Outside (Annie)

[Kelvin Westfield]

Kelvin sat in the lobby, with a notepad and a pen, and his usual pair of headphones covering each ear. The music in his ears were instrumentals he had done at the studio, and then he tried writing words for them, he always succeeded, in this certain song though.. He was lost, he made a bunch of Piano instrumentals but he was so lost, he didn't even feel like himself. Kelvin sighed, as some of the sadness in the song reminded him from his childhood. The bullying and living situations he had lived in. Not a lot of people actually understood how serious his past had been, and you could never tell by the funny and goofy guy he was now, there was really only a few people that had witnessed him being bullied, and how he would have to sleep with a screwdriver under his pillow because his cousin owed people some money. And his cousin took his anger out on the only other boy in the house, Kelvin. Kelvin's dad was almost never around because he worked day and night trying to keep their house. Kelvin had told a few people about his past, and if you listened to a song you could get glimpses of it too.

There was one girl who witnessed and went through the same things Kelvin had gone through with him. She didn't have to though, but for some reason she wanted to. Annie.. Kelvin remembered her, one of Kelvins greatest friends. She never left Kelvin's side, and Kelvin appreciated that. Some nights when they were younger, and it even took to their early teenage years, they would both sneak out of the house and sleep in a tree house they had built with Kelvin's uncle, before he died. Kelvin hadn't seen her since the last time he visited the town they came from, which had been three years exactly, the singer did mean to keep in touch to his friends, but with acting, singing, and other things, he is always busy, but Annie had been Kelvin's oldest and best friend ever, he didn't wanna keep contact from her so much, especially three freaking years. That had been by far the longest they had ever been apart.

Then Kelvin remembered something Annie used to hum in the Tree House. Annie was talented but she was shy. He started to sing to himself. "There's a world we can visit if we go outside, outside, outside, we can follow the road. There's a world we can visit if we go outside, outside, outside, no one knows." Kelvin sang while singing it, he had found a perfect sport for the chorus, and it went perfect with the beat.

[Deleted]

Annie had only come to Los Angeles recently. She had been told that she could have a promising career of costume making out there since they needed staff and since she was talented, they found a way to send her out there, and since she was someone with a high scholarship well, it was easy for her to actually get there. She got into a college to study in sciences and now worked part time into costume making and also still did her youtube channel where she would cover a few songs on the piano. She always loved doing that and she was glad she was able to at least, drag her keyboard but of course, her dream was to actually have a real piano for herself in her apartment. Costume making in Palm Woods wasn’t her only goal though; she knew that her friend, Kelvin was in this building, somewhere. Thing was, she never had the guts to ask anyone about him and where he was or to ask to the one in charge of the building. They’d think she was just a fan girl who wanted information from him and she knew pretty well that she was more than that.

Besides, she had changed due to a new found passion for dancing, she became slim in no time and she had a better diet as well. A lot of people told her that she blossomed into a pretty lady but she doubted it. She had always been called ugly and made fun of mostly because of her intelligence and the fact she was so shy…and unpretty. Shaking her head, the girl made her way to the lobby as she had in mind to start getting herself some furniture for College, which she was excited to start.

She walked out of her apartment, locked it and made her way down to the lobby. She was about to head to the door while she stopped as she heard the voice she could recognize into a crowd. Was it possibly him? Would he even recognize her after they hadn’t been able to see each other for so long? She stopped her track and looked at where she heard the singing voice and saw him, Kelvin sitting in the lobby and looking busy into the process of song writing. She paused, wondering about if she should even go to him and say hi. Part of her didn’t want to but since she was there…she slowly made her way to him and sat next to him. She wished she would know what to say to him but what could she tell him after not having spoken to him for years? She bit her lips…maybe she should just go shop before he’d notice her sitting there like an idiot. It’d be best for both of them.

