Chapter Five

The teenagers later met up at Vanessa’s locker after the last period of the day. Vanessa had agreed to his offer of him driving her home after school, although she didn’t live that far away from the school to begin with.

Vanessa was putting her books and binders into her backpack while Xavier was waiting for her. Numerous students flooded the hallway on their way out, some of them noticing who exactly was hanging around the new girl’s locker today. Some of them already began to gossip since some of them had seen the two together since the girl’s first day. Some of them of course already knew what was going on, since they had seen Xavier do this to multiple new girls that joined the school.

Vanessa turned around to face Xavier while slinging her bag over her shoulder. “You ready to go?” She asked him, as she walked towards the front entrance to the school.

Xavier smirked. “Of course, I’ve never been in a cops’ home before though. I wonder what it’s like there.” He said, trying to make small talk with her on their way out of the school.

“Well I would have to guess that it’s like any other person’s house, besides the fact that the owners are never really there. I’m almost always alone there due to their schedules.” Vanessa said, walking outside into the fall air. She watched the leaves dance in the wind as she followed him to his car.

“That must be sad, to always be home alone.” Xavier said, unlocking his car as the two teenagers got closer. They both quickly got into the car, before they headed off to Vanessa’s house.

“I’m not there by myself though, I have my dog Max and he keeps me company, he just isn’t a person.” Vanessa told Xavier as he drove his car by following the directions she had given him earlier.

Xavier pulled up in Vanessa’s driveway once he had made it there. “Well maybe that’s why you’re not much of a social person, you don’t spend much time around actual people. That’s fine though, by hanging out with me, you’ll soon become more of a social person.” Xavier said, with a smile on his face as he shut the car off.

Vanessa got out of the car, choosing not to answer him since she didn’t see the point. She walked up to the door and unlocked it, being followed by Xavier the entire time. As the two teenagers made their way into the house Vanessa was ambushed by Max, who hadn’t seen the girl all day due to school.

A smile lit up Vanessa’s face as she pet her dog, having almost entirely forgotten about the other teenager behind her. Max also realized she wasn’t the only one in the house, and turned his attention to the other teenager in front of him. He looked up at the teenager, and the dark haired teenager smiled at the dog before reaching his hand out to pet the dog. The dog instantly ran over to the other teenager, and jumped up on him.

Vanessa watched as the dog loved up to the boy behind her, and she shook her head. Of course he would, that dog loved meeting new people. She watched the two continue to interact with each other, before she knew she had to stop them.

“Alright, is it okay if I take Max out for a walk real quick? He hasn’t been out all day since I’ve been at school.” Vanessa told Xavier as she went to grab the leash off of the hook near the door.

“Yeah, that should be fine. Do you want me to come with you?” Xavier asked her, as he watched the dog walk back over to its owner.

Vanessa thought this over for a little bit. It was weird to have a person you didn't know very well in your home alone. He might go and investigate the house, and find some things that he probably shouldn’t see. Having made up her mind, she focused her attention back on the other teenager. “Yeah you can, plus it would be rude to leave you here all alone since you’ve never been here before.” She told him, as she hooked her dog up to the leash.

Xavier put his bag down by the couch, and then followed Vanessa outside with the dog. He wondered if he should bring up Friday now, or later and decided to bring it up now. “Did you follow me out of the classroom on Friday when I got the call?” He asked her, watching her very closely for any reaction.

Vanessa knew not to show any emotions or react to it in any way because he might be watching for any reaction she has. She kept her emotions in check, and turned to look at him. “No, I started getting a cold on Friday so I went out into the hallway to get a drink. I didn't hear anything while I was out in the hall, if that’s what you’re asking.” Vanessa told him, immediately thinking about the words he had said on the phone Friday.

But another thought came to her mind as she was thinking about Friday. Why had she even followed him out into the hallway though? It wasn’t like she liked him or anything right? Maybe she was just interested in the male standing next to her, but why would she be? She knew that he was a player, and he was only hanging out with her to get closer to her so that she would let him in. But she wouldn’t do that, and there was nothing interesting about the male besides the fact of why he would be interested in her, but she already knew the answer to that question.

Xavier didn’t see any reaction when she said that, so he believed what she said to be true. “Are you alright now though? You’re not still sick, are you?” He asked her, a bit concerned now.

Vanessa immediately shook her head before verbally answering his question. “No, I’m fine. I got a lot of sleep over the weekend since my parents bailed on our plans so I’m fine now. Probably just due to the weather.” Vanessa told him, as they walked her dog down the street.

“Well I mean you said you’ve moved around a lot, so haven’t you been in cold climate states before now?” Xavier asked her, curious now. If she had moved around a lot then she would have definitely lived in some of the colder climate states.

Vanessa thought back to this, and immediately had to agree with him that she had, but not in a while. “I have lived in cold climate states before, but I haven’t recently. My body still has to adjust to the weather and climate so it isn’t surprising that I got a cold.” Vanessa told him, after thinking the last year over.

With that being said the two teenagers continued walking the dog, around the corner and then back to the house so that they could finally get some work done. The two teengers now sat around the living room coffee table, working on their project. Nothing was going to distract them now, although Xavier kept studying Vanessa and Vanessa’s thoughts were always on why she had followed him out into the hall on Friday morning.

A few hours later after they had made a decent amount of progress on their project Vanessa’s parents came home. They normally didn’t come home until later, so their daughter was very confused as to why they were both home so early.

As the door opened, and in walked her parents all of the Merchant's looked at each other with curious and confused looks on their faces. “Welcome home Mom, and Dad. What are you guys doing home so early from work?” Vanessa asked her parents in a curious tone. She hadn’t seen her parents home this early in a while.

“We got done with some of our work early. Don’t you want to introduce us to the young man in our living room?” Vanessa’s mom told her, as her mom studied the boy.

“Mom, Dad this is Xavier King, he is my partner on a project for school. Xavier, this is my Mom and Dad.” Vanessa said, introducing the three people in the room.

Xavier stood up from the floor where he was sitting and stuck out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you two, I’ve heard so much about you from Vanessa.” He told them, as Vanessa’s Dad shook his hand.

“Likewise, it’s nice to know that our daughter has made a friend. She never really makes friends whenever we move.” Vanessa’s Dad told Xavier as they ended their handshake.

Vanessa checked the time, and immediately spoke up before her parents could anymore. “Well Xavier was just getting ready to leave, we did a lot of work today on our project.” Vanessa told her parents, as she looked up at Xavier with a certain look in her eye.

Xavier read the look in her eyes, and immediately agreed with a nod of his head. “Yes, I was just about to get going. Again it was nice to meet you both, you guys have a lovely home.” Xavier said as he grabbed his things, and started heading for the door. Before he left he turned back around to face Vanessa. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” He told her, and then he left without saying much of anything else.