Even Angels Fall

Chapter 6

                       ~~~~~~Christina~~~~~~~

"There she is." Jodi came into the bathroom while I was washing my hands. "The one every single girl at this school wants to be right now." She stopped at the sink next to mine and pulled out her make up bag. "And some of the non-single ones too."

"The one they all hate, you mean." I sighed, reaching for the paper towels.

"No one hates you," she said staring into the mirror, pulling out the lip gloss. 

I watched her skeptically in the mirror. 

"They're jealous, sure." She glanced at me. "Maybe a little confused."

"Confused about why he even likes me," I said, wondering the same thing.

"No, confused about how you two even noticed each other." She turned to me. "You barely even used to look at guys, let alone Mike Maddin. Plus, you're not really the type of girl he's gone for before."

Well, that was true. I was nothing like any of his old girlfriends.

"And no one hates you." 

"Have you seen the looks I've been getting from Kate and Julia?"

"A few bitter exes." She rolled her eyes. "It's not personal. You're just the replacement. If you guys broke up tomorrow, they'd probably try to be your best friends."

"Break up?" I gave a nervous laugh. "He's not even my boyfriend yet."

Jodi raised her eyebrows.

"We're just friends right now," I said. "Who've been on a few dates."

"Uh huh." She swapped her lip gloss for eye liner. "Friends who spend every spare second together, including secluded lunches every day. Where do you guys go, anyway?"

"The field." I shrugged.

"It's freaking cold outside!" she said. "Weren't you guys freezing?"

Today had been the first really cold day of the year, but I hadn't wanted to forsake our spot outside just yet.

"Um, not really." I blushed and bit my lip, smiling. We'd been freezing for all of about ten minutes, while we ate. After that, we kept each other nice and toasty.

Thinking about it now, we probably shouldn't have. Or at least not for the entire hour. It's not that I felt like that time was exactly wasted, but I had so much to do and I usually used the end of lunch as a mini study hall. Time was something I had to be extremely careful about if I wanted to be allowed to keep seeing Mike. I didn't think Daddy would give me a second chance if I screwed up and let things slip.

Before we started going out, I'd had a hard time fitting everything in. It was manageable, but sometimes only just. With my Saturdays now mostly dedicated to spending time with Mike, it was even harder. I needed every spare second.

Jodi laughed. "Uh huh," she said sarcastically, turning her attention back to the mirror. "You guys are 'just friends'."

"Technically," I said.

"Maybe so, but from what I've heard, that's not how Mike sees it." Jodi grinned.

"What did you hear? From who?" I had mixed feelings about that. I wasn't crazy about the fact that there were rumors about us, but it didn't sound like they were the bad kind.

She finished up with her eyes and put the make up away before giving me her full attention. "I heard from Amanda who heard from Sarah who heard from Jenny who's, ahem, 'just friends' with Jeremy, that Mike's totally obsessed with you."