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3

I took a deep breath, looking once more in the direction of where Charlie had been. I didn't have time to think as the abrupt knock on the small glass panel located in the top section of the door, brought me back to reality. I turned around to see a lady in her mid twenties smiling through the window. As I opened the door and walked into the nurses's office, I saw that same lady smirking at me. "A little distracted huh? I've been there, and not too long ago either." We both laughed and I sat down. "So, what's up?"

~

I returned to class an hour later only for the bell to ring, signaling fourth period, the last period of the day. I made my way out into the bustle of the hallways, and adjusted my pace. Two juniors decided to drag their feet as slow as humanly possible across the entire hallway. It felt like ages but as soon as they turned a corner, I was able to speed up and actually make it to my yearbook class. As a high school student, that was one of the things I hated the most. How could someone walk so slow?

I strolled into class just as the bell rang and made my way over to my seat. Alyssa was sitting there, a smile on her face as usual. It was my favorite class partially because I loved photography but mostly because it was the only class that my best friend and I were in together. As luck would have it, we had a sub and considering it was a "no homework" weekend, a new establishment given to us by our new principal, Mr. Owens, there was no classwork that we had to do. We spent the whole class binge watching Gilmore Girls Season 6. Rory was back at Yale, Luke was still engaged to Lorelai, and it was back to the reestablished Friday nights dinners at the grandparents' house. When Alyssa and I heard that they were coming out with a new season just nine years after the finale, we had to start watching the original series. After getting to season three, we both wished Milo Ventimiglia was still as young as he is on the show when he played Jesse.

After one of the best yearbook classes that was carefree and easy, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Alyssa and I were staying at school as I only had my bike and Charlie drove Alyssa to school in his Mustang. She preferred to be chauffeured around. It was our usual ritual anyway, staying at school the day of a football game.

We made our way over to the science wing bathrooms as they were huge and one of the cleanest bathrooms I had every encountered in my entire life.  With over three hours until kickoff, we had no excuse not to look our best for this game.

Once we got to the bathroom, it was time to set up. We pulled makeup bag after makeup bag out of our backpacks until every sink was covered, in red and gold. It was our school mascot, the lion.

Two hours later, we were sitting in the senior lounge on our phones, red glitter highlighter on our cheek bones and gold glitter eye shadow on our eyelids, with nothing to do.

I was almost completely asleep when suddenly I was jolted awake by Alyssa. "AAGHHH!" I fell off the couch and tumbled on to the hardwood floor with a thud. When I sat up I looked over to my best friend. She was paler than a ghost and looked as though she had chalk thrown at her face. I walked over to her, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Alyssa, what's wrong?" Alyssa said nothing but moved her phone towards me. I looked to the screen on to find that a boy had messaged her on Instagram saying hey. Now normally that would excite us, but as I read the username, I began to sweat. It was Jeremy Smith.

~

"Look, it's my last day here until I move to Texas. Can't you just give me a chance. I like you, I always have." Alyssa shook her head in disbelief and laughed. I know how blunt my best friend could be at times. It was only the sixth grade and this boy was pouring his heart out to her and she cast him aside like a rotted piece of fruit. I understood why she decided to cut him like a knife to the heart but still, it was painful to watch. Jeremy Smith had always been mean to Alyssa and I since the First grade. He would pull our hair, push us off of a swing, and as we got older, he would spread rumors about us. We despised him.

As a frown fell apparent on his pimple-covered face, I couldn't help but almost feel sad for him. That emotion quickly changed when he spoke, a smirk forming on his face as he did. "I'm not surprised at all Alyssa but just you wait, I'll be back and you'll wish you gave me a chance. Just remember, you know who my family is and they don't take rejection well."  With those last words, Jeremy walked away and has been gone every since. Until today.

~

"What should I do?" Alyssa was now almost out of breath and shaking, both of us remembering that flash-back from sixth grade. I replied almost immediately, as not to prolong this encounter. "Don't answer and block him. You should tell your parents too. In case he comes back." Alyssa shook her head. "I'm not gonna tell my parents, they're never home anyway to care enough. Plus, I'm just gonna answer him back. What if he got mad if I didn't answer him?" I frowned. "But what if by answering him, just leads him right back into your life?"