Second Chance

Chapter 2- Squad Up

I get to the bus stop and my friend, Zoe, greets me with a smile, her dimples dancing on her face. She's prettier than me; dazzling blue eyes, dirty blonde hair flying in the autumn breeze, and her eyebrows, damn, they're always on fleek. These features will get any guy to fall down right at her knees.

I don't understand after all these years, with those guys trailing at her sides, why she's still hanging around me. Now that's true friendship right there now, am I right or what?

She's wearing a loose tank top, even though it's the beginning of October. I think that she's still not over the fact that the warm weather is gone. Or that could just be me, I'm always cold. Also, she's wearing tight leggings and a pair of sporty sneakers.

I look at the house whose corner I'm standing on belongs to. The front door opens and my best friend glances at Zoe and I before putting on his shoes, grabbing his bag, and walking out the door.

Jem greets us with a warm smile.

He looks like your typical jock; his grey eyes that change along with his mood, spiked up dark brown hair, and perfect, pearly white teeth. He's wearing an over-sized sweatshirt that reads "Chimner High" and jeans.

"Hey, Jem" I say. "No word from you last night, what the hell were you doing that you were too busy to text? The group chat was lit."

"Yeah," Zoe says, nudging him. "You always find the time to text us no matter what."

"Oh shut up," he says scowling at us. "I mean, how 'lit' can a group chat be with just three people in it?"

"Hey," I say. "There are more dark secrets held in a group chat of girls than the government holds."

"Yeah," Zoe agrees. "Well, it's OK, we understand that you needed your beauty sleep at 8:30."

"At least I actually make the bus every morning unlike some people," he says looking in my direction.

"Don't start changing the subject now," I tease, playfully punching his shoulder.

"Oh, I think the flies are out early," he says, swatting away my hand. Jem and I keep going back and forth teasing each other until the bus finally arrives.

"Guys, sorry to interrupt your play date, but the bus is here and if you don't want to get stuck in the front, you better hurry," Zoe urges.

I punch him in the stomach one last time to make sure I get the seat first, causing him to double over onto the pavement as Zoe and I run to the bus with him stumbling up and hot on pursuit.

Damn, for a guy that burly, he sure doesn't run very fast.

"It's genetic," he would say. "Seriously, you would think that I would put any effort into lifting a single weight?"

We finally get to the bus and run up the steps.

"Hey, that hurt," he says in his five year old impression voice, as we are walking down the aisle to find a free seat.

"I'm so sorry," I say gasping, a smirk forming on my face.

We find a seat and I sit down in between Zoe and Jem, their bodies squishing me inside of their human sandwich. The seats were only made for two people but slightly big enough to fit three teenagers. Hey, but me and Zoe being small comes in handy in situations like these, but Jem's large structure didn't help this at all.

"You guys act like little children," Zoe muses, swiping her dirty-blonde hair away from her face, gently tucking it behind her ears with her hand. "Putting that aside," she states, shifting herself to get in a comfortable position so that we both can see her. "I got some news to spill, and you may not like it," she slowly starts fidgeting and biting her nails.