is on the floor, paint brushes and paint everywhere. She has blue and white paint all over her clothes, hair and hands, as she drags a brush over a nearly complete canvas.

"Well I already like you better than Owen, you've brought food," she says with a bright smile, Nelson laughs, plopping down on a bean bag chair, I sit on my usual spot on Sunny's bed, peaking over her shoulder whilst she paints.

"Are you forgetting that I brought you an apple pie?" I say trying to fake hurt, but fail when I laugh dumbly.

"Too bad I don't like apple pie," she laughs, glancing up at me slightly, still focusing on her canvas.

"What!" I begin, sitting up on the bed. "You're crazy."

"Kinda have to agree with her," Nelson adds, rummaging through the bag, he pulls out a taco, tossing me one, and then Sunny.

"Fuck you, you love my mom's apple pie," I argue back, taking a bite from the taco.

"No...I just say I do," he says, already halfway through a taco. I take a bite of mine too, stealing glances at Sunny, she places the brush down, unwraps the taco and takes the smallest bite i've ever seen.

When she notices me looking, I look away. "Not to be rude, but do you ever leave this room?" Nelson asks, through a mouthful.

Sunny laughs, returning to her painting. "Not really, actually."

"Jeez, that explains your depression,"Nelson bluntly says, still munching a taco.

I feel the sudden urge to bury my face in one of Sunny's pillows when I see the way she's looking at me.

"I'm not depressed," she says calmly, to Nelson, though she's looking at me. "Did Owen tell you I was depressed?"

Nelson stops mid chew, looking from me to Sunny, who is staring down at her blue and white hands. Her face is unreadable, it's a mix of annoyance and solemn, she's completely folded in on herself, stuck in her own mind.

I instantly feel like shit, something told me inviting Nelson was a terrible idea, a terribly, horrible idea. He was too blunt and straightforward, being straightforward to someone who is dying just seemed...wrong somehow. Even though Sunny wasn't like most dying people, or like most people in general.

You were supposed to say things like, "it gets better," "you'll make it through this," but Nelson wasn't the guy to do that, and neither was I really. I wasn't one for lying.

Sunny clears her throat, looking up at Nelson from her spot on the floor and he's still gawking, unsure of what to say.

"I did not tell him you were depressed, I don't think you're depressed. Maybe a little sad, sure, but you're Sunny, if you're depressed, none of us have any hope,"I say, looking up at the star stickers on her ceiling.

No one says anything, it's quiet, so quiet I can hear the room breathing in and out.

"So you guys are still going to the game, right?" Nelson says changing the subject, and for once I'm thankful he's opened his mouth.

Sunny perks up, as she begins putting her art supplies away. "Of course we are, this Friday, right?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be a blowout...you can wear my practice jersey if you want."

"Really?" She asks an unreadable look on her face.

Nelson opens his mouth to answer, then quickly closes it, he's gawking at Sunny—I look at her too, her nose is bleeding profusely, and she doesn't even know it.

She notices us staring, the same time a spot of blood drops down on her canvas, ruining it. "Shit," she says under her breath, plugging her nose, tilting her head back.

"Dude, are you okay?" I ask, rising from her bed, to get tissues off her desk, handing them to her, she takes a few, stuffing them in her nose.

"I'm fine, I'm just feeling a little...fatigued is all," she says, mustering a smile, blood stained tissues up her nose.

Nelson and I can't help, but stare. This was the first time in the past few days I've spent with her, that I was reminded that she was sick, that the blood in her body was all fucked up. Sunny looks down at her painting, annoyed at the scarlet stain, judging by her reaction to the nose bleed, I can tell that this happens a lot, I wonder how many nose bleeds she had within the span of a day, an hour, I wonder what other symptoms she had, if I asked she wouldn't tell.

"I'm fine...really, just a harmless nosebleed, I'll live,"She says this to the quiet room, and it sounds more like she's trying to convince herself, than us.

"You sure?" Nelson asks skeptically. "Are you gonna be good to go to the game tomorrow?"

She laughs, disposing the used tissue. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

After the whole nose bleed incident, the three of us talk about any and everything, Sunny actually finishes her taco, dozing off shortly after.

Nelson and I gather our belongings, cut her lights out, shutting her bedroom door behind her, quiet so not to wake her.

"She's cool," Nelson begins, as we both make our way down the narrow steps. "I think she'll be good for you."

*

It's around five forty five when I make my way over to Sunny's house, I sit on her bed as she gets ready, excitedly.

