Chapter 24: Crush

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Crush

[3rd Person POV]

-Dunphy's house-

"Oh my god, can't you stop groaning? I'm trying to sleep here." Alex said to Haley as her sister kept tossing and turning in her bed after they had turned off the lights.

Haley stopped tossing and sat upright facing Alex suddenly, causing Alex to flinch.

"W-w-what?" Alex asked with a stammer.

"You know Edward has a girlfriend right?" Haley asked.

"Yeah. So?"

Haley paused for a second and said, "Between her and m- Nothing. Goodnight." Haley said and lay back down on the bed. Alex was confused by her sister, but she shrugged the issue and went to sleep.

The clock ticked slowly, and Haley couldn't fall asleep even after Alex had been sleeping for a while. She checked her T-mobile Sidekick phone(A/N: That's the phone's brand), and noticed that the time was almost 2 a.m.

She checked her texts, and messages from Tara were at the top of the list while Edward's was beneath Tara.

"Hmm? He texted me?" Haley suddenly brightened up and opened the text from Edward.

Edward: Goodnight. Tell me what you want to ask for tomorrow. If it's not hard to do, maybe I'll think about it.

Haley chuckled a bit, and turned toward Alex hurriedly to see that her laughter didn't wake up her sister. Not that she cared that she was disturbing her, she just didn't want Alex to see she was laughing gleefully from Edward's text. She then texted back,

Haley: I'll talk to you about it tomorrow.

Edward: Go to sleep, it's 2 a.m. That's why you never grow.

Haley: I am not SHORT!

Edward: You're like 4'3 (129 cm).

Haley: 5'1!!!!!!!!!!! (160 cm)

Haley: Okay I'm not going to get into this. Goodnight.

Haley sighed and then she got curious.

Haley: What are you doing up anyway?

Edward: I'm working on the website.

Haley: When did you usually sleep?

Edward: Around 3 or 4. I'm only staying up late until I'm done.

Haley: Abby isn't staying up with you?

Haley was surprised when she saw her question. Halfway when she was typing to divert the topic, Edward had replied, "No. She can't stay past 12. She isn't capable of that."

In Abby's house, the sleeping Abby suddenly sat up from her bed half-asleep, before she lay down again and continued sleeping.

Haley cupped her face with her hand as she tried to sleep, wondering why she had asked Edward such an embarrassing question. She keeps squirming in her bed, causing Alex's sleep to be disturbed.

"SHUT UP!" Alex yelled and went back to sleep again. Haley was stunned by what just happened, and she stared at the texts before she finally fell asleep.

-Edward's POV-

"Anyway. I need to focus otherwise it will be useless for me to stay up." I texted Haley and ended the conversation.

Morning came quickly the next day. After taking a shower and wearing a long-sleeved purple t-shirt and black pants, I walked downstairs to make some breakfast and my lunch at school for today.

"Another late night?" Ted asked as he saw my eye bag after he walked downstairs to the kitchen, fully ready in his captain's uniform.

"Of course. Here." I gave him a cup of coffee as he sat at the kitchen counter.

"I saw that you're marinating chicken. What's that for?" Ted asked as he saw the chicken I put into the freezer last night. There were also several desserts inside the fridge. The dessert was made inside a transparent packaging box, with a portion for just one person each box.

"I'm making spicy chicken burgers today after I'm home." I said casually while frying some eggs and bacon for mine and Ted's breakfast.

Ted gulped his saliva and said, "What time?"

I turned to him and said teasingly, "I didn't prepare any for you. It's for Mr Dunphy, Luke, and Manny who's coming by today."

Ted lowered his head in disappointment before perking up as I said, "I could make you one now. You can eat it at your workplace."

"Let's do that. Claire Dunphy is coming again today. I wonder when she will actually accept the work." Ted said to make conversation.

"I will make one for her too then. Make sure to warn her that it is spicy." I said as I poured some oil into a pan. After making the burgers, I took the desserts from the fridge and rode my bike to school as usual.

The goth bully stopped my bike again today as I passed through her house. Today, she was wearing a black shirt with striped black and white long sleeves and a black jeans complete with chains as an accessory. With a black lipstick and eyeliner, Abby stared into my eyes as she got up close to my face again.

"Gimme." Abby demanded. I reached into my bag and helplessly gave her two strawberry cheesecakes that I had promised her the night before. From the transparent container, Abby saw a strawberry that was cut in half at each of the container's walls being surrounded by the white cheesecake.

"It's...pretty?" Abby said in disbelief as she turned the box to see it from all sides.

"Another one is for your mom. Tell her I said 'thanks for the dinner last night'." I said casually, ignoring Abby's suspicion whether I made this myself or not.

"I need to taste this first." Abby said and opened up the lid while she was standing on the sidewalk.

There was a spoon attached to the lid. Abby grabbed the spoon and decided to taste the cake right then and now. As she put the cake in her mouth, she started to swoon and danced a bit.

Jacob staggered and almost fell down after he heard my statement. I smirked evilly and walked to the next class, leaving the despairing potato kid contemplating life in his initial spot.

