t w e n t y s i x ;

That afternoon after classes were done for the day, Louise was in her bedroom, and the first thing she did when she got there was to call her older brother Gene on the phone. A confrontation which was inevitable was the only thing on her mind.

"I can't believe you and Danielle have a thing. Ew. She's evil and she's out to get me. And I can't stand her." Were the first words that left her mouth the moment she heard him pick up the phone. She didn't even greet him, nor did she wait for a greeting from him. 

At that point she didn't want to be friendly or even cordial with him. He was her brother and he knew, from her own words, that Danielle was someone at school who had been giving her a hard time. She thought that as her brother, Gene would be more supportive of Louise's hatred towards Danielle Bradford. She thought that her rivals would be his rivals as well, like any brother should do. But instead, he was being lured into the gates of hell by the Devil herself. Danielle knew how to fool people and make them her little puppets when she wanted to. Louise wasn't even sure Danielle even liked Gene. She was probably just talking to him to bother Louise, and it was definitely working. 

Gene rolled his eyes at her from his end of the phone. Louise was already seventeen, and she'd be turning eighteen in a little over a half a year. It was time for her to grow up and stop seeing the world like a child. Life wasn't always about pranks and messing with other people. He thought she would understand it by now, but he saw that he was wrong. All he wanted at nineteen at the moment was to focus on his music studies and possibly finally get a girlfriend. Gene had never really gotten girls interested in him, nor did it bother him much before. But as he got older, he started to yearn for someone to share things with, like Jimmy Jr. and Tina were doing. They were childhood sweethearts and had always liked each other. Gene just wanted someone to like him too. 

Then there was Danielle, who was pretty and nice, and she seemed to like him. He was even texting her right then, as he spoke with Louise. He sighed into the phone as he started to reply to his little sister. "Maybe if you got to know her, you would see that she's actually nice."

Louise scoffed a little too loudly at his words. She could not believe what she was hearing. Danielle must have been quite the actress to make Gene believe that she was actually a decent human being. But Louise knew who she really was and she would never fall for her tricks if Danielle were planning to use them on her as well. "Danielle is not nice. She's only nice to you because you're a boy and she thinks you're cute."

Still, remaining surprisingly calm, Gene tried to pacify her. "Look, I'm going to visit again in two weeks. Maybe the three of us can hang out and you two can get to know each other better."

Louise, who was laying down on her bed, threw her head back and groaned in frustration. Normally, she would have been at her soccer practice at that moment, but that phone call could not wait. She had asked Annie and Aimee to talk to their coach and inform her that she had been sick all weekend, and that she would not be making it to practice that afternoon as a result. That gave her two hours of alone time in her dorm room before the twins would come back, and she could talk to her brother in peace.

"That's not going to happen. Don't waste your time." She said to him, and without waiting for a response from him, she hung up the phone. 

-

For the next week, Louise couldn't stop thinking about Dieter. She was already waiting anxiously for Friday afternoon so that she could sneak out of school and see him again. But she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up, sneaking out of school every weekend. So she decided she would only do it once a month after this second outing. She didn't want mother superior finding out and getting her expelled. Then she would have to go back home and she'd never see Dieter, the twins, and Logan ever again. 

She went about her week normally and when Friday rolled around, this time she was prepared. She gathered a backpack with some clothes for the weekend and hid it in the bushes until the final bell rang after school. Then she made her way through the crowded school to the front where all the faculty and staff cars were parked. There were usually no students, since no one was allowed to leave the premises other than the teachers, so she was able to easily get into Logan's car again without getting caught. She smiled to herself at how easy it was. The twenty five year old science teacher seemed to never lock his car.

It was over thirty minutes before he got in his car and left school grounds for the weekend. He jumped, startled, when he saw a pink set of bunny ears pop up in his back seat. "What the hell, Louise?" He shouted, looking at her through his rear view mirror. There was a car behind him, going the same path into town, but they were several feet away and hopefully could not see the seventeen year old who had stowed away in his back seat. 

"Look, I promise I'll only do this once a month..." She began to explain.

But he immediately cut her off, annoyance lacing his words. "You should not be doing this at all. And I shouldn't have to cover for you. I'm a teacher. For one, I could get fired. And also, I could get sent to jail if anyone thinks you and I have something."

"But we don't." Louise pointed out. "I like Dieter, and you're dating that snobby stick woman."

He wasn't sure why, but he felt a tiny prick in his chest when she brought up that high school boy from the public school in town. Dieter Park. Louise had never been one to fall in love with those types of boys, or even anyone at all. She had a tough exterior and never seemed to admit her feelings. He was sure she'd first shoot herself in the foot than to admit she liked anyone. But for one reason or another, it bothered him even more that she seemed to like someone like Dieter Park.

"Her name is Valentina." He reminded her. Not that he didn't think Louise didn't know her name. She knew it, alright. She just preferred calling her the snobby stick woman.

They were already well past the point of no return and the road was narrow, which meant that cars behind him would surely see her if he stopped to make a u-turn. He also didn't feel like driving the forty minutes back to the school to drop her off when it wasn't even his fault that she was there in the first place. As he thought about it, there was no harm in her coming over for the weekend as long as no one else found out. He just needed to make sure neither of them got caught. He would get fired, and she would get expelled from the private school.