I hand her Nelson's blue and gold jersey, and she smiles brightly. "Owen, why aren't you more excited, this is gonna be fun!" She says brightly, her back is towards me, but I can see she's smiling through her reflection in the mirror.

There was no signs of her sadness from yesterday, she was her happy and cheery self again.

"I'm excited, that you're excited."

She turns to me, pulling her hair into two pig tail, one tail held up with a blue scrunchie, the other a gold. "You're not even wearing school colors!" She laughs, looking at my outfit. Black pullover, jeans and sneakers.

"I don't own anything blue or gold," I say plainly.

"That's bullshit," Sunny begins, she pulls the  practice jersey over her head, and it's a dress on her. "At least let me paint your face."

Every muscle in my bone wants to say no, I fix my lips to say no, but the giddy look on her face stops me. "Fine," I grumble.

She claps excitedly, reaching into her art supplies. "I don't want anything too crazy," I say, she laughs, approaching me, where I sit at the foot of her bed.

She's stands close to me, dabbing her paint brush in the goldish yellow, she's eye level, I watch her concentrate as she dabs some of the paint off the brush, she's so close I can see that her eyes aren't just a honey brown, but that they're flecked with the faintest of green too.

"Stare much?" She asks, placing the wet brush on my face, I flinch at the cold paint, avoiding eye contact.

"Jeez, sorry...what else am I supposed to look at, you're blocking my vision."

She scrunches her nose, exhaling a breath, that sounds like a laugh. "Just...close your eyes."

"Okay, just don't draw a dick on my face," I say before closing my eyes.

She tilts my chin up, moving my longish hair out of the way. "I wish you'd have told me sooner," she jokes.

She moves my hair from my face again, but it falls back stubbornly. "Your hair is so long, when are you cutting it," she says, I hear her move to another part of the room, swiftly returning, I open my eyes, watching her put a headband on my head, moving my hair out of my face.

"What you don't like my hair?" I fake pout.

"No...I do," she shrugs a small smile growing on her lips, this time she doesn't say anything about me staring, she just continues painting, concentrating.

When she's finished, she tells me to fan my face with a folder she hands me, she finishes getting ready, tying the large jersey up, she throws on yellow vans and puts on a coat of lip gloss. "So...how do I look?"

"You look very...school spirity," she rolls her eyes, but smiles.

"Okay, lets go, we don't want to miss kick off.....that's a football term..right?" She asks grabbing a jacket, before shutting her bedroom light off.

"Fuck if I know."

And with that, the two of us climbed into my car and headed to the shit hole that was Felton High, Sunny and I joked playfully. I made fun of her pigtails at an attempt to help myself forget that my face was painted half gold and half blue.

"Well..you've got paint in your hair," she laughs, tugging at a strand of hair that was gold instead of brown.

"Yeah, it's because you don't know how to paint."

She laughs, a true laugh, that shakes her shoulders and makes her cheeks all rosy, I glance over at her briefly, then return my eyes back on the road. "I paint your mom's face every night!" She says biting her lip, to hold back another laughing fit.

"Says the virgin," I begin, laughing back at her, she tries to fake mad, but carries on laughing.

"Asshole," she says lowly, as we pull into the student and staff parking lot. The parking lot was packed. Sunny and I had to find a parking spot, nearly a mile away from the field. Far enough that we could barely make out the drum line, but close enough to smell the hot dogs and popcorn from the concession stand.

"This is so exciting Owen, aren't you excited?" She asks grabbing my forearm, shaking it as we walked, I pretend I don't notice when her had lingers.

"Truth or lie?" I asks, looking down at her small figure.

"Lie," she says. "Humor me."

"I'm so happy to be here with you," I say jokingly, but when I see the look of hurt flash over her face, I instantly regret it. The look of hurt is gone in seconds and she just shrugs it off, but it was too late, I saw her initial reaction, and I'm reminded that I'm still a dick.

"I'm kidding, there's no one I'd rather spend my Friday night with," truth, it was the truth, Sunny made me feel less like human garbage, like I was capable of doing good things, in a way she was my charity case.

"Liar," she says, when we make it up to the ticket booth, I give her a nudge on the shoulder, reaching into my pocket to pay for the tickets.

"Mr. Grey!" Ms. Ivy, my English teacher hoots from the ticket booth, taking my money. "You didn't peg me as the school spirit type."

Sunny snickers, looking at my painted face, to my teacher who sits in the booth, smiling up at the both of us.

"Yeah, I'm not really," I answer dryly, to avoid further conversation, but Ms. Ivy is relentless, she holds our tickets and the rest of the line hostage.

