I wake up and glance around. I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep until just now. I instinctively reach for my phone and unlock it. 

My iMessages app is badged so I tap on it and see a message from Luke. 

LUKE: Loved the walk, thanks, Van

I smile subconsciously, then I type back a short reply. 

CAMI: No problem, anytime 

I'm about to drift off again when I feel my phone vibrate. Another text.

LUKE: So I can walk you tomorrow too? 

I almost laugh out loud at his response.

CAMI: If you want. 

His cocky side comes shining through when I see what he sent me back.

LUKE: Another walk in paradise for you, Van (I just winked. Think you should know that I did.)

I roll my eyes and toss my phone on the floor next to me. I close my eyes again before they snap back open. Crap, I have homework! I adjust myself so I'm sitting up and pull my backpack up onto the sofa next to me. Remembering the low battery life left on my phone, I dock it, and return to the task at hand. I ease my textbook for AP History out of my backpack and set it on my lap. Sighing, I flip the pages of the book to the one I'm supposed to start at. Sliding my MacBook out of its case, I pull up my note-taking app and begin a long, tedious night of homework.

Hours later, with hand cramps and eye strain, I put all my textbooks as well as my laptop back into my backpack and set them on the floor next to my door. Pushing the fairly light sofa out from under my bed isn't hard. Just a nuisance sometimes. Once it's out of the way, I grab hold of the bar that lets me put the bed down and I pull it until it's stable on the floor. I grab a couple pillows from my closet and throw them haphazardly on the bed before climbing on myself. Too lazy to change out of my jeans, I lay back, bringing my arm up over my face so I can look at my phone. 

Scrolling through YouTube, I find a playlist of lo-fi hip hop and let it play. I wrap myself in the covers, and slowly and steadily, the melancholy beat of a rather sad lo-fi mix lulls me to sleep.

•– –• 

I wake up to the sound of a different song. 5 Seconds of Summer, singing, "you imagine when you close your eyes/you're with me on the other side/so why won't you love me?". I reach over and turn my phone alarm off. I have it set so that a different song plays every day of the week to wake me up. I dunno, I guess it keeps me looking forward to the morning. Kinda.

I roll out of bed and onto the floor. It's a school day, so it's early, and the first light of the morning is still barely shining through my window. I sit up on the floor and scramble unhurriedly over to my large mirror. I look at myself and frown. My curly brown hair is beyond frizzy and my clothes are all wrinkled. Honestly, it's a mess.

Knowing that I set my alarm with 10 minutes before I have to be out the door, I find my feet, fully awakened by a new sense of purpose, and run around my room, pulling various possible outfits out of my dresser and digging through a box of makeup to find the essential bag. I rifle though boxes of shoes to find the ones I wanna wear: black Adidas.

Once I have everything, I practically rip off my current ensemble and replace it with light wash blue jeans and a large 5SOS tee shirt. Over it I throw on a black Adidas jacket to match my shoes. After I straighten out my clothes, I grab my essential makeup bag and sit down in front of my mirror. I dab on a light layer of foundation and then I apply cheap Dollar Tree mascara.

I almost think I'm done before I glance back at my hair. Seeing it, knowing I've only got a few minutes before I have to start walking to school, I groan. Getting up from my sitting position, I rush to the bathroom and grab a spray bottle full of water. I spray my hair a bit then I whip a brush out of my top drawer. After brushing, I grab a random bottle of hair cream off of my counter and distribute it as evenly as I can through my hair, using my fingers as a sort of comb.

I shake my head around, and when I stop, my hair falls into the position I wanted it to be in, parted to the side. Satisfied with how I look, I grab my backpack from out of my room and then make my way down the stairs. Passing the kitchen on my way towards the front door, I grab a clump of bananas and then I get back on my way out of the house. 

Easing open my front door softly, so as not to unintentionally awaken any light-sleeping neighbors, I slip out of it and shut it just as quietly as I opened it. I jump down the front steps, going down in twos, and then make my way to the sidewalk to start my trek to school. 

After walking for a number of blocks, I stop to wait at a corner. It's the corner where I always meet Cady and we walk together. We agreed to this specific corner because the house at this corner has a row of pretty Japanese trees lining the yard. Very hard to miss. 

As I wait for Cady, I examine the tree closest to where I'm standing. Its leaves are starting to come to terms with the fact that winter is coming to a close, and they're slowly budding out quite nicely. 

After a few minutes of looking at all the minute details of the yard, I hear the footfalls of a pair of heavy boots behind me. I turn around and see Cady, her Timberlands thumping with each step. When she reaches me, she spins around, hands in the air, and sings, "Good morning, Cami!"

