Like the majority of my chapters: unedited. 

Chapter 33

"Just get any pair of shoes!" Jessie cried out. I rarely see her impatient about shopping but since it was for sneakers, I understand her impatience.

"Calm down, let me find my size at least. How about you look with me? I'm an 8 1/2." I told her. I saw her reach for a box but I grabbed her hands. "And don't try and make me squeeze into a 6."

She placed the box back and was searching beside me. Since I've been bored lately, and Jessie has been saying that it was because of Adrian, or lack thereof, I was trying to kill some time by getting a pair of white Converse. In case you were wondering, it's one of the many things on my bucket list.

I am trying to wear them to school tomorrow before I help Denise paint Mattie's room. I was hoping that I could get them signed and completed tomorrow. I'll leave a space just for Adrian just in case we get on good terms again, but I don't want to make it too obvious.

"Here!" Jessie nearly cried, tossing the box at me. I looked at the size and smiled in satisfaction. I tried on the shoes to make sure my feet didn't grow, which was highly unlikely.

I bought them and walked with Jessie towards a girly store. She was buying an outfit for her and Trent's date on Saturday. I groaned when I watched her search the racks. "Do you know his favorite color?"

"Why would I know his favorite color?" I snapped. She frowned and I took out my phone, clicking on his contact and messaging him with the question about his favorite color. "Dark blue."

"I love dark blue!" She grinned, suicide diving to a rack with darker clothes. I just sat near a high heel aisle on a chair. I watched as she thumbed through the clothes. "Do you happen to know the shade?"

I gave her a flat look. I wasn't asking Trent that, he'd think I'm some sort of creep. What's your favorite shade of dark blue? Adrian eye color during the day or Adrian eye color during the night?  I scowled at my thoughts.

Everything seemed to pace back to him. What color shoes should I wear today? Adrian likes red so maybe I can wear my red sneakers. What movie should I watch today? Adrian like's White Chicks so watch the movie.

___

"Want to sign my shoe?" I asked Logan when I caught him during the walk to the lunch room. He nodded, telling his friends to get him his lunch before sitting down beside me and taking my left shoe in his grip.

"So are you and Adrian on good terms?" Logan's voice was quiet even though the hallway was nearly empty. I couldn't see what he was writing; I just know that he chose the purple Sharpie.

"No and I don't know if we are going to get back on good terms." My leg was starting to ache from sitting in the position I was sitting in. He just kept writing though. What was the boy writing? A novel?

"You need to get back on good terms, he's been single for too long." Logan told me. I let out a bark of laughter.

"Let him hook up with a dumb blonde." I replied, feeling the Sharpie writing across the shoe.

"You'd be surprised by how down in the dumps he is." Logan snorted. "And I don't mean the sewage pipes."

"He probably is just sad because he doesn't have someone to harass anymore." I watched as Logan took the Sharpie away from my foot and capped it.

"Please, he didn't harass you. Didn't you hear the saying; if a boy teases you, it means he likes you?" Logan said, grabbing my hand and helping me stand up.

"Tell that to all the verbally abused women." I muttered and he laughed.

"He hasn't been hanging out with us. Yesterday, he was supposed to go painting with us, but he cancelled." Logan shrugged.

"Can you explain that whole painting scenario to me?" I asked and Logan nodded.

"Well, it all started the day that I was a fetus, I'm only kidding; I was 15, totally bored and a rebel. One day, I was near the dump and I saw this guy get arrested and he was saying how the cop that was arresting him was a traitor to their family. I assumed that the guy was his brother because they looked alike."

"What were you doing near the dump?" I asked Logan, my nose wrinkled.

"Community service, but back to the story! A few days later, the guy was out and he was still hanging around the dump again. I saw him spray painting and he caught me watching him. The paint said some pretty vulgar things, too. After a few minutes of just staring at me menacingly, he just ran off. The police came and asked me if I saw who did it; I realized it was the guy's brother so I decided to lie, which isn't a smart move."

"Why did you lie for that guy?" I asked and Logan shrugged.

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the moment, I was 15 and a fetus! Now stop asking questions, I'm trying to tell you the story! Anyway, after the cop left, the guy came out from behind a trash pile and thanked me for not ratting him out. He even offered me a job in his spray painting business."

"You took a job from a guy you saw get arrested?" I asked him, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I was 15! Give me a break, Shrek."

"Did you just call me Shrek?" I asked him. He nodded.

"Fiona, Shrek, get it? Although I should be calling Adrian Shrek. But anyway, back to the story! I accepted the job with a few changes to the job summary, I get to cut my pay in fourths and I get my friends to join, and we get to quit whenever we want to without any repercussions. You know? Like a gang finding us and beating the living crap out of us? That kind of thing."

