#hsheartthrob

          “I’m gonna drop out. I think,” Charlie said flatly as she placed one foot in front of the other, arms spread out at her sides to keep her balanced as she navigated the large rocks that made up the modest jetty her and Nick were walking along. “Or -- I’m gonna figure out a way to get away with dropping out. I don’t think I can yet without my life, like -- blowing up.”

          She was barefoot -- probably not the best idea, but still better than sticking with the cheap flip flops she chose to kick off back before the sand turned to pebbles, and the pebbles turned to boulders. The oversized t shirt she was wearing as a cover up -- one of Cal’s, screen printed with artwork from one of his weird eighties bands -- bellowed in the wind at the same time as her hair blew in her face. She brushed it back and turned to look at Nick. “But I guess the whole reason I think I should drop out is because it all already feels like it’s blowing up. So maybe I should just go for it -- Ya know?” Her tone was too calm, and expression too mild to suggest that she was genuinely contemplating such rash, consequential life decision. So then, why was she even saying it?

said: "I love you, dude."

          The noise that came out of Cal was halfway between a snort and a scoff. A snoff. “C’mon,” he said as he grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him out of the hedges he’d fallen into while the two of them were making their escape. “I parked down this side street. We’ve got a clear getaway if you would just hurry your ass up.”

          Cal hadn’t been at the party when it got busted, he’d only shown up in response to an S.O.S. text from his best friend. He was used to this sort of rescue mission — between Charlie, Nick, and the girls, it was practically a routine procedure. His car was far enough away to avoid the mob of teens all trying to make their own way out of the narrow residential street, but that meant Cal had to come up from around back and retrieve Nick on foot.

@hsheartthrob

Making all the bows for the Cheer Team fundraiser the next day would have been boring with a capital everything if she hadn’t had Nick to help her out. If she hadn’t forgotten about the dang thing till the night before, she could have paced herself and put together a reasonable amount each night -- but then again, let’s be real. Even if she had remembered the fundraiser was on Friday, she still probably would have waited till the last minute to get everything ready.

Charlie had gotten home from school that afternoon after seeing a poster reminding her of the bow sale and been prepared to tie ribbons and hot-glue hair clips all night. Luckily, Nick happened to stop by in the middle of her frenzy looking for Cal, and because Cal was off doing . . . something important probably, Charlie had good ol’ Sweet T all to herself.

As soon as Mr. Hutchinson left the classroom, Ro turned around in her seat to glare at Nick T. Her knuckles were white as she gripped her chair, a contrast to her cheeks that were blooming red with anger. She wanted to make it painfully obvious how much she resented him for landing them both in detention -- on today of all days! Carrie was no doubt gonna chew her out for missing rehearsal. Not to mention the extra hours she was gonna have to put in to catch up with the other girls on Kayla’s choreo.

She shook her head slowly and narrowed her eyes at him, just in case the message still wasn’t clear.

said: Nick T gives Ro a valentine. It's just a hand-cut heart out of blue construction paper, but it has glitter on it and a small box of chocolate

Her girls weren’t around, so naturally, she was on guard. She took quick, deliberate steps down the hall, holding her books tight to her chest and ducking her head to avoid the inevitable onslaught of boys who just couldn’t get a clue. If it had been any other day, it wouldn’t have been likely for Ro to be approached without the context of the other girls -- but because it was this day, it seemed, anyone who’d be too nervous to talk to her under normal circumstances was granted an impotent boost of courage, and anyone who normally wouldn’t recognize her without her blue wig now made a special effort to hand out each of their color-coded, candy-coated valentines to their respective recipients with the hopes of proving themselves each to be DC’s most devoted fan.

Barf barf barfity barf.

Ro wasn’t one of those people who were philosophically opposed to Valentine’s day. Actually, she was quite the romantic. She loved the idea of devoting a day to the celebration of something as wonderful as love, and she thrived when presented with any opportunity to express her admiration for those she cared about. Her problem with the holiday was all the unwanted attention from people she didn’t care for at all.

She frowned at herself. For a second, she considered that maybe her internal monologue had gotten a bit too harsh -- and just when she was about to let out a dismissive sigh, she collided with the mop-headed cupid who’d been waiting in the way of her locker. She almost dropped her books, almost knocked whatever he was holding out of his hands -- and almost let a day’s worth of frustration out on him before she realized who she bumped into and what he’d been waiting to give to her.

“Nick T,” she observed with an mix of relief and exhaustion. She glanced at his gift, then to him, then back to the gift. Blue -- Candy -- How perfectly cliche. Still, her lips twitched almost imperceptibly in what could have been mistaken for a smile. Out of all the boys that day who’d tried to present her with an overdone symbol of affection, Nick T was among the most tolerable. In fact, so tolerable that he might even be of some use.

“I didn’t get you anything.” More of a statement of fact than an apology. Without taking the Valentine from him, she began to open her locker and put her books away. When everything was where it should be, she gestured for him to hand over the heart and hung it up on the inside of her locker door with a round blue magnet. She finally gave him a real smile and nodded in approval before holding her hand out for the box of chocolates so she could slip them into her bag.

@hsheartthrob

       ❛ whoa, someone’s in a good mood! ❜ julie laughs as a pair of arms encircle her from behind, nick t’s bright laugh ringing out from behind her as she’s spun into the air. normally she’d be grumpy about being swung around this early in the morning, but there’s something about nick’s sunny smile that just makes it pretty impossible to be really mad at him. plus, she’s never gonna say no to a hug.

       once her feet are firmly planted back on the ground, she pivots on her heel to give her friend an actual hug, throwing her arms around the taller boy and squishing her cheek into his chest with a laugh of her own. 

said: ❛ you’re not as mean as you think you are. ❜

          Nick could get Cal to laugh better than anyone. A lot of the time without even trying. There was something about Nick that he put into everything he said or did that just came off as funny to Cal. Maybe not always ha ha funny, but odd. Peculier. Offbeat -- but in the most delightful way possible.

          The outwardness and spontaneity of his friend’s affection was what got Cal to laugh this time. “That’s so sweet of you to say, dude.” It came out as more of a dismissal than an expression of gratitude. Cal knew he wasn’t mean mean. He preferred the term aloof. Standoffish. Unapproachable (until he wanted to be). But it wasn’t like he didn’t appreciate the reminder from Nick -- he just didn’t feel the need to get sappy in the five minute passing period between World History and AP Music Theory.