Chapter Four

“Whatever, Ava. He totally winked at you!”

            Ever since Hannah got in my car this morning all she’s been able to talk about is Harrison. First she talked about how Harrison and Claire shared their first kiss after I left and then she decided to bring up the “scandalous” interaction between Harrison and I once again.

            “Even if he did wink at me, it was just friendly.” I reason with her as we walk down the hallway, Jacqueline and Dianna trailing behind us.

            “You never know. He has quite the reputation.” She giggles and bumps into me slightly.

            I furrow my brow and shake my head.

            “Gross, Hannah.”

            “Oh, Ava. You know I wasn’t suggesting that Harrison is trying to sleep with you. I was just saying that maybe he’s slightly interested. He’s known for having an amazing track record with women.”

            You can say that again.

            I suddenly hear Harrison’s confession of thinking about sleeping with me in the back of my mind, remembering that I was a possible candidate in his book at one point. However, he also confessed that he isn’t interested in me like that and I’m going to hold him to that.

            “Well, that’s the Harrison that the rumors have created. Let’s just trust that Harrison is faithful to Claire and leave it at that, okay?”

            Hannah sighs and slips her arm through mine.

            “I didn’t mean to make you upset, Av. Harrison is beyond sexy and I’m not going to sit around and judge him. I’m just saying that I would absolutely die if he winked at me and not just shrug it off.”

            I only nod as we continue to walk down the hall.

            Hannah should know by now that we’re not the same person. I’m nothing like her, Dianna, Jacqueline, or the majority of the girls at Wilson. I chose to shrug off Harrison’s wink because it has absolutely no effect on me. It was embarrassing because it made my friend’s aim their attention on me instead and immediately question me, but I didn’t feel any butterflies or the need to giggle uncontrollably.

            As we near the hallway where all the popular kids are currently, I slip my arm out of Hannah’s and stop. My friends turn to look at me, looking completely bewildered.

            “I’m going to head to class. I need to talk to Mrs. Simpson about some of the terms from the chapter last night. I’ll see you guys later. We’re still having lunch together, right?” I flash them a sweet smile.

The truth is that I just don’t want to go stand in the hallway with them because Harrison might pull something again. Plus, I just can’t handle standing with them as they gawk at the popular kids like always.

They all smile at me in unison and nod.

“Of course! We’ll meet you at the usual spot. Love ya!” Hannah calls after me as they all turn and continue walking down the hallway.

I let out a sigh of relief and turn down one of the hallways, avoiding the “popular” hallway at any cost.

 

~

I find it odd, yet a little enjoyable that Harrison didn’t show up to physics today. It was slightly amusing to see the disappointment on all the other girls’ faces as they turned to look back at his desk occasionally and still realized he wasn’t there.  Hillard even seemed in a better mood since he didn’t have to deal with Harrison’s random calling out and continuous distractions.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket as I walk toward the spot I usually meet my friends for lunch. I smile down at my phone as I read Lindsey’s text about new dance ideas she has for our lyrical class and that she needs help deciding which song to choose.

Finally reaching our meeting place, I continue to read the rest of Lindsey’s message about her asking me to help her work with some of the intermediate kids tonight.

            “Ava, you ready to go?”

            Hannah, Dianna, and Jacqueline all walk up, giving me wide smiles.

            I nod and keeping my attention focused on my phone as I reply to Lindsey’s message. As soon as I hit send, my phone is taken out of my hands. I look up to see Harrison walking backwards away from me, holding my phone in the air. He gives me a wide smile as I continue to stare at him expressionless.

            “Harrison!” I finally yell, acting slightly irritated with him.

            “Come on, Grim. Let’s have lunch.” He continues to walk backward and I can suddenly feel a lot of eyes on us. Even though I am a little annoyed with him for putting so much attention on us suddenly, I can’t help but feel slightly amused by his playful attitude.

            I laugh lightly and shake my head as I turn around to my friends. All of their mouths are slightly hanging open and they’re blinking at me in disbelief.