[Kelvin Westfield]

After Kelvin thought about Annie's little hum she used to sing, Kelvin started writing words and putting them together. He remembered his life, being bullied, and the living situations he had to endure. He never actually lived in the Hood or the Ghetto, but he lived with a cousin, his aunt, and uncle who disappeared, his mother and dad who both worked lots of nights and Kelvin would barely see them. His uncle got into trouble with the criminals and they took his address books. Kelvin's mom made them sleep with screwdrivers under their pillows. It wouldn't really do anything, if the criminals had guns, what would a screwdriver do? Annie's family was a family friend, when Kelvin's family had finally found an alright house, but bullying happened at school again, he bonded with Annie over that, and then slowly he started to develop a protective relationship over her. He was the type of guy that would be like "Do anything you want to me, but touch her and so help me God." But even he couldn't do everything, and Annie was bullied, and at times there wasn't much Kelvin could do anything about it. He honestly could have avoided the bullying if he hadn't written that stupid love song for the prettiest girl in his grade, Kelly Oscar. And then she sent it to everybody and he was made fun of, along the way they found other things to make fun of him for. Now that he was famous all the people who bullied him tried to contact him and everyone talked about how they never bullied him.

But apart from his family, the other thing that kept him sane was the sweet girl named Annie, who (apart from a couple others) was one of Kelvin's greatest friends. Kelvin turned to his note pad and started to rap while he wrote.
"I used to dream every night, now I never dream at all
I'm hopin' that it's cause I'm livin' everything I want
I used to wake up in a bed between my mom and aunt
Playing with this Land Before Time toy from Pizza Hut
My dad works nights, putting on a stone face
He's saving up so we can get our own place
In the projects, man that sounds fancy to me
They called me fat nose, my mom say you handsome to me
Mrs. Westfield ma'am, your son is so advanced
But he's acting up in class and keeps peeing in his pants
And I just wanna fit in, but nobody was helping me out
They talking hood shit and I ain't know what that was about
Cause hood shit and Black shit is super different
So I'm talking hood shit and cool it now like New Edition
Mom and dad wouldn't listen
They left the Bronx so I wouldn't be that
All their friends in NY deal crack
It's weird, you think that they'd be proud of 'em
But when you leave the hood they think that you look down on 'em
The truth is we still struggle on a different plane
7 dollars an hour, WIC vouchers, it's all the same
Facebook messaging hopin' that could patch up shit
But all they get now is, "Can your son read this script?"

Then that would be followed by Annie's hum, and as he wrote it, he didn't notice the girl next to him. He took a second to look at her, she was really beautiful, but for some reason strange reason, Kelvin didn't wanna flirt with her. He looked at the girl. "Oh um. Sorry if my singing and rapping bothered you or anything. I'm Kelvin Westfield." Kelvin told the girl as he smiled at her.

[Deleted]

At this point, Annie really didn’t know what to do anymore. Could she really speak to him and moreover would he recognize her? She was about to stand up and leave the place but when she heard him sing, she remained him and listened to the lyrics. She knew what he was singing about, pretty well and it was a past she would rather forget. She bit her bottom lips out of nervousness once again as she looked away and began playing with her hair. What was up with her? Why was she scared to speak to her only friend in the past? Was it because she feared of his reaction when he would see her there or more like because she was scared he would reject her? She had been made fun of not only because of her looks but also because she skipped a grade and was with a bunch of older people. Her parents praised her for that but kids at school thought it was odd and that she should go off, playing with the kids of her year. Hopefully, people in LA wouldn’t do that to her or else, she didn’t think that she would be able to stand any of it.

When he was done however she didn’t expect him to actually notice her and she froze when he looked at her, her hands clenching onto the fabric of her current skirt. She held her breath, expecting him to say anything or to recognize her, at least a little but when he spoke, she knew that he didn’t. She was a bit disappointed but in a way, she couldn’t blame him considering the fact that she did change (but she refused to think that it was to blossom into a pretty flower as she was always used to be the only flower people didn’t bother looking at because she looked so plain).

Shaking her head, she gave a small smile to the boy. “It didn’t bother me at all.” She said, wanting to reassure him, she looked away as she still played with the tissue she was holding in a nervous manner. “I’m Annie Ashter.” She said, a light shade of pink appeared onto her cheeks once she was done speaking and she gave him a small smile, wondering about if he would actually recognize her or not.

