Strawberries and Kisses

Chapter III

The hallway, as expected, is jam-packed; with two groups of students trying to move in their seperate directions. The grade 9's and 10's going to the cafe for lunch, and the grade 11's and 12's going to their third period classes. Trudging through the sea of people slowly, I notice Chelsea up ahead, also attempting to make her way to the cafe.

"Chelsea!" I try to yell, but to no avail.

The noise level in the hallway is too loud for me to be heard. I squeeze through a few people in an attempt to catch up with her. When I finally do, she doesn't notice me right away. I tap her on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey Wesley. You kinda spooked me." she giggled.

"Gavin and Chrystal have been looking for you." I tell her.

"Oh. I saw them both earlier. Thanks for telling me though." she says happily.

"Oh yea! I forgot to tell you, but I've got a boyfriend now Wesley! That means I've beat you to it!" she exclaims, nudging me in the side.

"No way," I say in disbelief, and stop walking for a second.. "Who is it?"

"You'll find out later." she replies. I give her a skeptical look, and continue walking.

We finally manage to enter the cafeteria, which was filling up quickly. I scanned the room for Chrystal, who luckily was seated and saving seats for us. I walk over, and sit down beside her, Chelsea trailing behind. I pull out my lunch box, and begin eating.

"So Chelsea, who is this guy you are dating? You gotta tell me." Chrystal asks.

"You'll see! All I can say is it's someone you both know very well." she replies cheekily.

Chrystal and I exchange confused looks, and shrug. We then got into how our first and second period classes went. Chrystal and Chelsea both talked quite a bit about their second period class. They both took drama. I was only half-listening however, because I was attempting to scan my surroundings to see if I could find where the boy from earlier might be sitting.

"So what about you, Wesley?" Chelsea asks curiously. "How was second period?"

I hesitate for a second. "It was okay... Nothing really happened today." I almost mumble.

"Oh... okay then." Chelsea responds, and goes back to eating.

I nod. Chrystal leans over and whispers in my ear.

"Are you sure that's all? You have music second period don't you? You love music class." she asks.

While Chelsea was seemingly oblivious to my evasion tactic, Chrystal caught on that I may be hiding something.

She knows me too well, I swear.

I nod, and insist that she shouldn't be concerned. Chrystal just shrugs and returns to eating. A few minutes later, I pack up my lunch bag.

"I'll be back, I just gotta put my lunchbag in my locker." I say, as I get up.

I leave the cafeteria, and walk down the hallway. On the way to my locker, I stop by the drinking fountain, and fill up my water bottle. After I finish, I continue my walk towards my locker. On the way, I pass by Gavin.

"Hey dude. Chelsea's in the cafe right?" he asks me.

"Yup." I reply.

"Cool, thanks." he says and continues walking.

As I get to my locker and put my lunchbag away, I begin to wonder why Gavin seems to be looking for Chelsea quite often. They were pretty good friends last year, but something makes me think that this is a different circumstance than friendship.

Nah, who am I kidding?

I close my locker, and head back to the cafeteria. I'm about to enter, when I bump into the same boy from music class earlier.

"Oh shoot, my bad." he apologizes.

"I-it's fine..." I reply softly, taken off guard.

We make eye contact for what's actually a few seconds, but what feels like a minute. I notice his light brown eyes, his smooth-looking brown hair, and all of his other facial features. He looks so... perfect.

"Well, see ya." he smiles, and continues on his way.

I turn and make a subtle wave as he walks away, still staring in awe; as if I was in a trance of some sort. A few seconds later, and it occurs to me what just happened, and how stupid I must look.

"If he somehow doesn't think that you're the weirdest fucking being in this school, nearly swooning over two second eye contact with him, it'll be a bloody miracle." I scold myself, as I walk back to the table at which my friends sat.

I get to the table and see that Chrystal is no longer there. Gavin was sat there in her place, right next to Chelsea. And the two seemed unusually closer than normal...

It then suddenly occured to me what was happening.

"Chelsea, you're dating -" I try to say.

"Yup!" Gavin beams.

I feel feint. I sit down in the seat and attempt to take in this information. This was a fear I've had for quite some time.

And it finally comes true.

Fuck. I want to say aloud.

When two of your really close friends are dating, there is always a chance that if the relationship between them goes to shit, you're forced to take a side. And this is exactly what I've been hoping wouldn't happen.

Now don't get me wrong, I do feel happy for them, but there is still the thought of what could happen looming in the back of my mind whenever I think of them. I'm dreading the day that their relationship turns sour. It's bound to happen. It's happened with all of the other relationships in grade school. I've seen groups of friends get torn apart over break-ups, and it wasn't glamorous in the slightest.

"You feeling okay?" Chelsea asks me, with growing concern.

"Hm? Yeah. I'm doing okay." I lie. I get up, and leave the two in search of Chrystal.

Knowing her, she probably took the news either extremely positively, or didn't take the news well at all. Judging by the fact that she straight-up got up and left the table, I assume it's the second possibility. I look around the cafeteria, but she is no where to be seen. As I leave the cafeteria, my watch emits a single beep.
The time reads 12 p.m.

5 minutes remain to get to class, and I have no clue where Chrystal could be. It's unlike her to just get up and leave like that, unless something is really bugging her.

Go to class, or look for Chrystal?

I pull out my phone, and check my timetable.
Next period is geography. I make the decision to continue my search for Chrystal. I figure the decision will probably bite me in the ass later, but what the hell.

I try to rack my mind for ideas as to where Chrystal might possibly be. My first idea was her locker. But, hers is a few down from mine; I likely would've seen if she was going there. I walk down the hallway nonetheless, just to confirm she isn't there. As to be expected, she isn't.

I begin checking other places, her third period class, the arts wing, the library, but I have no luck. I start running out of ideas. I head into the stairwell and sit down on the top step to try and think, when I hear a faint sound of sobbing...