I roll my eyes at her. "Morning, Cady." I tear off a banana from my clump and hold it in her direction. "Want one?"

Cady looks at me oddly, obviously perplexed by the whole clump of bananas in my hand, and then grabs the one I'm holding out to her. Then Cady grabs my arm and starts to pull me along towards school. "So, how'd it go with Luke yesterday? Did he kiss you again? Did he tell you he loves you? Did you smack him at any point? Were you nice to him? Why didn't you call me when you got home?"Her interrogation leaves me feeling overwhelmed, so much so that my head starts to feel dizzy and it stays that way until a sneeze comes on and snaps me out of it.

 "One question at a time, Cady! Good lord...."

She sighs. "Okay, okay. One - how'd it go with Luke yesterday?"

I shrug. "It went well. To answer your next few questions, no, we did not kiss again; no, he did not tell me that he loves me; no, I did not smack him at any point; and yes, I was nice to him."

Cady looks surprised that I'd remembered all of her questions. Well, almost all of them.  She starts to passively peel her banana. "Okay then. Last question. Why didn't you call me when you got home?"

I puff up my cheeks. I breathe out and then answer her question. "I dunno. Luke turned out to be really cool and when I got home I was thinking just about him. And then a few minutes later I was thinking about homework. Then a few hours later, I was thinking about sleep. Sorry I didn't think about you."

Cady giggles and waves it off, a bite of banana in her mouth as she replies, "You were thinking about him, huh?"

I roll my eyes and shove her playfully with my free hand, because she's still pulling me along. "Cady, not like that."

She groans. "Of course you were thinking about him like that! Why wouldn't you?"

Subconsciously fiddling with the hem of my shirt, I deadpan, "Because we both agreed to be just friends."

Cady sighs again in mock disappointment. I'm sure in her mind, she's been shipping us since the kiss yesterday. She takes another big bite of banana, seemingly trying to drown her frustration with the bite. "Whatever you say, Cami."

I mimic her sigh. "You can ask Luke yourself, if you want."

Cady straightens up as the school comes into view. "I do want to. I think I will."

I roll my eyes and yank my arm out of her grip. "Why're you so interested in the subject of him and me?"

Cady's face morphs into an expression of thoughtfulness as she ponders my query. "I honestly don't know."

"So if you don't know, why does it matter?"

Cady sighs, in a way that clearly says, you wouldn't know. "Just because I don't know why, doesn't mean it shouldn't matter. Because I feel like it does, and that's why it matters."

I resign, exhaling slowly in defeat. "Okay."

We both continue to stroll towards the school building, Cady eating her banana all the way, until we're at the entrance. 

Cady stops me before I enter the school. Finished with her banana, she flings it forcefully in the general direction of the trash can in front of the building (without looking, mind you, and misses). "I'm going to go flag down Luke, wherever he is, and ask if friends is all you two really are."

For what feels like the millionth time this morning, I roll my eyes. "Okay, Cady. Knock yourself out."

Cady's face is the definition of determination as she shoves open the front doors of the school (making quite a racket in the process) and saunters in confidently. I look over to a group of boys, skaters by the looks of it, who were watching Cady do whatever she just did with judgy looks on their faces. Mouthing to them, I don't know her, I pull open the doors as well and then amble into the school.

Walking into the lobby, almost all conversation from the student body stops. I look around to see girls whispering things to their friends and boys, subtly trying to size me up. I scoff at their actions and stare daggers at them. "What're you looking at? There are more important things to look at than me, and there are more important things to talk about than your stupid rumors."

They all look away, and I, pleased by my sudden ability to stand up for myself, resume ambling down the hallway until I get to my locker. As I finish retrieving the things I need for my next class, Cady reappears next to me, at her own locker. "Luke said the same thing." She looked beyond depressed at having to admit it.

The bell rings, signaling the fact that we should get going, and I shut my locker to face her. "I told you he'd say the same thing I did, Cady. You shouldn't have doubted me."

Still gathering her own notebooks, she shakes her head. "I thought maybe you'd friend-zoned him or something. Or maybe that he was a friend to you but you were more than that to him."

I just laugh. "Sorry to inform you, but, only in your dreams, Cady."

She shuts her own locker. "Maybe that is what I'll dream about." She gives me a pointed look before she struts past me, on her way to her first class. "Good luck, Cami!" She calls over her shoulder.

I blow out a puff of air as I start to plod along to my first class as well. A.P. History. I don't have it with Luke; however, I do have it with Etch November, and I'm dreading it, even though he doesn't even really know who I am.