[Kelvin Westfield]

Kelvin looked at the girl, something about her looked different. It looked like one of the few times Annie had bothered to try and look beautiful, even though Kelvin had though she had never actually needed to try looking beautiful, she was just the way she was. Really one of the only reasons he had never actually tried to make a move on Annie because Kelvin was never sure how he would be as a boyfriend, because he had been one, but being her friend was something Kelvin knew he could be. And apart from that Kelvin was afraid of romanticness after the song incident. But anyway, the girl looked like a no glasses, no braces, better dressed and a bit slimmed down version of Annie, but even before that she looked beautiful. Kelvin smiled at the girl in front of him. Apparently she didn't seem to mind Kelvin's rapping and singing, he looked at his watch, he had finished the song already as he wrote another new verse, he put away his notepad in a backpack. He sighed nad then turned to the girl looking at him.

There was a reason Kelvin didn't wanna flirt with her, and once he had heard the girls name he turned back to his backpack. "Oh, nice name. I have a friend named-" and then he turned back to her, "WAAAAIIIIITTTT!" Kelvin's eyes widened and he turned to the girl. Annie. "Woah... You just wrinkled my brain." Kelvin said trying to process it. Annie, the girl whom he kind of shared his childhood with. It seemed from that, a piece of his life was repaired. He looked at the girl, and he quickly placed his arms around Annie holding her tight, "Oh damn. When did you get here?!" He asked, holding her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

[Deleted]

Annie couldn’t hide the fact that she was a bit awkward here being next to Kelvin while he didn’t even recognize her. It was true that she didn’t tell him that she went to Palm Woods…actually, she feared of what he would say if he knew so. Of course, they had been best friends since childhood but still, there she was, still hesitating over it. Maybe she had been a burden to him, seeing the countless times he had to prevent others from bullying her. Maybe he decided that it was best if he forgot of her completely so he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore. She never thought she was good enough for him seeing that he obviously didn’t like girls like her; he had never written her a song after all because yes, at first, she thought the love song he had written was for her. She had been an idiot thinking it was though and ever since, she kept her feelings for him shut, deep down, where no one would know about these.

She smiled a bit when he complimented her name until he finally put two plus two together and seemed to realize that she was the Annie from his childhood. Her heart was beating faster as she watch him actually understanding that she was indeed the Annie he was speaking about and blushed looking away a bit. She was happy he recognized her and that he seemed to have missed her. She still smiled softly at Kelvin and let out a small giggle as she obviously messed up with his brain.

She hugged him back slightly and smiled as he questioned her. “Only a few days ago, I’m a costume designer here, for actors, it’s going to be fun.” She smiled a little. She would have preferred playing the piano but she also loved making costumes so she was fine with it and besides, she was popular on youtube for her piano skills so she didn’t have to worry about that. She’d rather work behind the scenes than being in the spotlight.

[Kelvin Westfield]

Kelvin couldn't believe he was seeing Annie again, and with him not visiting the town they lived in. The singer looked at how much his friend had changed, well they both had. Kelvin sighed, he was happy, but he also felt like a total jerk. Who did not recognized one of the only friends he had as a kid? The singer/rapper hated feeling like a shallow jock, whom he had been bullied by. He looked over at Annie's sweet doe eyes, she could make anyone feel like a really bad person if she looked disappointed, it hurt a person to disappoint her. He smiled but also frowned thinking about good times and bad times. About how he had been one of the three people that had stood up for Annie, Kelvin had done it the most though. He had never seen Annie as a burden, because kids were just evil. He wished he had someone like that when he was being messed around with, but at least he had Annie and a few other friends, Annie being the most important. He finally let her go.

"Damn.. Costume designing? I know you're good.. But come on, Annie... You're a natural singer and actor, you're probably better than me." Kelvin said, and he meant that in the most sincere way possible. Yeah, he got it, Annie was shy. But then again, she was so talented, and now... She could even be a model. But Kelvin had no influence over her life... Or did he? Kelvin shook the thought off his head. He looked back at his backpack, before Annie had come, Kelvin had actually been thinking about it, and had been writing a little dabble for her, but he didn't want her to see it. The tall boy looked at his friend and stood up from the couch and held out a hand for her to stand up. "How are you?" He asked.

