THE GREGOR

Essentially, this story is about the events that conspire after Ned Flowers, age seventeen, gets stood up on a date by Griffin Thomas, who had made the decision to ditch Ned and to instead go out with Sam Hayes. It's an interesting conversation, debating just who the hero of this story is and if there's a villain. In real life, are there villains? Can people be casted as archetypes in life as they are in the movies?

Griffin is the obvious choice for being the villain, holding all the right attributes: selfish choices, a venomous tongue, and good looks.

Is the hero Sam, who opened this story with a tale about a summer love gone wrong?

Is it Ned, the title character and leader of this group?

Or does it depend on who has done the most heroism? At this moment, I'd say that award goes to Lena for saving my life... or could that be about to change? I mean, who's going to save me now from inside of this ugly gift bag? I was manhandled and stuffed without warning.

I can't even see.

All I can hear is Ned and his friends losing their minds. Hopefully, someone comes to get me soon, I do hate being kept the dark.

#

GRIFFIN

Groaning, Griffin touched his cheek again and winced. That Ned Flowers may have the body mass of a wet noodle, but he sure knew how to throw a punch. Compared to the terrible ache pounding inside his chest, his cheek wasn't all that painful. The guilt sat heavy, like Ned not only punched him, but pressed his foot against Griffin's chest until he was crushed like a bug against the floor.

Once Ned went running, everyone but Indie followed him. Indie glanced around, walking to the bag of frozen veggies that Ned dropped in the bathroom. They picked it up and handed it over to Griffin. "Can't lose your best feature."

"Thanks," Griffin muttered, deciding to take it as a compliment.

"Come down when you're ready."

Indie followed their friends, leaving Griffin alone on the floor. He felt like piece of dirty laundry left on the ground. Not important to pick up. Just there. Causing clutter. Pushing himself up, Griffin sluggishly walked down the stairs, trying to keep his distance from where he wasn't welcomed.

"It's gone," Ned said in horror. Sam and Lena were helping pull him back to his feet and Griffin's chest pinched with jealousy. No one even thought to help him up. Not even Indie, who Griffin thought had actually started to like him. Just a little bit.

"Where did all the gifts go?" Lena asked, but she was finding her own answer as her eyes followed a trail of people making their way into the next room. The dork horde scrambled to see what was going on with Griffin silently trailing and finding himself in the living room with a huge tree by a decked-out fireplace. It was littered with Christmas Cards, five long red stockings, and more tinsel than Griffin cared to see.

There were two couches and tons of cushions for people to sit. Aubrey's family was obviously accustomed to hosting and she stood among the piles of present, shaking a Santa hat at people. "Okay, everyone grab a number and we'll start the game-"

Slipping past the crowd, Ned barged his way to the gifts and started rifling through them. This caused the kind of commotion usually reserved for when people scream "FIRE!" Aubrey gasped and grabbed his arm. "What do you think you're doing?! It's White Elephant, all the presents are supposed to be a surprise."

"I'm-I'm looking for the gift I brought. We didn't wrap it so-"

"Oh!" Melanie, a blonde girl raised her hand. "I wrapped it for you!"

"But which-?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Even if you brought something for yourself, you still have to play like everybody else. Pick a number."

Glancing around the room, Ned Flowers coward under the eyes of a dozen strangers. He must've realized he was outnumbered.

Obediently, Ned put his hand in the hat and came back with the number eight on a ripped piece of notebook paper. Not really inspiring for them. It was in the middle of the pack. Not special. No promise that they'd be able to find The Gregor and keep it.

Indie nudged Griffin. "Grab our number."

Griffin grimaced at them. All this time, he had been finding and wrapping a gift for this specific party and this game. He really had been sent on a stupid goose chase just to do Indie's last-minute chores. He managed to get twelve and handed it to Indie.

Lena smiled encouragingly. "Well, that's better."

"Not great," Sam mumbled.

