I wake up to the sound of a vacuum cleaner roving the halls.

I groan and roll out of my bed to see who would be cleaning this early in the morning.

I open up my door and see my dad vacuuming the hallways.

"Dad!" I yell.

He turns his head towards me and then turns off the vacuum.

"Good morning Nova," he says.

"Why are you vacuuming at six in the morning?" I ask.

"Well, I have the day off and your mom was nagging me about how the house needs to be cleaned, so I thought I would get started on it this morning," he explains.

"Couldn't you have waited until we left for school?"

His eyes widen like he didn't even think of that concept. "You're right. I'll just... go tidy up the living room. Sorry for waking you up."

"It's fine. I had to get up anyway," I sigh.

My dad walks downstairs and paces around the living room, picking up things. I go down to the kitchen and make myself some breakfast.

While I'm eating my cereal, my dad walks into the kitchen and pours himself a cup of coffee before he sits down next to me.

"You should also know that your grandma is coming to visit today, so just be ready for that," he says after a sip of coffee.

I perk up. "Grandma D is coming? What's the occasion?"

"Oh you know her, there doesn't have to be an occasion, she just shows up," my dad smiles.

I shrug. "Very true. Wait, today's Thursday so I have my study night after school. How long is she staying?"

"I think she said that she would be spending the night, so you will still get the chance to see her, don't worry."

I sigh and continue eating my breakfast. Eventually Greyson comes down and joins us at the table, and we have a relaxed breakfast. Once I finish eating I go upstairs to my room and get ready for the day.

I put on one of my usual outfits of black leggings and a sweatshirt, before doing some light makeup and braiding my hair. I quickly brush my teeth in the bathroom and then Greyson and I are on our way to school.

When we get to school I walk over to my groups normal area and am happy to see that everyone is already here. I run up behind Sabrina and try to scare her, but it sadly does not work.

Jasper turns to me and gives a slight bow, "'Twas a great effort Nova, but I'm not sure 'Brina can be startled."

I give a small curtsy, "Thank you Jasper. We will get her one day."

Jasper and I shake hands and start laughing when we look at everyone's faces. I look over at Connor and he gives a small grin when he looks at me.

I feel my heart speed up a bit, but then I yell at myself inside my head. I can not have feelings for him right now.

After our road trip that we had on Saturday, and hearing Connor's confession, I've been trying to ignore my feelings.

He said that he is not ready for a relationship and that he doesn't trust love right now. I don't know if I can go through the trouble of liking someone when they don't even want a relationship.

Plus, I don't even know if Connor likes me. Yes, I think we had some moments, but what if it was just one-sided? He probably just thinks that we are friends, nothing more.

I'm not that special.

The bell rings and I quickly go to my first class. Having published the newspaper this week, there isn't a lot for us to do in class today. While I am rereading the article that I had written about the swim meet, Mrs. Perez calls me up to her desk.

"I am once again, very impressed with the article that you wrote and the pictures that you took. I think you really have something Nova."

"Really? Thank you so much for saying that, it really means a lot," I respond.

"Of course, I like to praise my students. I've noticed that your writing and even the pictures that you take, are really extraordinary when it is about something important to you, like your friends. So, with that in mind, I have a project for you," Mrs. Perez explains.

I look at her curiously, "What is it?"

"I want you to take pictures and write down moments that you have with your friends. Candid moments. Things that might seem irrelevant at the time. I want you to start observing things that are happening, it will only help to make you a better journalist."

"I think I can do that," I smile, "What will this be for? Is it going to be a grade or in the newspaper at the end of the year?"

Mrs. Perez smiles back at me. "No, this is for you. I just want you to learn that you have something special."

I nod my head and then return back to my desk. Other students look at me curiously, trying to figure out what Mrs. Perez wanted to talk to me about. I just ignore them and open up my notebook to a fresh page and title it, "Moments".

***

When I get to the lunch table Adam, Kayla, and Sabrina are already there and talking.

"So you don't play any sports?" Kayla asks Adam.

"No, I used to play hockey for a while but I just stopped because there was too much going on in my life," Adam explains.

"Do you miss it?" Kayla asks.

"Miss what?" Jasper questions as he sits down, joined with Allie and Tony.

"Hockey. I miss it sometimes, but I think it was for the best that I quit," Adam replies.

"Well you could always join the swim team, we would love to have you. We start next week," Jasper says and then takes a bite of his sandwich.

Connor sits down at the table. "Trust me, I've already asked him to join. He's a lost cause."

"Shut up. I just prefer to watch, swimming isn't really for me," Adam says.

"Well it was worth a shot," Jasper sighs.

