This is Grant's POV of the second chapter in Airplanes. He doesn't know yet that Cora isn't his mom so in this chapter, his mom is Cora.

Spruceworth Bonus Chapter: The First Encounter

~Grant: 16~

       I was about to walk out of my house so I could head to the school for the first day but my mom stopped me. "Blade, we need to talk," she said sternly.

       "Right now?" I asked. "Because I have to get to school. And I really hate that name."

       "I don't care if you hate it or not," Mom said. "And I don't care if you have to go to school. We need to talk now."

       Part of me was just tempted to leave anyway so I didn't have to deal with Mom yelling at me for whatever reason but I was already used to her yelling at me. Might as well get it done and over with.

       Even though it would probably only bring my mood down for the first day of school, which definitely wasn't something I needed right now.

       "Can't it wait until after school?" I asked. "I'm going to be late if I don't leave soon."

       "Then that's your problem for not waking up earlier," Mom said. "And I wonder why that is. It certainly couldn't be because you were doing drugs last night even because if I remember clearly, you were supposed to be clean."

       I hesitated before sighing deeply. "How'd you find out?"

       "Well, for starters, it wasn't the best idea to do it at home where you can leave the evidence behind," Mom said, as if what I did was some sort of crime.

       Which it technically was since it was illegal here but that she made it seem like it was a dangerous crime where I harmed someone or something.

       I still didn't get how my mom found out I took some cocaine last night when I did it in my room and I stayed in my room the whole time.

       Then it hit me.

       "You went through my room?!" I asked.

       "Don't give me that tone," Mom said.

       "It's my room," I said. "What about my privacy?"

       "You don't get privacy after everything you've done the past couple months," Mom said. "And it's not like you pay rent or anything. I'm the one paying for this house. I get to go wherever I want in this house. And clearly, I have to search through your room to make sure you're not getting up to anything horrible. Again."

       "It was just a one off," I said. "I was stressed about school starting and I already called Shaw when I came off my high. I'm going to his house after school."

       "Might as well start making regular meetings because you know what? I don't believe it was a one off. I should have known you were going to get back on drugs again. You are exactly like your dad. You don't know when to quit."

       I hated when Mom brought up Dad. I absolutely hated it. He died almost a year ago and I was still trying to get over his death but it was quite difficult because every time Mom brought him up, it was in a spiteful way. She never talked about him lovingly or reminisced about the good times.

       It was always the bad times.

       Always.

       "That's not fair," I said. "He had a chronic disease. Alcoholism is a disease and it was not his fault he passed away because of it. You know he was getting help. And I'm really not back on drugs again. It was just a one off."

       "All I'm hearing is a bunch of excuses," Mom said. "And how do you know for sure if it was? For all you know, you could end up craving it again tonight."

       "Which is why I'm going to Shaw's after school," I said. "He knows how to help. After all, he's the only one that did." 

       I couldn't handle this anymore so I walked out of the house, slamming the door behind me despite knowing well enough that it was only going to make my mom a lot more mad at me. I didn't even care anymore. Besides, I was probably going to just stay at Shaw's house all day so I didn't have to deal with my mom for the rest of the day.

       Unfortunately, I was know in a very bad mood when I got to school. I mean, I was always in a bad mood at school because I hated being around people ever since I lost my dad. I never wanted to get close to anyone because I didn't think I could handle losing anyone like that again.

       But now, I was in an even worse mood and I knew I was probably going to end up taking it out on someone.

       Which I did.

       At lunch, I headed towards the front doors so I could go to the diner for lunch and get away from everyone, since Destiny let me stay in the staff room at times.

       Someone I hadn't seen in the school before was looking around, not paying attention to where he was walking so because I was in a bad mood and didn't feel like moving out of the way, I bumped into him before saying, "Watch where you're going."

       Everyone in this school normally steered clear from me when I snapped at them, quickly apologizing before walking away.

       This guy didn't.

       "It's a two way street," he said. "You should have watched where you were going."

       I glared at him, not wanting to admit that he was right. Well, sort of. I was watching where I was going. I just didn't care.

       "Oh, I get it," I said. "You're new here. That makes a lot of sense."

       "Of why you haven't seen me before?" he asked. "Of course it does."

       He really wasn't afraid to talk back at me, like everyone else was.

       And honestly, it was annoying me a bit because I just wanted everyone to leave me alone.

       "No, of why you're talking back to me," I said, hoping I would be able to get him to leave me alone. "Once you get to know how the school works, then you'll know that it's best not to get in my way."

