The Unwilling Mate

Beep! Beep! Beep! I groan as I slam the snooze button " I do not want to get out of bed when it is so cozy" I say to myself. As I drift back off to sleep my phone starts ringing on my bedside table. I pry my eyes open and glare at the phone willing it to stop. As it does I smirk as I close my eyes to go back to sleep when it starts going off and ringing again. I pick my phone up and answer it as I sit up in bed. I let out a sight as I say, groggily " Hi Liz". " Did you just wake up!" she asks in shock. Rolling my eyes at her i say, " of course I did do not act surprised this is routine for you." She lets out an exaggerated sigh " Fine, but be ready soon. WE also have to go pick up Rob." Then she just hangs up the phone. I gasp" How rude!" I walk to the closet to decide what to wear. I ended up choosing my black capri leggings with am orange tank-top and a black cardigan. I go downstairs to go have breakfast when the house phone rings. " Hello mom, how are you?" I ask into the receiver. "Hi honey, I am good. I hope your okay there.  You sure you do not want me to send someone to stay with you?I will be away for awhile." she says with deep concern. " No mom trust me I am fine. Besides where are you anyway?"I ask curiously " I am going to Japan. Do you want a gift from there?" i hear her ask a little distracted. "Sure sounds cool. I will talk to you later I got to go to school now. Good luck with the flights." I tell her with a hint of sadness in my voice wishing she was in the house more. " Thank you . Good luck in school. I love you." She said sincerely. " I love you too." I say as i hang up the phone feeling a sense of loneliness in my heart.  As I finish getting ready for school I cannot  help but think of my dad. He left my mom but I still love him dearly and I wish he was still home everything would go back to the way it used to be.Honk! Honk! The sound of a car horn brings me to the present. As I go outside I make sure to lock the door as I run to my friends car. As I get in I noticed she looked at my shoes." I cannot believe you are wearing those." Liz said with disbelief. I looked down at my shoes and said defensively, "What I really like theses shoes." " Yeah I know, but it reminds me of middle school you know?" She says reminiscently " Maybe converses will go back in style and be all the rage again all because of me." I say all cockily. She just laughs out loud and I cannot help but join in. We finally arrive at Robs house and he runs out as if escaping something. He jumps in and tells us to go quickly. As Elizabeth pulls away from the house his dad comes out looking confused. " Whew that was close." Rob says with a sigh of relief. " What was?" Liz and I say in unison. Robert puts his head down and says in a low voice" My dad may know I am gay now." The car was silent from shock for a while before I burst out saying " What!"  in surprise and Liz asking " How did that happen." " Well last night he came in my room while i was putting on some make-up." Rob says with a little embarrassment in his voice. He continues with a stronger voice" I was going to tell him but I did not want to do it like that so I chickened out and said I lost a bet to you girls and I had to have proof that I went through with it and send you a picture." " Oh Robert. It is okay we will back you if you want us too." I say reassuringly. " No I need to tell my parents. Just if they kick me out please give me a place to stay." He says half jokingly trying to lighten the mood but I could tell he was deeply troubled by what he thought they would do. "NO problem my house is yours." I say lightly. "Thanks" was the last thing he said before the rest of the car ride was silent on the way to school as we were all think of how deep are parents love could really be. As we arrived at school we tried passing by everyone without getting to caught up. Rob and Liz went to go see their other friends while i went to get my books before homeroom.  As homeroom ends I head over to my English class. As I walk through the door and go to my seat I say hello to everyone. I was not considered popular but I was not an outcast either. When I take my seat I talk to the other students around me about their plans for after school. The teacher closes the door to block out the noise from the other rooms. "Class you will have your first project this semester and it will be due in two weeks." He hands out papers to the rest of the class.  " You will be paired with another person to make a children's book. You can make your own story or use one already made but no verbatim it must your own words and your own pictures."As he finished discussing about the project he started to assign partners.  I was not paying much attention on who's partners were who until he said, "Addison Halo you will be partnered with Henry Smart."I looked over at Henry and could not help but it admit that he was quite handsome with his black shaggy hair and athletically toned body it was kind of hard to stop looking at his biceps under his black t-shirt.I was snapped back to attention when the teacher says, " You may all go to your partners to discuss what you will do with the story." As I move over to Henry I noticed that his eyes were looking down at his notebook that was conveniently closed. I grimaced as it seems he did not want me to be anywhere near him and did not want to work with me." hey " I said with a forced smile and cheer " Do you have an idea for a story?"I ask. " Umm.... not really do you?"  he says with out really giving it a thought.  I blow out a breath I did not realize I was even holding wondering if this was even going to work out with him. "Yes actually I do. I was thinking maybe Red Riding Hood." As i said that i looked at him feeling very self conscious but he had a look of slight discomfort and disgust. So I continued with less confidence"But instead of him eating her she decides that she loves him and wants to be with him instead because she loves him for who he is."  Once I finished a look of disbelief and and suspicion crossed his face before he schooled his features. He looked at me for a minute longer and I started to squirm under his scrutiny when he says, " I do not agree with the story. However we will discuss this further at diner later."  I agreed readily not really thinking about it much and we exchanged numbers. " I will text you the address later. " I could not help but smile and agree. The teacher then put us to work on practice essays for college the rest of the period.