Chapter 3

As Charlie made his way up the small hill to the school parking lot he saw Annie hovering near his dark gray sedan. Her brown hair looked pitch black and had lost its waviness as it hung. It wasn't until Charlie took a few more steps that he saw the rare water droplet falling from her hair. She was wearing black shorts and an oversized t-shirt with her backpack and duffle bag resting against her ankles. She leaned against the small car, staring at the slow sinking sun with her earbuds pushed in.

Charlie thought of how great of a photo this would be and went to reach for his phone when Annie turned her head.

"Hey," she said as he pulled her earbuds out, "what are you doing?"

Charlie held the phone in his hand ready to take a picture, "The way you were standing made for a great photo op so I was gonna take a picture." Charlie pushed the phone back into his pocket and unlocked his car.

"How'd practice go?" he asked as he opened the trunk and tossed his backpack into it.

"It was good, lots of boring drills and technical and some maintenance work," she said as she stuffed the earbuds into her backpack.

"How'd," she paused for a second as she thought of the right words to say but realizing there weren't any she pointed at the school behind them, "that go?"

Charlie went to close the trunk of his car but stopped. His grip tightened on the edge of it before he let go and sat down inside of it, joining his backpack. As his thighs touched the elevated part of the trunk he let out a heavy sigh and deflated.

"It went as expected," his voice grew softer and more distant with every word.

Annie made her way around to the back of the car, bringing her backpack and duffle bag with her. She dropped the two next to the rear wheel before joining Charlie in the trunk.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out," she said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Charlie turned his head slightly and looked at her through the corner of his eyes. He saw a faint smile touching her lips, "You don't sound very sorry."

"Oh no I'm here for you and all but I just don't feel sad for you."

"That's a bit rude don't you think."

"No no it's not, because I'm here for you."

"Oh gotcha, then that makes everything better."

There was a slight pause before the two started laughing. They stared at the darkening sky above them with a light smile on their faces.

"So," Annie said.

"So," Charlie echoed.

She turned to look at him with a look of annoyance before pushing his shoulder and shaking him.

"So," Charlie started, "I was thinking."

"About?"

Charlie hunched forwards and scratched the back of his hair. He tapped the bottom of his frames to push up his glasses and looked forwards at the wall of large, green, oak trees that marked the end of the parking lot. "If you promised to never do something again but you did that thing it would help a lot of people, would you do it?" Charlie asked.

Annie leaned back into the trunk. The sound of her breathing filled the quiet environment around them as she thought. She pushed herself forwards and joined Charlie in his forward hunch.

"Do the people need to be helped?" she asked.

"Huh?" Charlie snapped his head towards her and furrowed his brow.

"Do the people that would be helped by me doing the thing, do those people need to be helped?" she clarified.

"Not really," Charlie trailed off.

"Then I wouldn't do it." Annie said loudly.

Charlie looked away and brought his hand to his mouth. He rubbed his chin and squinted slightly as he stared at his knees. His hand found his way to his glasses, giving them a slight push before stopping at his hair. He moved his somewhat long dusty hair as he thought about what Annie had said.

Annie smiled as she watched him. She had an idea of what he was thinking and gave him a light tap on his shoulder. He responded by turning his head slightly towards her.

"But I'm also not the type of person to go out of my way to help others."

Charlie's hand fell from his hair and he smiled softly. "You do a good job of it though," he said to himself before pushing himself out of the trunk. He started walking around to get the blood flowing through his legs.

Annie heard what he'd said and once Charlie was far enough she whispered, "That's cause it's you." She pushed herself out as well and joined Charlie in his short walk.

Then Charlie tossed his keys at her before placing her backpack and duffle bag into his trunk. He slammed it close and made his way towards the passenger seat.

"You needed a ride right?" he asked as he opened the door.

Annie made her way towards the driver's seat.

"Plus this'll be a good way for you to practice." he said as they got in and shakily drove off.

***

When Charlie reached the science wing after school on Monday, the window was already open and standing outside was Chandler. She was wearing deep blue jeans and a black blouse. Her almost red hair was curled and her wrists were decorated with a watch and a silver bracelet. As Charlie climbed through the window he watched her tapping the railing persistently for a few moments. Then she stopped and leaned forwards and began bouncing her leg.

After he was on the roof a cool gust of wind blew through him. It lifted his red and black flannel shirt that he left open, hitting his white t-shirt and jeans before continuing past. Charlie let his backpack slip off his shoulder slowly, stopping the motion once the straps reached his elbow. He placed the bag slowly down behind him. He waited for Chandler to notice him.

When she didn't he cleared his throat and she spun around violently. Charlie saw a flash of fear on her face that disappeared as she stopped.

"Have you thought about your answer?" she asked.

"I have," Charlie looked her in her eyes and kept his gaze focused there.

There was a pause that Chandler wasn't expecting. She waited for him to continue but Charlie showed no signs of saying anything else.

"So what is it?" she finally asked. Like him she had continued to look into his eyes but after a few seconds it had become uncomfortable. She didn't want to be the first one to look away but with each passing second the boring everyday sights such as the gravel ground or the color of the fence became more and more tempting.

"I'll help you but you have to clear the records of Nathan Kelly, Jack Guo, Chloe Keita and Annie Duval," Charlie continued to stare at her.

Chandler's face brightened. Her eyebrows raised and her eyes lit up. A small smile formed, growing until it touched her ears.

