Thinking Different Thoughts

Chapter 5

I walked with Tyler back to the dorm. He looked a little scared by this, but lightened up to the idea after a while. 

"Josh?" Tyler asked as we sat in the room, each of us on our phones. 

"Hmm?" 

"Some friends of mine are going into town later, if you wanna come you can." He said. 

"Who all's going?" I asked. 

"Jack, Jenna, Frank, Gerard, and Austin." He said. "Maybe Hayley, the one with the orange hair from the other night." He answered. 

I shrugged even though he couldn't see me. "I guess. But only 'cause Austin's going." I said. It wasn't because of Austin, really. I was bored and I for some reason wanted to spend time with Tyler. I didn't understand why, but oh well. 

It was only ten minutes before Tyler got up and slipped a hoodie on. It was a white basketball hoodie and honestly it looked really good on him. 

"Ready?" He asked, a small smile on his face. I nodded. 

"You played basketball?" I asked cooly as we walked down the hallway. He nodded. 

"Yeah," his voice cracked and his cheeks got hot. No one was waiting outside. I guess we were supposed to meet them by the woods that were close to the school. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to go into the woods instead. 

"I did all through when I should have been in school."

"What does that mean?" 

It was a cool evening and I wished I had brought a jacket of my own, now. We were walking lazily towards the wooded area. I couldn't see anyone yet, but I hadn't been told much about their plan. 

"I was homeschooled through middle school. I've been here since freshman year." 

"Oh." I said back, stuffing my hands into my pockets and looked at my feet. 

We didn't really have a real conversation, just one of us saying something and the other laughing a little to show we heard them and were still paying attention. First we saw the dude with white hair and the short guy with black hair and a half-shaved head dyed red. Then a girl who I saw when Ronnie yelled at Tyler. She and a really tall guy with a blonde chunk in his small mowhawk of dark brown hair gave me hateful looks. 

I looked down and hoped I wouldn't get asked about the black eye. I didn't want to tell Tyler I had fought for him. It was stupid and would mean that I cared. 

"Hayley isn't coming and neither is Austin. Ready to go?" Blond-Blue hair asked with a smile. The tall, skunk dude nodded and Tyler looked at me before agreeing. The emo dude with white hair had his arm around the short guy and both were smiling. 

I walked next to Tyler and the tall guy next to Tyler. The blond girl was standing next to me. The other two people stood behind us, laughing and joking in their own ways. 

"I'm Jenna, by the way." The girl said. "That's Jack." Was she lightening up to me? I saw both of them looking really angry when Ronnie yelled at Tyler. 

"Josh," I said. I assumed they knew my name already, but I thought it was polite to tell them my name anyways. 

"I know," she said with a sigh. 

Tyler walked close to me even though the sidewalks were big enough for five people to walk comfortably. 

We ended up walking around town, talking and making jokes for a bit, before everyone slowly bailed. Soon, it was just Jack, Tyler and I. Jack seemed really relaxed and calm with me. He would occasionally look down at me a little like he wasn't sure about me or something. Tyler smiled the entire time. 

We headed back and the entire time I felt really happy. I smiled a little, and I didn't know why. 

"It's Friday, I'm gonna go and stay with Patrick and Pete in Patrick's room tonight," Tyler said. 

I didn't look away from my computer as he said this, I merely shrugged. 

"Do you care?" He asked as he stood by the closed door. 

"No." I said. 

He looked sad by this. "Oh, okay. I'll be back tomorrow." He said. 

I nodded, still not looking away. I wanted to continue my marathon of X-Files, and Tyler talking to me was interrupting me. 

"Bye." He said hopefully before leaving the room. 

"Why am I being so cold all of a sudden?" I asked myself. "He was being nice to me and even let me go with him and his friends to town for a while. I don't need to be an ass to him." I said. 

"I'll try and be nicer." I said, sort of trying to make a promise to myself.