The Distance Between Us

Chapter 5: An Attempt to Make Amends

Chapter 5: An Attempt to Make Amends

"And then he just tackled him!" Camilla explained in detail as I shoved the taco in my mouth, rolling my eyes. She was retelling the story of the fight on Friday to Oliver, who'd left before the entire thing occurred. "And he was just punching him!"

"Seriously?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah!" she responded. "And then when they pulled him off of the guy, he said, 'He hit the love of my life!' It was crazy."

I practically choked on my chicken taco as I stared at Camilla, who looked amused. "That last part didn't happen," I told Oliver, recovering from my coughing fit.

"Sure it didn't." Oliver laughed.

"I was there and I can vouch that it definitely did happen," Sidney responded.

"Speaking of the love of Axel's life, look who it is," Oliver announced quietly as the familiar strawberry blonde made her way through the cafeteria, toward Axel. Oliver received a slap in the arm from Cam and a look from Sidney. I stared at them in confusion before turning to watch Victoria saunter across the room.

Axel can't make fun of my taste in guys because his taste in girls isn't much better. I may like nerds but he's attracted to clingy, obsessive girls. I mean, she doesn't look like it from the outside with her shoulder length hair, her large blue eyes, and her naturally pink cheeks, but she's crazy.

"How much do you want to bet she switched out of her lunch period to be in this one?" Sidney snorted. Just as my friend whispered this, Victoria flipped her hair, causing her to turn her head. Her eyes met with mine and instead of the usual, forced smile, a glare appeared. It definitely caught me off guard because my eyebrows jumped up and I could only stare at her.

"Did you guys see that?" I asked my friends.

"Well, at least she's not doing that stupid smile anymore. She looked like she was constipated when she'd do it," Camilla responded, imitating her. I let out a quiet laugh before turning back to see what she was doing. She approached Axel and they talked for a minute. A few of the guys looked at her and nodded, earning an actual smile in response. I had to squint to see and I definitely couldn't hear a word she was saying, but that's okay because I probably wouldn't like it.

"What's she doing?" Oliver asked and I shushed him, even though his voice made no difference to my ability to hear, not that I could before.

Axel stood up and swung his bag around one of his arms, allowing her to take his hand in hers. My eyes flickered down to their entwined hands before looking back up at the pair. As they edged toward the cafeteria, I prepared to turn around, only deciding not to once she looked at me again, shooting me a look of malice before she leaned up and kissed Axel. I wrinkled up my face, cringing slightly at the forced nature of the kiss, but then again, she forces a lot of things. My stomach clenched and I felt my mood drop a bit.

I looked back at my friends and they were all staring at me with looks of consideration on their faces. "You okay?" Sid asked and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I inquired casually as I moved around the food on my plate, my appetite lost.

"You know...just wondering," Oliver responded.

+++

"I don't think your girlfriend likes me very much," I said to Axel the period after lunch.

"Why do you say that?" he asked as he sipped a bottle of water.

"Because she looked at me like she wanted to kill me in the lunch room," I responded. "She used to at least attempt to smile at me. I mean, she looked constipated and generally in pain when she did it but she still tried."