"And," Charlie continued, "I want to know how you found out about The Love Guru, the name of the guy and who exactly am I helping out."

Chandler's eyes dropped to the ground. "What do you mean?" her voice was small and wavery.

Charlie took a step forward, watching Chandler carefully as he spoke. "I don't really care where you heard the name if I'm being completely honest it was just my curiosity that made me ask you," he took another step.

"But I do care about who I'm helping out and who I'm helping them get with," Charlie stepped past Chandler and found the railing. He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back against it.

"We've had three interactions so far and in each one I've seen a different version of you."

"S-so what people can have multiple sides to them," Chandler raised her voice slightly. She continued to look down at the ground with her back now facing Charlie.

"Everyone has a baseline, a version of themselves that they always revert to but I've yet to see that in you," Charlie continued, "What I wanna know is which version is the real you? Is it the warm and inviting Chandler? Or the selfish and strong-willed Chandler?"

It was slight but Charlie saw a rigidness pass through her body at the mention of the second version but he continued, "Or is it the unsure and-"

"Do you know what they call a woman who chases after a man Charlie?" Chandler asked.

Charlie pushed up his glasses slightly. There was a hardness present in her voice, a hardness he'd heard before, "So it's the selfish and strong-willed Chandler."

Chandler looked up and turned around. She meets Charlie's eyes with hers. Her back was straight and her chest slightly puffed out. Her arms placed on her hips and her stance had widened. There was a slight glow to her eyes, a glow that told Charlie that she knew who she was and what she wanted.

"They call her a red flag, a slut." she said, "but what's wrong with trying to get someone you like to like you back?"

"What's wrong with using means that are more obvious than subtle?" she asked, "after all, most guys are too dense to get a hint anyway."

"But no, you're supposed to wait for the guy to make the move, do nothing and just wait," as she hissed, a bitterness formed in her voice, "so I'll play the game."

"I'll wait for the guy to make the move alright, but you're," she pointed her finger at Charlie, "going to make sure that he does make a move and not on just anyone, on me."

Charlie raised his chin slightly and once again the two stared at each other. "You want me to persuade your crush to ask you out."

"Do it and your friends' records will be wiped, deal?" Chandler stuck her hand out, waiting for Charlie to shake it.

"Who's the guy?"

"Gray."

Charlie clicked his tongue. The difficulty of this task hit him and for a moment he considered backing out before remembering who he was making the deal for. He grabbed Chandler's hand. "Deal."

"Good," Chandler's tone had suddenly changed. It had gone back to how it was when he had met her the first day, warm and inviting, like she was an honest and angelic student.

She spun around cheerfully and grabbed her backpack before making it towards the window. As she reached it she turned around, "No one knows about what happened here ok. And this is how I usually am ok."

She climbed through the window and disappeared into the hallway.

As Charlie watched her go he realized he could never see her the same way again. The image of Chandler that he held before had died but his heart still hurt when she had mentioned Gray and when he shook her hand.

He turned around and placed his elbows on the railing before letting his head drop. He ruffled his hair before brushing it to the side with his hand and pushing up his glasses from the bottom of the frame. There was a sense of sinking that was developing inside him. He felt like his chest had become a bottomless pit in a deep ocean. So deep he felt he could have swam his entire life and still never seen the bottom. The longer he remained motionless the deeper he felt himself sink into this bottomless pit.

With a strong push, Charlie turned away from the railing and started walking towards the window. He looked up at the sky and saw the sun still burning brightly then pulled out his phone and checked the time. It read 5 o'clock.

"It doesn't hurt to get started a bit early," he murmured to himself as he entered the window.

He made his way through the science wing and into the common area. As he made his way down the stairs he saw the girls swimming team standing in the middle and a photographer setting up behind them. Through the huddle of swimmers Charlie picked out Annie. She was wearing blue sweatpants that read 'Texas High' going down the side, a white t-shirt that read 'Girls Varsity Swimming' and a blue and white, polyester, hoodless, waterproof jacket with the school's mascot, a longhorn, on it. Her hair was neatly tied into a bun with two strands of wavy, brown hair dancing along her cheeks down a little past her jaw.

She laughed with two of her similarly dressed teammates, one of which was a tanned girl with hair similar to Annie and the other was pale with a red-sunburned nose and blonde hair that bordered on white.

The sight brought a smile to Charlie's face. When he reached the bottom of the staircase he heard one of the girls say, "you're going to swim in college too right Annie?" and Charlie stopped for a moment. He glanced at Annie who laughed.

The mention of college brought a feeling of uneasiness to Annie. She continued to laugh with her two friends but couldn't help leaning away a little and before she knew it her hands had found each other behind her back and begun twisting each other.

"I have to, I have a date at the Olympics with the swimming gold medal," she said and her friends broke into a louder laugh.

She laughed too but it felt forced. The thought of college had brought some unpleasant memories to mind, forcing her eyes to wander.

Charlie clenched his teeth when he heard Annie's comment. He quickly turned away and disappeared into one of the hallways.

Annie's eyes drifted to the staircase for a moment and there she saw someone dressed like how Charlie used to dress. She had spent the whole day without seeing and wondered where he'd been. She watched as the person quickly turned and disappeared into the hallway. For a moment she thought him to be Charlie then she realized that he would've gone home by now and shook the thought away, returning to the conversation.