Chapter 4!
AN: Okay, here's chapter 4! Dana's visit won't be in this one, but it'll be in the next one, I promise. This chapter mainly focuses on Hannah learning more about Dana and her and Quentin's relationship. Hannah will also meet Quentin's mother in this one. Okay?
Disclaimer: See previous chapters!
Note: I'm really sorry for the wait, but I wasn't going to post this until I had Ch. 5 written. Well, I decided to be nice and go ahead and post it. Hope you like it. Anyone with ideas, please let me know!
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(Quentin's Point of View)
Right now, it's 5:00am. I can't sleep. All I can think about is Hannah. Does she like me? Do I want her to? Would it be different if I'd just asked her out on that first day? I wish I knew the answers to these questions, but I don't. Today is Sunday, and tomorrow we have class. I'll have to see her all day. What will I do? Jeremy thinks I should just tell her how I feel, and if she feels the same, ask her out. But that's easy for him to say, 'cause it's not him. My other friend, Andrew, thinks I should wait and let her ask me out, if she likes me. He said 'She doesn't seem like the type of girl to wait around, and if she wanted to, I think she'd ask you out herself instead of waiting for you to do it. But I don't know her that well, that's just how she seems.' But Andrew thinks everything should be so easy; it's not.
(Hannah's Point of View)
It's 5:15am, and I just woke up. I had a bad dream, and I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep. It's times like this that I miss my mom. She always knew what to say on nights like this.
I wish I could talk to Claire about Dana, but I can't. She won't understand. Best friends are supposed to tell each other everything, but I just can't tell her this. If she found out I was keeping this from her, she'd be so hurt. Maybe I should tell her….no, I can't. She'll tell me that it's my parents business, not mine. But Dana is coming here this weekend, and I'll get to talk to her in person.
Sometimes I wonder if I was a mistake, but then I read dad's email to Dana on that October 8th of what? 14 years ago? I know that, mistake or not, I messed things up for them. Zoey said that Dana had her whole life planned out around Logan. She had it all written in this book, but nobody was allowed to see it. It's not in the box, I checked. Zoey said that when Logan told Dana about…well me…she threw the book out the window, barely missing Nicole. Dana went to look for it later, but she couldn't find it. I wonder what happened to it…
Anyways, I guess I'll get up. Maybe I'll look in The Box. I'll look for stuff about Dana, anything. I got up and got The Box from under my bed. I opened and turned on a flashlight. I looked through the box, pulling out anything of Dana's. Report Cards, School Papers, and a letter address to a Miss Dana Cruz. But, the letter isn't opened. I dug to the bottom of the box, and that's when I saw it. The things that would help me understand the most. Pictures of all of them. My dad, mom, Zoey, Chase, Dana(I guess), and some other people. I took the pictures and started to flip through them.
The first was dated September 4th, 2004. It read: Left to Right - Nicole Bristow, Zoey Brooks, Dana Cruz, Logan Reese, Chase Matthews, Michael Barrett. 8th grade!
The next was later that year, but it was only the girls, four of them. Zoey Brooks, Nicole Bristow, Quinn Pensky, and Dana Cruz. Best Friends Forever. 8th grade - Christmas 2004.
The next was all of them, together. Zoey, Chase, Dana, Logan, Nicole, Michael, and Quinn. 8th grade - Happy New Year's Day 2005.
I love looking at these pictures. There are a lot of them, so it'll take some time to look at them all, and read them.
The next was in the girl's lounge, I could tell. There was a banner above the door that said: 'Goodbye Dana! We'll miss you! Have fun in Paris!' I flipped the picture over and read the back. The gang at Dana's goodbye party. May 4th, 2005. Two days of school left.
The next was the next year, I guess. They all looked older, and there was a girl I didn't know. I also noticed that Dana wasn't in this one. Zoey, Chase, Nicole, Logan, Lola, Michael, and Quinn. 9th grade - October 19th, 2005.
The next picture skipped to the end of that year, the end of their ninth grade year. Nicole, Chase, Zoey, Lola, Quinn, Logan and Michael. End of 9th grade party - May 7th, 2006.
The next picture, they looked much older. They were standing in front of a car. Chase, Michael, Logan, Zoey, Lola, and Quinn. 10th grade - December 10th, 2006. Happy Birthday Lola! Sweet 16!
The next picture was blurry, and I could only make out a Christmas tree and one person, off by themselves, crying. It looked like that Lola girl, but I couldn't really tell. All the back said was: Christmas 2006. No names were listed on there.
Next, was the next year, I knew. Zoey, James, Lola, Logan, Quinn, and Michael. 11th grade - November 14th, 2007.
