The Bad Boy Effect

Part 38: Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

"Happy 3 and a half months," I hear Arran whisper as he sits down beside me. We're out our lunch table eating with our friends. I smile and kiss him softly, then I grab a forkful of my salad and take a bite.

"Dude we have three weeks until graduation." Robbie frowns.

"Where is everyone going for college?" Meagan asks.

"I'm headed out to Harvard." Allie grins proudly. "So is this goof." She giggles as she elbows Justin.

"That's ironic." Arran laughs as he takes a bite of his apple.

"I know." Justin grins. "It's very ironic."

"I'm headed out to UCI." Tony says as he bites into his sandwich.

"I'm going to Yale." Sarah says. Robbie looks at her.

"Yale?"

"Yes, Yale. I told you this." she says as her brows furrow. He frowns.

"That's over 2,000 miles away!" he shouts rather loudly.

"So what?" she says, glaring at him.

"Long distance relationships don't work, Sarah!" he says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Sarah looks at him. "I'll be visiting at least six times each semester." she says as she stares at him.

"Yeah but What about while you're gone? What happens then?" he asks, his voice cracking.

She cocks her head at him and he closes his eyes. Without another word, he gets up and storms off. Sarah's eyes water and she jumps up, walking the opposite way. We all kind of fall quiet as we finish our lunch. I frown a little. Where is Arran going? I look over at Arran and see he is deep in thought too. Our eyes meet and I know we are thinking the exact same thing. I look down at my food, which doesn't look very appetizing anymore.

I stand up quietly and walk over to the trashcan, tossing it into the black bag, and I walk out of the lunchroom. I decide to head to the library so I can think in peace. I walk up to the door and open it. I walk over to the corner of the library, hidden behind many shelves full of books. I slide down slowly, my butt landing on the carpet with a quiet thud.

What is going to happen when I go to Stanford? Is Arran going across the country or is he going to a community college? Will we drift apart once college comes or will we stay together? What are the statistics for high school relationships again? I pull my phone out of my pocket (Yes, I carry my phone on me. With all of these school shootings and fires, it'd be stupid not to.).

Less than 2% of all marriages are actually to a high school sweetheart.

I feel my heart sink. Great.

I actually laugh. I thought this was going to last? Of course I did. Because I'm dumb. It's a high school relationship for Christ's sake! I'm lucky it lasted even this long. A silent tear falls down my cheek but I wipe it away. God I cry too much. I'm such a wuss.

"Emma?" I hear someone whisper.

I look up and look around.

"Arran?"

I look over to see my bad boy coming around the corner wearing black jeans and a gray T-shirt. I watch him as he sits down beside me slowly, folding his hands as he rests them on his knees.

"That was a pretty tense conversation, huh?" he asks as he looks at me.

I laugh. "You could say that."