𝙁𝙭𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 - Chris Sturniolo

Chapter 5 ↣ over him

Gia's pov
The next morning

I wake to my alarm blaring in my ears, I shut it off and get up, no hesitation, nothing. I brush my teeth and wash my face, I put on concealer, highlighter and contour, brushing my hair out of my face. I grab a pair of black cargos, and my grey and white zip-up hoodie. I throw the hood up and leave my house.
07.56 - should be enough time for me to get to school and skip tutor.
09.03 - just about made it to go to science. Thank god I skipped tutor.
My emotions were low, I couldn't feel much, I had already felt the worst of it. I'm just not going to open my mouth anymore, all I do is ruin everything when I do it.

I open the door to my earth science class, acknowledging that Matt, Nick, Chris and Tessa were all sat in our usual spots, one chair left for me. But I'm not going to bother them, and I don't want them to bother me, so I walk past and sit on the row directly in front.
"Gianna, please remove your hood, no hoods in the classroom please" Mr Kay orders. I remove my hood and feel my hair, smoothing it down. I had showered last night, finally, almost burning myself in the scolding water, but at least I showered.
He sets us off on a task, in which the rest of the class talk to each other, but I'm sat alone, no partner, it's what I wanted, so I'm fine.
"Gia" I hear Tess' voice, soft and sweet, i can bear talking to her, she didn't bother me yesterday.
I turn around "yeah?" All of them looking at me, Chris especially.
"Want to work with me? I don't get it. I'm so confused" she smiles, she's never been the smartest, and I somewhat am. I take 4 AP classes, so I help her with her work a lot of the time.
I smile, "of course" and she comes round to sit with me.

We begin the work, it's normal. We're talking, laughing, joking. But I don't feel right. It doesn't feel normal to only be talking to Tessa. But I can't put Matt and Nick through me again, I'm afraid I'll lash out at them and make it worse. We get near the last few questions, and she begins to talk, "hey, so I was just wondering, I heard about you and Sam, I'm sorry it didn't work out how you wanted it to."
"Oh yeah I'm over him, it's completely fine" I say, while scratching my neck. I think it's bruised, but I'm not sure.
"Gia..." she paused, I waited for her to carry on.
"You know what, nevermind! Do you wanna come to mine after school, I'm having a small gathering, just us obvs?"
"Oh erm, I'm not sure that would be a good idea" I say, I don't know how much Tessa knows, or if she knows anything at all, but I'm not really talking to Nick or Matt currently.
"Oh come on! It will be fun, plus i'm getting all the Halloween decorations out and we can plan our group costume for the dance!!" Tessa is such a school spirited person, she loves it, and I don't want to upset her.
"Alright, I'll come, but only if you buy me a vanilla latte with oat milk and extra vanilla from Starbucks first" I say, feeling warmer. I love Tessa, she's my best friend, I just wish I could talk to Nick about this, but I don't want to.

Lunch rolls around and I'm stuck on what to do, it will be so awkward if I go to the lunch hall, so I call Tessa, telling her I'll be in a Bio session with my teacher. It wasn't a complete lie, as I do have those sometimes anyway. I spent the rest of my day trying to avoid any contact with Nick, Matt and Chris. I'm going to have to face them anyway, i don't know what my thought process was. The bell sounds, and I stay to finish my bio homework. 10 minutes later, I get a message from Tessa.

Tess 😘
Girl hurry up we're here!!
Gia 🤠
Sorry, bio hmw took years!
Tess 😘
You're such a nerd lmao 😂
Hearted by Gia 🤠

I sigh, pulling my backpack over my shoulders and leaving the classroom. I get to my locker and pull out my phone and books, then I leave the school. The walk to Tessa's house wasn't long. 10 minutes on a good day. I spend the whole walk overthinking, I haven't talked to Nick or Matt today, and Chris knows about Sam. This is about to be the most awkward gathering ever, and I'm not excited.
I reach her door and knock three times. She answers and gives me a hug. She smells of candy and cloud perfume, her favourite, which I actually bought her for her birthday back in June. "Hey!" I say, faking my excitement.
"Come in girl! We've got snacks, and..." she passes me a Starbucks cup with my name on, well, almost my name.
"Tess, why does it say Jia" I say, bursting out laughing.
"Oh, didn't realise, but your very welcome, bestfriend"
I take a sip, it's my favourite drink in the world.
"Thank you so much! Love you"
I walk inside and take off my trainers, I head toward the living room, where I hear voices, and laughter. I wait for Tess to come, so we can go in together.