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08 | Romeo & Juliet

Staying away from James is proving to be harder than I thought. And that's really hard because I thought it would be the worst. Turns out, I was wrong. It's worse than the worst. Today is Monday, the first day of our second week of school, and I haven't texted James since our date. It's killing me.

He's called me twice every day since Friday. I know I should probably break up with him...if we were ever a thing. Like Nick said, I should stay away from him. And I am. I just haven't had to try so hard since, thank God, school isn't on the weekends. Which gives me the feeling that James will be looking for me the first chance his gets.

The first chance he gets is at lunch. Sage is sitting on my left with Noah across from me when she whispers, "Look to your right," in my ear. I casually glance to where she's directing me and see James entering the cafeteria. His head is swerving left to right like he's looking for something. Or someone. Bet I could guess who...

I look away so that it won't seem like I'm ignoring him. But I am.

I see Sage tense up and predict James is probably trucking his way over here. I'm right. He didn't even bother to get in the lunch line.

"Clover," he says with a relieved tone.

"Hey." I look up at him and think, How can I ever hurt him? "Sorry I didn't answer your calls. I lost my voice over the weekend, so my aunt took my phone away. She didn't want me using my voice at all," I lie.

"It's ok. I was just really worried." His smile reads, "I'm glad you're ok."

I'm about to smile back when Nick comes up behind him.

"Excuse me." His time isn't rude, but it's not like he's going to win the award for friendliest.

James moves just enough towards our table that Nick can squeeze in between him and the table beside us. I look for some clue in James that might help me to believe that he's been brainwashed to be a serial killer by the same people who gave me my dreams, but I don't find anything that would lead me to think that. Other than his disdain for Nick, which everyone at this school has, he doesn't seem unusual at all.

I think Nick is about to slide by our table and head on to the rest of his Basic family, but instead he takes the empty seat to my left. He and James stare each other down until James gets the message. He says, "See you later, Clover," to me and turns to leave the same way he came. When he's out of earshot, I give Nick my disappointment look.

"What was that?"

"What?" He actually seems oblivious to the idea that he was practically asking for James to slap him.

"Really. You're playing dumb?"

"Oh...you mean James."

"What else would I mean?"

Nick starts to say something, but then adverts his eyes to the right where Noah and his two freshman friends are sitting. Noah had his mouth wide open in shock. Pretty sure he's had a crush on Nick since the 4th grade. Even if he didn't know it at the time.

"Cass...are you too like friends now?"

I open my mouth to answer, but Nick beats me to it.