"So what do you guys vandalize?" I asked him as we approached the cafeteria.

"Usually new signs near the highway." He told me with a smirk. I furrowed my eyebrows with a nod. "Keep an eye out for them when you're driving home."

"I'll do that. I'll see you some day." I told him, waving as I walked towards Jessie. She had two slices of pizza and gave me one before talking to me.

"Did he sign your shoe?" She asked and I nodded, lifting my shoe onto the seat in between us. She read it and frowned. "This isn't true!" She read the long message before smirking towards the end of it. This made me uncomfortable.

"What does it say?" I asked but couldn't finish. Brielle stormed over and slammed her hands onto the table.

"So now you're moving in on Logan?" She hissed. I let out a bark of laughter.

"No, according to her shoe; he's her 'best, best, best, best, best, best, best, best, best friend forever.'" Jessie retorted.

"Besides, Logan has a girlfriend. She happens to be one of my friends, too." I turned in my chair to face Brielle.

"What about Trent? You're going to move in on him, too?"

"Actually, Trent's pretty close to having a girlfriend." I replied, glancing at Jessie who turned her attention to the pizza but her face was pink.

The cafeteria was silent and paying attention to us. "Then what's going on between you and Adrian?"

"What's going on between you and your hair stylist?" I asked, looking at her dead locks. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I advise you answer my question." She snapped.

"I advise you stop dying that hay you'd call hair." I replied, glaring at her. She stood up quickly, her heels loudly interrupting the defeating silence. She made her way over to Adrian.

I could hear them speaking from over there. "What's going on between you and She-Devil, Adrian?" Her voice made me want to vomit.

"Nothing, nothing's going on between us." The way he said those words made my stomach cringe. I saw Logan exiting the lunch line and he just stood there, looking at Adrian.

I saw Brielle lean in and my heart shattered into a million pieces. They were going to kiss. I felt my eyes brim with tears. They were going to kiss. Logan looked at me with sad eyes while I looked down at the ground. Just let it happen, I don't want to see it.

Suddenly a loud sound from the intercom resounded through the cafeteria, breaking the two of them apart from the kiss they were about to take part in. Logan was smirking as his face was against the phone used to let us know when they were closing off the food.

"Peter Rodriguez, Lucas Hanson, Terrance Williams, and Denny Chung wear panties and bras." It was the most childish sentence but it caused a huge uproar of laughter and the four jocks that he called out on the intercom were now stand up and chasing after him. Logan was running with his pizza in his hand and a can of unopened soda.

Like the good friends that they were, Trent and Adrian got up and ran after the jocks that were chasing Logan. Surprisingly, Chase didn't hesitate to get up and chase after the jocks, too.

I couldn't help but feel like Logan did that for me.

__

When I got home, I brought my bag inside and walked over to Adrian's house for Denise. She opened the door and smiled, bringing me inside. "Hey, Fiona."

"Hey, Denise; where's Mattie?"

"He's at school, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to pick him up." She smiled and I nodded. "Give me a second, I should put my work away, I should finish it later."

When she entered the living room, I saw stacks of paper and folders everywhere. Law books were lying around and I saw a spot where she was obviously sitting.

"Denise, do you want me to go?" I asked her as she was looking through her papers. She looked up at me.

"Oh no, I can't ask that of you." She frowned and shook her head.

"It's no problem, actually. I don't mind." I smiled and she smiled. "I insist." I knew by then that I won her over.

"I have to write a note so you can get him." She smiled, grabbing a post it note and writing in cursive. I struggled to read her writing. Or are Adrian and Mattie named after her? "He goes to LLES."

I knew the elementary school; I went there myself years ago. "I know exactly where that's at." When she was ending the note, she stopped mid-sentence at the sound of the door opening.

The front door opened. "I'm home, mom." Adrian stepped into the living room and Denise smiled cheerily at her son. He looked at me for a moment before looking at his mother's papers surrounding the living room sofa.

"Great, you're just in time! Why don't you go with Fiona to pick up Mattie? You can also stop at the store and pick up yellow paint! You don't need this note, Fiona." Denise excitedly said. I couldn't help but notice that she looked exhausted. She had bags under her eyes and she didn't bother doing her hair.

Expecting Adrian to be a brat and refuse to even sit in the same room as me never mind a closed off car, he surprised me when he confirmed. "Okay."

She took money out of her purse and handed it to me. "Yellow paint, oh and buy a smaller can of yellow and blue paint for touch ups." We nodded.

I watched as Adrian dropped his bag and opened the door, standing beside it. I realized he was holding the door open for me, so I quickly exited, thanking him quietly. He walked towards his car and I followed him, keeping a few feet between us.

