Chapter 2 - The decline

It had been several days now and not much had changed, Maddy was still hanging around klyde, being her cheerful and energetic self, it was Friday, which meant they had an assembly first up. It was boring as usual, though nice for klyde who finally had some company. "This is so boring." She whispered, "is this what it's like every Friday?" He nods. "dang, this sucks."

After the assembly the day went by as usual. At the end of the day Maddy gave klyde a ride home again, she talked and laughed and swayed, she was really enjoying herself, and klyde was starting to enjoy it as well.

That night klyde's phone buzzed, 'bzzt bzzzt'. He picked it up to find a message from a number he didn't know. He opened it. "Hi Klyde! It's me Maddy, thought it'd be nice for us to be in contact over the weekend." "How did you get my number?" He replied. "My mom helped with that one, she's good at finding that sort of stuff." "I see." "Anyway what you up to?" "Sitting in my room." "Doing anything particularly? Like idk, reading?" "No." "Oh ok, fair enough. Any plans for the weekend?" "Not really." "That sucks." "I'm used to it." "I'll ask if you can come over some time." "You don't have to do that." "It's all good, I want to." "Alright." "Well,I'm off to bed now so, goodnight Klyde, hope you have a good sleep!" "Goodnight, you too." And then there was silence, he sat there pondering, he wasn't sure what to make of this girl, she was so different from everyone he'd known, he was still deciding whether he like this, different, or if it was too much for him.

Maddy was silent for the rest of the weekend, Klyde felt it was a bit odd, but wasn't concerned. "She's probably busy or just forgot about me." But he was very wrong. Monday came and started as usual, but then Maddy arrived, but there was something off about her, her glow was gone, she was no longer cheerful and full of energy, she seemed sad, depressed and hurt. Now Klyde was concerned. She walked up to him and looked into his eyes, her face slowly turning to a smile, though it seemed somewhat forced. He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled out his phone which had a message typed up "are you alright?" "I'm fine. Thanks for your concern though." "She looked as if that wasn't what she wanted to say, but had no choice, he decided not to bug her about it and they went about their day, her mood slowly improved, but not by much.

Afternoon came but she didn't offer a ride this time, which he found odd, but didn't really mind. 'bzzzt bzzzt', it was his phone, he picked it up and found a message, "hey.." "hey." "sorry about today, ig I just didn't sleep well last night." "I see" "what're you up to?" "Painting." "wait you paint?!" "oh uh, yeah, never really told anyone before tho" "dang that's so cool! Can I see your art?" "idk if you'd want to, some of its kinda... dark" "oh I don't mind" "alright..." he sent a photo of one of his art pieces. "Holy cow- That's incredible!" "you really think so?" "ofc, you have a gift for art Klyde, what else you got?" He sent more photos and she continued to admire and compliment each piece. "do you have any other talents?" "yeah" "what else can you do?" "I can bake" "a guy that can bake? Wow that's so cool! I've never met a guy that bakes" "really? I would've thought you'd met hundreds concidering your huge fame" "Nahh, most of the guys I ended up meeting were either pervs or just straight up weirdos." "Fair enough I suppose." "You know what I just noticed? You're alot more open when texting." "oh, I am too." "Not complaining tho, I like it." he sent an embarrassed emote which she replied to with a laughing face. Then they said their good night's and went to bed.

Next morning klyde got up for school as usual, but felt a little different. For once he looked forward to the day ahead. He went through his normal morning routine and began his walk to school. He arrived as Maddy was climbing out of the slick black Lamborghini she'd been brought to school in. She saw him instantly and smiled, he nodded back in response along with a welcoming wave of greeting. "Hiii klyyyde! How was your night?" "It was, alright." "That's good to hear." "How about you?" "Mine was ok, kinda lonely though, my parents had a last minute business thing." "Dang."

"He's actually talking?!" one person whispered from nearby. "Holy- that's nuts! She opened him like a container!" "Really, a container? More like a book, he never talks to anyone, especially girls."