They went to his house in the quiet neighborhood where he lived and he once again let her take his bed room. This time there was no carnival in town for them to go to, but with Maria Valentina out of his life for the next six weeks, he though he could take Louise out to have some non-school food for a change. Everything they served at the school was okay, but it was all healthy food and that meant the students there didn't get any junk food unless they were back home on vacation. Louise was no exception, and as a scholarship student, she got the even cheaper meals which very rarely included meat. Or if they did, it was very little of it. 

"Hurry and change out of your uniform. I was looking online the other day and apparently there's this diner in town that serves the best burgers and shakes on the east coast." He told her with a bit of excitement in his words. He was always up for a good burger. He hoped that Louise was too, since she probably didn't get many good ones back home. Her father's restaurant wasn't bad, but there was something always going wrong with him. From a health inspector always trying to close his business down, to his constant feuds with the restaurant owner from across the street, Jimmy Pesto.

Louise gave a nod of her head as she made her way down to his bed room expertly, already knowing which way to go. A smile formed on her lips as she replied to him. "Oh yeah. Dieter mentioned to me that Granny's makes the best burgers."

Once again he felt that little prick feeling in his chest. This was the second time she was bringing that boy up in less than an hour. That meant she really was interested in him. He pushed any negative thoughts out of his mind and decided he would try to be like an older brother for her. He would even maybe try to help her out with Dieter and give her advice. She was seventeen after all and had never had a boyfriend, as far as he knew. It was only normal that she would like some boy her age. He didn't expect her to suddenly like him after they had hated each other for so long. And even if he were to actually like her, it wasn't like they could have anything anyway.

He respected the fact that she was still under age and would never try anything with her. Not while she was still so young. The most he could do now was to protect her and take car of her. But he qiuckly  shook his head and willed away all thoughts of Louise Belcher. He was getting carried away and way ahead of himself. He didn't like her and she didn't like him. At most, they were tolerating each other at the moment because they were both familiar to each other. They both knew each other from back home. 

She came back after a few minutes and was dressed in a pair of ripped skinny jeans and a green v-neck shirt. Something simple that still reminisced of the way she always liked to dress when she was a kid. Her pink bunny ears sat atop her head comfortably.

Louise took one look at him and said, "Aren't you going to change too?"

He looked down at himself and noticed he was dressed in his science teacher attire--a button up light blue shirt, black slacks and a tie. He would look much older than her if they went out like that. People would surely stare at them at the diner. He rolled his eyes at her playfully and walked past her into the bedroom. He chose something comfortable as well. A pair of jeans and a simple white shirt. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, ruffling it up messily to get most of the neat slicked parts out. And he went to shave off the slight five o'clock shadow he was sporting.

When he emerged, Louise was sitting on the couch with her feet on his coffee table. She was typing away a text on her phone. As he walked up to her, he swatted her feet down. "Were you raised in a barn?" He asked her as she glared at him playfully.

His mother Cynthia had their house spotless and as much as he was a bit of a rebellious teenager when he lived with his parents, his mother would have chopped his feet off if he even so much as thought to put his feet up on her coffee table. 

He then asked her if she was ready to go and she nodded, and the two headed out the door together.

-

They entered the diner that looked like they had been sucked straight into a 1950s Coca Cola ad and walked up to the counter where they were greeted by a nice girl with a waitress outfit and a 1950s up do. There was a beautiful juke box at one end of the diner and along the walls were old photographs of happy teenagers at the beach. The girl at the front counter welcomed them to the restaurant and took their order. They had two burgers, two fries, and two shakes. Then she gave them a number card and instructed them to sit wherever they wanted. They would have their food taken up to their table. 

Logan and Louise sat at one of the booths, closest to the front door. Most of the other booths further into the restaurant were already taken. For this time of day it was crowded with teenagers who were most likely from the local high school, but it wasn't overly crowded since it was a small town and not many people lived there.

While they waited for their food to arrive, they heard the bell at the front door to the restaurant ring. Louise had a front view of the door and she felt her heart beating madly against her chest as she saw who was coming into the restaurant. It was a group of seven teenagers--three girls and four boys.

And she found that she recognized one of them. 

The teens walked up to the counter to order and one of them started looking around for a place to sit with his friends. His red hair was unmistakeable. And a smile spread across his lips when he saw a familiar face already looking back at him.

It was Dieter Park, and he didn't wasn't a moment in coming over to their table to say hello.

-

i feel like this chapter is actually a lot of filler. 

but i haven't written in this book for almost a year and i kinda wanna get into the swing of things. now that we've been under quarantine for almost two months, i have found i have more time since i'm stuck at home. 

i was laid off from my office job, so i am currently working at the restaurant i used to work at before i got the office job. but its nice because all of my friends were at the restaurant and my crush as well, so now i get to see him four days a week, instead of just one like before. 

but anyway, i hope you all enjoy the new chapter. i will try my best to have another one posted in the next few days. i actually have some ideas for this story. but i want to build up to them instead of having them just happen one after the other. so please bear with me and tell me what you think of this story and this update. is logan falling in love with louise? and isn't it nice that he's decided to respect the fact that he'd under age either way? 

-clary