We all continue eating with occasional comment here and there. Suddenly Kayla perks up, clearly having something to say.

"So study night is at my house right? We can help each other with our Halloween costumes," Kayla offers.

"That's right, Halloween is this Saturday. I almost forgot," Adam says.

Everyone stops eating and stares at him. He looks up when he notices the silence and his eyes widen.

"What?"

"How could you forget about Halloween?" Jasper asks with shock in his eyes.

"If there is one thing you are going to learn about our friend group it's that we love to dress up. And Halloween is the best opportunity for that," Kayla explains.

"We take it very seriously," Sabrina states.

"Got it. Halloween is important," Adam sighs and then continues eating his lunch.

Connor looks up nervously at all of us. "I was actually wondering if we could go to my house for study night. If that is okay with all of you."

"Yeah that's okay with all of us right?" Jasper asks, looking around the table for support.

Everyone agrees and a smile appears on Connor's face.

"I'll text you guys the address," Connor says as the bell rings.

We all clean up the table and go on to our next classes. I walk beside Connor on our way to Creative writing.

"Look at that, you had nothing to worry about. Of course everyone would be fine with going to your house for study night," I say while nudging his arm.

"I know, I was still nervous though," he sighs.

"Well I'm excited. It's been a while since I've seen Jenny."

"You know, I could drive you to my house. That way you can come with me to pick her up after school," Connor offers.

"Sounds good to me," I smile.

The rest of the school day is pretty uneventful. Classes go on as usual, we write, I struggle in math, and we learn about all of the horrible things that have happened in the world. Just a classic day of school.

So when the bell finally rings to signal the end of school, I am ecstatic.

I drive Greyson home and wait for Connor to come and get me so that we can pick up Jenny.

When I get in his car I am once again welcomed by the overwhelming scent of pine, but this time it doesn't bother me as much.

On the drive to Jenny's school, Connor and I just have a casual conversation. Nothing too important but there isn't silence to make it awkward.

I wish I could have a conversation with him without feeling like everything I'm saying is wrong. It was so much easier when I didn't have my own feelings wrapped up into our friendship.

So I decide that tonight I'm going to try to relax and not put so much pressure on Connor and I. We are just friends after all.

We soon arrive the Oakland's middle school and Jenny smiles and waves once she sees us.

"Nova! I missed you!" Jenny squeals as she climbs into the back seat.

"I missed you too Jenny. I couldn't stay away from my favorite Sullivan for too long," I smile.

Connor looks over at me with a look of disbelief on his face . I blow him a kiss and turn to smile at Jenny as she giggles.

We continue driving back to Connors house and the memories of my first visit come into mind when I see his house.

Last time I learned about Connors mom and I think we became closer as friends. That was definitely a day to remember.

Nobody else has arrived yet so Jenny decides to take me up to her room. Her room has light pink walls and her bed has a white comforter with a couple of stuffed animals on it.

Jenny drops her backpack off next to her desk and then plops down on top of her bed.

I sit in the chair next to her desk and look at the pictures that she has framed. There is one picture of her and Connor which I recognize as the one picture that is on his Instagram. There is another picture of Connor and her dad in either side of her, kissing her cheeks.

Just as I'm about to turn around to face Jenny, I notice another small picture that is kind of tucked away. I pull it out and stare at the woman that is in it.

She has blonde hair just like Connor and a dazzling smile just like Jenny.

Jenny gets up from the bed and walks over to me. "Yeah that's my mom. Don't tell Connor that I have a picture of her, he'd freak out."

"Why would he freak out?" I ask.

"He hates her. Also I think he's scared that my dad would see it and then get sad again," she explains.

I nod my head and tuck the picture back where it was.

I hear a yell come from downstairs followed by some laughter. I stand up from the desk and take Jenny's hand. "Come on, it's time you meet the rest of our friends."

I lead Jenny downstairs and smile when I see Adam, Jasper, and Sabrina in the living room.

Jaspers eyes light up when he sees Jenny standing behind me. He walks over to her and crouches down to be eye level with her.

"You must be the famous Jenny. I am a huge fan of your work," he smiles.

Her eyes widen and she blushes. "You're Jasper, aren't you?"

His smile widens and he looks at the rest of us. "Did you hear that? She knows who I am. The cookie queen knows my name!"

Jenny laughs and then gives him a hug before running off into the kitchen.

Kayla, Tony, and Allie soon arrive and we all make our way to the living room. Connor comes in with a couple bowls of snacks and then sits down next to me.

We all start working on our own things with the occasional comment or grumble towards their homework.

I work on a history paper that we got today with Connor, Kayla, and Tony. Once we finish that, I take out my notebook and think about my project that Mrs. Perez gave me.

