In which Gabby's mom doesn't have her shit together, and Matt's parents don't have their shit together, and after being forced to work together in school they start to depend on each other. High school AU with the typical teenage drama we all love.
In which I really wanted a Dawsey High School fic so I started writing it myself, and pray that it isn't too horrible and somewhat interesting. Also I probably could've separated it into chapters but. Let me know what you think, cause that'd be cool. (I have no idea how to work this website btw so sorry if anything's weird)
I actually liked school. I had a few friends, the lunch wasn't terrible, and I enjoyed learning new things. Besides, any excuse to get out of my house was a good one. But today we were starting dissections in anatomy, and I had no one to pair up with. Everyone in the class was buzzing around, talking to each other loudly. My class was filled with people I didn't talk to, people I wouldn't necessarily want to talk to. Kids who played sports, kids who were friends with everyone. Kids that I didn't exactly feel like spending the next month cutting a cat open with.
I got up, walking over to my teachers desk, playing with my necklace in a weak attempt to calm my nerves.
"Mr. Grant?" He looked up from his computer, turning his chair to face me."I was wondering if maybe I could dissect alone." Mr. Grant nodded slowly, and then smiling apologetically at me.
"I am sorry Ms. Dawson, but I'm going to need you to partner with Matt." I tried to keep from groaning. "You know if I don't separate those three boys these next few weeks will be a lot harder than they have to." I nodded understandingly and he gave me a small smile. I'd walked back to my desk when he announced that everyone would have who they'd chosen as partners with a few exceptions. I sort of zoned out after that, not exactly interested in listening to the three boys argue about how unfair it was they couldn't work together. I was still lost in my thoughts when I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I jumped slightly, and turned to face the person behind me. It was Matt Casey, smiling down at me.
"Hey, you're Gabby?" I nodded, smiling awkwardly.
"Yeah, you must be Matt." I'd never spoken to him before, and with the possibility of seeming rude decided to just say what was on my mind. "Look, we're going to have to work together for the next month. And I get it, you'd rather be with your friends than me, but could we maybe skip the whole whining stage of that." He raised his eyebrows at me, and I regretted even saying anything to him. But surprisingly, he smiled and laughed slightly.
"Fair enough. We should probably get our stuff yeah?" I nodded, getting out of my seat. "You can pick the cat if you want."
I shook my head. "No I'm alright, you go ahead and choose."
We got through class without having to speak to each other much, and I was relieved when the bell rang. I pushed through the crowded hallway, putting my things in my locker and heading towards lunch. Walking through the hallway towards the lunch room, I suddenly felt someone grab my arm. I let out a quiet shriek, getting a few confused stares, and turned around. There was Shay, grinning at me. I huffed at her and turned back around, continuing to walk. She fell in step beside me.
"So, how was your weekend?" She asked, nudging me.
"Fine, how was yours?" She grinned.
"Well, I got to see Erin, so that was fun." Erin was Shays on and off girlfriend, whom I had yet to meet.
"Seems fun," she looked over at me and nodded.
"What'd you do?" I sighed grabbing a tray with pasta on it.
"Nothing, really. Cleaned around the house, did homework. Had dinner with Antonio." Shay nodded slowly next to me. We payed for our food and headed over to our table in the corner that we usually sat at.
"Was your mom home at all?" I sighed, annoyed that Shay had brought up the topic. My mom tended to work a lot, taking on overtime to pay the bills. Since my dad had died I barely saw her, first because she stayed locked up in her room, now because she was never home. Antonio was only 24, and starting off his career as a cop, so I barely saw him. But I'd learned to deal with it.
"No she wasn't home. Why do you always ask me anyways?" Shay put her hands up defensively.
"Just wondering how you're doing. Hey did you hear about Matt and Hallie breaking up?" I shook my head.
"I don't even know who Hallie is." Shay rolled her eyes at me.
"Oh stop acting all superior because you don't bother keeping up with what's going on around here. She's the tall one, tennis team, kind of tan, wavy hair. She's kinda hot if you ask me." I looked up from my tray to grin at Shay. "Anyway, she was dating Matt Casey. They broke up. Everyone's been talking about it do you just never pay attention?" I nodded slowly.
"How interesting," I said with mock intrigue. Shay threw a napkin at me.
"Hey, you need to sleepover this weekend. We haven't properly hung out in forever." I looked up to see her looking at me intently. I'd sort of been neglecting Shay lately. Since my mom had taken up another job, I tried to make sure I was home whenever she was. And I'd been swamped with school work. I felt bad that I hadn't been making an effort to be with Shay.