            “Er, sorry guys…rain check?”

            I give them all an apologetic smile as I catch up to Harrison, feeling my friends’ eyes follow me.

            “Do you always have to make a scene?” I ask, bumping into him slightly.

            “What can I say? It’s just my undeniable love for attention.” He smiles down at me.

            “Can I have my phone back now?” I hold my hand out, waiting for him to hand it over. However, he slides it into his pocket instead.

            “Nope, sorry. I don’t want to risk the chance of you running off.”

            I roll my eyes. “I wouldn’t run off. You would just pull another stunt in order to make me follow you again anyway.”

            Harrison nods happily. “You know me so well.”

            He holds the door leading out to the parking lot open for me and I thank him as I walk through. He then leads me to a large patch of grass by the bike racks and sits down.

            “I thought we were having lunch.”

            “Like anyone actually eats during our lunch hour. Sit down, Grim.”

            I press my lips together, once again questioning his motives, but I finally take a seat next to him.

            “Is there a specific reason why we’re out here?”

            Harrison lays back on the grass, putting hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

            “I just wanted to spend some time with you.”

            I lift a brow at him. “Why?”

            He sighs. “Because we’re friends and friends spend time together.”

            “I didn’t know we were going to have that kind of friendship,” I mumble as I play with some of the grass in front of me.

            “What kind of friendship did you think we had?” I can hear the curiosity in his voice and I can’t help but worry that he thinks I’m suggesting something else.

            I point a finger at him, trying to seem a little intimidating.

            “Not like that, Harrison.”

            He laughs and sits back up, shaking his head at me.

            “I know. You know, this friendship would be a lot easier if you didn’t think I was trying to get into your pants every five seconds. I already told you I’m not interested.”

            I sigh. “I know. I just help can’t but…you know…worry.”

            “Well, stop worrying so much. We’re friends and even if you threw yourself at me, I would still say no. I don’t want you like that.”

            I smile at him, letting myself relax a little. Every other girl would probably be devastated to hear him say that, but it makes me feel relieved.

            “Okay?” He smiles at me.

            “Okay.” I nod and play with the grass some more.

            He lays back down and situates himself in his former position.

I can’t help but stare at him for a moment, admiring the way his skin glows under the sunlight. There’s a small smile on his lips and his face looks like he’s completely at peace. He looks like such a simple boy in his white t-shirt and tan skinnies, but there is so much more to him than that.      

Harrison Lunn has only been in my life for a little over a week now, yet I can honestly say that he is one of the most confusing people I have ever met. All these years people claimed that girls were supposed to be the complicated ones, but they were dead wrong.

“Tell me about yourself, Grim.”

I lift a brow at him, wondering why he’s so concerned with getting to know me and being my friend, but that’s a question that I doubt I will ever get a straight answer to.

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything. Do you have any siblings? Who are your best friends? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I press my lips together and stare at the grass. No one ever really asks me any questions about myself and I can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable that he actually seems interested in my life. I don’t remember the last time someone took genuine interest in anything going on in my life.

“Still there, Grim?”

I clear my throat and hug my knees to my chest.

“Yeah.” I pause for another moment. “I don’t have any siblings. I wouldn’t say that I really have any best friends, but I’m pretty close to one of my dance instructors, Lindsey.”

I stop and let out a small sigh, realizing how pathetic my life probably sounds to him. He has the whole school chasing after him and I don’t even really have a best friend. That’s how I like it though. Being on my own is just something that I’ve grown used to and letting people in just seems…wrong.

“And what do you want to be when you grow up?” Harrison asks, still holding the same curiosity in his voice.

“It’s stupid,” I confess and tuck a strand of hair between my ear.

“Do you really think it’s stupid or have other people brainwashed you to make you believe it’s stupid?”

I stare at Harrison, letting my mouth fall open slightly. He sure could insightful when he wanted to be.