Then was another picture from that year. The girl's lounge was there again. A banner said: Welcome Back Nicole and Chase! The back said: Zoey, Chase, Nicole, Lola, James, Logan, Quinn and Michael. Nicole and Chase's welcome back party. 11th grade - March 7th, 2007.
The next picture, Dana was back. Zoey, Chase, Nicole, Dana, Lola, Michael, James, Chase, Logan and Quinn. Senior year! August 29th, 2008.
There were no pictures after that, up until the end of that year. That was the year. October 8th, 2008. That last picture was taken about two months before that day.
There were three pictures left. The next one was graduation. Nicole, Chase, Zoey, Dana, Logan, Quinn, Michael, and Lola. High School Graduation - May 29th, 2009. In that picture, I noticed that my mom was pregnant. She was showing. Lola was also showing a little.
The next picture was dated five years later. It must've been a reunion. I read the back. 5 year reunion. Left to right: Chase, Zoey(holding four year old Claire), Dana, Quinn, Michael, Lola(holding 13 month old Jacob), Quentin( Lola's son- 5 years old), James(married to Lola), Logan, Quinn, Nicole, and Hannah( Nicole and Logan's baby- 5 years) July 13th, 2014.
The last picture was dated about 4 years ago. Then it hit me, I remembered being there. I was only ten, but that was only four years ago. 10 year reunion. L to R: Quinn, Michael, Dana, Zoey, Claire( now 9 ), Chase, James, Jacob(now 5), Quentin(now 10), Lola, Logan, Hannah(now 10), and Nicole. June 27th, 2019.
I put the picture down and thought back to that day. I can remember being here with my mom and dad. Seeing Zoey, Chase, and Claire. I don't really remember if I saw Quentin or his family, and I know I don't remember seeing Dana. Just then, Claire's alarm clock went off.
It was already 7:00am. I really need to talk to Quentin today. I don't like having him mad at me. It stinks. I got up, showered, and got ready. By then, it was 7:45am. I decided to head down to the cafeteria. I made sure that my list was in my pocket.
As I got to a table with my lunch, I saw Quentin, Jeremy and Andrew looking at me. When I caught Quentin's eye, he looked away. Jeremy and Andrew laughed, and I walked over.
"What's so funny?" I asked, and they immediately stopped.
"Oh…uh….nothing." Andrew looked at me, and I knew he was lying.
"Okay….how about we try the truth next." I said, and he looked down.
"Oh, we were….just uh…laughing about a rumor." Jeremy explained, trying to pick his words carefully.
"What was it about?"
"You…" Andrew didn't dare say anymore.
"WHAT??" I sat down and looked right at them. "What is it?"
None of them would look at me. I knew right then that it wasn't a good rumor.
"Quentin…we'll see you later." Andrew said, as he and Jeremy ran off.
I put my head in my hands. We've only been here for about four days, how could someone start a rumor about me so fast? I don't even know that many people.
"Hannah…" Quentin started, and I looked up. He looked shocked, and I knew why. I was crying.
"What did they say about me? Who started it?"
"I don't know who started it…" He whispered, not looking at me.
"Fine. What was it?" I have to know what they are saying about me.
"Uh…that you only came here to…cheat on guys. Like you get a boyfriend, then cheat on him with everyone else." He looked down at the table, almost like he believed the words.
"You know that's not true, right?" I asked, but he didn't look up. "Quentin…look at me." He did look up, and he looked me right in the eyes.
"I don't know what to believe anymore, Hannah."
"Quentin….how could you say that? I…thought you were my friend." I looked down at my food, which was now cold.
"Hannah….you were the one that yelled at me."
"I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you want to hear?" It came out ruder than I'd planned, but oh well.
"I don't want to hear it if it's not true."
I took a deep breath. "I really am sorry, Quentin. The rumors aren't true. I came here because my parents went here, not for…guys. Besides, I only like one person anyway." I stood up and walked off. People were staring.
I kept walking, and I knew everyone was watching me. I was about halfway through the cafeteria when someone grabbed me. They spun me around, and it was Quentin.
"What are you doing?" I asked, looking around.
"I know the rumors aren't true, Hannah. Who do you like?" He asked, with what seemed to be a hopeful look in his eyes.
"You should know by now."
"That's what I thought." He pulled my face so I was looking at him, instead of at all the people starring. I looked right in his eyes, then looked away. I had a feeling that I knew what he was going to do, I just hoped I was wrong.
Then he did it. He kissed me. Right there in front of everyone, Quentin kissed me. Granted, he's kissed me before, but this was a real kiss. I could hear some people 'awww' and some others 'oooh'. But I didn't care right now.
"Quentin?" I heard, and he pulled away. I looked around and everyone was staring. Now they probably think the rumors are true. Oh well.