[Deleted]

Annie was still a bit shy to be around Kelvin again. She knew that his past was haunting him somehow; he was writing about it and she understood pretty well where the lyrics came from would he feel bad when he would see her again? She didn’t want to see that happening. The shy girl gave him a small smile. She was still happy to see him though, to see that she still had some hope with her crush even though he probably never knew and had another girl in mind. She wasn’t black, or she wasn’t gorgeous either. How could she think that she actually stood a chance to win his heart? She didn’t believe so, at all.

She smiled when he questioned her about her job but quickly shook her head as he spoke of singing and acting. Oh no, no no no no no. Her? Singing? It was the last thing she saw herself doing and acting? Even less! She was the most terrible actress the world could have seen! She would be as red as a tomato and faint when it would be the time for her to act. She became nervous in front of people and that was due to bullying, she even had a panic attack once during a presentation in front of a large crowd.

“I really prefer designing costumes.” She said with a small smile hoping he would believe her, either that or playing the piano but she doubted he would even remember she could play of that instrument rather well. She looked at him as he stood up and rested her hand in his as he stood up and did the same, helping herself with his own hand. “I’ve been okay, I guess, what about you?” She said with her usual small voice.

[Kelvin Westfield]

Kelvin looked at Annie, he hadn't seen her in so much time and he felt guilty about it. Seeing her actually didn't bring back bad memories, only good memories. He had missed her so much, he just wanted to grab her and never let her go. "Wow.. You are gorgeous. I mean.. Not like you weren't but... You have grown." Kelvin tried to explain. To him at least, Annie had never been ugly, she just never embraced the prettiness she had, and at times she did but it was very rare. Her doe eyes hypnotized a person, and pale porcelain skin looked so soft and it made her seem so shy... Which she was. And then her body had also grown, Kelvin found his eyes moving slowly to look at her chest- NO! She was like a sister to him, Kelvin was NOT allowed to think that way. He tried to forget and just look at Annie's face, and no matter how cute and pretty she was, Kelvin was not allowed to think that way. No matter how perfect her body looked, no.. He was doing it again, crap. But Kelvin couldn't help himself, he wrapped his arms around the girl, and lifted her up. "I'm so happy to see my Annie." Kelvin said, regrettably using the word 'my', but it was something did with Kelvin, he kinda took possession of her and he didn't like it.

Kelvin sighed, why was he just noticing Annie romantically now? He could've done it years ago, but Annie probably didn't like him in that way. He felt like a kind of jerk for that. He let Annie go and looked at her. "You wanna go take a walk?" Kelvin asked, next to him, he stopped a Pop Magazine, that looked like him and Casey Williams kissing? What?! He hadn't ever kissed Casey. It looked like the time where he dropped his guitar pick and they had both tried to pick it up and bumped heads, but they had never bumped lips? He quickly turned Annie around, for some reason, he didn't want Annie to think he had a girlfriend.

Kelvin walked Annie just a few steps away from it. "So um.. The pool is over there, maybe we go over there maybe, and away from this lobbyish area? In which people are Lobbying. Not ready any magazines or anything." Kelvin asked. He kinda sucked at lying when he was really nervous, but other times he could lie to the best extent.

((Might aswell get that out the way there..))

[Deleted]

Annie gave a small smile to Kelvin as he complimented her. It really warmed her heart as she hadn’t heard it from many people. Sure, she knew that Kelvin had always complimented her and at some point, she figured that he might have liked her but her hopes vanished as soon as he composed that song for the prettiest girl of his grade…well, their grade since she had skipped a year. She still didn’t understand the fact of how she was bullied; she was more intelligent than them! She should have been respected right? No matter how she looked like…she shook her head slightly at the thought, promising herself not to think of the past but to look forward to the future instead. It would be much better as she didn’t want to dwell on it either. “Thanks…you’ve grown too…” okay, maybe it wasn’t the best thing to tell him but what could she say? She didn’t feel pretty still but she was indeed prettier than she had been before so it was a good step for her to take. She arched an eyebrow as he expressed his happiness to see her again. “I’m happy to see you too Kelvin…since when I became yours?” She asked shyly though a small smile still graced onto her lips. She didn’t mind that but it was still odd for her to belong to ‘someone’. Especially if that someone was Kelvin.

