six

1 month 1 week away

I woke up in the guest room at Ethan's, the soft duvet covering me from the waist down. A light knock on the door caused me to pull it up to cover myself fully. Ethan came in a moment later.

"Oh, it's only you." I said, releasing the cover from my death grip. He smiled at me around the doorframe. "I thought it might be your mum again. I love her, but she has no boundaries. She walked in whilst I was in the shower last night." I looked at him curiously as he continue to watch me from the door. "What is it?"

"I thought I'd do something nice for you." He said. "So I made you breakfast in bed." He stepped into the room, a treat in his hands. On its surface was a plate of streaming pancakes and a glass of orange juice.

"That's a very American breakfast, and maybe a tad romantic." I laughed. "A month ago you couldn't stand me, now you're making me breakfast."

"It's not romantic, it's a show of good faith." He told me and set the tray down on the cover beside me. He sat himself on the end of the bed, his hand unconsciously testing on my lower leg.

"Have you got a date for prom yet?" I asked, taking a mouthful of pancake, the soft fluffy texture rolling over my tongue.

"Uh, no. I have someone I wanna ask, but they'll probably say no. I'm pretty certain that they don't know how they really feel." Ethan said thoughtfully. "I'm going they do realise before prom. What about you?"

"I'm going with Shannon. Unless one of us gets with someone before hand." I said. "And trust me, I don't see anything happening for me anytime soon."

"Never say never." He smiled. I passed him the empty tray with a grateful smile. "Okay. c'mon, get up." I whipped the duvet of and stood up. Since I had first come to Ethan's, we had spent two hours in the gym every day, her said it helped him get rid of his puppy fat. My stomach was flatter and harder, my biceps had grown as well as my thighs becoming like stone. I stood in my boxers pulling a shirt on over my head and fought with a pair of jeans. P

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"All day pool party at a neighbor's." He told me. "Let's go."

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"Whoa, this place is awesome." I breathed. Were had only walked down the street towards the bigger houses in the neighborhood, electric gates closing them off to the rest of the street. "Your friend lives here!"

"Not really my friend, our mums know each other. I just like coming round." Ethan said, he pressed a small button at the side of the gates and a voice cracked through.

"Who is it?"

"It's Ethan, here for the party." He said in return. The gates buzzed and slowly swing open, revealing a long drive way and heightening my jealously more. "C'mon, round the back."

"Oh. I don't have my swimming gear." I mumbled

"Who swims at a pool party?" Ethan laughed. When we emerged to the back garden, we were instantly approached by a guy who looked about our age, if not then a year or two older. He was in a pair of jeans and an expensive looking shirt that probably cost more than my house.

"Ethan, how are you? It's been such a long time." The guy said and then turned his attention to me. "And you are?"

"Oh, this is Taylor. Heya p he's a friend from school. Taylor this is Alfie." Ethan said, making the cliché introductions.

"Nice to meet you." I said and held my hand out. The guy looked at my hand and ignored my gesture.

"How cute. Ethan come with me, I have someone you should meet." Alfie took him by the arm and dragged him away. I started where I was, hovering at the edge of the party, looking around and feeling slightly lost. I watched as Alfie and Ethan stopped Infront of a group of girls. Alfie was gesturing wildly with his hands as he spoke, whereas Ethan had his hands in his pockets looking awkward. I sat on one of the chairs and took my phone out of my pocket.

'Help me.' I sent to Shannon.

'Is this an S.O.S?' She replied

'Yes, meet me at the park in twenty.' I put my phone back in my pocket and cautiously made my way across to Ethan.

"Hey, I'm gonna head off." I said to him. "I don't know anyone here and I feel a little uncomfortable."

"No. Please stay." He said. "You're the only normal person here, the rest have more money than sense. They're all so arrogant."

"I said that if meet Shannon at --"

"Please, please stay." He begged. His eyes were full of pleading, and he looked like he was terrified of being left alone at the party.

"Okay, sure. Let me text Shannon." I said. "You owe me big time Clayton."

'Call off the dogs. I'm gonna stay. Sorry' I sent.

'No problem, see you Monday.' She replied.

"Let's go, I don't wanna stay any longer." Ethan said and turned to the Alfie guy. "We're gonna go. We have an assignment to finish. I only popped in to say hi."

"Okay, have fun with your silly project." Alfie said. "Your friend should probably leave first, he's making everyone else uncomfortable."

"Why?" I asked

"You aren't, how do I put this.... like us." Alfie sneered.

"You mean rich?" I said, feeling my neck pricking from angered embarrassment. "Let's get one thing straight. I may not be a rich spoilt brat with the newest phone out a house the size of Buckingham palace, but at least I don't have to buy my friends. I'm leaving, screw you." I stormed off, anger boiling through my veins. As soon as I passed through the gates, I get a stick feeling rise in my throat.

"That was awesome." Ethan said, appearing at my side. "I've never seen anyone talk to him like that."

"Well, I want gonna just stand there and let him slate me. I don't like bullies." I said, justifying my actions. "Sorry if I embarrassed you."

"Nah, it's fine. I've been waiting for an excuse to avoid him. You just saved the trouble of looking." He said with a wide smile. "C'mon, let's head back to mine."

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I showered and changed whilst Ethan was downstairs making lunch for both us. When I joined him in the kitchen, he had an apron on, it's pink and yellow flowers being worn with pride.

"Awh look at you." I laughed. "You'll make a great housewife one day."

"Shut up. Mums rules." He told me. "Here, enjoy." He pushed a plate towards me and took the apron of, taking a seat opposite me. "Sorry about Alfie, he can be a complete arse."

"It's fine. I have a lot of bottled up emotion, he just caught me in a bad day." I said. "Thanks for sticking by me."

"Of course, you're a friend. He's just a neighbor." He took a bite of his toastie and moans in pleasure as strings of cheese dangle from the bite mark in the sandwich.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked, seeing my empty plate in the dishwasher.

"We could always do the assignment we actually have to do." He suggested, passing me a sheet of paper.

"Sure, but then I've gotta go home." I told him. "I've got stuff to do." Ethan left the room and returned moments later with his school bag.

"We'll work off mine, and then you can copy it onto yours, we're both prodigies so it won't seem strange." Ethan said. "Right, all we have to do is give a detailed display and report on the creation of the universe. Easy for you, sorted"

"So, do you want to do the display or report?" I asked, and added after a moment's thought. "It's probably better if we do the display." He flicked through the brief we were given to work off as he thought.

"Yeah, do the display." He agreed. "It's probably best if we do the report alone. C'mon there's a load of cards stuff upstairs." We walked upstairs and into a room I hadn't noticed before. Opening the door revealed a room that looked like a study, a large desk say against one wall, behind it was a large bookcase. Filling cabinets and locked drawers lined the other walls like a barricade from the outside world. Ethan moved to a large set of drawers and opened tithe the top drawer. He pulled out a few big sheets of paper.

"This is nice." I said looking around.

"Yeah, this is mums office, she's a lawyer." Ethan said. "All the supplies are kept in here. After getting all the stuff he wanted, he walked out the door leaving me the only choice of following. The door closed behind us with a definitive click. "You got everything you need? Pens and pencils I mean."

"Yeah." I told him and pulled my bag up from under the table. He started working on the paper before I had a chance to take out a pencil. His own pencil carelessly gliding over the white surface with the casual ease of a studied artist. I sat down opposite him and started working on my own, my uneven squiggles looking extremely inferior to miss artistic lines. Ignored his work and focused on mine. Starting with the sun, I worked my way pretty outward, putting the planets in order with a box of information at the sides.