2118 words 

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-ˋˏ " as if he craved her attention. " ˎˊ-

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𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝-𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧

"Hey, Y/n!" The familiar ginger girl sprinted down the hallway in order to catch up to her friend.

"...Yes?" The h/c girl slowly turned around, raising an eyebrow.

 Emma placed her hands on her knees and panted, holding up her index finger informing her friend that she'd be a minute.

"You good?"

"I'm good." Emma sighed with relief and returned to her natural posture. "Now. You're coming to Ray's tonight, right? You were invited?"

Y/n nodded and smiled. "I'm going, I was invited." Today was January 15th, Ray's 18th birthday. His parents invited a few of his friends over to celebrate, which included Norman, Emma, and Y/n. Apparently, a few family friends would be there as well, but that didn't matter much to her as she didn't know them.

"Did you get his gift yet?" Emma tilted her head and waited patiently for a response, gripping the straps of her backpack.

"Yes, I did, actually. A while ago he told me about this book he really wanted to read, but unfortunately the stores rarely ever had it in stock to the point where he gave up trying to get it. Thankfully, I was able to get it for him."

"Woah. That's so thoughtful, and it has meaning to it!" She giggled awkwardly. "I just got him a hoodie and a coupon to that new bookstore." She scratched the back of her neck.

"Knowing Ray he'd love anything you give him. He'll love that, trust me, Emma." The e/c-eyed girl smiled reassuringly and patted her friend on the shoulder.

"You're right, thanks!" The radiant girl smiled and walked up beside her friend.

Y/n nodded in response as the girls made their way out of the largely white school doors. Students clustered together on the steps and in the parking lot. Y/n assumed the ones on the steps were cold, but for some reason refused to wait inside. The ones in the parking lot must be immune to the cold or have some sort of superpower unless they just hid their cold.

"It's too bad Ray didn't come to school today," Emma spoke after they walked in silence for a few minutes.

"Yeah, what a shame. I was hoping to give him a birthday kiss." Y/n sighed jokingly.

Emma stopped in her tracks, in utter shock. "Pardon?"

Y/n stopped and looked back at her friend. "Emma, I was kidding. I don't like Ray that way."

"Would you stop doing that? I actually thought you were serious! I thought my dreams had come true." Emma grabbed her heart dramatically. "My heart's been crushed."

"Oh stop being such a drama queen." She rolled her eyes playfully with a smile plastered on her face. 

Emma caught up to her friend once again as they continued to walk. "Why won't you just admit you have feelings for him? I KNOW you do. And I KNOW he feels the same way." The green-eyed girl groaned and frowned.

"I won't be admitting anything, because I don't. And he doesn't have feelings for me either."

"Stop lying!"

"Fine. Let's make a deal, mkay? Once you and Norman finally get together, I'll confess my 'true feelings' to Ray." The girl giggled and made quotation marks with her fingers.

"DEAL! NORMAN AND I WILL GET TOGETHER TONIGHT." Emma pointed gun fingers at the comedian girl and winked.

"Wait, what? no-"

"You're the one who asked to make the deal!"

"Yeah, but I wasn't serious!"

"A deal's a deal."

The h/l-haired girl groaned and covered her face, nearly falling over. "Emma, why do you need to be so difficult?"

"Fine. You have one month before I confess to Norman."

"What? That's still so soon! I'll need time to prep!"

"I think a month is more than enough time to prepare." The girl with a smug look on her face giggled.

"Fine. But are you not nervous to confess to Norman?"

"Not really, It's pretty obvious to both of us that we have feelings for each other. We've kissed before, you know."

That was a shock to the girl. "You've... kissed?"

"Mhm! Why are you so surprised? You know that I've kissed people before, you've kissed people too."

"I know, I know. It's just, Norman. It's with Norman and not some random person. You know?"

Emma smiled. "I know. That was a special moment for me."

"Okay, sometime you've got to tell me all about that. I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Will do." The orange-haired girl smiled and waved lightly. "Cya!"

The girls went their opposite ways. Emma to Norman's car, and Y/n to the train. Her short walk to the train flew by and was mostly a blur as she spent the whole time cast away in her thoughts. It was like her legs were on autopilot. Just taking the route they normally take. It was the same on the train, until a baby crying had awoken her from her thoughts. The daydreaming girl blinked, more than a little bit shocked at the fact she didn't even realize she was on the train. She reached into her bag, rummaging through her belongings hoping to find something to get her mind off of the deal she had just made with a hyper-ginger. "No books." She mumbled then sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head on the train wall.

"Something wrong?" A voice softly spoke from beside her.

"No. I'm just bored, that's all." That was not all. On the outside, she seemed fine, just a little sleepy. But in her mind, her thoughts were all over the place, completely out of control. Have you ever seen a failed circus? Everythings a mess, animals are running all over the place and children are crying. That's the best thing to describe Y/n's mind at this moment. 'How will I confess to Ray?' 'Does Ray even have feelings for me?' 'What if I confess to him and just end up completely embarrassing myself?' 'Oh no, I bet that's what I'll do. Maybe I'd be better off moving to Mexico, or Hawaii even. Somewhere far far away.'

"Bored, huh? Maybe you could go hang out with a friend?"