She nodded a bit as he proposed a walk but then look at him curiously as he looked at the stand behind him. What was up with him? She arched an eyebrow as she paid attention to him but she was still curious as to what he could have looked at but figuring it wasn’t important for now…that was, until she found Kelvin to suddenly be nervous. She knew him well, she could read him like an open book and seeing him act like that made her be a bit suspicious. “Are you hiding something from me?” She asked curiously secretly hoping it was a song for her and nothing bad. She tried to peek at where he had looked at, she saw a few magazines but she didn’t focus on who was on it. “Yeah, I guess we can go to the pool, I don’t mind.”

[Kelvin Westfield]

The dark skinned boy smiled and looked at his shorter friend. He couldn't explain his happiness looking at the girl whom he'd hadn't seen it at least two years. The song he had written for Annie was a song he had written the last time he had seen her. Like Kelvin though, Annie had never actually been ugly, she just never embraced it or kind of.. Showed it off like she did now, but even now, Annie didn't seem like she did. Kelvin really wanted to keep hugging her, and never let her go. "We'll.. I guess we've both grown too." Kelvin said, a bit nervous, one thing was the magazine that made it look like he and Casey were kissing, and the other was that he was trying to keep Annie from seeing it, but then there was that thing. Why did he want to keep it from Annie so bad? He didn't have feelings for Annie, did he? Well of course he had feelings for the Angel that stood in front of him, but were they strong. Kelvin looked at Annie, shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "Well. You know, you've always been kind of my Annie." Kelvin said, remembering when Annie couldn't come over to their house, and his mom had suggested he play with toys instead of Annie. Kelvin had complained and started crying 'I want my Annie!'

Kelvin smiled and quickly smacked a Magazine away, but it seemed like everywhere he turned there were so many Magazines. A few minutes ago he couldn't see one of these magazines, but now he needed keep Annie away from them and they were everywhere. "You know what? How about we head up to my apartment and just catch up, maybe watch a movie? I got popcorn." Kelvin said to Annie, but them he saw a more magazines, and the only way to keep Annie from looking at them. Kelvin quickly pulled Annie tight and pressed his lips against her. He was supposed to do it to keep her from looking at them, but he was enjoying actually kissing her, and didn't wanna stop. He pulled her tighter and kissed her more. But as he kissed her, a person Kelvin knew walked by and said, "Dude! First Casey Williams and now this hottie. You're awesome bro!" Kelvin looked to the person that had said that... Kelvin stopped kissing Annie. "Damn." Kelvin grumbled as he was caught, he wondered how he could get out of it. He probably couldn't. "Listen.. Annie.. That magazine... It's em... Fake." Kelvin said, trying to explain. He hoped that Annie would believe him.

[Deleted]

Annie would have normally found it normal to speak to Kelvin and wouldn’t have trouble into talking of herself or anything that happened to her while she hadn’t seen him but something was weird, something had changed in their dynamic and she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Then again, she was intelligent but emotions were a bit hard to deal with for her considering all of what she had gone through in the past. Besides, why did he act so oddly? Shouldn’t he be happy to see her again? She thought he was but he seemed more nervous than anything else and it made her suspicious about what he could hide away from her. She knew Kelvin well enough to think that if he was acting like that it was either because he was lying to her or he was hiding something from her. She was really disappointed when she figured that out and frowned a bit. She gave him a small smile but soon returned to a neutral expression as she saw him smack a magazine away. Why was he acting odd?

On top of that, why was he constantly changing of plans? Did he not want to see her? “Everything would be fine, really…” she said with a bit of hesitation in her voice. One time he wanted to go to the pool, and then, he changed of plans quickly. She was about to take another look at the magazines but Kelvin was faster than her and pulled her into a kiss. Her eyes widened in surprise; did he mean it? Did he actually have feelings for her? Her cheeks burnt into a dark shade of red as her eyes began closing and shyly returned the kiss….that was, until she heard someone talking. Casey Williams? Who was that girl? She quickly pulled away disgusted by all of this. She even forgot of the fact that the boy called her a ‘hottie’. “What is all this?” She asked angrily. Did he just make fun of her? Him? Whom she thought would never do that to her?