"Mom?" I heard Quentin say, and I spun around. I came face-to-face with a pretty woman with brown hair. Then I recognized her from the pictures. So, this was Lola.
"Hannah Reese? Kissing my son, well I never would've guessed. You sure have grown up since I last saw you." She pulled me into a hug and I smiled. I'm being hugged by someone that I don't even know. "So Quentin, is this the girl you've been telling me about?" We were outside now, and Lola sat down on the edge of the fountain.
I looked at Quentin and he blushed. I laughed and Lola joined me. "So, you've been telling you mom about me, huh?" I asked in a playful voice. "What have you been telling her?"
"I….uh…" Quentin stuttered. I turned to look at him, and then noticed Lola walking away. I tilted my head to the side, and smiled at him. "Are you mad?"
"Mad? Why would I be mad?"
"I don't know. I was just checking." He smiled a little and I got an idea.
"Come with me." I said and then grabbed his arm, leading him to the beach.
We got there and I took off my shoes. I lead him to a spot on the beach and sat down. He sat down next to me and looked out at the water.
"Okay, Hannah. What are we doing here?" Quentin asked, looking right at me.
"Okay, look. I really like you. And…I don't know if you feel the same way, but I hope you do. I just…thought that if you felt the same way…that maybe we could…maybe try dating. Oh my gosh, that sounded so stupid, didn't it?" I looked down at my hands but I could feel Quentin watching me.
"You never sound stupid." I looked up and smiled. He leaned in and kissed me again. He pulled away not long after, though. "Hannah…I've been wanting to ask you this for a long time." I nodded, and he took a deep breath. "Hannah, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Mmmm…" I said, pretending to think, just to make him mad.
"Hannah…that's not funny."
"Really? Because I thought it was extremely funny." I smiled. "But…the answer is…..yes."
He breathed out and I smiled. He stood up, and then held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. But when a normal person would've let go, he didn't. We walked back to the campus hand-in-hand, and people starred at us. We looked at each other and he smiled.
I sat down on the edge of the fountain and pulled that list out of my pocket. I read it to myself then took out a pen. I crossed out number two, that said to fix things with Quentin. I looked up and Quentin was reading it over my shoulder. He was smiling.
"Hey Quentin? If you don't mind, I think I need to talk to your mom about everything in the box, you know? She might have a different view then Zoey."
"Yeah, I see her right over there. Have fun, Hannah. I'll see you later." He spoke the words carefully, and then I got up to walk away. When I got a little farther away I looked over my shoulder to find him watching me; I just smiled.
"Uh..Lola? Can I ask you some things about when you were in high school?" I asked and she agreed. And for the next three hours, I listened to everything Lola remembered from PCA. It was mostly the same as Zoey's though. When she finished, I told her I had to go.
I walked all the way back to my dorm. People were staring and pointing at me, but I just chose to ignore them. Why would someone start a stupid rumor like that, anyway? I got to my room and opened the door. Claire looked at me, and I could tell she was upset.
"What?" I asked, as I moved forward to sit on my bed.
"Are the rumors true?"
"WHAT!? No, of course not. You, of all people, should know that." I turned and ran out the door, slamming it behind me.
(Claire's Point of View)
Okay, wow. I asked Hannah if the rumors were true and she looked ready to attack me. Gosh. Quentin came out of his hiding place and he looked hurt. I'm not sure if Hannah was even talking about the same rumors, but I haven't heard any other ones. I was just asking her if it were true that she was dating Quentin. He wanted to know, to see what she'd say.
"I'm sorry, Quentin." I looked at him, and he sighed. He wouldn't look back at me, though.
"Don't be. It was my own stupid fault." With that, he left. I don't know why but he just fled. Maybe he wants to go talk to Hannah…
(Quentin's Point of View)
So, I was wrong. Claire asked Hannah if the rumors about us dating were true and she said no. That really ruins my day. I'm walking back to my dorm now. I don't want to see her. I don't want to see anyone right now. I think I'm just going to go sleep. Thank gosh it's Sunday.
(Hannah's Point of View)
-Monday-
Quentin is avoiding me, and I don't know why. Yesterday, Claire asked me if the rumors were true. Of course not. Quentin just told me the rumor yesterday, and it had already gotten to Claire. Today is going to stink.
"Hey, Andrew." I called, seeing him ahead of me.
"What do you want?"
"I was just wondering if you'd seen Quentin…?"
"Why? So you can hurt him again. He doesn't want to see you Hannah Reese. Just leave him alone." Andrew turned and ran, and I stood there.
What is he talking about? I don't understand. I thought….I don't know what I thought. I guess I should just go to class and get it over with.
AN: Okay, what'd you guys think? It's not as long as the other chapters have been, I know. The next chapter will probably skip to Friday, so Dana can come. Review, please.
-Breanna