No More Wasting Time

Chapter 3

Diego's POV:

Life has been. . . life has been life. These past two months made me feel many different types of emotions. It took a while to convince Daniel and my mom to let Caden stay but eventually, they gave in. At first Daniel thought I wanted him to stay so that Caden wouldn't hate me or something but when I explained my thoughts and feelings, he was understanding. I think the best thing that has happened in the last two months is Daniel and my mother not letting the situation get between them and instead, they finally gave a date for when they would get married. 

Max and Charlie have been really supportive and Max is scared to leave me alone. I think he believes I'll have a whole breakdown if he isn't near. Truth is, I didn't want to cry. People through social media reached out to me and told me their stories of coming out. I was blessed in a way. My family supported me and I still had some friends. Some people lost everything and some people were outed in worst ways than I was. It made me feel bad that I was being such a crybaby about it. When I told Max he insisted that I had the right to be upset and Charlie threatened my life and demanded I still be upset. 

I was successful in avoiding Victor. There were times where he'd try to talk to me but Max was there to tell him off. Needless to say, I never truly have talked to him since that day. Caden is a different story. The reason I am tolerating him and even saying at least hi is because I saw change in him. Victor, he went right back to that friend group and is still their popular king. Some students still believe the false messages and go up to him and ask if he was okay after what happened. One of those students happen to be my ex-friend, Sara. Sara has made her feelings pretty clear and she continued to during the two months until Max found out and actually went up to her during school to tell her to stop. She blamed me for that too.

"Oh! There's Charlie! I'll be right back guys. Go on ahead to class, I'll meet you there," Max said and ran off. 

I looked up at Hector and he looked down at me with a kind and warm smile. Hector has been the sweetest to me during these last two months. Yeah, Max and Charlie were sweet too but they were more protective. Hector was there for me emotionally and because emotions are so strong, one night during a sleepover with Max, Charlie, and him, we almost kissed. It's been weird since and we are barely left alone. Max and Charlie don't know because they were distracted with the movie and they were sitting in front of us. It was still pretty fresh and by fresh I mean it happened just last weekend.

"You okay?"

I only nodded my head and followed after him. His feelings were clear as day for me. I just thought it was too soon and while I knew he would never do what Victor did to me, I was still insecure and nervous. Plus, I didn't want him to feel like a rebound. I needed to figure out and fix myself first before jumping into anything.

"Max told me that Caden said something about the lake? What was that about?"

"I honestly don't know. We bumped into him and before we could leave he told us that the lake would be ours for the weekend."

"Seems like he talked to his old group of friends if you ask me," Hector said and gave me a look as if to ask if something was changing between Caden and I. "Think you could forgive him any time soon?"

Caden was proving himself that he changed each day. He immediately left his old friend group and stood up for me unlike my sort-of-ex. He's been patient and truly trying. He tries to speak to me every day and ask me how my day was. To be honest, he was acting like a brother and I was getting tired of being angry at him. He has his own issues and demons to deal with and everyday I ask myself if accepting his apology will take away at least one demon.

"Maybe," I said and Hector gave another smile and opened the classroom door for me.

I thanked him and walked in with him right behind me. Class didn't start for another five minutes so the classroom was empty, except for Caden who sat in his assigned seat with his head down on the table. As a natural reaction, he looked up when he heard the door open and close but he put his head back down when he saw that it was just us. Hector nudged my shoulder, clearly hinting at what we were just talking about and I bit my lip in thought. The door opened once more and Max came in with a natural smile, ignoring Caden's presence like usual and walking to us.

"So, I got the game plan for this weekend. First we are- where are you going?" Max asked.

I was going to do it. Yes, I was still hurting and upset, but what's done is done. The only thing to do is move forward and I wanted to make up sometime before my mother's wedding anyway. I didn't want tension there on her special day. So, without another word, I walked up to Caden and sat down in the seat next to him. I saw him tense but he slowly lifted his head and looked at me, his face still showing how tense he felt.

"Uh. . . I didn't do it," he immediately said.

I heard Hector chuckle behind me but I ignored it and cleared my throat. I didn't want to seem professional but I also didn't want to seem like I was playing a joke. I wanted this to seem sincere because I actually wanted to forgive him. Plus, what better way to say thank you for helping us than to invite him? I knew he didn't have plans, he never has them anymore. 

"Caden, we are going to the lake this weekend. Would you like to come?"

I could've, and almost, laughed at his confused face. He looked as if he was afraid to speak and say the wrong thing. He kept glancing behind me at Hector and Max and I already knew Max was glaring at him, daring him to speak. I cleared my throat again to get his attention which I got almost immediately. I heard laughter come from right outside the classroom door and knew the bell was going to ring any second. While I wanted to forgive Caden, I definitely didn't want a conversation with my ex and I could already feel the panic rise within me. Call me dramatic if you want, but I'd rather avoid that situation all together.

I stood up and with the tiniest smile ever, I said, "Why don't you just think about it?"

The door opened before he responded and I quickly made my way back to my desk. I knew it was Victor and his friends from their loud laughter and one of them complimenting Victor on his joke. Yeah, right. He wasn't that funny. Then again he was probably not trying to make me actually laugh. . .

"Alright! Everyone sit down and open your books. Today is worksheet day in preparation for Tuesday's quiz. How fun!" Many kids groaned while our teacher rolled his eyes and put down a stack of papers on his desk. "Send someone from your desk to retrieve your worksheets and get started immediately. No switching seats and no phones. I see a phone and I collect it."

Max was quick to try and get up but I stood up before him. I felt good, I talked to Caden and now I felt like doing more. I was going to try and put myself out there bit by bit. Well, put myself out there as much as I was before the whole thing. I was shy before but not so shy that I never went to get materials we needed. Max was about to object but he got distracted when Caden scrapped his chair to get up as well. His table group was shocked because he never talked anymore and he certainly never stood up to get worksheets. I made my way to get the papers and was glad when Caden got behind me, blocking Victor who also stood up and looked determined to get close to me. Some students noticed and watched but I paid no attention and instead grabbed the papers and walked back to my desk. Max was staring at me in curiosity but Hector stared at me proudly and I blushed when I realized just how much I liked that.

Today was going to be a good day.