The Valdez Affair

21. Procession

"Just go with the flow and trust your instinct," Nicole said. It would have been good advice, if only Nicole hadn't been spilling out random snippets of her attempt at being supportive throughout the past day.

My best friend was an expert at a lot of areas in romance, but she had her own limitations. It wasn't her fault, obviously. The situation I was in was one of a kind. Rarely did people have to sit through classes with the boy they liked, waiting for him to break up with his pretend-girlfriend, so that the two people who liked each other could be together.

Not complicated at all.

I shut the door of my locker and began to walk towards class. Hayley was running late, as usual.

"Or you could try the straightforward thing," Nicole suggested.

"And say what?" I asked. "'Hi, Sebastian. Have you broken up with your fake girlfriend yet?" I'd told Nicole and Hayley about the 'fake' part too. Their reaction was a mix of awe over his selflessness and criticizing him for hiding the truth from them.

Hayley also thought that it wasn't really necessary, but then again, she'd always told me to get over my problem with being in the spotlight. Nicole suggested that, either way, Sebastian should have to make up for bringing the attention towards me in the first place. Although, she did say that there were other ways apart from forming an alliance with Melody Gibson, of all people.

And, both of them, had gushed on for hours about the events on Saturday. Mainly because they'd hardly ever gotten the chance to obsess over my love life, and now there was a lot to talk about.

"Maybe not that straightforward," Nicole mused. "But, if you want, you could give it a shot." I looked at her curiously. She seemed to be serious, but a smile.teased at her lips.

"Nic," I said with a sigh, "I think you've worn out your thinking capacity."

"Now you realize." Nicole shook her head, drawling out the words dramatically. I laughed, but not heartily enough.

"Well, thanks, for the effort anyway," I told her. We were approaching my classroom and my mind was sending out 'Doomsday' warnings.

"Anytime," she sang, squeezing my shoulder in a parting hug, and walked away to her own class.

Sebastian wasn't in class when I reached it, allowing me a few moments of relief. I placed my books down on the desk and sat down. There were a couple minutes to go before class would start and I took advantage of the time to clear my head. With no final decision made, I'd just have to see how the day would pan out. Maybe Sebastian would have something to say. Or maybe he wasn't going to mention our current situation at all.

The bell rang and a last round of students scurried inside the room, followed by Ms. McCullers. However, Sebastian wasn't here.

The class flowed by, without the green-eyed boy making a presence. Perhaps luck was on my side today. Or maybe not.

Both Nicole and Hayley were disappointed by this development when I met them during my next few classes.

"If he isn't here, he's a certified coward," Nicole stated later as we walked to the cafeteria for lunch.

"And," Hayley added, "I eat cowards for lunch."

"Why don't you return to your home inside fairy-tales, then?" I inquired, as serious as she had been. "You don't really belong here."

Hayley's eyebrows shot up along with her challenging expression. "That hurt, but I forgive you."

I rolled my eyes. "Brave."