A/N.. *monotone voice* How are you all? I'm feeling...erugh. Not so great. I think I made an error in my chapter planning. I don't think I was supposed to add Red in, and I was actually supposed to replace her with some other character...You know what? I'm going to just add another character. Hope you don't mind. This is so messed up right now, but :P. Red is probably going to become a minor character now. Ish. Maybe. I don't know...
*not-as-monotone voice* HOLY FRICKIN WATTY! I'm so sorry this is late! I have Midterms (another blockage next to Science Fair GAH!) and I need to pass. Yeah I have all A's but my dad says if I get all A+'s for this semester, I get another 25$ (If I get all A+ for this school year, in total, I get 100$; so far, I have 25$). It's my motivation. :3
Also, if any of you are wondering, I don't believe I told you what I got for my Science Fair, did I? *thoughtful look* Well, the Award ceremony was...November 16 or so? About. And...I ACTUALLY STEPPED ON THE STAGE! (Very few smart people go up; it's like JUST going on the stage's an honor) So I was hyperventilating and I got Honorable Mention. I freaked out on the inside. I was so happy! Even if it wasn't like 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, I feel accomplished. But I think I got HM because this boy named Drew also did a musical experiment. I think he copied me. *stink eye* Grr...
Now that we're past all that, here's the next chapter!
Chapter 13: Boys Are Confusing
Mr. Firay pulled into Daphne's drive way and drove all the way to the top of it. When he stopped the car and looked over at her.
"Is your mom home yet?"
"Not yet. Her car isn't in the drive way. Neither is my dad's," she told him, unbuckling her seat belt.
"You're welcome to come back to my house and I can bring you back later," Mr. Firay told Daphne. "I don't mind."
Her first instinct was to say yes, but she bit her tongue to stay quiet. Spending the night at Mr. Firay's was enough. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay with him before she fell for him more than she already was.
"It's daytime now, so I'll be okay. Not speaking for my dad, but my mom will probably be home soon anyway," she explained, turning to face him. "Thanks for the ride."
"Anytime," Mr. Firay responded.
Daphne reached out to grab the door handle when she felt a hand at her arm. She turned around to see Mr. Firay staring at her curiously.
"What?" she asked, raising a hand to her face subconsciously.
"Huh? Oh," he let go of her arm. "Nothing. Never mind. See you later."
"Okay..."
Daphne turned back around to open the door when something out of the front door caught her attention.
"Oh olive."
She turned to Mr. Firay, who was smirking. He glanced over at her and let out a laugh.
"Have fun."
Daphne's plan was to quickly get out of the car and have Mr. Firay leave as soon as possible. When he started rolling down the windows. Daphne stared at him in horror.
"What are you doing?" she hissed, reaching over and trying to shove his hand away from the window control.
He shoved her hand away and stuck his head out the window. He honked the horn before shouting. "Hey, Red! Wendell!"
Red looked up from her head down position on Daphne's front steps, as did the girls' old friend, Wendell Piper. What was he doing here? Daphne didn't know. But just looking at him, Daphne noticed he didn't seem as chubby as before. He still had some baby fat because he chose to age quite slowly, but instead of 12, he looked maybe 16 or so. Wendell looked at the car for a minute in confusion, then his expression turned to shock, and then into suspicion. Red narrowed her eyes at Daphne.
"You are such a jerk," Daphne muttered, narrowing her own eyes at Mr. Firay.
"I know," he responded with a smirk. "Now get out of my car."
Daphne heaved a heavy and irritated sigh before reaching for the door handle. She winged it open and slammed it as hard as she could. She smirked a little to herself when she glanced back and saw Mr. Firay's annoyed expression.
Suddenly, the car horn blasted and Daphne jumped, nearly slipping on the gravel on the driveway. She turned back, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Mr. Firay gestured with his hand for her to come over to his side. She obeyed, only the slight bit reluctant.
He rolled down his window and she stuck her head into it, looking up at Mr. Firay warily.
"What?"
"Be careful."
