Cherishing Cherry

Chapter 9

Josh

The bell rung, signalling we needed to head to chemistry. I stood up alongside Cherry and Karly, and slowly walked out the room with them, attempting to make conversation with both girls at once. It seemed like a lost cause though, because Karly and Cherry seemed to have nothing in common. Cherry liked photography and video games, Karly liked shopping and TV shows. Soon we took a turn and found our way at the Chemistry Lab. We opened the door to a smaller room with a low ceiling. There was a projecter and a white screen in the front of the class, and a bunch of lab tables. Each circular table had 7 seats around it. 11A was already seated, so our class crowded in and filled in the empty tall stools.

I scanned the lab for my friends, and found Tristan, Tyler (who was more of an acquaintance), and my two other close friends Ollie and Em.

"Hey, look who's bringing it the ladies! Two at once, too!" Em called with a laugh, swinging her long wavy dark brown hair around her shoulder. Em may have been the only girl in my group of friends, but she was probably better at sports then any one of us. Baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, you name it, Em can play it. Her light brown eyes were bright and wide as usual as she beckoned me, Cherry and Karly over to their table.

"Hey Josh! Who are these two sheilas?" Ollie spoke in his unmistakable Australian accent. His dark skin was covered by his red and grey sweatshirt, and grey jeans. Cherry awkwardly waved at them all, stopping to make eye contact with Tyler (who was too busy debating about Football teams with Tristan for either of them to greet us). Karly laughed and waved at them all with a dazzling smile.

Wow, I have never used the word dazzling. It's such a girly word. Dazzling. DAZZLE! Okay, okay off topic off topic.

I sat in between Tristan and Karly, while Cherry sat in between Tyler and Ollie. She watched as Kiara found a couple other girls on another table and joined them enthusiastically.

"Hey Cherry Bomb," Tyler said with a smirk putting his arm on Cherrys shoulder.

"Ty-Rex," she greeted him with a giggle, her face turning tomato red. She was so into him. That kinda sucked. Not for me or anything, but for her. Last year Tyler got together and dumped 5 girls, crushing each and every one of them. Cherry seemed nice, I didn't want her to get hurt by him. However, it was none of my business.

"Oh guys, this is Cherry Jordan, she's new. This is Karly, with a K, Hayes," I introduced them to the group. They all waved and smiled at them both, saying their names.

"So you two already have pet names for eachother I see. That was fast," said Em casually, picking at her chipped and dirty nails.

"Oh hah, I don't really know him. He just kinda saved me from falling this morning," Cherry said with a small smile, turning redder.

Tyler shrugged. "I dunno. I think we could be good friends," he said with a wink, causing everyone on the table to go 'oooooooh' and laugh. I didn't know why Tyler was sitting with us anyway, none of us really knew him at all besides Tristan.

I looked over to my left and Karly was leaning around me, making flirty conversation with Tristan, which somehow made my heart twinge. Ew gross, emotions.

Soon the teacher walked in, a tall man with a short haircut and black framed glasses. He started describing how chemistry was going to be a 'fun' class, and started going into detail on the stuff we were going to be learning.

It was really, really boring.

I probably would have dozed off and hit my head on the table again if Cherry hadn't kicked me under the table, saving me from the same awkward moment. I would have to thank her later. The glass was agonizingly long, but eventually let out for break, and the swarms of students shoved themselved out of the tiny door.

"Thanks for saving me," I laughed to Cherry, she smiled and shrugged.

"Anytime,".

I told her I'd catch up with her later, until then I ran up beside Tyler. We said hello, basic stuff, and started talking about some random topic I didn't care about until I managed to bring up my main topic of conversation.

"So Cherrys pretty cool, right?" I started.

"Yeah I guess so, why?"

"You should ask her out," I continued, trying to help Cherry out.

"As if I was going to do anything else," he laughed, punching me in the shoulder. He then scurried off, being surrounded by a bunch of random people in the halls.

I eventually found Cherry, Ollie, Tristan, Em, Karly and Tyler sitting at a table outside under an awning. Karly was laughing about something with Ollie, while Em and Cherry was having a serious conversation about something.

"Hey guys," I said, sitting down next to Karly.

Heys, Hi's, and Hello's were all shot back to me as I shuffled in my seat. Break went by and we were all having a casual conversation, laughing and joking around like we always did. Then it happened.

Tyler was laughing at a joke Cherry said like the rest of us, then put his arm around her shoulder like they were best friends, or dating even. Cherry just smiled, melting into his embrace. Nobody seemed to really notice, besides me. Why did I care though? I had only known her for a day. Besides, I think I liked Karly. Karly. Karly. Karly with a K.

For some reason, out of impulse I looked over at Karly and took her hand under the table, which Cherry managed to take notice of. I suddenly felt less crazy, as Karlys soft hand (moisturizer does wonders) assembled itself into mine. Yeah it had been decided. I liked Karly.

Gosh I was not good with emotions.

"Do you wanna hang out after school?" I whispered to her. She looked at me confused, then smiled.

"Sure thing. Meet you at the Starbucks we went to?" she asked.

I nodded, confirming.

Break went on as usual, no more silent drama. Just laughing, munching on snacks, and praying the bell didn't ring when we thought it would.