"Of course. I miss your moms lasagna anyway." Shay grinned at me and scrunched up her nose.
"Yeah I'm at my dads this weekend, so we'll probably order in."
"Sounds good." We spent the rest of lunch talking, and I left her when the bell rang with the promise to meet up for pizza later that night.
The rest of the day went by uneventful, and next thing I knew it I was in the library after school, doing homework. I liked the silence of the library more than the silence of my house. In the library it was comfortable, there were other people around talking in hushed voices, the sound of pencil on paper and some kids music quietly playing through his headphones. At my house the silence was daunting, and it just felt empty in cold.
I worked on my calculus, tapping my pencil occasionally to the beat of my music. I was startled when I looked up and saw Matt sitting across from me, grinning. Quickly taking my headphones out and shoving them in my pocket, I looked at him confused.
"Hi. What are you doing here?"
"Homework. What about you?"
"Homework." We sort of stared at each other, him grinning, me probably looking incredibly uncomfortable. "Okay, so I'm going to work on my homework now."
"Go ahead, you don't need my permission." I smiled slightly and picked up my pencil, getting started again on my math. After a few minutes of working in silence, he spoke up again. "So why are you doing homework at the library?" I sighed and put my pencil down.
"Well I was doing my homework at the library because it's nice and quiet here. Easier to concentrate," I said pointedly.
"Just trying to make conversation."
"Look Matt, you seem like a nice guy and everything, and we'll be working together for the next month. So I'd kind of appreciate it if you wouldn't start getting my nerves already now." I took a deep breath to calm myself. He looked somewhat shocked that I'd said that. I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Look, I'm sorry. I've just been really stressed lately, and I'm trying to finish this so I can get home." He looked somewhat guilty now, and nodded, picking up a textbook and starting to read. Once he'd been enveloped in that for a good minute I picked my pencil back up and started working on math. We worked in silence for about an hour and a half, before the librarian announced that we had to leave. I packed up my things, and got up to see Matt standing there waiting for me. I wondered why he was so intent to talk to me.
We left the library, walking out to the front of the school next to each other in silence.
"I've actually wanted to talk to you for a while," Matt said. I looked over at him quickly.
"Oh yeah? Why is that?"
"Well I go to the library everyday to do homework too. I saw you doing calculus, and I'm not necessarily the best at math so. I was going to ask you to tutor me." I thought it over, wondering if he was being serious or just felt bad for annoying me earlier. I'd never really noticed him at the library before, but then again I hadn't really cared enough to pay attention to who was there.
"Well, I can help you if you need. Just ask." I looked over at him. He was smiling down at me.
"Thanks. Do you have someone picking you up, or?" We'd reached the front doors and had stopped. There was only one other kid in the lobby, sitting in the corner with his headphones in.
"Oh no, I walk." He nodded.
"Alright, well, I'll see you tomorrow then Gabby." I smiled and nodded, turning to walk away. The entire walk home was actually pleasant, knowing that 4th hour wouldn't be a headache since Matt actually wasn't a horrible person.
"Be careful, you don't want to accidentally cut the-"
"I know, Matt. trust me, I'm being very careful" I said through gritted teeth. "I'm trying to concentrate and be careful, and you're distracting me."
"Alright I'll shut up!"
The two past weeks had actually been good. I'd found somewhat of a friendship with Matt. Between helping him with math and anatomy together we'd started talking more, and he wasn't the obnoxious popular kid I'd made him out to be. Deciding I was done, I stood up straight and handed him the scalpel.
"How does that look?" He bent over and looked at the muscle I'd just cut.
"It looks good. Smells disgusting, but." He looked over at me and smiled. "You should be a doctor or something someday."
"That is the plan" I said before walking over to the sink to rinse off our tools.
"Really?" He followed me over and took one of the tools from me, getting soap and scrubbing it down. "Like you wanna go to med school and everything."
"Yeah. Why do you think I'm in so many math and science classes. It's definitely not for fun. If I wanted fun I'd take that cooking class you're in."
"Pro start, and hey you have to admit that stir fry I made the other day was really good!" I raised my eyebrows and smiled at him as we packed up the cat, which was arguably the worst part.
"It was. You should cook me a real meal one day." The second I said it I regretted it, realizing I probably sounded like I was coming on to him. I was surprised when he nodded.
"I will. How about this weekend?"
"Uhh, sure." The bell rang and I quickly gathered my things. "Are we going to study together later?"
