I'M NOT SURE if I should say something, but it strikes me as odd that all of a sudden Mason's all alone. He seems angry too―kicking that rock and all. Poor rock. It makes me want to holler at him for being such an asshole when Natalie asks me, "Do you like the taro?"
I look at her in surprise. "Oh!" I take a bite of it. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I've actually tasted this before..." But Natalie isn't listening. I take another bite of it.
"Do you like Mason?" she blurts and that's when I realize who she's been looking at the whole time.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I try again. "Uh." I chuckle and she makes eye contact with me.
"I feel like you two would be really good together." I ignore her redundancy and shake my head.
"No, uh, we―no."
"Why not?" She scrunches her eyebrows like she's actually concerned. "You know, he looked like he knew you. When we passed by him earlier."
"Yeah," I realize. Shit, that was him?
"So..." Natalie gives me an earnest smile, but I know better than to succumb to that curiosity.
I shake my head. "I don't know. We've never talked."
"Oh." Her lips pout like she was wishing there'd be drama. But I'm glad I don't let her emotions get the best of me.
We spend the rest of the time at Princeton window shopping until Bhanu arrives since even though it was Natalie who suggested coming to Princeton, I'm the one who's supplying the ride (ironic huh).
I hate how fake Bhanu gets with other people around, which is why I'm glad that as soon as Natalie gets out of the car, her smile fades and she's on top of me about the SATs.
"Yeah, now you stop being fake." So maybe I'm not glad.
"What? I just want you to go a better college, and the only way for that is through an SAT because your GPA is―"
"You don't need to keep repeating yourself. God."
"Seems like I have to." I roll my eyes. I'm glad I got my AirPods with me. The rest of her lecture I zone out to Rare until eventually we pull up to the house. "And what about that therapy group, huh?"
"You're still going at it?" I murmur.
"Did you hear me? Isha?" she shouts, so I match her tone.
"What?"
She gives me a look. Fucking bitch. "The therapy group."
"Oh, I'm not doing that."
"What? Why not?"
"It's just not helping me."
"Of course, it helped you. You seemed so happy." I scoff, which of course she takes offensively. Her eyebrows wrinkle. "Are you saying I'm wrong?"
I roll my eyes. "Isn't it obvious."
She grunts and I find myself smiling.
YOU ARE READING
I'm On Your Side
Teen Fiction"Six feet apart." "Fuck it." ******* After a rant gone wrong, Isha Reddy is sent to a therapy group where she meets her crush Mason Ferguson. The two are partnered up and forced to interact with one another based on their inter...