She went past by and saw the picture of the magazine, Kelvin was kissing another girl. This was it? She was just another girl to add to his list? She quickly grabbed the magazine and showed it to him. “Fake, really?” She asked angrily as her eyes watered up. “I thought you’d be happy to see me but apparently you can deal with life on your own, I was stupid to think you might have feelings for me.” She spat at him. “I will never accept the fact that you stole my first kiss and my feelings before stomping on them as if they were nothing, Kevin Whestfield!” She said before turning on her heels as she did not want him to see her tears and ran to the stairs so she could go back to her apartment and work on going back home instead of staying with a traitor of a friend.

[Kelvin Westfield]

This is how things would turn out for Kelvin sometimes, and he wondered why. He wondered why things could have turned out well, but ended horribly. He might have just broken Annie's, not only that, he might have unknowingly broken his own. He sighed, what had he just done. He could have just distracted her another way, but then he had taken her own kiss. Which kind off surprised Kelvin, since the girl was eighteen and one of the prettiest things in the world. "Listen Annie- Kelvin tried to explain before she decided to walk up the stairs. He ran over, clearly being faster than her. "We have an elevator you know." He said to her. This was not what he wanted to do at all. Yeah, he had kissed her, and part of the reason was because he did like- no maybe even loved the sight of Annie, the fact that her eyes were like a manipulation device, her pale skin, her nice smell. He followed her up the stairs before he stopped her. He used the sleeves on his hoodie to wipe the tears from Annie's face. "Annie, I swear to God, it's not what it looks like. Let me just explain. I will tell you nothing but the truth, because I love you, and not in just a brotherly way." Kelvin said, kinda regretting saying that because he may not make things any better.

He cleared his throat. "First, could you please stop looking at me like that? I'm not a monster, I'm still Kelvin from 10 years ago. And you are dangerous with those eyes, disappointing you feels like I'm witnessing a baby mermaid being choked with a bicycle chain." He said. It sucked when Annie was disappointed with you. "That's Casey. She's a really cool FRIEND, she's a singer and we were writing a song, my guitar pick slipped and we both went to pick it up, we bumped heads, but never kissed. The media always takes things out of context. You're smart, look closely at the photo." Kelvin said trying to explain, and walked closer towards Annie. "I would never wanna hurt you. I would never do that. You're too important to me. And yes, I have been a huge dick not visiting, and I promise to change that. But I really don't want you to leave Annie." Kelvin said. He would never try to hurt Annie, not on purpose. Kelvin's luck was weird so.

[Deleted]

To be honest, Annie didn’t even want to talk to Kelvin after that. Not even to listen to him. What else would he tell her anyways? That it wasn’t what she thought it was like? It was always that excuse that was used when they were actually cheating on the other. Not that she thought that she and Kelvin were a couple to begin with but still.. She climbed up the stairs out of frustration; she didn’t want to be stuck with other people to see her crying if she ever had to use the elevator. Alright, some people could still see her cry when doing the stairs but most people in Palm Woods were lazy and picked the elevator instead of the stairs so she figured she was fine. She just didn’t think that Kelvin would bother trying to catch her up. “I’m not lazy to the point of taking an elevator just to walk up for one floor.” She commented rather harshly to the boy whom she once considered a friend was now considered an enemy and there she thought things would go well. Looks like it wasn’t going to be the case. She reached the door that lead to the first floor, where she was living but stopped as Kelvin caught up with her. Normally hearing him telling her that he loved her would have made her happy but seeing what she had seen and considering the way he had acted, well, it just pained her heart a little more.

She had a hard time believing he was the same from ten years ago; they had both grown up and it was impossible in Annie’s head that he could still be nice to her but his words about her eyes made her feel a bit better, just a bit. Part of her wanted to give in but she was still mad that he had lied to her. Why didn’t he just tell her that at the beginning? Alright, she would still have been upset but not as much as for when she’d have to find out like the way she had right now. “You should have thought of that before lying to me.” She said as her eyes watered up again, she turned around and opened the door, wanting to get to her apartment already and digest everything that had been said.