       The guy snorted. "Thank you, kind sir, for informing me that I shouldn't get in way you. I very much appreciate the advice. Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm."

       "I'm serious."

       "And I don't care."

       He turned around to walk away and although I should have just left him alone, I didn't. I grabbed his arm to stop him and that was a big mistake.

       This guy, like me, didn't like to get bossed around. He yanked his arm out of my grasp and pushed me up against the nearby lockers, his fists gripping the collar of my sweater.

       "You listen and listen good," he said. "I don't care who you think you are. I don't care if you're popular or whatever. You don't get to tell me what to do and you definitely don't grab me like that again. Because if you do, trust me, you'll regret it. Got it?"

       I knew I should continue being mad at him for holding me up against the lockers but...

       I wasn't.

       Well, I was but I also think I just fell in love just then and there.

       Don't ask why because I didn't even know.

       A voice suddenly said, "Ollie!" before Mr. Asher pulled the guy away from me. "What are you doing?!"

       "Just making sure he knows not to try and push me around just because I'm the new student," this Ollie said.

       "Violence isn't the answer, though," Mr. Asher said.

       "Oh, don't be dramatic, I didn't even touch him," Ollie said.

       Was he serious?

       Like really serious?

       "You were holding me up against the locker," I said.

       "Yeah? And you're lucky that's the only thing I did."

       Mr. Asher sighed and looked at me. "Just get out of here, Grant. But no more picking on any new kids unless you want a week's worth of detention."

       I just glared at Ollie before I walked off as I straightened my sweater. Now I wasn't even in the mood to leave the school to go to the diner.

       That Ollie guy ended up being in my third period class where Mr. Asher was the teacher and I was no ashamed to admit that almost the whole class, I was just staring at Ollie.

       Why was I so attracted to someone who pushed me up against the locker?

       When school ended, I made my way to Shaw's house. Shortly after I knocked on the door, Shaw answered it and let me inside the house. "Hey, are you doing okay?" he asked as he led me to the living room where we sat down on the couch.

       "Yeah, but no," I said. "My mom found out. She decided to search through my room when I got out of bed and found something I used. Probably the baggie since there was still a tiny bit left in there."

       "How did she take it?" Shaw asked.

       "You know, the same as usual," I said. "Compared me to my dad. Basically said I'm always going to be addicted to drugs. Would it be okay if I just spent the day here? And possibly the night? I don't know if the cravings are going to come back or not so... It will probably be best if I stay with someone who will actually help."

       "Yeah, of course you can," Shaw said. "You know you're always welcomed here. So how was your first day of school?"

       "Oh, just great," I said sarcastically. "My mom got mad at me right before I had to leave so I was in a bad mood. And I kind of... Took it out on someone."

       Shaw sighed. "Grant, what did you do?"

       "Nothing too bad," I said. "If anything, I'm the victim here. He didn't like my attitude so he pushed me up against the locker and threatened to kill me."

       "Did he actually?" 

       "Yes. Okay, well, his exact words weren't about killing me but he really did pushed me up against the locker. And..."

       "And...?" Shaw asked.

       "Uh..." I hesitated, rubbing the back of the neck. "Is it weird to say that I fell in love with him right then?"

       Shaw snorted. "Did you actually?"

       "Maybe?" I asked. Shaw raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. He was just so... dreamy. Even his name is dream. Ollie. What a dreamer name."

       Shaw chuckled. "You're hopeless. And to be honest, it might not be best to pursue him or anything considering he, you know, pushed you up against the locker."

       "Don't ruin it for me. And don't worry, I won't. I'll just admire him from afar. He'll probably just end up hating me his whole life."

___________________

yes, he'll hate you so much that he'll propose to you during prom night 😔

so i'm having a major writer's block for all my books (bonus content doesn't count because they don't progress a story in any way so i don't have to worry about what can come net) and idk how long it will last so i'm going to be writing bonus chapters to help me get back into the groove. if you have any suggestions about what you would like to see from which characters, i'd love to hear them

also omg this was so weird to write after everything that has happened in airplanes, fly away, and outer space. like grant and ollie didn't know right then that they were going to end up married to each other.

i didn't even know that when i first wrote that scene omg. ollie was going to end up with hennessy but then i was re-reading that chapter to read the comments and i was like "okay these two boys need to fall in love" and i'm so glad that happened because i love them. jerlan who?

lol jk jk jerlan is still #1 after, what, three years? two and a half? idk when i first decided they were number one.