Once Upon a Time

Chapter Two: What's Wrong With Friendship?

Chapter Two: What’s Wrong With Friendship?

Today was one of those rare days when I headed straight home instead of going out with a friend after school. And to put in simply, I was bored out of my mind. There wasn’t much to do after school when Exam Week was two weeks from today’s date. Everyone was either busy studying or too stressed out to go and have a chill hangout. Curse my friends for either being super diligent students—Samantha being one of them—or lazy asses who freak before exams.

The only person who I knew wasn’t too busy or too freaked out was unfortunately, the one and only Stefan Holden. I rolled my eyes as I logged on Skype, seeing his name on my online contacts list. Damn him. Problem was, I had already sworn to myself not to talk to him to prove to Carson that I, Alana Ross, did not have any feelings whatsoever for Stefan Holden. I didn’t have to prove that, but my pride simply wouldn’t let me to click on his Skype profile to start up a chat.

Closing the tab, I sighed and decided to open my browser instead. Perhaps I could find an interesting story to read on the Internet and use it as inspiration for English class. It didn’t take me long to find one that looked like it was worth giving a read. Three chapters in, though, and I discovered that it was another one of those sloppy love stories. The plot was way too fast and it was so damn cliché that it made me want to scream in frustration. I exited the browser, not wanting to continue on with the story.

Of course, I found myself scrolling through my online Skype contacts once more. You couldn’t blame me—what would one do when one was bored? Realizing that there was no one else who I was friends with other than Stefan there, I told myself that Carson didn’t need to know if I was that bored to go strike up a conversation with Stefan.

Hey, I typed in, and clicked Enter.

Five seconds later, he replied with, Oh, it’s you. Hi there.

I resisted the urge to laugh at his reply. It wasn’t difficult to tell that we’d start squabbling soon. So before I could change my mind, I asked, Wanna call? I’m bored as fuck right now.

Sure, he said.

The call notification showed up on my screen, and I hurriedly pressed the button to answer to call. Stefan’s amused laugh filled my ears. “Your laugh is weird,” I told him, though a small smile appeared on my face as I said so.

“Yeah, well, I can’t help but find this whole situation funny.” I could almost see him shrugging his shoulders to accompany his words.

“What’s so funny about it?” I curiously inquired.

“Tell me, Alana, when was the last time you actually talked to me on Skype just for fun?”

“Um, last month? Or two months ago?”

“Exactly!” Stefan exclaimed. “It’s just odd that you decided to talk to me, out of all people. Why not go call Carson or something?”

I shook my head at his question, only to realize that he couldn’t see my actions. “Well, dumbass, look at your list of online contacts and tell me whether Carson’s name is there or not.”

There was silence for about thirty seconds or so—save for the sound of Stefan’s fingernails tapping on his laptop. Finally, I heard, “Nope, his name isn’t there. Now I get why you called me. No one else to talk to, huh?”

I knew that he didn't say that because he was offended, so I simply confirmed it. The fact that we weren't really that close sometimes made me happy, because I didn't have to worry about what he thought of me.