April Clover doesn't know what to think when Alexander Valdez shows up during fifth period Calculus. Instantly, her mind takes her to their chance encounter from the previous summer, and she finds herself drawn to this mystery boy.
What happens when...
Not that I care or anything like that...But why is April is sitting there alone? And why is she so quiet? Usually, she'd come up to me right about now and talk my ears off about giving me her notes or helping me in some way, shape, or form. But she's all the way in the back of the room and sulking. So unlike her.
Where are those friends she's always with?
Oh. There they are. Off in separate corners. Must have had a fight.
Wait...I don't care. I don't want to know.
The papers crumple underneath my arm and I pull them out, blankly surveying the line of words underneath them.
Hormones released by the endocrine system attach onto receptors on the surface of cell membranes, injecting codes of information that inform each individual cell on what to do.
How is this information relevant to my life? I don't really care.
My eyes slide back over to where April sits, miserably hunched over her desk and buried in textbooks.
Okay...Actually, I do want to know. Blame my natural curiosity.
A sigh escapes my lips and I slowly get up, slipping towards the back of the room and sliding in next to April. She looks up at me, surprise evident on her face, then promptly looks down again after a pathetic excuse for a smile hollows out and then fades away. She leans on her elbow, eyes closing against her forearm, side of her head glued to the table-top.
I clear my throat and lean forward. "Hey. So, uh...What's the deal?"
She jumps at my voice and looks up again, turning in her seat to face me, mouth slightly open.
"You're...Talking to me..."
I shrug. "Yeah?"
She purses her lips. "It's a start."
I laugh lightly and tap my pen against my notebook, gesturing to the other corner of the room.
"That girl..."
She looks to who I'm nodding at and tenses up. "Charity?"
I nod and then point up to the front of the room. "And that guy...Remind me of his name?"
"Mason..."
"Yeah." I pause and set my chin on the base of my palm. "His girlfriend. They broke up, didn't they?"
She looks at me in disbelief, pulling her shawl closer towards her and uncomfortably averting her eyes,
"They did. Hey, how do you-"
"And it has something to do with Charity, doesn't it," I ask, cutting her off.
April considers me for a few seconds, stammering. "Um, yeah. It does."
I nod and shrug, crossing my legs under the table. "I thought so."
I sense a question coming up, so I decide to answer it before she asks. "I'm perceptive. I notice these things. Poor girl's been mooning after that guy for the longest, but he's been too preoccupied with, well, his current ex. I always thought it was obvious to be completely honest. I don't know how things are going to play out, but you shouldn't have to sacrifice your friendship for either of them."
April bites on her lower lip and twiddles her fingers in her lap, blatantly staring at me. "So...You're saying I should try to get them back together?"
I shake my head. "Don't have to try. You just be normal, someone for both of them to lean on. It'll make your life less of a hell, trying to juggle both of them or having to choose between them. Let the loose ends repair themselves."
She slowly nods, smiling at me. "Wow. Who knew you were so good at giving people advice. You should write a self-help book."
I laugh under my breath. "I've never been too good at that..."
"What?"
"Oh-Nothing.'
April raises an eyebrow but decides not to comment, and for that I'm grateful. She flips open her notebooks and unhooks a pack smashed full of papers.
"Here, I've taken-"
"Notes." I nod and slip them back to her. "I know. But so have I. I'm going to start doing my own work for a while. You owe me nothing, how many times do I need to say it before it goes through?"
She looks down at her desk and lets out a long breath. "Actually, you've just added to my debt. You helped me again," she points out.
Before I can say a word, she holds up a hand. "I don't want to hear it. You've saved my brother from those guys at the park, saved me (twice) from those druggies, saved me again from that one-night stand...And now...Well, I can't just forget that stuff."
April sighs. "All I've ever done for you was scream and criticize and judge...And...I don't know the first thing about you. It was wrong. Very wrong. And when I try to make it up, it gets worse."
I bite my bottom lip and shake my head. "Not all of it was that bad."
She smiles. "Most of it. Whatever."
After a while, she turns to me again. "You know what? I think I have a better idea at trying to make things up. Cherry Cabin."
I scrunch my forehead. "Sorry...What?"
She laughs. "Cherry Cabin! That smoothie place that just opened up. I'm buying you a special. On me, of course."
She looks at me, eyes blazing with no room for a 'no.'
"Yeah, I don't drink smoothies."
She scoffs. "Yeah, right. I'ma take that drink and shove it down your throat if that's what it's going to take."
She laughs at my expression, shoving me back into my own chair. "We'll take my car after school. No buts!"
She raises her voice over my own, drowning out my protests. Eventually, I quit trying to back out of it and sink deep into my chair. I mean...I don't have a match today after my spectacular show from yesterday with my Dad. So I have no excuse to say no.
Also. I lied. I actually really, really like smoothies.
That is the ONLY reason I'm agreeing to this.
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