Loving The Devil's Son ( #Wattys2017 )

Chapter 14: I'm As Straight As A Curly Fry, Babe.

Song: It's Time

Artist(s): Imagine Dragons

Image: Caroline and Elias.

At the end of the day, Adara came over to my house and we talked for hours about my first day at school. She was just as interested in it as she was the moment she found out Snape was a good guy (RIP). We also set up plans to hang out later today as well.

The next day in math, Caroline speaks up to me. "Hey, Lauren."

"What's up?" I ask, half aloud, scribbling over the date several times in my notebook.

"I... I don't want you to take this the wrong way. I just want to tell you something, okay?"

I slow down my scribbling and look up at her. "There's something in my hair, huh?" I start running my fingers in my hair to fix it up. "I didn't really brush my hair today. I figured there'd be—"

She kind of scoffs. "Heh, no. That's not it." She draws an invisible circle with her finger on the corner of her desk and sucks in her upper lip. She looks pretty uncomfortable with what she's going to say.

"She... She's been acting kind of weird lately when you're around. She's not exactly a, uh—" She lets out a short, sharp breath. "How do I put this."

"Just— Just lay it on me, Caroline," I insist.

"Okay." She comes closer and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, then fidgets with her pencil. "Alright, so." She pauses, again.

"So..?"

"She's not really the nicest person. She's done some really shitty things." She looks at me like I should understand what she's talking about by now. I do have a hunch, however.

"Jessica?"

She nods her head. "And, lately, her nice aura has been fading—" I politely cut her off (is there really a way to politely cut someone off?).

"Jessica has been off lately, yes, but everyone has those days, right?" I calmly defend. "No one is happy all the time."

She straightens up in her seat, feeling more confident with her reasoning. "I'm just telling you, it's just really different right now. I think it has to do with Aiden."

I scribble harder on the date. "No, Caroline. I am just friends with Aiden. I've even cleared this misunderstanding with her the first day. I appreciate your concern— I do— but Jessica is really close to me, and if she had anything to say, I'm sure she'd tell me."

She finally concedes and leans back in her chair, nodding. "Alright, I'm sorry. You know her much better than I do."

I do. She is one of my best friends. Although I have known Adara far longer, Jess and I have still been very close friends since elementary school. There is no way she would hide a grudge behind my back as childish as this from me.

Caroline smiles at me kindly. "It's great to see the faith you have in your best friend."

I shrug. "There's nothing special or admirable about it, really. All friendships should have it—all real friendships do." I smile back and she nods her head.

"Ladies," a voice behind us says, coming closer. Caroline turns around and grins, her mood completely perked up again. "How goes it?" he asks, delicately resting a hand on her shoulder.

"It goes well," Caroline drawls, laying her hand on his.

I smirk. "Ooh, boyfriend?" I ask, quietly.