My Almost Best Friend

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

I came home to an empty house and a long grocery list. Gotta love Thursday shopping day.

I decided to hit the mall first, since there stood the only dry cleaner my mom trusted with her "party" clothes.

After dropping off a dress at Sal's Dry Cleaning Service, I decided to get an orange julius at DQ. I was shocked when I saw Claire sitting at a table with Mike. She was beaming in his direction and they were sharing a shake.

My eyes searched frantically for Amarys, hoping this was all a big mix up. I decided to drop that analysis as their lips began to touch.

I dashed behind the sunglass cart when she looked in my direction.

"Ay man!" said a Jamaican salesperson, "You going to buy some sunglasses or what?"

"Um," I looked at a few pairs, but after realizing they were over 200$ each I said, "Oh no, just window shopping." I laughed nervously.

"Well go window-not buy, somewhere else!" he said frustrated. I crossed my fingers as I was shooed away, hoping that Claire wouldn't be looking.

She was definitely preoccupied.

I decided to text her, as I backed away into the nearby Charming Charlie's.

Me: Hey Claire! How's shopping?

Claire: Great! I just found the cutest jeans!

Me: Is Amarys enjoying the Portland Mall?

Claire: Gtg! Checking out!

I shook my head as I stuck my phone back in my pocket. I yanked it out again when I realized I could text Amarys too.

Me: Hey Amarys! Enjoying the mall!

Amarys: Oh it's spectacular! There's so many cute shops!

Me: Have you or Claire found anything you like?

Amarys: Actually Claire wasn't feeling very well, so she decided to stay home instead.

Me: Oh.

Amarys: Mmmm. Looks like DQ's having a sale on smoothies! Better but one.

As much as I wanted Claire to feel bad, I didn't want Amarys to find out this way.

Me: Hey wait! I'm at the mall too! We can shop together! Meet me back at Rue 21!

Amarys: Okay!

So I spent the rest of the afternoon with Amarys, getting to know her better.

She was an only child, which I figured. Apparently she moved pretty often, because of her dad's job, and they moved here for a nice fresh start.

By the time we finished hanging out, and I finished with my mom's list, it was past 9.

My mom was folding laundry on the couch, in her pink polka dot pajamas with big yellow duck slippers.

"Hi sweetie!" she called over her shoulder.

"Hey mom," I said, setting the groceries onto the table.

"Come on over here! America's Got Talent is starting!" She exclaimed, fixing up a big bowl of popcorn.

My least favorite group, a band of middle age guys playing smooth jazz got voted off tonight, so I went to bed happy tonight.

========================

"Are you going to the carnival tonight?" Amarys asked eagerly, as we quizzed each other in Spanish.

"I'm not sure." It's not like I didn't want to go, I just wasn't sure who to go with. Claire wasn't exactly my first choice lately.

"Well I'd love it if you would come with me!"

"Who are you going with?"

"I'm not sure, probably Claire."

I sighed, knowing that I needed to go with her, since Claire wasn't the "ideal" candidate.

"Or maybe Mike! He seemed to like me on our date!"

It felt like a weight was dumped on me. I twisted my fingers around and fidgeted.

"I'll go with you," I finally said.

"Really? Yay! This is going to be so fun!"

I nodded as the bell rang for B lunch.

As we walked through the hallways she said, "So what are you wearing to the Princess lunch-in tomorrow?"

I almost choked on air right there, in the middle of the hallway.

"The what?" I gasped.

"The principal wants all spring queen candidates here for lunch tomorrow, for some kind of meeting or something. Apparently the school wants to have more 'big events', so they're really going big on this whole 'election' thing."

Great, just what I wanted. Lunch for five. Because seeing Summer every second of every weekday wasn't enough.

"What time?" I mumbled, trudging through the hallway as other kids flew by, racing each other to the cafeteria.

"11:30!" she said cheerily. Sometimes her positivity did the opposite of what positivity is supposed to do.

The cafeteria was like a war zone as we entered. Francesca stood in one corner screaming above the noise, spilling all sorts if crazy Summer secrets.

Summer stood in another, campaigning herself. She seemed very, persuasive.

In the meantime Claire had taken control of Summer's 'ex-table', and there were two seats set out for Amarys and I.

There were a ton of guys there too, minus Anthony. Mike Palmer sat in between Amarys and Claire, and I had to look away in order to restrain myself from blurting out everything from their little Dairy Queen 'adventure'.

I sat in the empty seat by Claire, although most if her attention was directed towards Mike.

It seemed so unreal when I turned to my left and Trevor was sitting right by me. My heart began to pound, so I did the logical thing that any teenage girl would do if she was nervous. I stuffed my face with a sandwich.

"So," Claire announced, in a prissy tone, as she straightened up and smoothed her skirt. "The carnival's tonight and I think that all if us should go together."

Most of the table nodded there heads in agreement, but I kept my eyes focused in my tray and got started on my grapes.

"Sounds cool," Trevor spoke up, in his usual smooth voice.

Then Brian made his way over and plopped down next to us.

He looked around and gave us a monotone, "Hey."

"Why aren't you with Summer?" One if the guys asked quizzically.

"Are you kidding? You think I want to enter that chaos."

It surprised me that he even dared yo come over, given that jealousy was one of Summer's not-so-many talents.

However we all agreed with him, and he slipped into our conversation with ease.

Lucky for Brian, Summer and Francesca battled it out for the rest if lunch. I don't even want to know what Summer would of said, had she found him over here.

I guess Summer's fan club was no more.

The lunch bell rang and we all stood up but Claire made us stop and reminded us to get our tickets and meet at the main entrance.

As I walked the hallways to drama, I couldn't help getting the feeling that something big easygoing to happen tonight. And that it might result in something bigger.