I run. And run and run, until I reach my house. My pulse is racing faster than ever, and I drop down on my bed, a hot mess. I must have fallen asleep, because Marley wakes me up.

"Where have you been all day? I saw you come home like 2 hours ago. What is with you?"

"Hmm?" I say groggily.

"Get up. Mom will be home soon to make dinner."

"Okay"

"And you might want to take a shower."

I take her advice and have a nice warm shower that was long overdue. I keep on thinking about the boy and how pretty his smile is. His bright green eyes, and chocolate brown hair take over my thoughts. What is this feeling? I want to be with him, next to him, look at him. I try to push it all away as I step out of the bathroom for dinner.

"Hi Melanie. How was your day?"

"Oh I just took a nap for a while and went outside. Nothing too crazy."

"Well, I had a fabulous day at work. I got everything done so I don't need to go in tomorrow."

"That's great mom!" says Marley.

I smile with my teeth but not my eyes. We will surely do someone all together tomorrow, so I can't see the boy. Maybe I'll go at night, after dinner perhaps.

"What do you say we all go to Linda's house for lunch and get peticures?"

"Sure!" I say with the brightest smile I can fake.

Linda is... well she's a character for sure. Don't even get me started on her food. It's all naturally grown from her garden, and won't use anything otherwise. And it's always dishes nobody's ever heard of before. She doesn’t have a regular kitchen, but some wood for a fire and rock bowls that she hand carved herself. Her wife, Kristen, is never home and seems to be working at a hidden place that no one knows.

"Thanks Linda," I say gritting my teeth as I look at the brown green bowl of mush that isn't quite soup.

"Of course. It's my new recipe, Veggies and More, only the second time I've made it!" she says with a cheery smile.

We all sit on the floor in a circle eating the mush with our hands (forbid we ever use silverware) and she talks about the ingredients. The second she says dirt, I gag in my mouth and force a smile. The list keeps on going of weird ingredients, all from her garden.

"Well it's wonderful Linda," says mom.

"Would you like to take some home with you? I just made a new clay container."

"That would be lovely."

They both share bright smiles as me and Marley have a conversation through facial expressions. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's disgusting. We both share gross faces with one another until they come back.

We walk over to Linda's little shack-room-thing to get pedicures. Those are always good, leaving our feet with slight smell of lavender. But she has to hand do each of ours, so it takes three times as long.

"Thanks Linda, for the lunch and pedicure," mom says with a relaxed smile.

"Anytime."

Marley and mom both decide to take naps after the spa day, so I take my chance to go see the boy again.

He's dressed in a nice suit, and keeps on looking at himself in the mirror and fixing things that don't need to be fixed. The older version of him walks in, and the boy leaves his room. I watch as he walks out the front door and him and the other guy drive away in a black car.

I sigh and go back to my house, the boy didn't stay in his room long today. Mom and Marley are still asleep, so I start working on dinner. Tonight I think I'll heat up some leftover chicken and have rice and broccoli.

"Dinner looks good," says Marley.

"Thank you. Oh my gosh, Linda's lunch today was... well, interesting."

"I gagged like 17 different times"

We both giggle and sit at the table to play a quick card game while dinner is still cooking.

"So, you go back to school tomorrow. What time should I come pick you up while you skip?"

"I am not skipping school!" I laugh at Marley.

"I'm just saying, sometimes it gets boring..."

"Well, I think it's interesting. Especially math. Numbers are so fun to work with."

"Okay, now you sound like a psychopath."

Mom walks out just as I finish setting the table with food. Her tired eyes say all about how her nap went. Marley gives me a look, one that says 'tonight is going to be rough' and I feel the same way.

"How was your nap?" I ask.

She walks past me, grabs a plate of food, and heads back to her bedroom. Me and Marley both relax a bit more, because we don't have to deal with mom tonight.

"Did you take a nap?"

"Umm yeah."

"No you didn't"

She caught me. I feel my heart pound faster and my breaths are shorter.

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't"

"Okay, so maybe I didn't. But what do you care?"

She raises an eyebrow and I sense a lecture coming.

"So what did you do?" she says very slowly.

"You didn't sneak out and see the boy again, did you?"

I give her and quick smile and slowly retreat to my bedroom. She has full, loud breaths and I hear her footsteps creek towards me.

Once in my room, I shut the door securely behind me and lock it. I try to slow my breathing.

Marley can't know my feelings for this boy.