Still being a gentleman, he opened the passenger door for me and closed it after I got into the car. The ride to get Mattie was silent. I just stared out the window and he focused on the drive there. This was the closest we'd been since last Friday. We haven't had a civilized conversation for 7 days.

When we arrived at the elementary school, Adrian turned to me. "Do you want to come inside?" I nodded, opening the door before he could get around the car. When we entered the school, I noticed Mattie sitting near the little kids, a mixture of girls and boys.

"Hey, Mattie; your brother's here with a girl." One of the boys said to Mattie. He looked up and smiled widely at us.

"Aidey! Fi-Fi!" He called, waving us over. We walked over to him. I was smiling; I didn't have the guts to look at Adrian to even see his face. "What're you doing here, Fiona?"

"I'm here to pick you up. I'm going to help you paint, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember! It's going to be the three of us!" He smiled widely. Three?

"Three?" I asked him, kneeling down beside him. His friends were staring at us in interest. Apparently a conversation about painting is very interesting to a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds.

"Yeah, me, you, and Aidey." Mattie smiled. If this conversation was on a phone, for example, I would have been stabbing myself repeatedly or making up an excuse. But since we're in person, I can't stab myself in front of a bunch of children or I'd be physically removed from the premises and I can't make an excuse to such an innocent face.

"Oh, that sounds... fun!" I smiled enthusiastically. Mattie didn't seem to notice my lack of excitement and instead turned and pointed to his group of friends.

"Everyone meet Fiona, Fiona meet Alexis, Seth, Paisley, Janice, Anthony, and Andrew." Mattie explained, pointing at the kids. The girl named Paisley looked at me with a large smile.

"What's on your shoes?" She asked me. I hope these kids can't read. I, myself, am not sure what my shoes say. I haven't had a chance to look. I tucked my feet under myself.

"I'm not exactly sure, what does your shirt say?" I asked her. She smiled widely before looking down at her shirt.

"It says; I heart One Direction. I love Niall so much!" She gushed. I smiled at her.

"Ew, they're stupid!" Mattie teased her and she frowned.

"No, they're not."

"I like One Direction, too, Paisley. I like Niall, too." I smiled, looking at Adrian for a minute to see he was kneeling down beside Andrew, talking to the small boy. He looked up at me and smiled sheepishly. I caught him in a lie. Mattie doesn't like One Direction.

"He's cute, right?" Paisley admired. I nodded my head while Mattie glared at her.

"No, he's not! He's stupid!" He cried. I smiled a small smile. I think Mattie has a crush on Paisley.

"You're stupid!" Paisley retorted, glaring at him. Mattie smirked and shook his head.

"I know a lot of people cuter than Neil."

"It's Niall, and who?" Paisley snapped, glaring at Mattie.

"Fiona! She's cuter than Niall." Mattie explained, pointing at me. I smiled and watched as the two bickers.

"One, you can't compare boys to girls, two, she's out of your league, and three, she's with your brother." Paisley responded, her hand on her hip.

"One, I just did, didn't I? Two, league smeague! And three, she's not with my brother, yet!"

"Well, how do you know they're not together?" Paisley replied, gritting her small teeth.

"They haven't kissed yet!" Paisley turned to Adrian instead of me.  

"Are you and Fiona together?" He asked her, causing me to choke on the air in my mouth. Adrian seemed shocked by her bluntness, too. His eyebrows rose.

"Nope, are you and Mattie together?" He teased Paisley.

"Ew! Gross!" Paisley wrinkled her nose at the thought of being Mattie's girlfriend. I laughed and Mattie frowned.

"What's so wrong with me?" His words reminded me of Adrian, the day when we were at the buffet and I didn't want to double date.

"You're mean!" Paisley replied, crossing her arms.

"Ever hear that if a boy teases you and bothers you all the time, it means that he likes you?" Adrian told Paisley. Was that really true? I was told that growing up when I'd come home and cry to, most of the time, Aunt Cherry and she'd tell me that. I would always deny that and say that they didn't like me.

"You're old, you have to know. Is that true, Fiona?" Paisley asked, turning to me with wide eyes. I stuttered for a moment.

"I'm not really sure, actually." I mumbled to Paisley.

"I can assure you that it's true." Adrian stated knowingly to Paisley. I couldn't help but glance at him, he stared at the ground. Or maybe he was lying.

"Adrian!" Mattie hissed, furrowing his eyebrows. His face was light pink. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"

"I didn't tell, I just hinted. Paisley's smart and can figure it out herself without me saying anything." Adrian replied, smirking at his little brother.

"Fiona's smart, too, right?" He asked me.

"I guess." I shrugged, completely clueless on what to say.

"Then why can't she figure it out?" Mattie turned to Adrian.

