I

I laid on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I let out a sigh before sitting up. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒.. I thought as I rubbed my face. I thought for a moment before I stood up. I decided to sneak out. I quietly walked out of my room and peered downstairs. I heard the TV playing as well as snores coming from the living room as I slowly walked down the stairs. I looked in the living room and saw Stilton sleeping on the couch, beer cans scattered around. I managed to hold in my disgust as I grabbed my shoes, slipped them on, opened the front door and ran outside. I stopped running once I arrived at the plaza. I caught my breath and began to wander around, looking at the clouds above me when I suddenly bumped into Panini, Endive's apprentice and daughter.

"What the hell! Watch where you're- oh, hello Gorgonzola." She greeted once she saw me and I suppressed my grimace. 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑠.. 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑦. I thought before returning her greeting. "Hey Panini." I crossed my arms. "What're you doing out here in the daylight? I always thought that you preferred to live in the shadows, ya'know, seeing how you were born in them and all." She smirked and I rolled my eyes. "Funny. I always thought the same about you, seeing how you always smell like you crawled out of a sewer." I spat back and she gave me an ugly look before just rolling her eyes. "Whatever. Anyways, have you seen Chowder?" She questioned. "No, why?" I asked and she looked at me with a look on her face that I didn't recognize.

Then again, I never hung around stuck up people such as herself to understand them. "Because he has to help me with my shopping. Duh." She said as if it were the most obvious thing ever. Don't even bother. He doesn't even like you. I thought to myself, suppressing the smug smile that threatened to come out. "I just came out of my house fifteen minutes ago, does it look like I've seen him?" She looked me up and down before getting in my face, making me step back a bit. She then scoffed before stepping away. "Alright, I guess you haven't seen him. Yet." Panini said and I rolled my eyes as she strutted away. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑔𝑜𝑑.. I thought as I walked to the fountain and sat down, watching as couples past, hand in hand. 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑖 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑑𝑒𝑟...

I sighed solemnly as I closed my eyes and put my head down. The sun was out above the Plaza and shined down on my back. I enjoyed it and began to understand why people always sat out in the sun. "Hey Gorgy," I heard someone say and I looked up to see Chowder standing close to me which caused me to blush and stand up so quick that I ended up falling backwards into the fountain. "A-ah! Are you okay?" He immediately asked and I growled as I stood up and walked out of the fountain. "No, I am 𝑛𝑜𝑡 okay. I am soaking wet and cold. I cannot go home like this and I am pretty sure I might get a disease from the fountain now.." I hissed at him and he looked at me for a second before thinking for a moment. He suddenly grabbed my hand and began to walk away from the fountain. "W-what are you doing?" I stuttered.

"Taking you to my house so you can change clothes." He said and began to run. I looked at our hands and felt my face heat up, hoping that no one saw us and got the wrong idea. Especially Panini. "Hi bye Truffles!" He greeted the woman that was in front of his house when we got there and ran upstairs to his room. Once we were in his room, he closed the door and I looked around in astonishment. His room was huge. While he walked over to his closet, I looked out his window which had a view of the whole town. I turned around and he sat some clothes on his bed which I could assume were for me. "Here you go.." He said, "T-thanks.." I immediately pulled the wet shirt over my head and noticed Chowder face away from me. "U-uhm.. you can leave once y-you're done.." He stuttered before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

I grabbed the shirt and looked at it. "This looks like my shirt.. how did he get it?" I queried to myself but just shook my head and finished dressing. Once I had the clean dry clothes on, I grabbed the wet ones and walked downstairs where Chowder was sitting in a chair waiting for me. Once he saw me, he stood up immediately and handed me a bag. "What is this for?" I asked. "I-It's for the wet clothes.." He responded. "Oh, thank you." I grabbed the bag and put the clothes in it, tying the bag closed. "H-hey Gorgy?" He looked at me and I saw that his face was a light pink. "Yeah?" "I-I'm sorry that you fell into the fountain because of me.. I wanted to surprise you, but not like that..." He said. "It's alright. I know you didn't do it on purpose." I responded. The atmosphere suddenly felt very awkward as we stood next to each other and I finally spoke up.

"I-I uh.. I gotta get home. I'll see you tomorrow.." I said and he nodded. "Alright..." He looked a little disappointed but I just shrugged it off and walked out the front door and down the street to my house. I prayed that Stilton was still asleep by the time I came back.

~ ~ ~

I slowly opened the front door and peeked inside before quietly walking inside and closing the door behind me. I took my shoes off and snuck upstairs to my room. Once I was inside, I closed my door and locked it before sitting on my bed and set the bag on the ground next to my nightstand. 𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑.. I thought to myself with relief as I began to get ready for bed. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠? 𝐷𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚? I was trying to wrap my head around the whole outfit thing before eventually shaking my head. "I'll just have to ask him about it tomorrow in class." Once I went to bed, I couldn't stop thinking about Chowder. I groaned as I tried to ignore my thoughts and go to sleep. After about an hour or so, I was finally able to fall asleep.

Around four thirty in the morning, I woke up panting and sweating. It felt like I had woken up from a nightmare, but something decided to make a tent in my pants. I tried to recall the dream but sleep still clouded my mind. What I could figure out was that Chowder was in my dreams. I groaned as I help my head in my hands as I tried to think more about the dream. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚? I thought as I looked at my clock, seeing that it was almost time for me to leave the house to catch the bus. I just sighed as I got up and began to get my things together.