Daphne rolled her eyes and looked over to give him a sarcastic look when she came face to face with Mr. Firay's serious expression. She blanked for a second, surprised by the intensity of it. All remarks in her head were gone.
Why did he look so serious all of a sudden? For some reason, it made Daphne feel uneasy. But soon Mr. Firay's face turned into a smirk.
"Aw. you look all worried now."
"Who wouldn't?" she demanded angrily, pulling her head back out of the window. "See you later, Mr. Firay."
"Daphne, wait!"
Daphne waved her hand at him in dismissal without looking back. She heard the rev of his engine and then heard it backing up her driveway. Soon, the sound of the car altogether disappeared and she sighed.
Daphne usually didn't mind Mr. Firay teasing her. In fact, she thought she secretly enjoyed it, but when it had to do with her safety, it was a different story. And since it had to do with both Mr. Firay's and her own safety, it was a much different story. But he didn't seem to be taking it too seriously.
"What were you doing with him?" Red demanded when Daphne was in earshot.
Daphne ignored her and turned to Wendell. "Why are you at my house, Wendell? In fact, what are you doing here?"
Wendell said, "My dad has some work with a non-Everafter here, so I had to come along. I saw Red and your friend -Ariana, was it?- and I offered to take Red back since I heard you were near. And the other reason I'm here is to see if you made it home-"
"-If you made it home safely last night," Red cut in, giving Daphne her angry look.
Daphne smiled. "Aw, shucks you guys!" She gave a small welcoming hug to Wendell, but Red pushed her back. Not in the he's-my-man kind of way.
Red rolled her eyes at her friend. "Anyways, back to the main topic; Daphne, what were you doing with Mr. Firay?"
"Mr. Firay? So he's a teacher?" Wendell said, looking suspicious. "You were with your teacher, Daphne?"
"Did you bring your extra key?" Daphne asked Red, trying to avoid the subject.
"Ariana had your extra and gave it to me, so yeah. Now stop trying to change the top-"
"Why didn't you let yourself in?"
"Because I wasn't going to invite myself and Wendell in if no one was here," Red explained, looking slightly irritated. Wendell was as well.
"Well I wanted to go inside now, so can we go in?" Daphne asked, frowning at the pair.
Red shook her head and took the key out of her pocket. She handed it to Daphne and she unlocked the door. Daphne opened the door in relief and sauntered in, relieved to be able to get inside now. Red took the key back out of Daphne's hand and put it in his pocket.
"You're lucky you thought of giving your friend an extra key," Wendell piped in, smirking. "Otherwise you'd be locked out."
Daphne laughed. "I'm glad too. I always seem to lose my keys..."
"Yeah. Remember back in Ferrypo-hey!"
"Hey?" Daphne repeated.
"You're trying to change the subject again!" Red said for Wendell.
She sighed in defeat. "Okay. I stayed at Mu-Mat-err, Mr. Firay's place last night because I was locked out of my house and he didn't want to have me sleep outside by myself. Nothing else." Daphne narrowed her eyes at the two slightly. "We don't have some secret affair going on, and if you think that, Ariana's been getting into your head too often, Red."
Red blushed slightly. "I didn't think that..."
Daphne chuckled and nudged Red in the side with her elbow. "Come on, Red! Me dating teacher? That's gross! Even though he's, you know..." Daphne glanced at Wendell quickly, giving Red the indication that they were not to talk about Puck's brother too much.
"Yeah," Red responded slowly. "You're right. I couldn't ever see you breaking the law by dating a teacher. You're too sweet. And it'd just be wrong."
Daphne frowned slightly. It was okay when Daphne said it herself, but for some reason, she didn't like it when other people said that it was wrong. she especially hated it when they brought up that a relationship like that was illegal. However, Daphne shook those thoughts away quickly.
"I'm going to sleep," Red announced. "Ariana kept me up all night. Worst sleepover." With that, she stalked towards the room she and Daphne were sharing.
"Did you eat already?" Wendell said, leading the Daphne into the kitchen. "My mom showed me how to cook, and I can make you something if you want."
"Nah. Mr. Firay already made me breakfast."
A huge, delicious, seemingly professional breakfast.
