Friends Forever, huh?

Chapter 17 | dear genie, please can i have acting skills?

I sleep through my alarm.

Well, I suppose 'sleep through' wouldn't exactly be the correct term. Actually, I very purposely hit the snooze button five times and then proceeded to shut the alarm off completely. To put it simply, I do not want to go back to school. In a single day, my friendships dissolved. Shelby. Cole. Cole.

After two years of wishing for his friendship back, I regained it and lost it in the span of days. He's ignored my texts, causing me to feel massive deja vu of the one sided friendship we had after he moved away.

Surely this would merit me missing school. Right? I despise being in the same room as him but not talking to him.

He's so stubborn...and surprisingly good at avoiding me even though we go to the same school.

"Ashley!" My mom calls, popping her head in my door, "get ready! You'll be late for school!" I groan, fighting the urge to hide back under the covers. She's never home this late--usually she leaves before I leave for school...today of all days, she has to leave late for work. There goes my plan of staying home sick.

"I don't feel well," I say, clutching my stomach as if I'm going to be sick. My mom raises an eyebrow, looking at me dubiously, but comes over, laying a hand on my forehead.

"You don't feel warm..."

"I feel sick, I swear," I murmur again, burrowing my head under my pillows. Why could I have not been born with acting abilities? Then I could have gotten out of school. I could have avoided seeing my apparent nemesis and ex-best friend.

"Ashley, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I say sharply, turning my head away from her so she can't see the pain in my eyes.

Shoot. That wasn't casual enough. She'll be able to see through that in a moment.

"Ashley."

"I said nothing, alright? I just don't feel well."

Mom shakes her head, "Ashley, I know you're lying to me about something but I can't force it out of you."

I cross my arms stubbornly and she sighs, "If you're not feeling sick, then you need to go to school. I'm sorry, but your teachers already called to tell me you're behind in your schoolwork."

I lower my head in shame, accepting my fate. I'll be fine. I just have to put my old tactics to use. Invisibility is key.

"Fine." I mutter moodily, "I'll go to school. It's the most important thing after all."

My mother sighs and I become aware of the fact I'm being a brat. Still, I'm indulging in a big enough pity party not to care much.

"Sorry..." I murmur.

She sighs again, "I wish you would open up to me, Ashley, but I'm already late for work. We'll talk about this later, though."

When I walk into school late, Mr. Lester sighs and marks me as a tardy. I hardly notice. However, what I do notice is that the he class is eyeing me with distaste.

I hear whispers of me being a backstabbing jerk who knows nothing of loyalty. I'm sure Shelby is behind those.

I try to disregard them, looking down at my overdue homework and trying my best to remember why Romeo and Juliet's love was true. Unfortunately, English does nothing but remind me of Cole. The class--and moments--weren't bad. Their results, however were disastrous.