Degrees of Desire (gxg, txs)

chapter nine

-Isabella

I woke up the next morning a little later than usual but feeling a lot better than the day before. I finally had gotten the much needed rest that I had lacked for a while now.

I get out of bed and grabbed my phone. I had a new notification from Iris. I clicked on it and opened it.

Iris: Hey, I don't have a ride to school. Can you pick me up please?

That meant I had to hurry up. I quickly responded telling her that I would be there. I walked into my closet and threw something on before walking into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

Luckily, I didn't hear the tv on downstairs letting me know that Maggie was finally able to get to the bus on time.

When I was finished getting ready, I walked downstairs to the kitchen to make my usual 3 sandwiches for later. I stuffed them into my bag and fed Buddy. Once I got everything, I walked out of the house.

As I parked in front of Iris's house, I pulled out my phone to text her. She responded almost immediately telling me she would be down soon.

I knew better than to expect she would actually be done. I waited about 10 minutes before I finally saw her walk out of her house.

I could immediately sense something was up. She got into the car and instead of her usual happy mood, she seemed slightly upset.

"Hey Bells." She says quietly putting her seatbelt. No hug? Something was definitely wrong.

"Hey. Is everything okay?" I asked while driving off.

"Yeah. Sorry. I'm just not feeling so good." She shrugged looking out the window.

"What is bothering you?" I asked.

"I just- I'm fine. It's just a headache." She says shaking her head and giving me a smile. But it was a smile I'm not used to seeing. It was forced.

Once we had parked in the schools parking lot, I undid my seatbelt before turning to face her.

"Okay. What's actually wrong? Don't lie to me." I raised my eyebrow.

I watched as she visibly let out a sigh.

"I just feel guilty."

"For?"

"For.." She hesitated. "For leaving you for some random guy."

"It's fine. I know you were just trying to have fun." I said softly. I didn't have any anger towards her for that. I mean we could've figured out a better solution but I wasn't mad.

"That's not the part I'm upset for." She mumbled.

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing. Forget it. I just feel like a bad person. I should've been there for you. I'm sorry." She says leaning in for a hug.

I hugged her back tightly, not letting go. Iris is my best friend. I don't think I could ever be mad at her.

"Okay. Let's go to class before you are late." She pulls away and smiles.

We both get out of the car before walking to our respective classrooms. I sat down in my usual seat waiting for Nate to arrive. It didn't take very long for him to show up through the door and find his seat right next to me.

We spent the class together as usual, doing some assignment that Mr. Thompson had assigned last minute. I really am starting to believe that he doesn't even have a lesson plan. He just hands out work sheets and gives us the class to work on them.