Life doesn't come with a user manual. It is a series of trial and errors.
Amelia is like any other girl. Navigating through life without a map and a compass that points anywhere but North. This story follows Amelia through her candid moments a...
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In the following weeks our schedules only got crazier than before. Aaron was going through some major mood swings, second only to a menopausal woman.
He and Zach were busting their asses with practices twice a day. I had my newsletter work but being the photographer my work was easier than the others. That left just Brooke and I to hang out all the time. To be honest I was grateful for that. I was pretty much tiptoeing around Aaron all the time, which was a rather unpleasant experience. Being excessively chill about everything was part of his charm and this continuous agitated state was rather uncharacteristic of him. Zach on the other hand was trying to make up for all the lost time through constantly keeping in touch through text.
'Don't miss me too much!'
My phone pinged again. I was moments away from slapping my face out of frustration but stopped remembering that this time I was determined to do things differently. This just could not be a repeat of my previous 'relationships'. Brooke must have caught my expression as she lifted her gaze from my camera to fix me with one. She was currently situated on my bed going through the pictures of the pep rally, which went remarkably well just fyi. The whole school was buzzed about this year's sports season, the highlight being basketball. It usually slipped my mind, but these things reminded me just how popular Aaron was in our school. The most support, no doubt, being thanks to him being the captain. I was sure Brooke only made up the reason of wanting to see the pictures to find his. But it seemed like Aaron had failed to mention our run in at the movie to Brooke, and she was clueless about my knowledge of their relationship. All in good time I guess.
"So... You seem pissed."
"Pissed is a strong word."
I tried to dismiss her speculation. I wasn't pissed per say. I found Zach's efforts rather endearing in the beginning, but now he was just starting to come off as clingy. Or maybe this was me going down the same beaten up route of detachment, that I frequented. Anyway I wasn't giving her the pleasure of thinking 'I told you so' which she would, regardless of my reasons being completely different. Zach was anything but lame. Maybe his jokes were, a little. He was fun to hang out with. Not through text though. We had an exceptionally bad understanding through electronic medium. This was just plain old me, freaking out at any prospects of closeness.
"I haven't seen the guys in a while now. I kinda miss hanging around Zach."
Brooke nodded at this.
"So when did you last see Aaron?"
I made a subtle attempt at trying to get her to give away something! The woman was seriously secretive and it really was difficult to hold it in when it was my two best friends who were keeping it a secret.
"Didn't we all have lunch together, just today?"
Shit!
"Not like that... Do you guys hang out when you know, I'm with Zach or something... Or maybe busy? You usually drive him home don't you?"
"Subtlety really isn't your thing Amelia... I know what you're hinting at. Actually I'm surprised you managed to keep it in this long."
Wait what! She knew? These brats are really messing with me!
Brooke had this expression on her face that I couldn't decipher for the life of me. She had a smile on her face but she looked more disappointed than anything. Or maybe I was just imagining things. Maybe it was a wistful smile on her face. Was she angry that I didn't straight up ask her about this? But then she didn't tell me anything either. When did things get so complicated?
"You could've just told me and I would've been rally happy for you, you know. I still am. I didn't expect any better from Aaron but I thought.. you know..."
Brooke sighed heavily and pretty much grimaced.
"Really Amelia... Are you really this dense or do you do this on purpose?"
Wait I've heard this one before! And then they say they aren't together!
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I sincerely apologise to all those YA writers out there who I thought had it all easy. "It's just a highschool romance" she said "How hard can that be!" She said. Honestly this is much harder than I thought. Also I still hate college.
