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This was it.
The beginning of Senior year. The year where I hoped things would get better.
Maybe this year Doug will, I don't know, get hit on the head with a football and maybe, just maybe, finally like me?
Maybe cupid will decide to be on my side for once, and shoot me some favors here and there.
A girl can dream.
"Oh my god, Claudia are you even listening to me? Apparently someone saw Kristy wit--"
I looked over at Lana who was walking beside me towards the school entrance, had she been there the whole time?
"Lana, please be considerate to the fact that I may not care about what Kristy did or whatever someone 'saw' her do. Emphasis on the 'saw' ".
She scoffed, "fine, but you will care once you see her at our table during lunch." She walked off in front of me.
Surprised, I picked up my pace and catched up with her. "Woah Woah, hold on a second what? Why on earth would skanky Kristy Mathews be at OUR table? Is there some kind of new world order?"
Don't get me wrong, I had nothing personal against the girl. I've just heard a lot of gossip on how she 'gets around'.
Lana laughed and shot me a side glance. "Honey, I wish that was the case. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll find out soon." She said as she once again walked ahead of me.
"Alright alright, I'm sorry for not paying attention to you. I was just thinking of...some stuff. You know first day back jitters." Oh god, even I didn't believe my lie.
"Oh puh-lease Clouds, you expect me to believe you're nervous about being back in these bland hallways again? Come on I don't even think you believe that." She giggled as she slowed down to walk beside me. "And it's cool, I know you can't help thinking about dreamy Dougie and his dreamy green eyes and his dream-"
I closed her mouth off with my hand. "Don't say his name out loud like that! Someone could hear you!" I said while looking around to see if anyone just happened to be listening.
"Oh yea? And what? run off to tell Douglas you have a massive crush on him? Come on this isn't middle school Clouds, if anything , that would kind of help your situation." She laughed.
She had a point. I'd been stuck in the friend zone since, well, forever. In my defense, I had tried plenty of times to tell Doug about my true feelings. Well in my head at least.
"Listen, I know it's hard to say how you really feel, especially since you two have been friends since for the longest. But you're gonna have to make a move soon Clouds, because if you don't you'll have to deal with Kristy being around all the time."
"Woah woah woah, ok so why exactly will she be around us?"
Her next words felt like a hard slip on ice.
"Her and Doug are dating" she said, now turning to face me as we got to our lockers.
"You're kidding me right? Is this is some sort of sick joke? There's absolutely no way in hell MY Doug would ever be with her" I swung my locker open so hard it slammed into the one next to it, scaring the girl who had dozed off by hers.
"Look who's suddenly so possessive" Lana laughed.
"This is no laughing matter L, are you sure they're dating? Like official?" My words felt rushed.
"Well no, they're not official or anything" she said while adding a fresh layer of lip gloss on her lips. "But I heard Kristy's been mouthing off to the other cheer girls about how she's so gonna get him this year," she leaned close to her mirror on the locker door," and I guess her hard works payed off since Kyle said she'd been hanging around them almost all summer."
"I'm not around for one summer, and this happens. That's it, I'm going back to Georgia" I slumped onto my locker. "This is so shitty, Doug hadn't even mentioned her in any of our texts. At all. Was it supposed to be some sort of messed up surprise? 'Oh hey Claudia welcome back! I'm dating Kristy now so forget about any chances of us being together hahaha'. I hate my life."
"Well you're gonna hate it some more pretty soon, we've got English class I'm about" she raised up her arm to look at her nonexistent watch," a minute or so, give or take."
Just as she said that, the bell rang indicating that hell had officially started.
We walked down the hallway and into Mr.Jones' class, the twenty-something teacher that stole hearts the second you looked at him. Every girl gushed over how handsome he was. Not me though, he just wasn't my cup of tea I guess.
Speaking of tea, I need to make a mental note to pick some more up after school. I must be British somehow because boy do I love my tea. I'd cut a bitch would for dropping mines in a harbor--"everyone please take your seats, we've got a lot to review these first few days" Mr.J's voice boomed. "Enough groaning, you guys should be excited to have English first, that way you can get this class over with faster." He clapped his hands together and walked around to lean in front of his desk. He started rambling on and on about what we'd read and blah blah blah.
Lena turned her head to me and whispered something about wanting to stay in his class all day, I rolled my eyes in response. All I could think about was this pain I felt in my chest.
Was it over Kristy being Doug's potential girlfriend, or did I need stronger medication?
Second mental note, get a new prescription from my doctor. Soon.
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