I wind myself down the hallways until I arrive at the classroom door, just as the bell rings again, signaling the start of class. Opening the door, I cut a glance around the room, searching for an empty desk. There happens to only be one available, in the back row. The penultimate seat to the left wall. And occupying the seat in the corner, next to mine, just so happens to be Etch November. Hooray. Note my sarcasm. 

I make my way to the chair as the teacher starts to talk about whatever. I never pay attention to him, but history comes naturally to me, even though it bores me to kingdom come. Due to that, I ace my tests and homework, and that's all I really need. I sit down rather ungracefully and take a notebook out of my backpack. As Mr. Clemons drones on about the early English colonies, I start to doodle in my notebook, daring myself not to peek at Etch.

After awhile though, my plan to ignore him is brought down when a piece of paper crinkles against my foot. I look over the side of my desk to see it, and notice that despite the fact that I stepped on it slightly, it's impeccably folded. Being careful not to draw attention to myself, I quickly and quietly lean down and pick it up. Unfolding it, I see neat, boyish handwriting on the top of the sheet of paper.

That was quite the kiss yesterday, Martinez. So, what's up with you and Luke?

I look up from the note and glance around me to see who passed me the note. When my gaze falls on Etch, he winks twice, so as not to draw too much attention, and nods to the paper. I narrow my eyes at him, and turn my attention back to the paper. With my neon green pen, I write him a response.

I didn't kiss him, he kissed me. Luke and I agreed to just be friends. 

I refold the paper and chuck it back at him, not caring if I draw attention. If the teacher sees this and ends up reading it aloud, then I'm pretty sure it would do more good than harm. Then the students in this classroom would be able to spread around that no, in fact, Luke and I are not a couple. But sadly, no, it doesn't happen that way.

Reading my answer, Etch chuckles, almost inaudibly. He scribbles something down before handing me back the paper. Taking it from his semi-outstretched palm, I unfold it and read what he wrote.

Funny, everyone else thinks otherwise. Guess they just don't know how to mind their own business, do they?

Even though I like the kid, doesn't mean I'm not willing to sass him. And that's exactly what I do. Grabbing my pen again, I write back to him.

No, none of you do. You even asked, November. Which makes you one of them. 

I fold the paper up and place it back into his outstretched hand. He unravels it and reads my message. With a poker face, Etch writes me back and then tosses me back the paper.

I'm different enough to know that you're different too, Martinez. At lunch, meet me at the east janitors closet on the third floor.

Feeling giddy, but not having rid myself of the strange urge to sass Etch, I compose my response. 

And why would I do that, November? 

After handing him back the sheet, it only takes a few seconds before he tosses it back.

Because I want to know what makes you different. Is that wrong?

Looking back at him, I find his eyes and shake my head. I'll be there, I mouth to him, and he nods. Then he glances at Mr. Clemons, and back at me, silently telling me to pay attention. I look down instead and resume my doodling, thinking, why does Etch November think I'm "different"?

–

For the rest of my classes until lunch, I'm either thinking, drawing, or halfheartedly taking notes. Well, actually, sometimes Luke and I will lock eyes during class and snicker for no apparent reason. Our in-class friendship dynamic has already grown exponentially since yesterday.

When the lunch bell finally rings, I grab my books and stuff then in my backpack. Then I nod goodbye to my chemistry partner and try as hard as I can to walk casually down the hallway.

When I get to my locker, Cady's already there, trying to fit her backpack inside of her locker somehow. Her lunchbox is at her feet as she slams the locker door closed. She gives a sigh of exhaustion before murmuring, "I might just start taking my backpack to lunch with me from now on. Seriously, it gets tiring having to stick it in there every day."

I laugh, but I feel out of it thinking about Etch. Cady must notice, too, because she asks, "You good?"

I wave my hand. As I answer her, I grab my clump of bananas (which, by the way, is the only thing I brought to eat) out of my locker and shut the door. "Kinda. A teacher asked me to meet him to go over some questions I got wrong on a test. I don't know if I'll be back before lunch ends. See ya, Cady."

Before she asks any questions, I turn and strut away, maybe a bit too dramatic than was necessary. After I turn left at the first intersection of hallways, I see my first destination. The east wing staircase. 

I walk quickly towards the stairs and then take the steps in twos, going up. I get to the top and then I run down the hallway to the staircase that leads up to the third floor. I do the same thing with that staircase, again jumping up two steps at a time. At the top, I turn at the closest corridor and follow it until the end, hoping to see the janitor's closet somewhere. 

Truth be told, I've never been on the third floor because I don't have any classes up here, so by now I'm just wandering the east wing absentmindedly, hoping to find the janitor's closet. 

