Thunder & Lightning

Rebecca: Part 12

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"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."

― William Shakespeare

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"I'll be waiting for you here." I reminded Emma as I stopped in front of her classroom door after walking with her to the room.

"You always are," Emma sassed before walking into the class. Her walking stick loosely in her hand.

If she weren't wearing her glasses and I could see her eyes I'm certain I would have seen her roll them.

She is always such a grouch on Mondays, I thought as I walked over to my locker to see some of my friends by it waiting for me.

Lunch had ended but we still had a few minutes before our fourth period would start.

Monica and Iyonna turned to me as I stopped before them. Awkward grimaces on their faces.

Out of the three girls, I hung out with besides Emma, I would only consider Monica to actually be my friend.

The other two could be a little too mean a little too much for my liking.

Before I could ask them what was up Monica pointed around the hallway corner.

I turned to see Katy, the last girl in our group, making out with some guy against a different row of lockers.

"Who's he?" I asked curiously.

His long brown hair and sun-kissed tan looked familiar but it was hard to tell with his face smashed against Katy's.

Wait- isn't that one of Devon's friends?

"Looks like Levi Valdez." Monica said glancing at me.

"I thought he was undateable?" I asked referencing a comment Katy had said weeks ago.

Monica snorted back a laugh. "That is what she said,"

"She meant the other three," Iyonna said defensively.

Funny, I don't remember Katy making that distinction. I actually remember her using the word 'all'.

Before any of us could say anything else about it Katy was suddenly walking over to us. A smirk on her face.

"Have fun?" I asked sarcastically. Katy clenched her jaw before forcing a smile at me. "Loads." She said barely containing herself.

Katy and I have never gotten along. I didn't like how fake she was and whatever problem she had with me she'd never say it out loud.

Her desire to try and benefit from my family connections was greater than her dislike for me.

"What happened to him being a loser?" I asked referencing the other comment Katy had made.

"He is, but he's also a good kisser," Katy said calmly as she carefully reapplied her lip gloss.

"Chill, K. She's just looking out for you," Monica said trying to defuse the building tension between us. Monica gave me a look to just let it go.

"Oh, I know, Mo. You don't have to tell me." Katy said glaring at Monica.

Iyonna seemed obvious to the conversation as she rapidly texted on her phone.

Katy turned to me. "You know what, Becky? Emma would be so much prettier if she didn't wear those stupid glasses all the time." Katy said a smile on her face but a hardness in her eyes.

I'm gonna kill her, I swe-

"Emma is fine the way she is." Monica defended quickly holding me back from smacking the hell out of Katy.

Making snide comments about my blind cousin is a low blow, even for her.

And, I hate it when she calls me Becky.

"Chill, Momo. She's just looking out for her." Iyonna said mimicking Monica's earlier words sarcastically.

I guess she was paying more attention to the conversation than I thought.

"Whatever, I'm going to be late for class," I mumbled before pulling away from Monica and walking down the hallway from them.

I was in the middle of thinking about how much I couldn't stand Katy when I noticed him.

Devon was walking down the hall toward me.

Just seeing him made my heart race.

I had spent nearly all weekend planning what I was going to say when I saw him again, but actually seeing him made me instantly forget everything I had planned.

As soon as he noticed me his eyes widened and he stopped walking.

The friend he was with said something to him but I couldn't hear what before he too stopped and looked around before noticing me.

His friend's name was Michael. I recognized him as the rising star of the track team and from my biology class. He was a pretty nice guy and would probably be popular if he didn't hang out with Devon and their other friends.

Michael waved at me. Before I could wave back Devon smacked Michael's hand down before looking around the quickly emptying hall and running into the library.

Wait, was he avoiding me?

I walked over to Michael. "What was that about?" I asked him curiously.

Now that I was closer I could tell that Michael's eyes were red and swollen like he'd been crying.

Michael shrugged. "Beats me. You'd have to ask him." He said back looking at me closely.

I should just go to class. I'm already gonna be late. I shouldn't care if Devon is avoiding me. I should be happy.

Before I knew it I was walking into the library. My body moving on autopilot.

As soon as I did, Devon quickly hid behind a bookshelf. If he had just been a bit faster he would have been completely hidden before I spotted him.

I couldn't stop myself as I slowly walked over.

What the hell was I doing?

I stopped as I reached his hiding place. His back flushed against the shelf and his eyes shut.

"What are you doing?" I asked making him flinch as he heard my voice. He opened his eyes before looking at me.

Too many emotions crossed his face for me to figure out what he was thinking.

"I was...ugh..." he cleared his throat before looking away from me. "Giving you space." He finished.

"Why?" I asked feeling a surprising wave of panic.

The thought of him actually going out of his way to stay away from me bothered me more than I thought possible.

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. I got your message."

"What message?" I snapped at him. What was he talking about? I hadn't texted him.

"Hanging up when you did and then ghosting all weekend. Few things are a clearer message than that." Devon mumbled not even sounding angry with me. He just sounded embarrassed.

The final bell rang, its ring echoing around the empty room.

"We should probably head to class now," Devon muttered as he tried to walk around me. My body trapped him in the corner between the wall and the shelf.

Once again my body moved on autopilot as I grabbed his arm stopping him. His soft brown eyes looked at me in confusion.

"Rebec-" he started but I stopped him the only way I could think of.

I pulled him down to me as I stood up on my tippy toes. My hand rested against the side of his face as I smashed my lips onto his.

And just like that my rules were broken and we were kissing again.