"Well, there goes my idea of avoiding attention..." klyde thought to himself. "Hey Klyde? Why are people staring at us?" he leaned up to her ear and whispered, "they're surprised, because they've never seen me talk to anyone, ever." "Really? Wow. So are they shocked that I got you to talk? Or just the fact that you're talking to me?" "Both." "Oh wow, okay um. Well this is embarrassing." "Yeah, let's just head to class..."

The day went by as normal until lunch came, they sat down to eat and Maddy suddenly peaked up as if she remembered something. "Oh! By the way, would you like to come over this afternoon? My mum said it was okay so if you're keen." "Uh, sure. Guess it couldn't hurt." "Yay!"

Oh great, klyde thought, more attention. "He's going to her house?! Is he insane?!!" "I know right! She's a celebrity while he's just some sad average kid from the lower suburbs." "Well she seems to have a thing for him so let's just see how this turns out."

'Thing'... Klyde wondered what they meant, then it hit him, like a bat to the face. She has a crush on him, he didn't know what to do with this new-found knowledge. He just pretended he knew nothing, hoping these feelings she had for him would pass, as to avoid harm.

That afternoon, they got into the fancy black car, and drove off to what klyde was referring to in his head as 'new territory', he'd never been to a girls house, or anyone's for that matter.

The closer they got the more rich and fancy the houses were, until they finally pulled up to her home, a giant, 4 story modern mansion with a massive yard, multiple vehicles parked out front, most of them coloured black, but one stuck out from the rest, a slick black and red 1980s ford mustang. Maddy lead him to the door, the closer they got the more excited she became. She didn't bother knocking, she just shoved the door open and led him inside, klyde looked around in amazement at the massive interior, he didn't look surprised, but he was. As they took their shoes off a woman came down the stairs, she introduced herself formally as Maddy's mother, "Hello Klyde, I'm mrs Verdensel, but you can call me Ellis, it's short for Elizabeth." "Nice to meet you." "The pleasure is mine, Maddy has told me alot about you." "That's.. Unexpected." She laughed, "Well I leave you two to have your fun, but no dodgy business." "Mooom!" "I'm just messing with you dear, I know you're just friends." She then left, leaving the two of us, and a maid, in the entryway. "Yeahhh, so that's my mum, hope she didn't weird you out or anything, that's my favourite maid, her names Rebecca." "I see." and that guy watching from the other room, that's Mt bodyguard, he can be a bit creepy sometimes but he's nice. Anyway, I'll give you the grand tour of my humble, yet intimidating, abode." He gave a quiet chuckle, luckily she didn't hear it. And so the tour began.

"... And our final destination, my room. Come on I'll show you my view." He halted for a moment, then followed her into the bedroom. It wasn't quite what he'd expected, it mostly tidy, though some parts were a mess, liker her desk covered in books and pencils. There was a bookshelf on one wall, a door to the ensuite, a walk in wardrobe and a large bed with sidetables, the room was nicely coloured, lots of space. "Sorry about the mess." she laughed awkwardly. "I wasn't actually expecting you to say yes to coming over today, not that I mind, I'm glad you said yes." He shrugged in a way that said 'I don't mind' then went over to the large window and look out at the view. House after house, all big and fancy, but also some parts of flush green trees and a flower field sat on the far left, only just visible from the window. "Yeah, not the greatest view." "It isn't bad, could use less houses." She broke into laughter and he gave a slight smile, though made sure she couldn't see it. "Anyway, you want anything? A snack? Drink?" "I'm alright thanks." "Alright, uh, what do we do now? I'm not used to having a guest like this." She gave an awkward laugh. "You have movies or anything?" "Oh! Yes of course! We have a huuuge collection. What genre you thinkin'?" "Uh, maybe something adventurous? Like I dunno, marvel? DC?" "Superheroes?" "Yeah, I guess." "Hmm, you wanna start in chronological order?" "Sure, don't see why not." "Yay, let's go watch Capitan Americano." "Did you just say it in Spanish.?" "Yeah, sorry just excited." "It's all good, I don't mind." They stood awkwardly for a moment then went off to the living room and started the movie. After a while Klyde was dropped home.