Group Therapy

Fourty Six

Olena

The party yesterday was basically no fun at all. All I kept thinking about was this whole Bradley situation. How was I supposed to ignore him? We had a class together and he asked me to homecoming already.

Luke wanted me to stay away from him, which is why I'm freaking out about the fact that he's walking right towards me.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go catch a movie?"

Savannah and I are walking to her car. We slept in Dorino's living room and his floor is very uncomfortable. There's a billion teenagers leaving his house and getting into their cars.

"Well um, I have to work today and after me and Chasity are going to go shopping for our Halloween costumes since it's next week and all." I wasn't lying, I really did have those plans. I was happy I did.

"We should get matching costumes," he says with a smile.

"Really?" I say, trying not to sound too astonished.

"Yeah. You could be Cinderella and I could be Prince Charming or something like that."

"Well I already promised Chasity and Savannah that we'd match. We do every year."

"Oh." He gets quiet and stares at the grass.

"Olena, can I ask you something?"

I gulp. Does he know about Luke.

"Sure," I hesitate.

"Do you like me? Like really like me? Or are we just messing around?"

I want to tell him the truth. That I like someone else. But I can't, because if someone did that too me, I would cry.

"I like you Bradley," I say, which isn't totally a lie, I do have a some attraction towards him.

He grins. "Are you seeing someone else?"

"Nope. Just you," I lie.

His smile gets wider. "Okay. Maybe we can hang out tomorrow then."

"Yeah maybe."

He smiles a big smile and I curse myself for lying to not just him, but also Luke.

I climb into Savannah's car and I groan. I don't know how to fix this.

She starts the engine and starts talking as soon as we're on the road.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

I shrug and smile. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem a little off."

I'm surprised she even noticed. She's too busy wondering about her outfit choices or how she's going to pass her next test because she doesn't know anything.

"Are you okay?" I ask. I heard around that her and Clark had some downfall. I haven't got a chance to really ask her until now.

"Yeah I guess. I can't hold on to Clark forever. We never had anything more in the last six years. We just liked each other, but knew it would never work out, so we never even tried."

"How'd you know it wasn't going to work out?"

"Well, no one really works out in the end. I mean we're in high school. It's not like we're going to be dating the same person forever. Even in the rare cases, where people marry their high school sweethearts, that couldn't have been Clark and I. We're just too different. Sure opposites attract but it can cause a mess. I think Clark and I both knew that if we dated, we'd break up so soon that it would ruin whatever we had, which I guess it's over now. But that's life. I have to move on and find someone who's perfect for me."