The Two Middles

Chapter 2: As cliche as it sounds, we group-hugged

Shivers. That's exactly what ran down my spine at lunch. There'd been no sign of Ian for half the day. I didn't have a single class with him yet. But there was always good old lunch to count on. I spotted him just as a ham and cheese sandwich was finding its way to my mouth.

He was there. He was just there, holding a green apple and talking to another guy. Something shot down my spine. Like, literally shot down my spine. I stared at his amazing self and flashed a small smile to myself. How could someone be so perfect?

He glanced at me for a fraction of a second and then looked away, expressionless. I, like the idiot I am, kept staring at him. I was literally frozen on my spot. My eyes reluctantly tore themselves apart from him and flashed my friends a look. All four of them turned their heads to look at Ian. Mel shot me an excited smile, while Tiara, Troye and Dean rolled their eyes at me, but smiled, nevertheless.

Tiara and Troye were twins. But not just any twins, strikingly beautiful and mischievous twins. Both of them with jet black eyes and hair, freckles sprinkled on their nose and cheeks, resembled each other a lot. Yet, somehow, both of them managed to look stunning in their own separate ways. But one was not to be fooled by their faces - those two were always, and I mean always up to something, i.e. pranks. They were always planning. If not for an upcoming prank, then for our Senior prank, which was still two years away. They played pranks at each other, us and almost everyone else in the world. Their mom had left when they'd been really young and they'd spent practically their whole lives with their dad, who was an amazing person and shared an epic relationship with his kids. The three of them would always be laughing, joking, sharing secrets, going fishing and passing their time ddoing something either completely ordinary, or something completely out of the blue.

Dean was a genius with his guitar. He was simply amazing. The kind of amazing that made every girl (and a few guys ;) )fall for him. But he no longer needed every girl to fall for him - he'd found his girl. Dean and Mel got together over the summer. Yep, the musical genius was dating a girl called Melody. Coincidence? I think not.

My eyes shot towards Ian again. The apple remained uneaten as he turned to talk to a girl. Not just any girl, but Janice. The Ms. Popular of Junior High. She was stunning and she knew it. Her hair, make up, clothes and nails were always perfect. She could land any guy she ever wanted to. The thing was the only guy she wanted to land wasn't interested in her. Janice had always wanted Ian, the whole of Junior High knew that, including Ian. But he hadn't shown much interest in her over the years. Yes, that's right, Mr. Popular and Ms. Popular weren't dating. Or so we all thought. Just as I rolled my eyes at Janice's pathetic attempt at looking innocent in front of Ian, he laughed, leaned in and kissed her.

He kissed her. He KISSED her! He kissed HER!!!!!!!!

My eyes widened in shock. No, not shock, it was....horror? Yes, horror. My eyes widened in horror as I watched him kiss her smack on the lips, in the center of the cafeteria! The whole population of the cafteria turned their heads and felt silent.

It was that way for a second - no one said a word, before some random girl seated on a table next to mine said in her attempts to speak softly, "I heard they got together over the summer."

My eyes widened even more and a small gasp escaped my mouth. The whole cafeteria's eyes were fixed on the kissing couple, but my friends' eyes were fixed on mine, which, by the way, decided to fill themselves with tears. I tried to blink them away, but it was too late, blinking only made them roll down my cheeks. Then, all at once, Melody, Troye, Tiara and Dean stood up and Tiara said, "Let's get outta here."

I stood and the five of us walked out.

Now that I think of it, maybe I wouldn't have cried if it was someone else. But this was way low. This was Janice! He'd never even liked her! And now they were dating?! What happened?

Once we were all outside, Dean sighed and said in this calming yet strict tone, "Hey, listen to me. No. You will not cry for the jerk who dates girls just for the sake of it. So you will wipe those tears from those beautiful eyes right now and smile. Because crying for an asshole is not worth your time." This caused smiles to flash themselves upon all my friends' faces. And I couldn't help but give him a small smile. He was there for me. They were all there for me. And then, as cliche and cheesy as it was, we group-hugged.

Despite all my friends' encouraging words, I couldn't help but feel as if someone had brought a rock down upon me. I still felt horrible. I'd never thought anything Ian-related could ever depress me. Apparently I was wrong. And even though what Dean said was probably right, I couldn't believe him. Ian probably was a jerk, but I couldn't believe it. For me he he was still that guy I'd shared a beautiful friendship with in fifth grade, the guy who was so adorably innocent and naughty at the same time, the guy who tugged at my hair and teased me, laughed at me, with me....

The bell suggesting the end of lunch rang and I walked into Science, half of me hoping Ian was in my class and the other half thinking completely against it. He wasn't, and one half of me was relieved.