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1989
The first week of school was dreadful and moved at the speed of molasses. Joe and Jennifer had gotten much closer, and it honestly made Helena want to projectile vomit all over the place.
Helena used to love the McIntyre-Westbrook dinners. Now, she just felt awkward going. She had been anxious about the weekly dinner with her neighbours since Monday.
"Helena, are you ready? The McIntyre's will be here any minute!" Mrs.Westbrook yelled from the kitchen.
"Yeah, Mom, I'm ready!" Helena yelled as she finished brushing her hair. She took a deep breath, and made her way downstairs. As soon as she was on the last stair, the doorbell rang.
"I got it, Mom!" Helena walked a few feet towards the door, and swung it open. The McIntyre's stood there in casual clothing, since today was the famous First Week of School barbecue.
"Lena! I haven't seen you in so long!" Mrs.McIntyre immediately brought in Helena for a hug. Then Mr.McIntyre, his four sisters (Some siblings are in college), and finally Joe. Helena probably could've started crying in Joe's arms, if he hadn't had released her so quickly. The McIntyre's piled into her house, greeting the Westbrooks.
"I haven't seen you in a long time, Helly Belly," He said, and Helena shrugged.
"I mean, four days isn't really that long, is it Joe?" Helena stared at the ground.
"I guess not, just kind of long for us," Joe sighed, and Helena chewed on her lip.
Joe didn't know what was going on. Did he say something on the first day of school that made her mad? Joe thought she looked really sad, the way she furrowed her eyebrows, and how she stared at the ground like it was the most important thing ever.
"What's wrong, Helena? Seriously," Joe asked.
"Are you dating Jennifer Saturn?" Helena looked up at Joey.
"Um, yeah. I was going to tell you tonight. How'd you find out?" Joe questioned. He was surprised she even knew. Not a lot of people knew yet, which was another odd thing because Jennifer was the type of person to tell everyone everything about her love life. Or her sex life.
"I just," Helena bit her lip, her anger simmering down, "Heard it around school. You know how it is,"
"Oh," Joe said, obviously not believing her.
Joe couldn't help but realise how pretty she was.
About halfway through the barbecue, Helena had felt a bit better. Joe had somehow found a way to cheer her up, and it was working, before Mr.McIntyre spoke.
"You know, Joseph here has a girlfriend, Jennifer right , Joe?" Mr.McIntyre spoke proudly. Joe nodded, his lips in a fine line.
"It's funny, we always joked about Lena and Joe dating, I guess not," Mrs.McIntyre laughed, "Oh, Lena! Do you have anyone special, or are you crushing on anyone?" She asked. Helena choked on her lemonade.
"Oh, um, no one in particular, Mrs.McIntyre," Helena smiled for effect, and she snapped the rubber band on her wrist. Helena had been biting her lip so much that it started bleeding. The nasty metallic flavoured liquid left a horrible taste in her mouth that reminded her of a nine volt battery. She hastily took a sip of lemonade, but instead of alleviating the pain, the acid made it even more painful. Helena put down the glass, and started coughing. Then, she covered her mouth, and coughed to the point there were tears in her eyes. Joe watched this all go down. Something was off with Helena, and Joe was determined to find out.
"Sweetie are you okay?" Her mom asked, and everyone stared at Helena.
"Uh, yeah, Mom," She said awkwardly.
*** (Edited) I might post two chapters tonight oooh. I have mixed feelings ab this book not gonna lie Also wtf Helena are you okay???? jOE STOP IGNORING HELENA'S FEELINGS LOVE HER!!
Thank you so much for reading/voting/commenting! AND OMG ALMOST 100 READS THANK YOU ALL SM WTF
