WHERE WE ARE ; COLE WALTER

006

"COLE DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF what you did during lunch?" Veronica asked as she followed him to the football field.

He could tell by her upset tone that he kind of had messed up, but he liked the way her face scrunched up in anger too much to apologize, yet. "Helping Jackie out? That's what my mom and everyone else, even you, told me to do."

Veronica put her hand on the bridge of her nose, exhaling and inhaling deeply to calm herself down. "Don't play dumb right now or I swear to god I will hit you right where it hurts the most," she told him, throwing a subtle glance down there and then looking him in the eyes.

Cole gulped, his confidence leaving him because he knew Veronica doesn't joke about things like these. "Okay, I'm sorry, but aren't you overexaggerating a bit? Erin can't be that mad about it, I mean we're practically siblings." Under his breath he whispered, "To the others."

"Yeah but that really took it a step too far. I don't want Erin to hate me, she's my best friend," she confessed, her face falling at the thought of the confrontation she would soon have to face.

Cole put his hands on her arms and rubbed them soothingly, "I'm really sorry." He bent down a bit to get a good look at her down turned face. "I promise it won't happen again, it's just that I'm kind of sick of this whole hiding."

Veronica nodded, "I know but I still need time. I'll think of a way to tell Erin but I really don't want to lose her because of some boy."

The blond boy moved away from her and brushed his hand through his hair, looking at her a bit offendedly. "Some boy? That hurt, Ronniekins. I'm every girl's fairytale prince."

The girl scoffed, "Yeah sure, dream on."

"Cole. What are you doing here?", the coach asked as he finally noticed Cole standing in the stands.

Veronica sighed, she knew that this conversation would have nothing to do with her, and to be fair she had other, more important matters to attend to, like talking to Erin. "Catch you later, Cole."

Cole went over to her and hugged her shortly, ruffling her hair a bit as he walked over to the coach to talk to him.

Oh, how Veronica hated the way his hair shone in the sun and how his touch made her weak. Wasn't she supposed to be mad at him rather than wanting to remain in his arms for the rest of the day?

"Erin, Olivia, wait for me," she shouted after the two girls who were on their way to the parking lot together, seeing as Erin always gave Olivia a lift.

"Hi Veronica," Olivia greeted her enthusiastically, but by Erin's lack of response she guessed that something wasn't right. "Okay, I'll leave you two to talk. I'm gonna wait by the car."

The two best friends were now alone, Erin waiting with her arms crossed over her chest while Veronica was trying to come up with the best words to say to her.

"Look, Erin, I'm sorry about what happened at lunch. I should've moved away from him right away," Veronica began but she didn't know what to say next. "I'm the most horriblest best friend you could have."

The joke seemed to work, because the corner of Erin's mouth switched slightly upwards. "Come on, that's unfair, I was trying to be mad at you."

Veronica laughed, "We both know that that's impossible. We love each other too much to be mad for longer than an hour."

"I mean, that's not a lie," Erin admitted and wrapped Veronica in a hug, whispering, "I know you two have been friends for a long time but I can't help but get jealous when you're acting like that."