At the end of the hallway, there's another one that intersects it. I take a left and continue to search for the closet. When that hallway doesn't have anything, I turn back around and go the opposite direction down the hallway, and when I reach the end and haven't seen the closet, I make a move to go back towards the hallway that brought me here. Not remembering where it was, I accidentally turn left before when I'm supposed to, so I end up lost. I see another hallway coming up and decide to make a right. Once I do, I'm disappointed to see that it ends within a few feet. So I turn around and again try to go back down the hallway. 

Eleven minutes later, I end up by the north wing staircase. How I went from east to north, I have no idea. Reluctantly giving up on Etch and the janitor's closet, I trudge down the stairs. 

Once I'm on the bottom floor, I find my way to the lunchroom and wander the tables until I find the one Cady's sitting at. To my surprise, Luke is with her. Although I guess that shouldn't be a real surprise; after all, he did say I was his new best friend. 

When Luke sees me, his whole demeanor changes. He looks elated to see me. Seeing him smile like that makes me smile too, and I sit down across from him."Hey, Van, Cady told me you like the lemon sherbet they serve on Wednesdays so I got you one."

My smile widens as I glance down at the sherbet he pushes towards me. "Luke, I could've gotten it myself."

He shrugs. "I wanted to. But if you want me to be like, a normal best friend, then I'll let you get it yourself next Wednesday."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I will. You should watch Cady and I interact so you can get the feel of normal best-friendship."

Luke rolls his eyes and scoffs. "I know what normal best-friendship is, okay? Just as a refresher though, I'll watch you two."

Cady smiles, and before I open my mouth to reply to Luke, she does. Looking at Luke, she exaggeratedly exclaims, "Watch and learn, peasant!" She turns back to me and brings her can of Coke up to her lips. After sipping it, she says, "Alright, Cami, I'ma spill some Coke."

Her way of saying, "spill some tea".

Having opened my sherbet, I plop a bit of it in my mouth, then I breathe in deeply and nod at her, telling her to continue. "Alright, so, y'know Etch November's best friend, Cal Daniels?" I nod, wondering where she's going with this. "Well, apparently he got into a fight with one of the guys from the soccer team, Rhett Paredes, and he ended up getting in-school suspension. So basically, for the next two afternoons, he's in solitary confinement."

Continuing to eat my sherbet, I feel my eyebrows scrunch up as I ask, "Do you even know what the fight was about?"

Cady shrugs. "Apparently Rhett has a crush on the same girl Etch has a crush on, so Cal felt a compulsive need to defend his friend's honor."

I laugh at that, and across the table, Luke laughs with me. I see him look out at the rest of the cafeteria. He's looking at Cady when he asks, "Where is Etch, anyways? He's not sitting at the A-crowd table like usual."

Hearing his question, I grab Cady's unopened drink, open it, and start chugging it, partly because I'm suddenly very thirsty, partly because I brought bananas but not a drink, but mostly because the bottle of strawberry-kiwi Snapple hides my reddening face from the two of them. Etch isn't here. He still must be waiting for me.

Feeling guilty, and fearing that Etch will think I stood him up, I set the drink down a bit harder than I'd meant to and stand up. I glance down at Luke and Cady, their faces the epitome of confusion (Cady's more on the confused-pissed side, as I'd stolen her drink) and I state, rather awkwardly, "I need to use the bathroom. Don't wait up, it's gonna be bad."

I turn and speed-walk out of the cafeteria. When I've cleared the doors and round the corner taking me back to the east wing staircase, I break into a sprint, not knowing how much time is left in the lunch period.

When I reach the stairs, I do the same thing I did the first time I travelled up them: I take them in twos. (I actually end up taking the last few stairs in threes.) When my feet hit the ground of the third floor, I see a guy walking towards the staircase. As casually as I can, I walk up to him and ask, "Do you know where the closest classroom to the east janitor's closet is?"

The boy raises an eyebrow before pointing my in the opposite direction he'd come from, the same way I'd gone before. "Down this hallway, then make a left. It's somewhere there."

The dude walks past me, and I only have a second to mentally make sense of his directions before my feet start to carry themselves towards my destination. I round the corner, which was apparently the only way I hadn't gonna before, and right where the boy said it'd be, is an abandoned classroom, and across from it, the janitor's closet.

Mustering up what minimal courage I store inside me, I knock.

Silence greets me.

Granted, I hadn't knocked very loudly. As a matter of fact, I'd barely heard the small sound. So I knock again, loud enough to be heard this time.