"Well, is this your girlfriend, Owen?" She gestures to Sunny, who has her hands stuffed into her pocket, she looks down at Ms. Ivy with a slight attitude.

"We're not dating, but hey, do you think maybe we could get our tickets?" Sunny says cooly, leaning forward on the counter, challenging Ms. Ivy.

Sunny looked kind of badass. "..yes....of course," she begins, pulling off two yellow tickets. "Don't forget to read chapters three and four over the weekend!"

Sunny and I quickly scurry away, making our way on the field, we grabs seats in the middle, near the band and cheerleaders.

"Look, we're winning!" Sunny shouts over the ruckus and celebration. "Seven, zero."

"No, the other team is up seven, we have zero."

I hear Sunny grumble something under her breath, but can't make out the words. My eyes scan the track in search for her. Josie Mcbribe.

She smiles, radiantly, shaking her pom poms. Her cheer uniform fits her like a glove, it fits her curves perfectly, not too long or short. I watch as she chants, her cheers, her ponytail bouncing. Everything she did was effortless, she didn't have to try, she just did.

"Why don't you just talk to her?" Sunny asks, causing me to jump out of my skin, I had almost forgotten Sunny entirely.

"We talk all the time, me and her are cool."

"Truth or lie?" She asks, leaning back on the metal bleachers, Sunny's nose and cheeks had grown pink from the mild breeze, she glances over at me, in between studying the field.

"Lie," I confess, offering Josie another glance, she was laughing at something her friend said, on the sideline.

"So...during halftime, walk up and talk to her," Sunny says this like it's the easiest thing to do in the world, and maybe it was, just to open my mouth and speak. But it wasn't just that, it was speaking to her, i was intimidated by her, I never felt that way around any other girl, but her, she was different.

"I...I can't do that,"

"Oh don't be such a baby, do you need for me to hold your hand?" She mocks me talking with a baby voice. "Aw, young love, so cute,"She adds, focusing on the game again.

"Fuck you," I say blushing like the idiot I am. I'd forgotten how much of a bully Sunny was, in elementary and middle school, she'd pick on me for being fat, or for my terrible haircut, it was all in good fun, because I made fun of her for having terrible bangs and scarily scrawny limbs.

"Oh look, it's halftime!" Sunny says, turning to me fully, our knees touch. "She's heading to concession, go!"

"Sunny, no, I'll probably throw up or something," I avoid eye contact with Sunny, I stare at the field where the band begins to set up.

"What are you so afraid of?" She says, searching me the way she does, trying to read me like a book. "It's just a conversation, be nonchalant, like you're unfazed by her."

Easier said then done. "Fine," I say, rising from the bleachers. "But if this goes south, I'm killing myself and you'll be held responsible."

"Whatever, get hot dogs and popcorn too," she calls to me, I turn around and flip her off, she does the same.

I make my way down to concession, at the back of the line, Josie at the very front, she is handed pop corn and a water bottle then exits the line.

She's about to walk past me, but I call out an awkward, "Hey, Josie," she searches the line to see who's just called out to her. "Right here," I say, her eyes meet mine and she's smiling, as usual.

"Owen, hey!" She says and I remember how much I love the way she says my name, she says it like melted butter.

"Hey!" I say back not sure what else to say, she raises a brow, as if to ask, so...what did you want? "What was the homework for Ms. Ivy's class?"

"Oh, we have to read chapters three and four and analyze it," she says, taking a few bites of popcorn. "Do you have a partner for the project?" She asks after a few brief moments of silence.

"Nah, you?" I internally face palm, well I was certainly being nonchalant.

"Wanna be partner's then?" She asks, a raise of her eyebrow.

"Sure, why not?"

"Cool," she says, smiling lightly. "Dig the face paint, by the way." I groan lowly, forgetting about the stupid face paint, I can't believe i was talking to Josie McBride, looking like a complete idiot.

"Thanks," I respond back, plainly, she shoots me one last smile, before walking away.

When she walks away, I let out a breath I didn't know i was holding, I can't wipe the stupid grin of my face.

"Um, excuse me are you in line?" A group of freshman girls asks, from behind me.

"Oh..no!" I say, stepping out of the line, that stupid smile still on my face.

When I make my way back over to Sunny, she's mad that I've forgotten her popcorn, except I don't care, all I can think about is Josie and plus, Sunny forgave me, after I gave her five bucks to get the food herself.

🌙🌙🌙

A/N
Enjoy this long overdue chapter 😌
I will try and update more frequently! And oml ty guys sm for 4K !