Old Friend

o3

I talked to Alex this morning when we went to school together. The plan was simple. Make him fall in love with me, crush his feelings, then it's game over. Although this means that I have to spend more time with him than I intend to.

But I've got it all planned out.

Stage one was where I'm going to spend time with Tristan.

There was no point in arguing that Tristan was the best at Math, so If my assumptions are correct, it probably states there that he has won some random math contest in his profile that Ms. Lawrence knows.

So, If I could act that something's happening with my family and I can't really keep up, she'll make Tristan tutor me and therefore, we have time to spend with each other.

Math ended shortly and I made my way to Ms. Lawrence's table. "How may I help you?"

"I couldn't really keep up with the lesson." I said bluntly. "Sorry, there's too many things happening at home that I can't really focus on the lesson anymore."

Her eyes softened and I internally joyed. If there was one thing I learned here, the way to pass high school is to be friends with your teachers.

Be friends with them. That means remembering their birthdays and avoiding conflicts. There was always a reason I was a good liar. My drama classes before finally paid off to something that I'll enjoy. "I'm sure we can always find a person that can tutor you." She assured me and looked over her class list.

I peeked over her records and I saw his name encircled and I felt a pang of excitement in my chest. This is it. It's finally happening.

"I'm going ahead and ask Elliot if he could tutor-" She said while I cut her off mid sentence.

"I already asked him, he said no." I smoothly lied.

"Oh, well then, I could always ask Tristan. But he's new, okay? So I understand if you don't want to be with someone you're not comfortable with." She said it with so much worry that I'm actually starting to feel a little bit guilty.

Nevertheless, I'm still going to do it. "It's alright. I'll do it, it's for my grade anyways." I fake sighed.

She chuckled and patted me in the back. "I'll talk to him and you two can arrange the dates yourselves."

I nodded and thanked her before leaving.

My phone buzzed at my pocket and I might have pulled it too quickly to cause it to fall down. "Fuck!" I hissed under my breath. My new iPhone had a crack on the center of the screen and I rubbed the dirt off. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I stared at it for a good 5 minutes before checking who texted me.

Mom: Are you comfortable with Tristan being in your school? Because if you're not, I could tell the school about this.

I rolled my eyes. Alex accidentally spilled the beans to my mom yesterday and she hasn't stopped bugging me about this. Ever since we left New York, my mom has been overly dramatic about my condition, so she made me talk to a therapist everyday. I'm not going to lie, it felt great. But now it just sounds really irritating that she doesn't trust me on this.

Me: Yes, I'm alright. See you later for dinner.

I crashed into someone's body when I was typing my reply. And fuck, my phone fell.

Again.

When I picked it up, I thanked the heavens that it didn't have any new marks or scratches on it. Mom would kill me. Personally.

"Just the person I was looking for." Tristan's voice caught me off guard and made me freeze.

Keep it cool, Lara. Stay calm. "What do you need?" I said coldly.

If I was correct, I think I've seen a flash of hurt in his eyes for a split second there. "Ms. Lawrence asked me to tutor you. She said that you were okay with it." He said in a monotone. "Is that true?"

I kept my gaze high. "I'd do anything for my grades."

He snickered. "Nerd."

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

"Deadbeat Failure."

"Loser."

"Is that what the school taught you when I left? I've heard so much better insults." I sneered. "I deserve better, but it's okay. It's because you have no one to do your work for you."

He gritted his teeth. The tension between us was unbearable. I wonder how I'm going to make him fall in love with me if everytime we meet, this is the only thing happening. But, hey? You take what you can get.

It's really humoring to see this. We've talked at least 3 times already, and I haven't even heard a sorry coming from his mouth. What a shame.

"What? Cat got your fucking tongue? What happened to all of those shameless insults you've told me before? Are they all gone?" I mocked him.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. I wonder if I'm pushing him to his limits. But, that would be way too early for him. I know that he's not going to snap until he's seen the last of what I'm about to give him.

And boy, I'm just getting started.

"Are we going to study in my place?" He hissed.

"So you can torment me there?" I pressed, then shook my head. "No way. We can just study in a café. I know where to go."

"How many times do I have to tell you that we're not in 8th grade anymore?" He snarled.

I rolled my eyes. How stupid and oblivious can he get? "You haven't even told me anything yet."

Even a simple sorry.

--

The café was big, though it was eerily quiet inside. Most of the people were either studying, sipping coffee, or reading. Their coffee was way better than Starbucks and it obviously was cheaper. I went straight to the counter to buy coffee and Tristan went to one of the cubicles.

This was possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done. Unless he found out about the plan, I'm safe. I wonder how long this will take. If this will be irrelevant and useless, then what's the point of doing it anyways?

"One latte please, with an extra shot of skimmed milk." I said politely, still looking at the menu. You know, I think I'd like a cinnamon roll.

"Coming up." A familiar voice brought my eyes up to the figure. Above me was a set of blue eyes and messy brunette hair. It was Cameron, my best friend.

Butterflies swarmed my stomach and I flushed. I didn't know if he knew, but Alex always said that my crush on him was pretty obvious. But that's in her perspective. Ever since I started school here, he was my first friend. First crush. First love.

My eyes flickered from the menu to him in a second and I squealed. "You didn't tell me you were working here?"

"Alex said you didn't have time. I thought it was your time of the month." He shrugged, air quoting the words 'time of the month', with his eyes crinkling in saying it. He was just too cute. I laughed and slapped him in the arm that seemed to catch him off guard because he dropped his pen when I did. "My break is soon, I'll talk to you. Wait for me."

I nodded and slapped a five dollar bill on his counter when he wasn't looking. Then, I stalked to the table where Tristan was happily munching on a cookie.

My face had a permanent grin from my conversation with Cameron and it instantly wore off when I saw him smiling. His happiness annoys me. Actually no, his presence wants me to kill myself. Literally.

He might not be hurting me right now, but he still did leave me traumatized.

"Are we going to start or are you just going to drool saliva out?" He said, amused.

"Excuse me, Carson. I'm going to say this only once." I warned him. "Don't make the mistake of thinking that you're going to be my friend. We could be friends, in hell." I hissed the last part with my crinkled eyes.

And once again, he didn't flinch. "But isn't the earth already our personal hell?"

--