Not You

Chapter Eighteen

"How did it go?" Symphony stood from her chair as soon as Kady stepped into their politics class, her eyes wide with excitement. Kady shook her head and sat down in the seat beside her best friend, the grin on her face widening as Symphony's eyebrows creased into a confused frown- no doubt wondering what had Kady positively brimming with excitement if it wasn't having seen Lucas. Symphony sat back down, still frowning, and gestured for Kady to speak.

"I didn't find him- well, I didn't look that much actually? I saw the time and thought I should wait until lunch, and then-"

"What happened? Tell me." Symphony gripped Kady's arm with one hand, her leg bouncing under the table with such vigour it was shaking the pen Kady had set down.

"Symphony, I was about to tell you and you interrupted me." Kady laughed at Symphony's almost embarrassed expression but she was quick to recover; the curly-haired girl let go of her arm and instead motioned for her to continue. Unfortunately for Symmy that was the moment their teacher walked into class and started explaining a specific topic she wanted included in everyone's projects.

It was an obviously gruelling ten minutes for Symphony, and a slightly hilarious time for Kady, until finally their teacher finished and set the students back on their tasks. Kady practically heard Symphony's neck crack with the speed at which she swivelled her head back to face her, her eyes wide and demanding.

"Okay, so-"

"I'm actually shaking, go on." Symphony was in fact shaking, her hands pressed flat on the table in an attempt to control them.

"Right, so when I turned from my locker, I spotted probably the two worst people on this Earth-"

"Oh ew, you're not serious."

"Right? But I had this really weird feeling, like hey, might as well shake everything up right? I'm already turning my life upside down by confessing to Lucas, why not add another thing I'd never have considered doing to that life-changing list?"

"I'm both terrified and so ridiculously excited for what you're about to say."

"I walked up to them, Callum was all creepy but when isn't he-"

"So true."

"-and they were trying to pretend that Lucas actually hated me and I went along with it for a bit, but then they were just pissing me off so..."

It took the majority of the class for Kady to explain everything that had happened in that ten minutes, not missing a single detail for Symphony who demanded an exact recap- granted it only took that long because Symphony was continuously interrupting with encouragements and gasps, and of course because they had to actually work alongside their talking- but finally Kady was done, a pleased grin on her face matched by the even wider, proud grin on Symphony.

"Why didn't I go with you?" Symphony was once again bouncing in her seat, stars in her eyes as she stared at Kady with the same expression one would have when looking at a child achieving their first steps. "I'm so sad I missed that, but I'm so proud of you! I feel like I'm seeing a whole new you, it's making me really emotional- I'm just so proud." Kady couldn't help but laugh, reaching a hand to quickly squeeze Symphony's own before retreating.

"Thank you, it genuinely means the world to hear you say that. I wouldn't have had the courage to stand up to them without everything you've done for me." Kady's warm, fond smile turned into a teasing grin that had Symphony raising an eyebrow. "Suppose it's payback for practically setting you up with James."

"I'll let you have that this time."

"Let me have that? It's exactly what happened."

"You said no to hanging out with them."