I'm not a popular girl | ✔️

Twenty-Three - Happily Never After

Zoë

"Is someone going through an attention withdrawal?" Amber teased at lunch as she slid into the seat across from Zoë where her anxiety was slowly climbing.

Zoë put a hand to her bouncing leg, ignoring Amber's snarky comment, and glanced longingly over at the table when the jocks sat. Cam was there laughing with Derek and Aaron but there was an empty seat next to him.

She turned her gaze to meet Amber's. "Okay, I'm officially worried."

"About?" Dean asked as he slid into the seat across from her, eyes flashing with confusion.

He'd officially started to get the drift that her and Carden were a thing. She didn't need to be in a love triangle and he'd agreed to just be her friend for the time being.

"She's suffering from withdrawal," Cal explained with a smirk. "Car isn't here for lunch and she's freaking out. It's pretty pathetic."

Andrew and Dean laughed as Zoë shot Cal a death glare. "Um, excuse me?! It is not pathetic that I want to know where my boyfriend is! Something could be wrong! He never skips school!"

Amber raised an eyebrow. "You seem to forget that he's a football player. He can skip school whenever he wants and nobody bats an eye. Plus wasn't he in your first hour? He's probably out at lunch with his parents or something." She paused to brush back a strand of hair. "Stop worrying, Zo. He's fine."

"But what if he's not?"

"He is," Andrew promised with a smile. "I swear."

She glanced around the room. "But Cora isn't here either."

Amber rolled her eyes as she bit into a slice of pineapple. "Would you stop worrying about her? I'm pretty sure everything's fine. Remember, she's your friend."

"But she also asked how I got him to fall for me!"

"She's a bit paranoid," Andrew whispered to Dean, who held back a laugh.

"No I am not!" She rolled her eyes and rested her chin in her palm. "You guys are the worst."

"Oh but you know you like us." He high fived Amber. "And you're never gonna get rid of us."

"Well, you can throw Dean overboard." Dean gawked at Amber. "I'm sticking around for the rest of your life. No way you're getting rid of me. Dean, well, he's dead weight."

"Amber!"

Zoë tuned out of their playful arguing and sighed, turning her gaze back to the table far across the room where most of the noise was coming from. She caught Chloe giving the table the same longing look and when their gazes passed over each other, Chloe tipped her head toward the track above the commons or, better known as, the make shift cafeteria.

She nodded and slipped away from her friends, quickly running up the stairs to where Chloe was tapping her light blue flats against the track

"Umm...hey."

Chloe puffed out a loud sigh. "Where is he?"

That took Zoë by surprise. She twisted her fingers gently, silently hoping that Chloe was messing with her. "You...don't know where he is?"

"Do I look like I know?! You are his," her face contorted into a look of disgust, green eyes scrunching together, "girlfriend. You should know these types of things. If I was-"

"Okay, note taken." Zoë glanced down at the tables as if Carden would miraculously appear with that adorable smirk. "So what do we do now?"

Chloe tapped her fingers restlessly against the banister. "Not sure." She gave Zoë a side eye. "I got an idea but I don't think you'll like it."