The rest of the numbers start going around, some people announcing their numbers while others joked about everyone just needing to wait. While the dork horde discussed strategy, Griffin scanned the room. He spotted a girl from his biology class Renee, and she was biting the inside of her mouth to keep from anyone noticing her smiling.

"I'll take that," Griffin whispered and snatched the number 12 from Indie.

Renee was Chad's ex-girlfriend and resident Spongebob expert, having memorized the entire first season word for word. She had thick tussled strawberry blonde hair, fake freckles, and dressed like a Pinterest aesthetic board. Griffin found her to be the most tolerable person in his biology class.

"Hey, Renee." Griffin walked up to her.

"Hey, Griffin," she said, looking up at him from the ground. She spied around his legs. "I didn't think you'd hang out with Indie and their crew."

"Yeah, me neither, listen..." He got straight to the point. He wasn't waiting around and living for the hope of it all. Griffin believed in action, in doing something instead of waiting around for life to happen to him. Griffin liked being the maker of his own destiny. "What do I need to do so you give me that 15."

Renee grinned, feigning surprise. Griffin was pretty good at catching people in lies or knowing the difference between someone being genuine or not.

"Why should I give it to you?"

"I'm not telling you to give it to me. I want to trade with you. What do you want? I'll figure it out."

"I want your Rihanna hoodie."

Griffin's jaw dropped. "That was so immediate. You want my Rihanna hoodie?"

"Yeah. I like it and it's already worn in; you know? I don't have a boyfriend, so I can't steal anybody's hoodie."

Closing his eyes, Griffin tried not to give into the cool temptation of death and agreed. "Fine. I'll bring it to class after the break."

"Promise?" Renee held up her pinky.

"Promise." Griffin hooked his pinky around hers and traded the numbers. She wished him luck and Griffin scurried back to Indie's band of losers.

"Here..." he handed the stub to Sam, taking the number eight for himself. "Number 15. Sorry about tonight."

Sam nodded but didn't forgive him. Not that he had to do so. He still said, "Thanks."

Indie poked their head between them, their brow raised. "What did you have to do to get that number?"

"Why?" Griffin smiled. "Are you jealous?"

Indie rolled their eyes, which garnered the attention of Lena. She looked at Griffin as if for the first time and didn't like what she saw. He winked and the extra guy following them around with no name put his arm around her. Zero for zero for making friends tonight. Griffin sighed and settled into the background as the game began.

The first girl picked the biggest box and it turned out to be a body moisturizing kit. The next, a guy nabbed a gift card to Starbucks, which was stolen the next turn, which caused an uproar of cheers and the guy laughed it off. Everyone was talking and laughing and shaking the walls with their noise. Everyone was loud, but Indie's corner was dead silent, watching and anticipating every moment.

Walking to a random bag, this guy pulled out The Gregor and everyone absolutely lost it. Ned's group almost crumbled from the defeat.

"There's no way that's real!" One shouted.

Another laughed. "Who super glued sunglasses on some lawn gnome as joke."

The current owner of the Gregor raised the gnome in victory. "Real or not, this little guy's mine!"

#

THE GREGOR

Sigh.

Not again.

I hate being the prettiest girl at the dance.

#

GRIFFIN

"This isn't good," Indie said.

Before the guy could sit down with The Gregor, a girl shot up, waving her number back and forth in his face. "Don't get comfy! That little guy is mine."

Another explosion of cheers as the next person swiped The Gregor right up.

"What do you mean?" Ned asked.

Indie looked up at him. "Houses rules. After a gift gets stolen three times, it gets locked out, and no one can steal it." Their eyes found the last number in Sam's hand. "So, even if you have the last number, it doesn't matter."

"What are we going to do?" Sam snapped a worried look to Ned. Everyone looked at Ned, but he was a thousand miles away. It was already too late. The Gregor was snatched yet again, and the crowd was still going nuts, begging for rules to be broken, and for someone to call an expert to make sure it was authentic. People were starting to form a circle around it.

