Keeping A Straight Face | ✔

23 | Ice Cream

D A R K O' S P.O.V

Midday Tuesday, February 12th, 2014.

Have you ever walked past a kid who's just sitting there, smiling like a tool at their phone and wondered why they were?

Well, right now, that's me - sitting right here, by myself, in the cafeteria with the biggest grin on my face. You can blame Taylor for my stupid grin. 

I keep re-reading the conversation, but one bit in particular made me fangirl more than a thirteen-year-old teenager at a Justin Bieber Concert.

'Love you too dude.'

Taylor has no idea how happy that single message has made me. Today's been absolutely shit; Bella would not stop giving me bitchy side-eye all of Maths, Lyra's ditched me for Stefan - who I don't want to be around - and Owen's disappeared from the face of the Earth. I felt like crying before but after talking to Taylor for those short few moments, I felt so warm and loved.

I was so lost in my musings that I didn't even notice Bella plonk herself next to me. I was still smiling at my phone when I heard a cough come from her. 

Her gaze was murderous.

"Uhm, what the fuck?" She said, whipping her phone out. "What did you do?!"

I furrowed my brows, the happiness from Taylor vanishing. "What the hell are you on about?"

She sighed heavily. "Don't act dumb! You got Taylor to reject me, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!"

"Reject you? I didn't! I didn't even know he did until just now!" 

She rolled her eyes, before scoffing. Her lips curled into a sardonic grin. "You're full of shit, Darko."

I'm gonna hit her. "I swear on my grandpop's grave that I did not get him to reject you!"

She cocked her eyebrows in a mocking way. "Whatever. Watch your fucking back. If I find out that you had something to do with this, then you can kiss your closet goodbye!"

"Whatever," I said, returning back to my phone. "You aren't going to find anything, because I haven't told him jack shit."

"Then why is he so hung up on asking y-" She said, cutting herself off before she could finish her sentence. I lifted a brow, but before I could ask her to finish it, she picked up her things and stormed off.

Who?

"BELLA," I shouted, "Who does he want to ask out?"

She craned the upper-half of her body around, flipping the bird at me. She shot me a withering glare, before disappearing into the crowd. 

~~~~~

Tuesday Evening

"Darko? Why aren't you racing?" Owen said, shouting up at me from the starting point. I shook my head before sighing, leaning against the backboard of the makeshift stadium stairs that lined the race track. 

I wanted to race - I just couldn't. Every time I hopped onto my bike and went to the starting line, all I could hear was Stefan's dramatic commentator voice from the referee stand. He was acting so great these past two weeks, and now, it's all just been thrown to the wind. 

Owen glanced at the other racers, nodding and mumbling stuff out of my earshot. He quickly parked his bike on the edge of the track before hurrying up to where I was sitting. 

"What's wrong, mate?" Owen said, carefully sitting next to me. I shrugged. 

"Did Bella do something else? Because if she did, I swear she's gonna get a face full of Knuc and Ckles."