“So this is Coco?!” Daniel said, smiling a big toothy smile, showing off his gap. I smiled at him, “Coco! You ready!” I said, excitedly smiling. Coco jumped off of Daniel, toward me as I ran out the back door. Daniel looked at me in shock, I guess because I don’t ever really smile, before running outside I looked at Daniel, ‘Her smile is beautiful, she should do it more often.’ he thought, I started blushing and I guess he noticed because his next thought made me laugh a little. ‘Wait, I didn’t say that out loud did I! Did she hear me say that!?’ he was freaking out inside his head, I giggled to myself and walked out the door to start playing with Coco. I was throwing the ball across the yard, it did a perfect spiral and Coco caught it in his mouth. I laughed as he came and handed it to me, “Good Job bubba!” I said rubbing his face and ears. I heard a deep, throaty laugh. I looked behind me to see my dad, well Chrissy’s dad but he raised me so I call him dad. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, he had been on a business trip for the past two weeks. I got up and ran toward him, I hugged him tightly, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “How are you Addy?” he asked me, pulling away looking down at me. I told him I was fine, and went on to continue to play with Coco.
After about half an hour of playing, Coco got tired, he was panting and laid down in the grass. I went inside to get Coco some water in his bowl. I was walking in the kitchen when I was stopped by an arm reaching out in front of me. I looked up and saw Jonah standing there, “That was a good throw earlier, maybe you tryout for the football team.” he said, in all seriousness, like it wasn’t a suggestion. He was the captain of the football team, and as much as I wanted to I couldn’t answer him. He was looking down at me, I just looked at the floor scared of looking at him. I didn’t want to accidentally “listen” to anything he didn’t want me to hear. I ducked under his arm, so I could get what I came for. I grabbed Coco’s water bowl and filled it with cold water, he likes it when I put ice in his water. He likes to crunch on it before it melts, I put a few ice cubes in it and slowly walked back outside toward Coco. Jonah followed me, asking me why I was ignoring him until he asked me, “Why not? You don’t like football?” I placed down Coco’s bowl and looked at Jonah.
“I love football, I honestly really wish I could try out but I have cheer and we both know that coach won’t let me.” I said crossing my arms. That’s the first time I’ve ever spoken a full sentence to him. I knew even if the coach let me, Chrissy wouldn’t. He looked at me like I was stupid, “Do you even like cheer?” he asked me, getting closer to me. I felt really weird having him so close, I just shook my head still looking down. He stopped when I answered, “I’ll talk to coach, and you talk to Christina.” he said, consideringly, lifting my chin with his index finger and thumb to look at him. I really didn’t want to look into his eyes but I did, ‘I feel like she would be a good player! I really hope the coach says it will be ok.’ he thought. He moved his hand as he saw I was getting uncomfortable. I left and went inside, all the boys were sitting down on the couch, Chrissy on Corbyn’s lap. They were thinking about how much they loved one another, Jack was engulfed in the video game he was playing. Zach was thinking about food, like usual, when I looked at Daniel he seemed mad. I looked into his aquatic eyes, “God why did Jonah touch her like that! Ugh, Daniel stop! You shouldn’t be jealous at all, she clearly doesn’t like you!” he fought with himself inside his brain. I just went upstairs with Coco, I didn’t care that I was still in the same outfit. I was so tired, I just passed out. I heard my door open, my mom walked in and kissed me on the head, “Goodnight honey” she said quietly. I smiled and fell back asleep.
My alarm went off, I really don’t want to go to school, I sighed but didn’t get up. Just then Coco got out of his bed and jumped on top of me, licking my face. “Ok, ok boy! I’ll get up!” I slightly raised my voice at him, giggling. I got up out of bed reluctantly and went to the bathroom to shower. The walls in my bathroom were being painted so I had to use Chrissy’s. I knocked on her bedroom door, she wasn’t there so I walked toward the bathroom door. It was closed and I could hear someone singing on the other side, it was a male voice. Whoever it was they sang beautifully and it was very calming hearing him sing “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. I knocked on the door softly, I was getting anxious because I didn’t know who was in the bathroom. The singing stopped, and the door opened slowly. Towering over me was Daniel, he was a least 4 inches taller than me. I didn’t realize how tall he was until now, I guess I’ve never seen him while he was standing. He was pulling his shirt over his head and I saw his abs, I guess there is something special about him after all. Dang it Adelaine! Don’t think about that! He looked down at me and smiled his big adorable toothy smile, “How much of that did you hear?” he asked in his dulcet voice. I looked at him nervously and shook my head no. I was lying, I heard everything and it was beautiful. He stepped out of the doorway as I backed up, while walking backward I hit a wall.
