New friends

Chapter 15

Amber watched Shiro leave. She couldn't believe that he would love someone like her. What did she possibly have that she didn't?! Sure she was smarter, but Shiro's being delusional right now. He'd come around.

Meanwhile her plan hadn't worked out either. "I think the plan has been compromised. We may have gone a bit over board don't you think?" Zoey said approaching her distraught friend. "I think we're going to have to wing it from now on. But I'm not giving up. I am NOT losing Shiro to that stupid freshmen." Amber's rage flared. She had switched gears from playing the friend to making her life miserable.

~~~~~meanwhile~~~~~

Allura and Shay burst into the girls bathroom in hot pursuit. The boys stood outside standing guard and not allowing anyone inside. The girls found Katie; her eyes were all puffy and her face was red from crying. "Oh dear!" Allura said and embraced her in a hug. "That girl is wretched. Are you okay?" She asked consoling her friend. "I don't know. I didn't even know they were so close. I over reacted. I should go apologize. Also sorry Allura, I know how good of friends you are with Zoey." Katie sniffled.

"Apologize?!" Shay exclaimed. "That's the last thing you need to do!" She said. "We're not even friends! She's not even close to our group let alone Shiro." Allura said. "Trust us. She has nothing on you. She's been pining after Shiro for years and his heart is set on you." She explained. "Really?" Katie said uncertain. This whole situation was making her shaky and her anxiety was exploding. "Of course." Shay said joining the hug. "He loves you so much. Whenever your not around he talks about you so much." Shay laughs.

"I can't believe she'd even say such a thing to you! Unbelievable." Allura said. "From now on your going to avoid her at all costs. She is bad news." She instructed. "What about Zoey? She didn't do anything wrong.." Katie said suddenly remembering the sidekick. "I'd stay away from her as well. They're like two evil peas in a pod." Allura advised.

After a while of calming down, the girls emerged from the heavily guarded bathroom. All the boys turned to her. "Katie!" They all said in unison. "Are you okay?!" Shiro said engulfing the girl in a hug. "I'm okay." She stared at the floor. She was embarrassed after running out on the whole ordeal. Shiro knew something was wrong.

"Can you guys give us some space for a sec?" Shiro asked the group. "Of course." "Yeah." "No problem." They left to a nearby bench.

"Seriously. What's wrong. It's just us now." Shiro lifted her chin so their eyes met. "It's just, it really hurt when you didn't even react. She was all over you!" She was getting more emotional by the minute. "I'm sorry. I should have shut it down right away." He said. In the moment, he didn't want to make a scene and push Amber off of him, but he was now dearly regretting it seeing how upset Katie was. "I've been hearing things about you two all day too!" Tears pricked her eyes.

It was true. Throughout the whole day she'd been hearing rumors about Amber and Shiro. Things like "I thought he was dating Amber.." and "I thought he liked Amber already.." and "did they break up or something?". She'd been trying to ignore it but they all stayed in the back of her mind following her everywhere she went. Shiro has never mentioned her before, but she was starting to think otherwise.

"Look. You know I love you. Amber means nothing to me. We've never been together... she's not even a close friend; you have nothing to worry about." Shiro said tugging her closer. "Are you sure?" She asked. "Absolutely." He assured her with a quick kiss.

She dried her eyes and smiled a bit. Having this talk made her feel a lot better. After this the warnings were confirmed: Amber was not a nice person. She'd learned that first hand and next time something like this happened, she wouldn't stand for it. She gathered her 35 emotions that were spilling everywhere and took Shiro's hand.

"I promise that nothing is going on between us. Why would I want her when I can have you?" He smiled down at her making her blush. "Okay." She smiled back. She took a deep breath and they rejoined the group.

They group asked some questions when they returned and she assured the rest of them that she'd have nothing to do with Amber or Zoey anymore. They'd lost their chance. After a bit everything went back to normal and they finished lunch. Katie left with Hunk to engineering. "You're sure you fell alright?" Hunk said. "He's such a good friend" Katie thought sweetly. "Yeah. I'm going to avoid them from now on." She said as they worked on their group project.

~~~~<time skip>~~~~~

After econ with Keith, Katie went to last period with Shiro. She was looking forward to this class, but also dreading it because she knew Amber would be there. No matter. That red blob would be ignored in Katie's perspective.
All the confusion of the situation had now turned to anger for her. Then she was stunned. Now she was pissed.

She walked into class confidently and sat next to Shiro. "Hey!" He greeted with a smile. "Hey you." She replied. Having Shiro there made the whole situation better. It had been a long and shitty day. She was just glad it was almost time to go home. They started a nice conversation until the witch walked in. She walked into the next row of desks. "Hey." She smiled putting a hand in his shoulder.

He didn't respond and they continued talking. She frowned. "Uh, hello??!" She turned him around. "Hi." He said blankly and turned back around. He wanted nothing to do with her. Katie was happy Shiro was being short with her. It was like a mini victory.

"Ugh!" She cried out in frustration and flopped into the seat. Shiro and Katie continued talking until class started. The professor spoke "Okay class! We'll be doing partner work today. Once you have your partner come up and get a worksheet." He went back to his desk.

Amber pounced in the opportunity. "Shiro! Be partners with me?" She batted her eyelashes. Katie was glaring at her. Hard. "No way. I already have a partner." Shiro said and smiled at Katie before he walked up to the front to get the papers. He waited behind the crowd of people since everyone was crammed in the front. There was no rush so he patiently waited for everyone to go first. It's not like him or Katie would need actual time on the work. She was a genius for her age anyway.

Amber sent her partner to get the papers and she leaned in close to Katie. "Hey." She hissed. "What do you want?" Katie shot back. "I know you probably think it's a dream come true that Shiro's into you, but you should know that it's just phase. I can already tell it's not going to last long so you should just walk out right now before he breaks your heart. He is waaayy out of your league. I already know he's into someone else anyway. And by someone I mean me. I don't even know why he's dating you. He could do so much better. " She smiled maniacally.

"UUGHH!! She's so aggravating. She's just tying to get under my skin." Katie thought as Amber went on. Katie had had enough. Her anger was already over boiling. "Just shut up! I'm the one that he's dating, not you, so you need to BACK OFF! He's not interested! Gosh, TAKE A HINT!" She went off.

Not loud enough for the whole class to hear, but her point had definitely hit its target. "You'd better watch your back. I'm going to make your life a living hell." She seethed. "I'd like to watch you try bitch." Katie shot darkly. Amber huffed and returned to her partner who had gotten back 3 minuted ago and was awkwardly sitting next to her. Katie was satisfied with herself.

Shiro returned with the work and they finished in 10 minutes. Katie was younger, but their intellect was on the same pace so they worked together well. Katie whispered to him what went down and they glared at Amber. He assured her that he only loved her and they happily chatted for the rest of the day.