Weight

Part Three

The next day I woke up all too early for school. I got ready, putting a little extra effort into my appearance and careful to take my ring off. I knew all eyes were going to be on me if I was going to hang around Nate. They'd be wondering if I was his latest plaything in Nate's long line of hookups. I didn't necessarily care what they thought, but I didn't love everyone watching me.

When I finished my morning routine, I grabbed my bag and started my walk to school. I accidentally wrecked my car when I hit a stop sign last month, so I'd be walking to school until my parents deem I'm worthy of a new one. Although, I guessed once I was living in the same house as Nate he could give me rides.

Inside the school, I pushed my way through the crowded hallway to get to my locker. I put some of my books away and shut my locker, only to turn and find my best friend Paisley bounding towards me.

I smiled. "Hey, Paisley."

"Hey!" She greeted cheerily. "Do anything fun this weekend?"

A queasy feeling washed over my stomach and spread from my head to my toes. Nate and I hadn't discussed best friends, but we said we wouldn't tell anyone. I suddenly felt sick. It didn't feel right lying to my best friend.

"Just hung around the house," I shrugged, trying to act casual. "You?" I tried changing the subject.

"I had a great weekend! I met up with Todd Saturday night." Paisley admitted. Bringing up Todd was a great distraction from my guilt and I immediately felt the knots in my stomach untying themselves. Todd was Paisley's (ex?)boyfriend. I never liked him. He was a jerk and not worth my best friend's time, but Paisley always went back to him for a kiss-and-make-up after their many fight-and-break-ups.

I rolled my eyes at Paisley. I could never tell her that I thought she should have dumped Todd on his sorry ass, but I think she always knew it. Paisley began defending herself for her latest rendezvous with that dick. "He brought me flowers and everything!" she cried, insisting that fixed the world.

I tuned Paisley's chatter out as we walked to class. First block was uneventful, and so was second block. As I walked to my locker to grab my lunch, my stomach twisted over again. I remembered Nate's words last night, saying we should start eating lunch together. He hadn't talked to me in the hallways yet today, so I wasn't sure if he still felt confident in his plan.

My hands shook slightly as I walked into the cafeteria, but instantly felt calmed when Nate made eye contact with me from across the room and waved me over with a smile. I smiled back and crossed the room, ready to take the seat next to him.

"Hey, Evie," Nate said as I plopped down on the plastic bench.

"Hey, Nate," I replied casually, opening my brown bagged lunch. I was hoping to keep my hands busy and my eyes down so I didn't have to look up and see everyone's confused looks. I pulled out the bag of cookies I had. I knew I shouldn't eat the cookies first, but I needed some comfort food.

Nate glanced down at the bag of cookies I was unzipping. "Are those. . .are those your special snickerdoodles?"

I paused. "You remember them?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. "After all this time?"

Nate laughed. "How could I forget? I lived off of your cookies freshman year! You wouldn't stop baking them and I couldn't stop eating them. They're the reason I gained twenty pounds that year!"

I joined him in his laugh, but argued back, "No, Nate, I think you gained twenty pounds your freshman year because you grew half of a foot."

Nate shrugged, relenting his argument, but was still staring at my cookies. "Can I have one?"

I looked up at him, ready to tell him no and go back off my food, but he was giving me his puppy dog eyes. His pouty lips just looked. . .oh, boy. His lips looked too good. I looked away quickly and sighed. "Fine, have a cookie."

He smiled and gave me a quick side-hug-squeeze thing before tearing into my bag and grabbing a cookie out. I chuckled at his satisfied face after he shoved the cookie into his mouth.

I finally looked up to see his friends looking at us. I blushed and went back to eating my lunch.

"Oh, hey, Paisley." I heard Nate say.

I looked up to find a very confused best friend staring back at me. "Hey, Nate. Evie." She drawled.

"Hey, P," I greeted back. I knew she was waiting for an explanation or at least some indication from me that things were out of the ordinary, but I couldn't give her anything.

"Meet me before practice? I want to go over some things for the routine with you." Paisley finally said. I agreed, even thought I knew what Paisley wanted to talk about had nothing to do with our routine, and she took her normal seat at the other end of the table filled with cheerleaders and football players.

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Lunch was surprisingly uneventful. I knew some people had been looking at Nate and I chatting and laughing, wondering when we'd gotten to be friends again, but it wasn't too hard to ignore.

Now, as the end of the day neared, I knew I'd be getting grilled by Paisley. I'd ranted to her too many times about how much it hurt me that Nate and I had grown apart. She wasn't going to just let this go.

After the final bell, I packed up all my homework and went to the locker room to get changed for cheer practice. I quickly threw on my practice wear and went out to the track to meet up with Paisley.

I dumped my bags on the ground next to where she was sitting. She glanced up at me for only a second before returning her eyes to the clipboard in her hands. "Talk." Paisley ordered.

I sighed, the knots coming back. "It's not a huge deal. His family just came over this weekend, so we were talking again. He suggested we eat lunch together, so we did." The lies rolled off my tongue. I hated not being truthful to my best friend, but Paisley was a huge gossip. If she knew, the school knew. I couldn't let everyone finding out that I was seventeen and getting married.

Paisley looked to me. "Promise that's it?"

I faked a smile and nodded, not actually able to get the words I promise out.

Paisley sighed. "Okay, just. . .just don't let him hurt you again, okay? I love you too much for that to happen again."

I told Paisley I was sure that wouldn't happen, but I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped my lips at the irony of Paisley's words of wisdom. I've been saying that to her about Todd for as long as they've been together, but she never follows my advice.

We started practice out on the track with a the mile we had to run everyday. As we circled around the football field, I found myself searching the group of players for Nate. I wasn't sure if he was looking for me to, but when I finally found him, we locked eyes and he waved. I waved back. I was feeling giddy at my new friendship.

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Part 3! Feedback appreciated, as always. Thanks for reading :)