His Girl #Wattys2016

24. Goody-two-shoes.

"Sarah, wait. What is this?" I turned when I heard Drake's voice.

"Closure," I replied.

"She'll be devastated. She needs this group, you know that."

"Stop it, Drake. You can go be in the group if you want," I snapped. "I want to live a new life. I want to be remembered for my friendliness. When I saw Aaron and you together? I was stunned. Look how well you make friends. I want to be like you, Drake. I want people to like me for what I am. Not because they think it's cool to hang out with me."

Drake's face broke into the sweetest of smiles then and he pulled me in for a bear hug. "Oh, my God. Sarah, you're amazing!"

"Drake. You made me realize that. So thank you," I told him. "And, oh. I'll be making new friends. Starting with her."

Drake pulled back and turned in the direction I was pointing. And froze. "Gwen?" He asked.

"Yes, she's been so nice to me. I'm sure she won't turn down my offer. I sure don't want to be turned down by the first person I seek friendship from," I laughed.

"No one, no one, will deny you. Trust me on that." He sounded so proud, it made me choke on my words.

I walked up to Gwen, who was switching her books and cleared my throat. Before she could turn to face me, I saw Vaughn walk up to her and put his arm around her waist. For a moment, my hands turned cold. I stopped breathing. How could I've not known that Vaughn was going out with Gwen? How much did I miss out on my highschool life because I was busy being a bitch?

"Sarah, I didn't see you there! Do you need something? You all right?" Gwen's voice was worried.

"Uh, Gwen." Breathe in, breathe out. "I wanted to say... hi."

Wow.

She laughed. A lovely, chiming laughter. "Well, hi!" Her reply was so cheerful, I almost wanted to ask her why she was so nice.

Instead I turned to Vaughn, who was looking at us suspiciously, and smiled. "I didn't know you both were seeing each other," I said.

My voice sounded so genuine, I was amazed. Vaughn's expression relaxed and he began smiling.

"It's been a couple of months," he answered. "Nothing to know. Not that popular, you know."

I laughed. "Popularity sucks, you're better off without it."

"If you're saying that, I'm believing you."

The ease with which we were exchanging words made me feel better. I turned to see Drake on my heels, and nodded. I had decided to be nice and nice I'd be.

"So, guys. Could I, like, join you for, I dunno, lunch tomorrow?" I asked, meekly.

They looked as if I'd asked them both to donate their livers to me. But then they surprised me by nodding, especially Gwen with her hyperactive nod. "Yes, please. We'd love that."

And just like that I'd two new friends. I was partly glad for Drake because finally he'd get to have a guy friend on our group and not feel so left out.

"Who's next?" He asked me after a while, as if I were hunting people down.

I grinned, pointing at his football teammates. He groaned.

"Come on, you've put up with us girls for so long. I can put go with them for half a year. I mean, how bad could they-"

Before I could finish my sentence, we had reached the group. They were standing in front of the gym, discussing something. I waved at Max, the only guy other than Drake I knew from the football team. He winced.