“I guess the second one,” I mumble.

Harrison nods. “So spill it.”

I sigh. “I want to be on Broadway.”

I bite my lip as I wait for him to laugh at me or make a snarky comment, but instead he surprises me.

“So do it.”

I lift a brow at him and shake my head.

“That’s like a one in a million chance, Harrison.”

“Then be that one.”

I can’t help but stare at him as he continues to lay there, looking completely calm.

“It’s not that easy.”

“Sure, it is. Why do you want to be on Broadway?”

I pause for a moment, acting like I’m taking time to think about my answer, but in reality this is something that I’ve thought about since I was seven. I’m just debating if I should tell him the truth or not.

Who’s it going to hurt?

“Because there’s nothing that makes me happier than performing. I feel so alive when I’m performing. Even as I’m acting as these other characters, I feel the most like myself in those moments. I’ve never been more sure and passionate about something in my life. I never will.”

A wide smile spreads across Harrison’s face.

“You’re going to be on Broadway.”

I laugh lightly and shake my head at him. “You can’t say that.”

“Yes, I can. I can feel it. You’re going to be on Broadway.”

I don’t say anything. I just stare down at the grass as I pluck a few strands. I throw them at him and laugh as he blows a few strands off of his face.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Siblings? Best friends? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Harrison clears his throat.

“Two siblings. A sister and a brother, both older. No best friends. Undecided.”

I furrow my brow at him. How could someone like Harrison not have any best friends? He’s charming and great with people. You would think that people would be lining up to be his best friend.

“Interesting.”

“Interesting how?”

“I just thought that you would have a best friend or something, considering all of the people you hang out with.”

“They’re friends, but not best friends.”

I nod. “That makes sense.”

“Is that how it is for you and those three girls you hang out with?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. We don’t exactly see eye to eye.”

My eyes fall back on Harrison and I see a few stands of grass still on his white t-shirt. Before I can think about what I’m doing, I lean over and begin to brush them off of him. However, Harrison grabs my hand and places it against his chest. I feel a little startled by his gesture, especially when I feel how fast his heart is beating.

I shift my eyes up from our hands to his face, meeting his blue eyes.

“Is that a bad thing?” He sounds concerned and for a moment I don’t know what he’s referring to.

I shrug, keeping my eyes locked on his.

“It just causes a lot of misunderstandings between us. They don’t understand why I like to perform and continue to do the shows here at Wilson. I don’t understand why they have this undeniable need to be popular and lose sleep over it. They want me to be more like them, but I don’t want to be anything like them.”

Harrison stares up at me and let’s a small smile play on his lips.

“You know for a girl who is so worried about my reputation, you don’t seem to really give a damn about yours.”

I give him a weak smile that doesn’t touch my eyes and pull my hand away from his, putting distance between us once again.

“I like that,” he says as he puts both of his hands behind his head and closes his eyes once again.

I smile to myself and look down at my hands, letting a small silence stretch between us. I don’t know why, but our silences never manage to be awkward, which is something that I can’t help but enjoy.

Maybe my friendship with Harrison won’t be as painful as I thought it would be.

“So you and Claire are dating.” I state. I immediately mentally scold myself, unsure of why I even chose to bring it up.

Harrison’s lips twitch a little. “Yup.”

“That was…sudden.”

He shrugs, but continues to keep his eyes closed.

“I guess so. Everyone was apparently expecting it to happen anyway.”

I nod “You’re right. That’s all I heard about last week. I thought it would get better once you two got together, but it didn’t.”

Harrison chuckles. “I know what you mean. Everyone watches us like hawks and constantly follows us around. They think I don’t notice, but I do.”

He doesn’t sound annoyed or irritated whatsoever, and I can tell that Harrison loves the amount of attention that he has received due to his new relationship. He was already getting an endless amount of attention before so it’s hard to imagine how much worse it could get.

“Doesn’t that kind of attention get annoying?”

“Not to me.”

“Why not?”