After school was over, I waited at the street near Palisades highschool to meet someone. Dylan walked his bike towards me with a face full of despair and a bandaid on his broken nose.

"Hey." Dylan greeted pitifully. I looked at him in pity and wondered what kind of luck he had in his life. In the span of one day, his nose was broken, his girlfriend broke up with him, and he lost his car to an arsonist.

"Why are you pushing your bike?" I asked.

"The chain broke." Dylan said with a tone of holding back his tears.

"..." I was speechless after I heard him. "Have you eaten yet?" I asked.

"No. My wallet was inside the car. All of my money was destroyed in the fire." Dylan said, causing me to be speechless again.

I let out a long sigh and I said, "Let's go eat."

"B-But I don't have any money."

"Bitch, did I ask you to pay? Just order. It'll be my treat." I said to Dylan and led the way to the restaurant nearby, not taking no for an answer.

Dylan rubbed his eyes, causing me to wonder if he was crying. He quickly said as I turned toward him, "No. Dust got into my eyes. I am definitely not ..(sob) crying."

I let him have a moment to calm down before we entered the restaurant. I treated him to a burger and we talked for a while – mostly him venting about how unfair his life was, and how he was still in love with Haley and so on. I tuned out most of what he vented because I got bored after he started to repeat his topic.

"Dylan, you're 18 right?" I asked.

"Yeah." Dylan replied while stuffing his face with the donut we ordered.

"Are you going to college next year?" I asked.

"No. Me and my band are going on a tour." Dylan replied.

"Oh. Did you sign a contract with an agency?" I asked in wonder.

Dylan shook his head and said, "No. We didn't."

"You have a manager... right?" I asked again.

"No." Dylan replied while scratching his head, wondering why I was asking him all those things.

I sighed and said, "Dylan. Your music dream. Is doomed."

He got a bit irritated and said defensively, "But we didn't start yet. Why do you say that?"

"Because. You don't actually know what to do to succeed right?" I asked while interlocking my fingers together on the table, getting into my business mode.

"It's undeniable that you can sing. But honestly, your music is so-so. You don't know how to advance further in your career, and you have no one to back you up in your dreams. Once life starts getting too much for you, believe me, you will stop singing and maybe find some odd jobs to get by... as you don't have any other skills right now."

Dylan was silent, so I got straight to the point. "Go to college."

"Even if I want to. My SAT score...and my family situation wouldn't let me do that." Dylan confessed. "I was fucked from the start."

With a hippie mother and no father, Dylan had been living his life in a hard mode. But one thing I really admired about him was that he had never stopped trying to get his life together, and to better himself as a person because he wanted to deserve Haley.

"No. Not yet." I said. " I can help you."

I stared into Dylan's eyes and asked, "Do you trust me?"

"I...I don't." Dylan replied. "But...I'll gamble on you."

Maybe because his intelligence was like the small animals that were attracted by my afterlife aura, Dylan easily let his life fall into my hands. If I wanted to, I could break his life into pieces and make his life a misery.

But I wouldn't do that. I knew better than anyone how it felt to be so lost, you just wander around in the streets to look for a purpose in life.

"Okay. Tonight there will be an event on my dad's ship but they lack the crew. Do you want to work part time tonight? You might get harassed by some old ladies, but the pay is good. 300 dollars for a night."

"Really?" Dylan widened his eyes in surprise as he heard the pay.

"Yeah. If you're lucky, you could also bag a few of those cougars tonight." I teased.

"What's a cougar?" Dylan asked.

I paused for a bit, and then I replied, "Never mind. It's better if you don't know. Starting next month, I will produce a music video and a new song for Youtube. You're going to be the main singer and be inside the music video. It's a parody song so don't expect much."

Dylan lunged towards me,grabbed my shoulder and started to shake me front and back, "Really?"

"Yes. Please release me...and wipe your hand. This... is a new shirt." I said helplessly and I saw his ketchup filled hand had slathered onto my shirt.

"Sorry." Dylan apologized sincerely and I let the matter go. I gave him the number of the crew, and one of them would pick him up before they went out to the open seas tonight.

As Dylan and I finished our talk, we bumped with Mrs Henderson as we walked out of the restaurant.

"Hello Mrs." I greeted. Dylan also greeted the teacher politely as he knew she was teaching in the middle school.

Mrs Henderson has a rare, bright smile on her face, "Mr. Newgate, how's your face?" She asked with a kind tone.

"Are you waiting for someone here? Why are you smiling like an angel?" I asked.

Mrs Henderson flinched, and replied, "No. I wasn't waiting for anyone. I was just getting some lunch."

"Oh. Try their number 45. It's very good." I said and waved goodbye at the teacher before bringing Dylan to my house. I repaired his bicycle chain easily, earning me a hug from the 18 years old kid.

He hugged me for 5 seconds and didn't seem like he was going to let go anytime soon, so I said, "Okay. now. Get off me."

A/N: I'll open a patreon for this story on Thursday for 10 advanced Chapte