"Yeah, I'll see you then."
I walked out of the classroom and made my way to lunch, finding Shay at a table with Kelly. Kelly was the biggest ladies man at out school, but a pretty cool guy once you got to know him. I slid into the empty seat and put my things down.
"Hey girl! How's your day going?" I grabbed a few fries off of Shays tray, ignoring the indignant protest.
"Good. How've you been Kelly? Football season going well?"
"Yeah, we're undefeated so far."
"He's also hooked up with 3 cheerleaders so far too, so."
"Be quiet Shay." I grinned at the two of them.
"How's Erin, Shay?"
"Good! We hung out again this weekend."
"You two hooked up yet?"
"Chill, Kelly. We're taking it slow." I shook my head at the two as they started bantering, and pulled out my English notebook, figuring I should get some work done since Matt had a test tomorrow, and we'd likely spend our time studying for that.
Shay and Kelly continued talking while I worked. A few minutes had passed when I feel someone slide into the seat next to me. I looked over and saw it was Matt.
"Hey dude, what's up?" Kelly asked. They did some weird dude handshake.
"Nothing much. You guys have got a good season going on, congrats." Kelly nodded and Matt turned over to me. "So I have to talk to one of my coaches this afternoon, it should only take a few minutes but I didn't want you to think I was standing you up." I nodded.
"Yeah thanks for telling me. How's your day going?"
"Good, surprisingly didn't force us to do book work so-" he stopped talking at the sound of Shay clearing her throat. I rolled my eyes at her and smiled at Matt.
"Matt this is Leslie-"
"But you can call me Shay. So, how do you know Gabby here?" I groaned and stood up.
"I'm really not interested in this conversation, I'm going to go grab a sandwich." I stood up and walked to the lunch line, grabbing a sandwich and heading back to the table. As I got closer I realized someone had taken my seat. I went and sat next to Shay, smiling at everyone as I sat down.
"Hey, Gabs, this is Hallie." And then, I became irritated. Just from what Shay had told me, I assumed that she was here because Matt was here. I also assumed she had some ideas about me, so when I smiled at her, it was definitely tight.
"Hey, so you and Matt are good friend?"
"Yeah." I opened up my sandwich and started eating, letting them go back to their conversation. I really wasn't interested in petty high school drama, because Hallie probably thought I was trying to take her boyfriend. Knowing if I got involved I'd likely say a snarky comment which may lead to a good handful of the juniors hating me, I kept my mouth shut. I did notice Matt looking at me every once in a while, almost apologetically. Finally I'd finished my sandwich and Hallie had left, so I got up saying a quick goodbye to everyone with promises to call Shay later that evening. As I was walking away I felt someone grab my backpack from behind. I turned around and saw Matt, and he caught up, walking next to me.
"Sorry about how weird that was." I shrugged.
"Why was it weird?"
"I mean, cause Hallie's my ex, and she probably thinks we're dating or something. She was just being obnoxious."
"Matt, I don't care, all right. I don't enjoy drama, we're friends, if she has a problem she can figure it out herself."
"See that's why I like you."
"Why cause I don't tolerate teenage girl bullshit."
"Damn, Gabby." The bell rang and he put his hand on his shoulder, stopping me. "We're still doing dinner this weekend right?"
"Oh, yeah. I mean I was kidding about it but if you want to?"
"Yeah, I'll text you the time and address. Saturday works?"
"Yeah, Saturday's fine." He smiled and waved at me as he walked off. And for some reason now I was nervous about having a friend make me dinner.
As I stood in front of the mirror in my room on Saturday, I tried to think about what was making me so nervous. It wasn't Matt. Learning more about him, I'd come to realize he was a huge dork. He was constantly making puns and stupid jokes, and avoided talking about all the drama going on in our school. I found out he liked to read, and was a lot more compassionate than that annoying guy who's friends constantly interrupted class. Maybe it was just the implications of what him making me dinner meant. It seemed like a weirdly adult thing to do. Which had me stressing about what to wear. Stressing out about an outfit wasn't something that I usually did, but here I was. Despite me worrying about what I was wearing, I had ended up in a hoodie and leggings slightly rolled up, with my ratty old sneakers. I grabbed my phone and wallet, and left my room, closing the door behind me. Before I walked out I suddenly realized I should check to see if my mom was home. Calling out her name I realized she wasn't, but my anxiousness for what was coming kept me from worrying about her like I normally did. Shoving my key in my pocket, I started walking to Matt's house. It wasn't a very long walk, but it was slightly cooler out since it was October, and halfway through I wished I'd worn more layers. When I finally got to his house I triple checked that I was at the right address, and rang the doorbell. I was waiting there for a good 2 minutes. It almost sounded like there was yelling going on inside of the house, and I was about to walk away when the door when Matt slipped out.
