The boy from across the road.

2

The bell rang for lunch and can I just say, my gym teacher would be impressed at how quickly I went from the fourth floor to the first floor.

I walked in to the busy high school cafeteria, some students were already sitting with they're friends with a tray full of food, others sat with no food talking, some were still buying lunch.
I spotted James concentrated on his phone while Riley spoke to him animatedly about something.
I walked over and Riley smiled as soon as she saw me.
"Oli! Took your time!" she laughed.
I chuckled and sat next to her, she slung her arm around me and smirked. Oh no. I know that look.
"What are you planning?" I asked.
"Oh nothing, I just wanted to ask why Jack Donacio is staring at you" she wriggled her eyebrows.
I looked over to where Jack normally sat to see that she was right. His eyes met mine before smiling and throwing me a wink before turning away.
I felt the heat rising in my cheeks.
"Something you're not telling me?" she crossed her arms over her chest.
I wish
"Nope" I said popping the p.
"We spoke in maths briefly, that's it" I shrugged.
"So you're crush speaks to you for the first time in five years and you don't tell me?" she faked hurt.
I chuckled again before picking up a chip from James's tray and throwing it at her, which she gracefully caught in her mouth. Ugh. Show off.
She smiled proudly before nudging James.
"Yo what's with you?" she asked.
James looked up quickly, leaving his phone.
"Huh?" he said looking confused.
Riley rolled her eyes at her friend.
"You've been on your phone since lunch started, what's with you?"
James blushed lightly. Oh no.
"Erm...just been texting" he shrugged.
Riley raised her eyebrows.
"Who?" she said sounding annoyed.
Oh no. Why did you have to ask Riles.
"Samantha from science" James snapped, annoyed at Riley's pushiness.
Riley looked away quickly and back at me, hurt clear in her eyes.
"So, you and Donacio huh?" she said.
Her voice sounded hoarse like she was about to cry. By this point James had returned to his phone. Ugh. Idiot.

If only you knew James.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley and I walked on to the parking lot, we decided we would skip fourth period and take in the Breckenridge scenery. Especially after the James thing.
Breckenridge is a small town in Colorado, but it's beautiful.
There's hiking, fishing, nice stores.
All in all it's perfect to raise a family.

We chatted about school and teachers, occasionally about some cute guys from school, but I knew she wanted to speak about James.
"So...that James thing..." I began.
She faked confusion. How offensive.
"Don't look at me like that, we both know what I'm talking about. Spill"
She blushed lightly before sighing.
"I don't know Ol's...I think he likes Samantha. And who can blame him? She's nice, funny, pretty..." she stopped and I could see she was hurting.
"You really like him don't you?" I asked.
She smiled a sad smile at me and nodded.
"Oh please, you know me...I've been after him since seventh grade"
And it was true.

Riley and James met in the only class Riley and I didn't share. Science.
She introduced me to him and the three of us were instantly best friends.

I smiled at the memory of how James used to look. His hair always gelled way too much, big glasses that you would think only existed in movies with a stereotypical nerd. His clothes matching perfectly with his nerdy appearance and his braces.
Since then Riley and I obviously turned him in to the outright babe that he is now, but keeping the boyish charm.

"We take our pictures after this" she sighed.
Shit. I forgot about that.
I chuckled nervously at the thought.

"Oh come on Ol's, it's not that bad"

I shot her a look and she looked away.

"Easy for you to say! You always look good" I snorted.
"Do not" she retorted.
"Not going in to this" I stuck my hand out at her.
We both looked at each other for a second before bursting in to laughter.

Too soon, the bell rang.
"Pictuuuures!" Riley sang.

Great.