Sighing, Griffin rolled his shoulders, letting his back crack. He laid his hand on Indie's shoulder and smirked. "Not everything can be solved by being nice."

Indie gave him a look, but they couldn't say anything to stop him because Griffin was already moving. He put on a happy face like slipping on a pair of sunglasses and joined the crowd, making jokes, "If it's really The Gregor, I'll eat that Christmas Tree."

A few heard him and laughed as Griffin pushed through to get closer. "Those aren't even the right sunglasses," Griffin said and was able to get his hands on the little red hat. "Don't you see the logo? It's not really Ray Band-"

The moment Griffin had a hold of The Gregor, he took off running.

"Hey-"

Ten years of soccer finally had real world benefits. Take that mom. He jumped over the pile of presents, barreled through Indie and their group, and was out the door before anyone could even realize what was really happening. Griffin practically flew through the lawn and continued pounding the pavement all the way down the street, his lungs on fire and his muscles thumping. Houses passing by. No cars out on these dark streets. It was freezing. Every breath scratched down his throat in icy ridges.

It was one long road, but Griffin still felt completely lost. He didn't know where he was going, The Gregor on fire in his hands. He didn't know why he did this. Why did he take The Gregor? Why does he care? And then, he remembered the look on Indie and all their friend's faces. He was hit in the stomach like a punch by all the terrible things he had said to Ned and Sam. In general.

He remembered the exact moment he received Margaret Hayes's text, asking if he'd like to go to the dance with her brother. It was the exact moment he decided to stand Ned up and unlike at the time where Griffin didn't have a care in the world, and he was actually confident and glad to go to a place with hundreds of people.

This time, the memory soured and curdled Griffin's stomach.

"GRIFFIN!"

Still running, Griffin looked back at a black SUV rolling up beside the sidewalk. Indie was standing at the sunroof, waving their hands. "You run so fast," they sounded surprised. "I bet you are good at soccer."

Griffin caught his breath and didn't even try to keep from smiling. The fact that Indie remembered what sport he played pleased him in such an annoying way. He stopped, catching his breath as the whole gang trickled out of the car. Waltzing up to the passenger side, Ned climbed out and Griffin shoved The Gregor into his chest.

"Here," he snapped. "Stop letting it out of your sight."

Ned looked The Gregor and then Griffin in awe.

Griffin shook his head. "If this happens again, I'm not helping you."

"Deal," Ned said, cracking a smile. "If I do it again, I deserve it."

And hell froze over because Griffin smiled too.

Walking to Griffin's side, Indie gave his shoulder a nudge. "Nicely done."

Griffin nudged them back. "You haven't noticed? I'm the best."

Indie grinned and shook their head, but their face softened as they studied Griffin's face and eyes. Indie tilted their head, speaking soft enough for only Griffin to hear. "I didn't tell you to do that. It wasn't one of your tasks."

"I know." Griffin nodded, feeling just as soft. This must be what it feels like to be a domesticated cat, taken from the wild. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to go back. He couldn't survive out in the real world anymore, away from Indie. "It was just something I wanted to do..." His eyes lingered inside of Indie's as he couldn't think of a single thing to say next.

He had nothing to say.

But he didn't feel like he had to talk either.

Then, movement caught his eye and he looked over at cars pulling close. "Hey, those cars are slowing down."

Ned cursed. "That's my parents."

"And mine," Sam said, the horror in their voices matching.

Looking around, Griffin watched as the cars closed them in and Griffin never felt more confused.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm gonna miss writing Griffin's POV. My little trash boy was a lot of fun to write! (Though I do think he had ONE more POV left). Not to alarm anyone but there's only five (??) chapters left. But that's if I did my math write. Lol.

SO!! What did you think of the chapter?? What are our feelings about Griffin? And about Griffin AND Indie together? Are you surprised Griffin saved the day? Do you think the group would take him in as their own? Lol. All comments are appreciated!