Between Love and Friendship (Completed)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

When the lunch bell finally rang, signaling the end of class, I leaped out of my seat and headed towards the door. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Mr. Flaherty asked, just as I reached for the doorknob.

“Oh. Right.” I felt my face heat up as I dashed back to my seat and picked up my vocabulary quiz.

I handed it to him with a shy smile, before glancing at the rest of my class. Most of them were still working. My eyes traveled to the back of the room, where I noticed Trevor McNulty, with his blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, staring in my direction. I simply smiled and looked away, trying my best not to make the situation more awkward than it already was.

People always said that he had a crush on me, but I never gave it much thought. He was a good friend; no more, no less. And besides, I really wasn’t looking for a relationship.

I made my way down three flights of stairs to the cafeteria, where Annabelle was waving for me to come over. I sat down next to her. Annabelle was one of my best friends. I met her on my first day as a freshman, since we sat next to each other during homeroom.

“Hey Double A. What’s up?” Her last name was Avery. I always thought it was cool to have initials that were the same letter.

“Same old, same old,” Annabelle said in reply. “Where’s Gabriel?”

“He’s probably still in trig, finishing a test or something. Why?”

“Just asking,” She smiled. “I’m so use to seeing you guys together.”

“Yeah well, we’re not together, together.”

I absolutely hated when people thought Gabriel and I were “going out”. Everyone acted like it was impossible to be best friends with a boy and not be head-over-heels in love with the guy. Best friends don’t always fall in love and ride of into the sunset and live happily ever after.

Clichés like that are stupid and predictable. And “happily ever after's” don't exist in the real world because nothing in life is really over until you die.

Depressing thought for all you hopeless romantics, huh?

“I know, I know. You’ve told me, like, a million times!” Annabelle laughed, bringing me back to the conversation.

“You never seem to get the idea!”

I always thought Annabelle was gorgeous. She had wavy blonde hair and a clear, light complexion, which brought out her gleaming blue eyes. I, with my plain brown hair and eyes, looked dull in comparison.

But she wasn’t overly confident about it at all. As a matter of fact, I didn’t think she even realized how pretty she was. That was probably one of the reasons I was friends with her.

My thoughts were interrupted when someone sat down next to me. “Hey guys." It was Gabriel.

Every lunch period, me, Annabelle, and Gabriel sat together. Well, except for the times when Annabelle went to talk with her friends from film club, or when Gabriel hung out with the rest of the basketball team. I usually went with one or the other.

Annabelle opened her mouth as if to say something when Trevor walked over to our table. He handed me back my Spanish homework that I’d let him borrow during third period.

“Gracias.” That was all he said before quickly walking off.

 Gabriel snatched the paper from my hand. “You let him copy again?”

“It’s no big deal! Everyone copies.” I said, grabbing it back.

“I know, but Trevor’s such a pain in the-”

“Oh shut up. You’re just pissed because he's one of your fellow competitors for Aria's affection.” Annabelle said, cutting him off.

Ag. Sometimes that girl could be such a drama queen.

“Stop being such a drama queen,” Gabriel shot back, taking the words right out of my mouth. “And I'm not pissed.”

I gave Gabriel a knowing smile. I loved having moments where we thought so alike.

“Yeah, right.” Annabelle tossed some hair over her shoulder. “Don't be surprised if he asks her out first!”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, and shook his head slightly, before getting up. One of the guys on the basketball team was calling him over. “Catch you guys later.”

“He didn't deny it, you know,” Annabelle said when I turned back around to look at her.

“Deny what?”

“That he was competing for your affection.”

“No one's 'competing for my affection'!” I said, making air quotes while mimicking her overly-dramatic choice of words.

Annabelle laughed. “Shall we make a list? You could have your own fanclub!”

Oh God no.

“There's Gabriel, Trevor, Daniel, Jason, Matthew, Ryan-”

“Where are these names even coming from?” I asked, cutting her off. “I barely even talk to these people!”

“Remember Daniel with the 'hey beautiful' texts?”

“That was once!” I retorted. Probably on a dare or something, too.

“What about Jason? He hit you up on Facebook every day for a week!”

“Yeah, because of the art project we were working on!”

“Matthew for sure! Remember that time he followed you home?”

I banged my head on the table and groaned. “None of these guys like me! I don't even talk to them!” I protested, trying to talk some sense into her.

“Okay, fine. But the ones you do talk to do like you!” She said. “Gabriel and Trevor do for sure.”

“No they don't! Trevor's just a friend and Gabriel already told me he likes someone else,” I replied honestly.

“Who else could he possibly like?” Annabelle said, wrinkling her nose, as if she was actually curious.

“I don't know, he won't tell me.”

“He won't tell you because it is you!” She said, matter-of-factly.

“I highly doubt that.” There was no way that Gabriel would ever like me. No chance in hell.

“Wanna bet?”

Oh, she was going down.