"They're all busy." She sighed and chewed on her cheek in an attempt to get those thoughts out of her mind.

"That's too bad, I have a strong feeling someone desperately wants to hang out with you right now. Specifically a boy, maybe black-haired... Name starts with the letter R?" 

She smirked as she felt a familiar chin rest on her shoulder. She could feel their eyes looking up at her. She opened her eyes and looked at the familiar boy whose head rested on her shoulder. "I should've guessed."

"Hard day at school?"

"Without you there, yes."

"How sweet." He chuckled.

"I figured you'd be with your family since it's your birthday and all." Her eyes lit up as she connected them with his. "Oh, right. Happy birthday!" She smiled turning her head slightly to look at him.

"Thank you, and yes, one would assume that. But they've been working all day, couldn't take the day off, unfortunately. So, I've been alone all day and decided to come to meet you on the train."

She couldn't help but feel a bit happier knowing that he must've been thinking about her to want to hang out with her, almost as if he craved her attention. "Well, I'd love to hang out with you Ray."

"Perfect. We should go to your house so you can change, then go get a small lunch and to the bookstore. After that, we can head to my house by train so we can wait for Norman and Emma's arrival."

"Wow, you've really planned this out haven't you?" The girl giggled.

"Oh, I have. It feels like I've been waiting weeks for school to end." Ray said causing the girl to chuckle. He picked up the necklace she was wearing carefully with his dainty fingers. "What a pretty necklace you've got there. I wonder whom you may have received it from?"

"I wonder." She chuckled. "You're weird, you talk so funnily. Like we're in 1985 or something." She ruffled his hair.

"I figured that would be something you like about me, you know, cause you read so often."

"Not every book has characters that talk like they're from 1985."

"I've seen the books you read, Y/n." He chuckled and rested his head more into her shoulder.

"And? Are you trying to make fun of them?"

"No, of course not. I actually enjoyed the books you've told me to read. Even 'I want to eat your pancreas,' which by the way, destroyed my heart."

"Ah, well then, I'm terribly sorry." She laughed, then stared at him, blinking. "I don't recall telling you about that book."

"Because you didn't. That time when we ran into each other at the new bookstore you bought it. I figured it must've been interesting, cause you only buy interesting books. I saw that there was one other copy left, so, I bought it."

"You did?" 

"I did. Though it was heartwrenching, I enjoyed it."

"I did too, honestly, it's got to be one of my favorites." She smiled warmly.

"Same here, I don't really enjoy romance novels, but I did enjoy that one." He added.

"What are your other favorite books?" The girl questioned.

"Romeo and Juliet." He spoke quietly.

The girl heard him loud and clear, she just wanted to hear him say it louder. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Romeo and Juliet." He sighed and rolled his eyes playfully.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that's a romance book. One of the most popular might I add." She smirked.

"You're correct." He sighed. "That and 'I want to eat your pancreas' are the only ones, I swear."

"Sure they are." She giggled as the train came to a stop. "Let's go." She sprang out of her seat pulling him with her. They exited the train station, then Y/n looked at him. "Ray, I've got to tell you something."

He glanced over at her. "What is it?"

She smacked him on the back of the head and ran down the road laughing. "I'll race you to my house dumbass!"

He groaned. "Why am I friends with this dummy?" Then the dark-haired boy chased down after her.

"I beat you!" The girl swung open her front door panting with Ray following shortly after.

"Only because you had a headstart." He said in between breaths.

The girl grabbed onto the railing of her stairs for support. "Just face it, I'm faster."

"No, you're not. Now go hurry up and change so we can go eat, I'm completely starved." Ray finally caught his breath and leaned on the wall beside the front door.

"I'll be right back." The h/c-haired girl sprinted up the stairs with whatever energy she had left.

"Y/n is that you- Oh! I didn't know you were coming Ray." The girl's mother dried off her hands with a dish towel and stood in the doorway of the kitchen entrance with a warm smile on her face.

"Yeah, sorry. I ran into Y/n on the train so we decided to hang out."

"Ah, I see. Oh! Happy birthday by the way."

"Thank you." He smiled.

"So what's the plan?" She grinned.

"She's just changing now, then we'll be going someplace for lunch, to a bookstore, then we'll hop on the train and go to my house for my mini-party."

"I see. Well, have fun you two!"

Y/n raced down the stairs, changed out of her school uniform. "Yup, bye mom!" She smiled and pushed Ray out the front door, quickly.

"That was a close call." The mother sighed and talked to someone who was in the kitchen.

"When can I see her, Nancy? She's my daughter too." A raspy male voice sighed.

The mother walked back into the kitchen. "Never, no. Her life is going great right now. The last thing she needs is you coming back into it just to leave it again, completely causing her world to crumble."

"God, you're so dramatic."

"No, I'm not. I'm just concerned for my daughter. You left when she was only 4. She remembers, Frank." She sighed and rubbed her forehead, attempting to relieve a headache. But that wouldn't help her at all as the headache was right in front of her, Y/n's father.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I'm a better man, I promise."

"No. You aren't going to see her. Not unless she decides to see you. Get out, now."

The tall man rolled his eyes and walked out the front door. "Fuck you." He shouted.

"Right back at ya deadbeat." She hollered.

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