Waiting For An Eclipse

Chapter 5.5

July 2, 2016 (cont.)

As soon as Penny dropped me off the mall, I went straight to the bookstore Katrina and I always stop by first before doing anything else in times like this.

I message her, saying I was already in the bookstore when she messaged back that she was there, too, so we met halfway.

We bought books together before deciding to go eat in a pizza place where they served the best lasagna and carbonara. Katrina would always order the lasagna, and I would order the spaghetti in white sauce.

"So, tell me why you left early last night. You don't know how much I was worried about you to the point that I would ask a search party if it wasn't for my sister who saw you leave with Nathan."

"I told you, I hate crowds and - "

"Speaking of, are you two dating now? I couldn't reach your phone last night."

"Treen -"

"What did he whisper to you?"

"Katrina." I said, much louder this time.

"Sorry, I was too excited."

"Yeah, so excited that you don't even wait for or even listen to my answers to your questions."

Then our orders came, and while we ate, I answered her questions one by one. She frowned when I told her that we weren't dating.

"Why not?" She asked, eating a forkful of lasagna. I grabbed a tissue and wiped the side of her mouth. She thanked me and waited for my answer.

"I told you. I don't want to date Nathan when I still like someone else."

"Ah, Aiden. Move on already. Doesn't he like a senior?"

"Yeah, but I heard he got rejected."

"Rumors. Choose Nathan. He's waaay better than Aiden, anyway. What's to like about Aiden?"

Aiden wasn't just someone, else. I wanted to say, but I knew Katrina would scold me again about moving on, since my liking for him had been 2 years now.

"Aren't you supposed to support me?" I said, instead.

"I am! But seriously, though, now that I think about it, aren't you too associated with Clarks? There was a time last year that some of us thought you and Logan were dating. You like Aiden. Nathan likes you. Does it mean... "

"Does it mean what?"

"That your husband in the near future would be a Clark or related to a Clark? Any guy under the Clark family tree."

"Tsk. Yeah, right."

"Ooh, that means you may have a chance with Aiden. There, I'm supporting you, hm?"

"By the way, what are the awards our class received?" I asked, taking a sip of my iced tea.

"Changing the topic, huh?" Katrina said, poking me on my cheek, making me glare at her.

"Less expectations, less disappointment." I said, making her sigh.

"Well, as expected. 12th grade won first place. We won second, and 9th grade third, a shame to the 10th graders. Also, we received best vocalist, best drummer, and best lead guitarist. Also, best pop and best band's song choice. The 9th grade got best original song , and the rest were won by the 12th graders."

"I got to admit that the seniors' version of Closing Time was awesome," I said, recalling their performance. They mixed an original song with it and created their own tune, but somehow retaining the original beat of the song's chorus.