I finished dinner quickly and headed upstairs to my room. I pressed the on button on my laptop and logged in to Facebook. Finally, I had the nerve to add Chris as friend, since we’ve never really talked before. I pressed the send request button, instantly having the feeling I shouldn’t have. But I did anyway. I checked if any of my “friends” were online; some people were, but not really worth talking to. So I logged off, and went back downstairs.
Finally the bell ending first period, and I ushered out of the Ms. Bell’s classroom and walked towards my locker.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” Emily Schaur said with narrow eyes, warning Sav. She pointed her finger at her.
“I’m sorry, Emily. I didn’t know—”
“Oh, save it, Savannah. Get out of my face,” Emily demanded. She stormed off angrily. What was that all about? I was used to seeing Emily tell someone off in the hallway, but usually not that angry. It was probably something to do with her boyfriend. If someone ever looked, flirted, or talked to him in front of Emily, there would always be consequences. So, anyone who knew wouldn’t dare.
Sav scurried off with tears in her eyes, to the girls’ bathroom. I wanted to follow her in there and ask her what happened. She must have been really upset, even though she wasn’t the first. I shook it off, hoping I could forget about it.
I twisted the lock to thirty-one first, then seven, then sixteen. I opened my locker and grabbed my Language Arts textbook and walked to second period.
“Hey Sav,” I asked, sitting next to her at a table in the back.
Sav looked up from her textbook. Her eyes were red and puffy. “Hey,” she replied.
“So, what happened between you and Emily?” I asked curiously.
“Oh, you saw? It was just— I just— Emily caught me flirting with her boyfriend, Samuel,” she said, her face flushed.
“Oh,” I muttered. “That’s no big deal. Samuel’s really— I mean, people do that all the time.” Now my face was flushed. I had a crush on Samuel last year. But when Chris moved here, my feelings totally changed. At least,
I nodded, pulling out a couple sheets of notebook paper out of my binder and grabbed my pencil. I thought they did.
“It’s okay if you like him. A lot of people do,” Sav said, brushing her strawberry blonde bangs out of her eyes.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just— I liked him last year, that’s all,” I explained, looking down at the desktop.
Sav smiled. “Oh, okay. Well, we’d better get to work. We have to write a short story about a memory or something like that.”
I nodded and pulled out a couple of sheets of paper and my pencil. But before I could get started, the bell rang.
“Well this could just be homework,” I muttered to myself. I packed up my books and dumped them in my backpack.
I walked across the courtyard and sat down against the wall of building A, waiting for Lacey. She had a test to finish up and she asked me to wait for her.
“Can I sit here?” someone asked, and I turned my head.
“Sure, that’s fine,” I said, looking at Chris. Stay calm, I thought. He sat next to me.
“You’re Ashley right?” he asked, looking at me.
“Ashlyn,” I corrected. “We’re in the same art class.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “So, why are you sitting here alone?”
“I’m waiting for a friend.”
“Oh, okay.”
“What about you?” I asked.
He looked confused. “What?”
“Why are you sitting here alone?”
“Oh, no reason” he said, looking down. “I’m just— no reason.”
“Okay,” I said kind of quietly.
Ding!
My phone rang, and I pulled out of my pocket.
“Crap,” I whispered under my breath.
“What?” Chris asked.
“Oh, nothing,” I said. “I just have extra rehearsals tomorrow for this movie.”
“You’re an actress?” Chris asked.
“Yeah.”
Chris picked up his backpack. “Oh, okay. Well I’m just going to go. I have to study for a math test, and I should go.”
“Okay,” I said. “See you around.”
Chris left quickly, and really suddenly. It was weird, the way he just got up and left. What was his problem? Did he have a think against actresses or something? Maybe I was just in a funk or something, but it seemed like he suddenly didn’t want to be around me.
“Hey Ashlyn!” Lacey practically screamed in my ear. I screamed in surprise, and looked at her.
“Hey Lacey,” I said moved over so she could sit next to me on my right side.
“Why were you all alone? I’ve been looking for you for, like, ten minutes.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I said. “I was with Chris but he just left.”
Lacey sat down. “Oh, okay. So, do you still have a crush on him?” she giggled.
“I never had a crush on him,” I argued, rolling my eyes.
“Sure, Ashlyn. Whatever you say.”
“Shut up,” I mumbled. I shouldn’t lie so much, especially not to my best friend. I should trust her, even thought she can be a bit of a rumor spreader.
“Mom I’m home!” I yelled and set my car keys on the kitchen table.
“Hey honey! I’m in the kitchen!” my mom yelled. I walked into the kitchen and hugged my mom. She put a tray in the oven. “I’m baking cookies for a little get together tonight with my friends. It’s going to be here at the house and I’m just setting up. You want to help?”
“Sure,” I said setting down my bags. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Can you just help clean up a little it by picking up your stuff and putting it in your room, and take the cookies out of the oven when the timer goes off. Is that okay?” she asked, running around frantically.
‘Sure that’s fine,” I shrugged and put took my bags and a couple other things on the counter and walked upstairs to my room. I set everything on my bed and went back downstairs to help my mom clean up a little more.
