"But she's a Cheerleader" (gxg)

26: pity party

Maddie's pov:

Monday morning I woke up to a bunch of text messages from Leo.

She had apparently felt sick Sunday night and did not wake up any better. She wouldn't be at school today.

And even worse, she wouldn't be at the game tonight.

Today was going to be a boring day.

My first few periods were fine because Leo wasn't in those classes anyways, and I had some other people who I could talk to.

However history was the class I wasn't looking forward to. It was right before lunch and usually Leo and I would walk outside together after to the courtyard.

When I got to class, I walked to the back row and took my usual seat, except this time the desk next to me was empty.

It had been a few minutes since the bell had rang, which is of course when Dylan decided to stroll in.

The only seat left besides the one next to me, was in the front row. She looked at that desk, then looked back towards me. She walked right past it and sat down next to me.

"No Leo?" She asked.

"Sick." I replied. She nodded.

Mr. Mathew's started the first half of the class off with talking. Dylan kept glancing over at me and I tried to pretend that I didn't notice.

When there was about 15 minutes of class time left, we were finally allowed to work on our essay assignment that he had just gave us. He really doesn't give us a break.

We were allowed to collaborate with people on it so the room was filled with people talking and brainstorming ideas.

After a few minutes Dylan swiveled her body in her chair to face me. She didn't say anything.

"Yes Dylan?" I asked her without taking my eyes off my paper.

"Well.. I was thinking, you know since Leo's not here" she started to say. "You should join us for lunch today"

I turned my head to look at her. Her arms were resting on the edges of her chair and she had a genuine smile on her face.

I sighed and dropped my pencil to my paper. "Look I appreciate everything you did for me, but I really don't need your pity. I've been getting a lot of it recently"

Her smile dropped slightly.

"Hayes I'm not trying to pity you" she said. "Look I just like talking to you if you can believe that. But if you'd rather sit with your cheerleader gang I won't be offended"

I immediately felt bad. I know she's just trying to be nice. I thought about it for a moment before looking at her.

"Sorry. And I will gladly accept that offer... couldn't say I really wanted to sit with the underclassman" I said. I gave her a light smile and she did the same.

When the bell rang for lunch, I stood up and awkwardly waited for Dylan to do the same.

We walked out of class and grabbed food from the cafeteria on the way to the courtyard. Then we walked outside.