"Time to go, Mattie. Say bye to your friends." Adrian quickly told his younger brother. Mattie scowled at his brother before waving to his friends and getting up and walking beside me.

__

"Are we getting more paint?" Mattie asked when we arrived at the paint store. I nodded, getting out of the car before Adrian could move to open his own door.

"What color?" Mattie questioned, looking up at me.

"Yellow." I replied and Mattie took me hand.

"Mommy say's I can't walk across streets and parking lots without holding someone's hand, so why not a pretty girls?" I shook my head with a small smile on my face. This kid is a charmer.

"She's out of your league, Mattie." Adrian muttered. I'm out of Mattie's league but way below Adrian's league. "Besides, she'd be arrested."

"Cause she's a pedo-pile?" Mattie asked cutely. I laughed.

"Yes, because she's a pedo-pile." Adrian replied.

When we entered the store, Mattie was still holding my hand. I didn't mind. We just followed Adrian towards the yellow paint section. "Pick one out."

Mattie took Adrian's words seriously and looked at the paints one by one, taking me along beside him. When he found a yellow that wasn't too bright but wasn't too dull, he reached for a large can, but Adrian beat him to it. He leaned between the two of us, causing me to catch my breath, which was a deep inhale of his smell.

I grabbed a small one and handed it to Mattie who smiled at me widely. We walked to the blue section and Mattie repeated the name of the paint he'd gotten for his room. "B2E12, Ferocious Blue."

I could swear I heard Adrian mumbling the tune to 'Maggie and the Ferocious Beast' behind us. I grabbed a small can but Mattie took it out of my hands. "You're a girl; you don't have to carry it."

"You're such a gentleman." I smiled down at Mattie.  Adrian mocked what I said. I ignored it. "If you're a gentleman to Paisley, I'm sure she'll like you."

"You think?" Mattie asked.

"It doesn't always work." Adrian muttered. "Trust me, I know." Mattie seemed annoyed by Adrian's negativity.

"Shut up, Aidey! I'm getting advice from an actual girl!" Mattie snapped and I couldn't help but laugh. "Continue what you were saying."

"Girls love when guys are gentlemen and when they're funny." I told Mattie who was listening to me as if I was Jesus.

"What about sports?" Mattie asked me, eyes wide.

"Those are pluses, most girls love when guys play sports." I told him and he nodded.

"Girls like smarts, too, right?" Mattie asked and I nodded. "I'm smart; Paisley isn't that smart, though. But like Adrian says, blondes are known for their boobs and not their brains." My jaw dropped at that statement while Adrian howled in laughter.

"That is not true, Mattie." I replied, shaking my head. Mattie furrowed his eyebrows.

"Aren't you blonde?" Mattie asked me, standing on his tippy toes and plucking a lock of my hair.

"I'm a dirty blonde but that's not that point. Don't listen to Adrian. Don't be like him, either." I told Mattie.

"You described Adrian, though." He furrowed his eyebrows at me. "He's a gentleman, he opens your doors and he told me how he helped you go shopping. He makes you laugh a lot, right? He plays football and baseball really well. He's smart, too!"

I stuttered and coughed awkwardly. "Look Mattie, you have to put the buckets onto the conveyer belt." I exclaimed, helping him place the paint buckets onto the belt. Adrian snorted in laughter; I'm pretty sure he heard my stutter and cough about Mattie's realization.

When we got back to the car, I quickly put the music on, not even worrying about whatever glare Adrian may or may not shoot me. It's better than dealing with the smart yet innocent boy in the backseat questioning me about why I avoid the subject of Adrian.

"You should go change." Denise told me once I gave her the change. I nodded, walking over to my house.

I went upstairs and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt. I washed my face and put my hair into a messy bun, the purple and dirty blonde streaks sat messily on my head. "Where are you going?" My Aunt asked me as she watched Blake eat.

"I was asked to help paint Mattie's room." I smiled and my Aunt nodded, turning back to her computer.

"Have fun, don't get too messy." She told me and I nodded, exiting the house and walking towards Adrian's.

"Come in!" Denise called when I knocked. I opened the door and I saw Mattie sitting there. He was frowning and had a folder in his hands and a book.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Mommy say's I can't help you guys until I finish my homework." He told me. They give homework to second graders on the weekends?

"Well, what are you doing talking to me? Finish your homework!" I smiled and he frowned, turning his eyes back to his math.

"Hey, Fiona, you can go upstairs. Adrian is already there opening the paint cans. I have to make a run with Mattie to get his shots; we'll only be gone for an hour. If you guys get hungry, you're welcome to anything in the kitchen. And thank you so much for doing this." Denise smiled at me from the couch. Glasses were hanging off of her face. I nodded with a smile.

"It's no problem." I lied. This is a huge problem.