Wendell frowned slightly. Daphne mimicked his expression. She had just reunited with one of her closest friends, but why did he always frown whenever she mentioned Mr. Firay? He's frowned at the name since I started talking! He didn't seem to mind when Red mentioned him (he didn't seem so tense), so why her? Was it because I was his really good friend?
But what was he worried about in the first place? Daphne ran a hand through her hair. Why were men so difficult to understand?
"Do you like anyone?" Wendell asked suddenly.
Daphne stared at him curiously. "No, I don't like any one."
"Not even the slightest bit?"
Daphne opened her mouth to say no, but closed it after thinking for a moment.
She couldn't deny that she had a little crush on Mr. Firay. A little, teeny-weeny, itty-bitty crush that any girl would have if they saw him. But she couldn't tell Wendell that. However, she didn't want to lie either. Daphne chewed on her bottom lip and looked at the floor.
"Daphne?"
"Who do you like?" she asked, trying to avoid answering his.
Wendell rolled his eyes. "Like I'm telling you."
"Then I won't tell you who I like," Daphne responded with a smirk.
He narrowed his eyes. "That's not fair."
"It's 'unfair'," she corrected. "And it is too fair: You don't tell me, I don't tell you. It's fair."
"But you said you didn't like anyone!"
"Maybe I lied."
"Never mind, let's just drop it," he responded with a sigh.
Daphne stared, extremely confuzzled. Again, another one of her unusual vocabulary words. Why did Wendell even bring that topic up in the first place? Daphne shook her head. She remembered Wendell being confusing.
"Do you want to go to dinner tomorrow night?"
"Huh?"
"You know, dinner. What you eat at night," he responded sarcastically.
Daphne rolled her eyes at him. "I'll go. Have you asked Red yet?"
Wendell shook his head. "Just you and me."
Daphne shrugged. "Okay."
His face lit up. "Really?"
She nodded. "Why wouldn't I?
Wendell stared at her for a split second with a weird expression before shrugging. "I don't know why you wouldn't want to."
"Well maybe I'm sick of you."
He looked at me with a fake horrified expression. "Noo!"
Daphne laughed and nudged him in the shoulder. "You know I can't get tired of you Wendell. I've missed you! Duh! You're like one of my best friends and will always be one of my best friends."
"What if I-" Wendell cut himself off and cleared his throat.
"What if you what?"
"Never mind," he said quickly, forcing a laugh out. "I'm going to go back to my dad's condo, so see you later, Daphne."
"You're leaving already?"
He nodded. "I only came over ot bring Red and to make sure you got home. No other reason. So I'll talk to you later."
"You're too nice," Daphne laughed, giving him a bear hug. "We have to catch up."
"We do," he agreed. "Hey, do you have any idea where Brooklyn Monument High School is? My dad's doing this big project so I'm not going back to Ferryport for awhi-" The rest of his statement was cut off when Daphne attacked him.
"You're going to go to my school!" she crowed happily. "Oh my gosh! What grade are you enrolling in?"
Wendell smiled. "That's awesome. And I think you're grade. My dad says that because I was born in April and didn't have to wait a year to start school back in Ferryport, I go in the grade above me. Or something like that."
"I'll see you tomorrow in school then!" she said excitedly, biting down on her palm. She hugged him tightly.
Wendell pushed her away from him. Daphne looked at him in surprise. His expression almost mimicked hers.
"Um, sorry," he apologized, furrowing his brow.
"It's alright..."
He grinned at Daphne for a second before waving and heading out of the kitchen.
A/N. Okay. Sorry it's short. And for any misspellings, or changing of names (ex. Holly kicked his butt instead of Daphne kicked his butt). I wrote this whole chapter today and...gosh, I'm tired. I'm so screwed for my science midterms...*appauled face* I'm going to go study now...
Oh! Did I tell you gets I have a facebook? If I have any friends who would like to chat me up, you can friend me (but message me saying who you are from FanFiction FIRST so I don't think you're some stalker). My name's Lara Dee. :D So...yeah! ^^
Let's see...that's all, I think. Goodanighta!
~Lara