Harrison opens his eyes and looks up at me.

“Why does anyone like attention? It makes you feel important and noticed, I guess.”

I shake my head. “I don’t like attention.”

“Yeah,” Harrison closes his eyes again. “I’ve noticed.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” I raise a brow at him.

“Not at all. It makes you different than everyone else at this school. Everyone is fighting to be noticed, but you seem to do everything you can not to be noticed.”

“Yet I still manage to get noticed by you and have you never leave me alone.”

Harrison laughs, “I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you really want, Grim. Just give me the word.”

I don’t say anything for a moment. For whatever reason I don’t want Harrison to leave me alone. Even though he has done nothing but confuse me the whole time that I’ve known him and slightly annoy me, I can’t help but want to spend time with him. I have no romantic interest in him whatsoever, nor will I ever, but his company isn’t as much of a burden as I’ve built it up to be. I almost feel comfortable with him. He can be amazingly arrogant, but he does have his moments.

Before I can say anything, I hear my cellphone begin to buzz and pat my pockets in order to answer it.

“Hello?” I look over to Harrison and let my eyes grow wide as I see my cellphone pressed to his ear.

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“Harrison, give me the phone!” I move toward him and try to grab my phone from him, but he waves my hand away and turns his head away from me.

“Hello, Dianna! This is Harrison Lunn. How are you doing today?”

I try to reach for my phone again, but Harrison gives me a serious look and lifts up his finger. I know this look. It’s the look my mom and dad used to give me when I was younger and would try to talk to them while they were on the phone.

I sigh and sit back down, pulling my knees to my chest once again.

“Yeah, Grim’s here. She’s a little preoccupied at the moment though.”

I roll my eyes at him.

“I’m free to talk though.” Harrison flashes me a wide smile and I furrow my brow.

“Harrison, you leave that poor girl alone,” I whisper to him, but he only shakes his head at me.

“So how’s your school year going?” Harrison relaxes on the grass once again and smiles up at the sky as he works his charm.

I shake my head in disapproval and gently kick his leg.

I can’t help but feel bad for Dianna because he’s just messing with, but she is probably almost in tears since Harrison is talking to her at the moment.

It’s really hard for me to wrap my head around Harrison Lunn. He can switch from caring and considerate to cocky and conceited in a matter of two seconds. It’s hard to keep up, but I think there’s a lot more to it than him just being spoiled and enjoying attention. He just doesn’t seem that rotten and it’s obvious that Harrison has a good heart underneath everything else.

I look down at Harrison again and he slowly turns his head in my direction, giving me a wide smile.

“Alright, Dianna. I should probably go before Ava kills me. It was great talking to you.” Harrison hangs up the phone and I watch him as he begins to mess around on my phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Putting my number into your phone.” He continues to press buttons and then I can see him opening up my text messages.

“Hey!” I reach for my phone again, but he just pushes my hand away.

“Relax. I’m just texting myself so that I have your phone number.”

“What are you typing to yourself?”

Harrison clears his throat and begins to read the text aloud.

“Harrison Lunn, you are the hottest man I have ever seen in my entire life and I wish you would do dirty things to me in the bedroom.”

I smack him as he bursts into laughter, grabbing my phone from him.

“You’re so full of yourself.”

“I was just messing around, Grim.” Harrison chuckles a few times and sits up, brushing off some of the grass still on him.

“What do I need your phone number for anyway?” I raise a brow at him.

“Well, how else are we going to get ahold of each other when we want to hang out?”

I smile and shake my head at him.

“Like we’re going to hang out.”

“The hell we’re not! Sorry, Grim. You’re officially stuck in the deal. We’re hanging out.”

I let my smile grow as we just stare at each other.

He’s relentless. 

Author's Note

Ignore grammar problems! Thanks for checking it out!

Reviews

[Kaya]

Haha Harrison reminds me so much of one of my housemates the cocky B*****d. You really give your characters life which just makes me love this story more.