LOVELORN

17|Anger & Pain

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*𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵.*

AN A. I'd gotten an A. In Math. In fucking AP Math. Mrs. Leigh handed it back with a big smile, telling me she was proud. I'd worked my ass off for this test and I'd done it. For the first time ever, I got an A on a Math test. I was proud of myself. Actually proud.

My brother and friends congratulated me. We decided to go get sushi after school as a way to celebrate. Somehow, Avi had also been roped in on the idea and was coming as well. There was a sushi restaurant close to the school that had great food, so that's where we went.

After ordering, we found a table to fit us all. Avi was sitting in front of me, while Zora was on my right and Mai on my left.

"Will say that I miss sushi with fish," Zora said, referring to her vegetarianism. "Don't tell my chickens I said this, but chicken and fish are what I miss eating the most."

"What I'm hearing is that you look at your chickens and think about roasting them."

Zora narrowed her eyes at my joke. "Don't speak about my babies like that."

"They're adorable. I've never seen chickens as anything but food before but you make them look pretty cute," Avi chimed in.

What?

"You've seen them?" I asked.

He shut up, looking like a kid being caught stealing candy. Eventually, after his eyes had darted Zora's way, he answered. "I've seen pics of them."

Okay, fine. Fair enough. Maybe they'd bumped into each other, talked, and she'd shown pictures of her chickens. That was perfectly innocent and nothing wrong with that. Them talking was okay. Why wouldn't it be? Avi was easy to have a chat with. There was nothing wrong if they were friends. Nope, not at all.

Then why didn't it feel right? Why had Avi acted like he'd been caught in a lie? You wouldn't act like that if you weren't hiding something, would you?

"So, Zora, friends with both of them, then?" Mai asked.

"We talk sometimes," Zora said. "I mean I've been over to her house quite a lot of times and we go to the same school."

"You just can't resist the Raj twins," Mai quipped.

A stiff laugh followed from Zora. "Well, they're pretty great."

"Can't argue with that," Avi said, smirking.

"I'm the best, of course," I teased, trying to ignore the very real sense of competitiveness I was feeling.

"Well, don't get too ahead of yourself," he told me, arms crossed and wearing a witty smile.

Zora's eyes flitted from me to Avi, then back to me, before they settled on her lap. I wanted to grab her shoulders, shake her and demand her to explain to me what the fuck was going on. All I had were suspicions and all they did was make me spiral.