Chapter Four: Giving Up the Gun

"Spencer? Carlin is that you?"

A hand reaches out and shakes me from my sleep. Gee, thanks random stranger.

"Spencer, come on and wake up," The voice continues making me grunt in response "Schools been out for like half an hour."

What?

I jerk awake and look at the person who woke me up.

"Kyla Woods? What are you doing here?" I question, though groggily I might add.

She chuckles at my reaction and takes a seat next to me. I look around and notice that I'm still in my chemistry classroom, and it's still empty. Stealing a glance over at Kyla I notice how similar her and Ashley look.

"Well I was supposed to come and take a make-up quiz after school today, but it looks like Gallagher isn't in here so I should probably get going." She states while shrugging her shoulders and picking up her bag.

"You're in chemistry this year? I thought that it was only open to Juniors." I question naturally.

She smiles at me before responding "Yeah. But I took advanced classes back in Baltimore before I moved out here to stay with my dad."

"Oh. So how do you like L.A. so far?" I ask trying to be polite.

"Um. It's okay. I mean, dad's cool and Christine is okay most days. But Ashley can be…" She trails off silently.

"A bitch?" I smile.

With that, Kyla busts out laughing and turns her chair around to face mine.

"Yeah. I'm assuming you don't like her too much?"

"Well, she's dating my best friend. I have to be skeptical of her." I counter easily.

Kyla gives me a funny look and a small frown appears on her lips. That's weird.

"Why the frown?" I ask.

She looks up at me and shrugs quickly, "Nothing, I always though that there was something going on with you and Aiden."

I give her a strange look and laugh quietly while shaking my head.

"What?" She asks quickly.

"Oh it's nothing. I'm just guessing that you haven't really heard much about me, huh?"

She shakes her head at me and silently nods for me to continue.

"I'm gay. Like a flaming homosexual. I like girls. Like a lot." I continue while smiling.

Let's just say, the look on her face was priceless. Oh God, I hope that I didn't scare her. I turn my head down and lose the cocky smile that I was wearing before.

I'm guessing that Kyla saw the look of worry on my face and quickly put her hand on my on my shoulder, "Don't worry Spencer. I'm not freaked out or anything. I just never saw it coming."

I laugh at her statement and give a look before simply saying "Seriously Kyla? I'm pretty open and obvious about it."

She smiles at me and stands up and offers her hand out to allow me to stand up as well.

"I would've never guessed."

I send her a stunning smile and I walk out of the classroom with her in tow.

"It was nice finally talking to you." Kyla starts while holding out her hand, "I hope that we get to do it again someday."

I laugh at her statement and return her hand shake, "The pleasure was all mine."

We both chuckle and she turns around and starts to walk down the hall, but before she turns the corner I notice that she's on the phone already with somebody.

"She sure likes to talk, huh?" I shrug my shoulders and turn towards the gym to find my goofball brother.


"What the fuck Glen?" I scold him while holding my phone to my ear.

"Sorry Spence. I made plans with Maddy and I thought you had already gone home." He starts defensively.

"Did you even think about calling me?" I ask him impatiently.

I hear noises in the background followed by a loud thump, "Listen Spencer, I'm kind of busy here…you know studying with Madison and all. Can't you call mom or dad to pick you up?"

"Glen, you're a fucktard. You realize that dad's in San Diego for a conference and mom is working a full twelve hours tonight?" I correct my stupid brother, "and seriously don't even answer the phone when you're "studying" with Madison."

"Sorry Spencer. You're out of luck." He says right before I hear another loud thump.

"Ugh!" I close my phone rather violently before dropping down onto a bench in the middle of the quad.

Why did Clay have to move so far away? I mean, Boston? Really? I just wish that someone was here to help me through all my problems. And someone who could give me insight with this whole Aiden and Ashley situation. Then, there's the whole Ashley and I situation; which I'm not even sure should be classified as a situation. But there's still something, right?

I let out a long sigh and look up and see a direct view of Kyla opening the trunk of a brand new black Mercedes McLaren 722 GT.

Might I say, damn!

Maybe I can ask her for a ride. I mean we are semi-friends.

I stand up and shoulder my canvas messenger bag before walking over to Kyla and her amazing car.


Kyla was kind enough to give me a ride home after I found out that Glen had left me to go "study" with Madison.

Yeah, more like study the anatomy of each other. Ugh! I get the chills just thinking about them.

Kyla looks over at me with a slightly amused expression, "You okay there, Carlin?"

"Huh?" I look up stupidly.

She just laughs and points at the goosebumps slowly forming on my arms.

"Oh yeah, those. I just had a very disturbing mental image of Madison and Glen exploring the anatomy of the human body." I finish with a grimace on my face.

She laughs loudly and slowly turns to me with a glint in her eye.

"No wonder Ashley talks about you all the time. You're hilarious." She states.

"Why thank you Miss Wo-wait a second. Ashley talks about me," I point my thumb to my chest to emphasize me point, "all the time?"

"Oh yeah. I think you're the reason why she's dropping cheerleading to go into basketball. She said you guys were close." Kyla looks at me, a little stunned by my reaction.

"Why do you sound shocked by this?" She asks innocently.

I look at her, decide the best route to take, then respond with a simple "No reason. Just curious that she thinks so highly of me."

"Well she does. I can see why though. You're quite fun to be around." She flashes a smile my way before turning on the radio and filling the car with Avril Lavigne.

"Kyla, do you seriously listen to Avril Lavigne?" I ask feigning seriousness.

She frowns, and then picks up on my sarcasm, "Oh come on Spencer. Don't tell me you don't know every word to this song.

I laugh and start singing along with her as she speeds down the highway.

"Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated

I see the way you're acting like you're someone else, gets me frustrated

Life's like this, and you fall and you crawl and you break and you take what you get and you turn it into honesty.

Promise that I'll never gonna find you fake it. No, no, no"


Authors Notes: So, I felt compelled to write this chapter because I really want to move the story along and somehow I'm stuck with one part. However, have no fear. I will get out of this funk soon. Thank God for three day weekends. I've decided I'm going to give a shout out to one reviewer that stood out to me for each chapter. As to not clog up authors notes with useless crap (You mean like this? Oh shut up, me). Anyways, here it goes…

To imaferrari: Wow! Nice insight. To answer your questions in one shot here: Ashley was first seeking out Spencer to talk about her problems with Aiden, however she wants to get closer to Spencer even though she has no idea why she wants to. Her situation with her "friends" will be explained later. And Kyla's entrance to her life and what Kyla symbolizes ( Ex: younger sibling getting more attention), ultimately led her to Aiden. That's why everything is rocky with Aiden and Ashley. Even though Aiden is oblivious and Ashley isn't sure what she wants.

I'm thinking about writing a chapter with Ashley's point of view. Thoughts? Or ideas? I'd like to get everyone's opinion, because for me, it's easier to write Ashley because I relate better with her mindset. Thanks again for all the favorites/story alerts.

Love,
Liz

Disclaimer: Still have the cat, he's still pretty fluffy. But I'll never own South of Nowhere or any music that decides to jump in my stories. (This gets repetitive and boring)