Between Friends and Lovers

(18) Alexandria

“I need to use the bathroom,” Jackie declared, slamming my car door shut.

I looked at her, but she was already walking towards the house with her ponytail swishing behind her. I groaned as I followed suit. The least my best friend could have done was thank me for waiting for her until she finished her ballet meeting. Jackie hadn’t wanted to drive her car to school, and since we usually spent Friday afternoons together, I was tasked with waiting two hours until her meeting finished.

Once in the house, I made my way to the kitchen. It was an open plan kitchen with a hood over an island stove with a white quartzite countertop and a waterfall edge over white flat front cabinetry. It also had a second island with a sink and attached table and lucite chairs.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw a girl I didn’t know sitting on one of the lucite chairs.

“Hello,” I said, confused about who she was.

She stood up quickly with a panicked look on her face. “I didn’t break in,” she blurted out.

Of course, she didn’t. She didn’t look like the type of person who’d break into people’s homes with her long, wavy dark hair that cascaded over her shoulders, deep hazel eyes, slender frame, and short height—she was shorter than me.

“I doubt you did,” I pointed out while looking towards the living room, hoping to see one of my sisters.

“I’m here with Lily,” she said, her voice wobbly.

As if hearing that we were talking about her, Lily walked down the stairs. She was still wearing her uniform. Her blazer was off, though.

“Alex,” she beamed. “You’re finally home.”

“Yeah.” I looked up the stairs. “Didn’t you see Jackie?”

She shook her head before standing next to me. “I was in the bathroom.”

As if we were both in sync, we turned to the guest standing in our kitchen. Seeing our attention on her, she seemed to shrink back. Her mannerisms convinced me that she was somehow friends with Liliana. They both had a shy look and didn’t like it when people looked at them.

“Alex.” Lily moved to stand next to her friend. “This is my new friend, Indigo Nguyen. She just recently moved to Middleworth, and we are both in the newspaper team. How great is that?”

“Awesome.” I nodded, slightly amazed that my sister managed to make a new friend.

Usually, Lily was stuck with us. I had wondered what she was going to do now that Emersyn was a freshman in college. But I was kind of hoping that she’d hang out with me and the girls, but that was something she didn’t like that much but was forced to do at the beginning of the week.

“It’s nice to meet you, Alexandria.” Indigo waved. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I didn’t know if I should be worried or amused by that. I had a reputation around school, one that I wished would disappear but knew that it would take a miracle before that could happen.

Before I could reply, from the window, I could see a car pulling up next door. It was a white beetle, and I’d seen it around town and knew who it belonged to.

I took off my blazer and placed it together with my backpack on a chair.

“I’ll be back,” I told Lily while walking out of the kitchen. “I need to talk to Oliver.”

“Oh, wait!” She exclaimed, and I turned to her. “If he asks, tell him that I did tell you that he was here looking for you.”

Right. I walked out the door and matched next door. I didn’t know what was annoying me this much. With how up in the air I was about what he asked me, I shouldn’t be seeking him out or even be remotely mad at him. However, Oliver didn’t know that since he had decided to ignore me the entire week.