I look around at all of my friends and smile to myself. I take out my camera and snap a quick picture of everyone.

Soon we all get bored of our homework and start talking about Halloween.

"I've had my costume picked out for a while, I can't wait for you guys to see it," Sabrina smiles.

"So you guys don't do a group costume for Halloween? I feel like that would be something that you guys would do," Adam asks.

"Not this year. We've done group costumes in the past but we decided against it this time," Jasper explains.

"But we always go to a haunted house, that never changes," Kayla adds.

"A haunted house?" Connor asks looking around at everyone surprised.

"What? Does that scare you Sunshine?" I ask him grinning.

"No, I love haunted houses," he shrugs.

I eye him to see if he would break, but it seems that he actually likes haunted houses. I guess I'll find out on Saturday.

"You know Tony we haven't really talked about your... girl since Saturday. Is there anything else you would like to share?" Sabrina questions with a gleam in her eye.

Tony looks up from his sketchbook and scowls at her. "No there is not. And I would appreciate it if you guys would forget about it."

"Aw Tony are you having trouble in the love department?" Kayla pouts.

He glares at her. "I'm serious, shut up."

Everyone takes the cue and drops the topic. Nobody want to see Tony angry.

I stand up to stretch out my legs. When I look out the window that is in the living room I see a figure looking at us. When they see me, they start to walk away.

Weird. I walk to the kitchen to grab a glass of water to help clear my head. Maybe I was just seeing things.

Connor walks into the kitchen and looks at me with concern in his eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Just dehydrated. I should probably get home soon though, I just remembered that my grandma is visiting," I explain.

The concern doesn't quite go away but his expression does relax. "Okay. I'll let everyone know."

Connor walks back to the room and announces that he is going to be driving me home. He says that they don't have to leave but everyone agrees that it would be kind of weird to stay at his house without him here.

We all say our goodbyes and I make sure to give Jenny a hug before I go.

When we get in the car we just sit in silence for a small part of the drive.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Connor sighs.

"I'm fine Sunshine. Really," I say and actually mean it.

He glances at me, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure. You've been kind of distant lately and I wanted to know if I did something."

I stay quiet for a moment and think. I have been kind of pushing Connor away this week. But it was for my own sake.

I just don't know if I actually like him or if my brain is just telling me that I should.

We are really good as friends. Why should that change?

"No, you didn't do anything Connor. I've just had a lot to think about," I reply.

"Well you know you can always talk to me, right?"

"I know."

We soon arrive to my house and smile when I see my grandma's car parked in the driveway.

"Would you like to come in? I'm sure my grandma would love to meet you," I offer.

Connor looks at me with something in his eyes that I can't quite identify. He gives a small smile and nods his head.

We walk up to the front door together and I look over at Connor and he looks a little nervous.

"Relax Sunshine. She'll love you."

We walk inside and I can hear my grandmas laughter coming from the living room. I walk in first and when she sees me she jumps up from her chair and runs over to me.

"My Supernova! I was wondering when you would be home," she says as she hugs me.

"I was just with my friends. I actually brought one of them with me," I say nodding towards Connor.

Grandma D looks behind me and eyes Connor. I watch as Connor fidgets nervously, not sure what to do.

"I don't think I've met you before. What's your name?" She asks him.

Connor reaches out his hand, "Connor. Connor Sullivan."

"Oh, put that hand away Connor. I only do hugs here."

She wraps him up in a hug and Connor awkwardly accepts it.

"So Connor, when did you become friends with my Supernova?" Grandma D asks.

"A couple of weeks ago. I transferred to Eastwood from Oakland and we became friends fairly soon after that," Connor explains.

Recognition flashes across her face, "Ah. You are the one my granddaughter had to apologize to. I'm glad that she pulled herself together to do so."

"Grandma!" I exclaim.

Connor relaxes and laughs, "Trust me, I had to pull myself together a lot more than she did."

Grandma D waves her arms, "I know my Supernova, she can be a handful. But I think you can handle her."

Connor looks at me and grins, "Yeah I think I can too."

I feel my cheeks warm and butterflies in my stomach.

So much for pushing my feelings away.

"Well, I should probably get going, I left Jenny all alone," Connor states.

My grandma gives him another hug before he leaves and I just wave goodbye.

When he is out the door my grandma turns to me, "You better hold on tight to that kid. I like him."

I sigh, "Yeah, I like him too."

***

Thank you so much for reading!

I think this was more of a filler chapter, but I still think it was kind of fun. I can't wait for you guys to read the next chapter, it's going to be an interesting one!

If you enjoyed this chapter, please vote and comment, I would greatly appreciate it.

Love you all!❤️