On the other side of the door, I hear slight movement. Then comes the sound of a key in a lock, and then the door swings open to reveal a rather annoyed looking Etch November."Martinez. You're later than I thought you'd be."

I nod, matching his seriousness. "I know."

He raises his eyebrows. "You're not gonna offer an explanation?"

I shrug passively. "I would, but you looked a bit too pissed for me to want to offer you one, November."

Etch's face loses any annoyance it held, quickly replaced by amusement. He smirks at me, then chuckles to himself. He then holds his hand out to me. "C'mere."

 I look at it for a moment before I take it. Etch glances up at me, then abruptly pulls me into him, my back hitting his chest, him letting go of my hand and bringing his hand up to cover my eyes in the process. At first, I'm shocked by this, until I hear his voice in my ear. "I promise I'm not kidnapping you or anything, Martinez. I'm just trying to ramp up your hype. When I let go, you'll be shocked by what you see. You ready?"

Unable to trust myself to speak while I'm so close to this gorgeous boy, I nod and hum affirmatively. Etch starts to count down. "Five, four, three, two, one...." As he says "zero", he takes his hand off of my eyes and I open them to see a space that looks very unlike a janitor's closet.

Walls painted with black chalk paint automatically give the room a monochromatic look, with the white chalk writings and drawings on the wall contrasting against the blackness. In the corner opposite me, there's a medium grey desk with several notebooks and a MacBook Air sitting on it. The back wall is adorned with several posters featuring bands (Pearl Jam, Matchbox Twenty, The Downtown Fiction, My Chemical Romance, Panic At the Disco, Green Day, All Time Low, Blink-182, Paramore, Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, et cetera), and also along the back wall is a light grey felt sofa. In the center of the room lies a black rug, featuring a map of the world. Several white shelves jut out from the wall closest to me, filled entirely with science fiction books. 

As I stand looking at the marvelous space, I hear Etch shut and lock the door behind us and sidle up next to me. "At my freshman orientation, a guy that'd just graduated slipped this in my pocket." He holds up the key for me to see. "I was about to ask him about it, but before I could he gave me an index card and walked away. The index card only said, "east wing janitor's"." 

Etch pauses, looking around the room fondly. The corner of his mouth starts to flick up into a smile and he rolls his eyes as he continues. "My first day here, this was the first place I came. When I got up here, all the furniture was here, and so was he chalk paint. But it was just so empty. So I filled it up. I wrote everything on these walls. The laptop over there is mine. The posters are mine. All these books are ones I brought from home. And once, last year, I broke in and smuggled the rug in here at two in the morning."

After listening to his explanation, I stand there gazing at him wide-eyed as I glance between him and the room. After a few seconds of prolonged staring at Etch, I clear my throat. "Wow, this is amazing, November."

Etch laughs melodically. "Yeah, I know, right? I decided I'd show it to you since you're new here, and traditionally at this school, newbies get picked on pretty bad. I'm in here Monday through Thursday for thirty minutes after school. I spend a couple minutes here before lunch, and I'm here thirty minutes before the first period bell rings. So... if you need like, a getaway at any point, I won't mind. If you need me to open it for you, leave a note in my locker. It's number 117."

As I open my mouth, about to thank him profusely, the sound of the bell beats out the sound of my hushed "thank you", and Etch turns to pick up a backpack off the floor. He stands back up, looks at me for a short beat while I smile nervously, and pulls out the key.

 Etch unlocks the door and opens it. I tense up, ready to hightail it out the door and back down to my locker. Etch must sense it, though, because he doesn't pull the door open enough for me to get out. I look at him, and with an amused look playing on his features, he says, "By the way, Martinez, call me Etch."

A/N

Okay. At this point I've only uploaded two chapters, so obviously no one but myself has read this yet, but I'm sure at some point aomeone'll see this. Lol. If you are reading this, thank you.

So, uh, I've read other Wattpad books, of course, and a lot of other books feature a cast. I'm still thinking about who could (theoretically) play which character in this book, and I've still got a ways to go in having a complete cast, but I'm pretty sure I know who I want Etch's character to be played by.

Have you ever heard of Froy Gutierrez? 

I mean, you gotta admit, he matches the last chapter's description of Etch pretty well! Plus he's gorgeous! 

(WHEN I SAY GORGEOUS I MEAN GORGEOUS. IM DYING OVER HERE. IF YOU DONT AGREE YOU CAN FIGHT ME.)

Like I said. I'm still pondering over who to cast for the other characters. But I'm pretty damn sure that at this point, Etch's character is set in stone.

*sighs dreamily*

Thank you for putting up with my oddity.

~Alex