"Hey, sorry that took me so long."
"Yeah it's fine. Are we gonna go in, it's freezing" I said, smiling slightly.
"Listen, uh my parents are being really annoying right now, and we have like no groceries. Is it okay if we go grab pizza, or something instead?" Despite wanting to insist, the look on his face made him seem like there was more to that going on. So I nodded, and started to walk down the steps.
"Yeah I'm fine, but we're going to whatever's closest. I am, freezing." Matt grinned at me and joined me, as we started walking.
"One of your parents couldn't drive you?" I faltered in my response, but eventually got out a quiet
"They're both busy." We made idle small talk on the way to the pizza place, and Matt laughed at my relief in getting inside the pizza place.
"Geez, Gabby your face is red."
"Yeah well, I realize now I should've worn more layers alright." We ordered and sat down. After starting to eat, I decided to start talking. "So, do you have any siblings?" Some emotion I couldn't recognize flickered across his face, before he nodded.
"Yeah, she's in college right now. She wants to be a teacher. What about you?"
"A brother, he's training to be a cop."
"We that'll keep the boys away." I grinned.
"Please Matthew, I can handle myself."
"Oh I know you can. I remember last year with Jeff Summers." I groaned.
"Don't even mention that. He's such a douchebag though, what did he expect me to say?" He laughed at me and our conversation continued. I suddenly realized we'd been sitting for about three hours, and it was nearing 10 at night.
"We've been sitting here for like 3 hours." Matt's eyebrows suddenly raised as he gathered his things to throw away.
"Shit. My dad's gonna be pissed." I gathered my things too, and we threw our stuff out and left the place. We stood outside for a second before Matt spoke up. "Can you get a ride from one of your parents? I'm fine to walk home but."
"There's a bus stop a block away, I'll just take the next one."
"You sure?" I nodded.
"Yeah I don't want you to get in trouble. My parents won't care."
"I wish my parents didn't care. I'll see you Monday." He wrapped his arms around me for a quick hug and I muttered a quiet goodbye before turning to head towards the nearest bus stop.
With my house so empty, I often spent a lot of time thinking. And considering I'd spent some time with Matt, it was normal that I was thinking of him right? Something bothered me about his worry that his father would be angry and the yelling going on inside of his house. When I later asked about his family, he was reluctant to answer question, which hey I completely understood, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. So sitting across the table from him in the library, it was all I could think about.
"Gabs, stop looking at me all weird." I feigned confusion and insisted I wasn't, before going back to pretending to read for AP US. After sitting there for another 10 minutes not because able to focus on what was in front of me, I figured this was pointless.
"Look, there's no way I'm getting any of this done right now or even tonight. I'm starving, I think I'm gonna go home." He shrugged and started to gather up his books as I did the same.
"Fine by me. Hey we have that big dissection grade two days from now on Friday, and I have a doctors appointment on Thursday, so I won't be there. You think he'd let us postpone it, or are you okay with doing the work yourself?"
"Please, as if I don't already do all the work myself." He nudged me with his elbow slightly, and I grinned at him. When we made it to the lobby and I was about to walk away, what was itching me inside was too bothersome to ignore, so I turned around and asked.
"Why do you do your homework at the library?" At first I thought he may not understand what I meant because of how weirdly I'd asked it. He sort of stared at me for a minute, slightly open mouthed, and suddenly I felt dumb for even asking. I was about to brush it off and say it wasn't a big deal, when he answered.
"My parents are always fighting so. It should get better though, they're getting divorced soon." He looked somewhat somber. I wasn't sure if it was because I felt guilty about asking him and him answering so honestly. Maybe it was because I just felt like I needed to tell someone.
"My dad died a few years back. My moms hardly ever home, so it feels weird to be there. By myself. That's why I..." I sort of trailed off, waving my hand in the air to indicate god knows what. I was thankful when he didn't look at me pitifully, or apologize or some other bullshit response I would expect. Instead he smiled slightly at me.
"I'll see you tomorrow Gabby." I smiled back and nodded, giving a slight wave as I turned around and headed into the cool autumn air. And surprisingly I felt lighter, and almost looked forward to our next conversation even more.