Unnamed

Daniel

Being the bearer of bad news is always hard. It's especially hard when everyone wants twinkies, but you know the last twinkies box is empty.

I walk down the hallway carrying a box of vanilla zingers. They're not as good but hopefully, they'll appease the group. I notice Jasmine first, and she notices me.

"Daniel!" She runs down the hall to meet me halfway. "You're back..!"

"Yup! But..." I pause and lower my tone. "We're out of Twinkies..."

"What...?"

"No more Twinkies... Maddie is going to kill me... she already hates me... this is a death sentence!"

Jasmine looks confused. "Nobody hates you, Daniel. Besides, Maddie seems to be... off... anyway. Asher won't let her hurt you." She smiles reassuringly, and my smile grows. How is she so pretty?

"Thanks, Princess Jasmine." It makes me happy that she cares enough to cheer me up. She doesn't really have to try very hard, but the fact that she does just makes it so much better.

"Come on, let's go back to the group. I'll back you up." She takes my free hand, and we walk back to the group together.

The first thing that comes out of Maddie's mouth is, "you suck, Daniel. Everyone knows that Zingers suck."

"I'll take one!" Caspian smiles from across the room and waves at Jasmine and I.

"Caspian!" Jasmine waves back and leaves me to go see him. "When did you get here?" She asks with a big smile.

"A few seconds ago!" Caspian says, "I was actually looking for you. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"You weren't! Don't worry. Daniel understands that you and I are friends, right?" She looks back at me, and I nod quickly.

"Oh yeah! It's totally cool! I should go see Lyra anyway. Everyone take Zingers!" I set the box down and leave the room quickly.

Lyra opens the door for me. "Daniel...! What a nice surprise. Kelvin has been talking about finding you all day," She says with a smile. "He's out right now, but he should be back soon."

"Thanks, Lyra...!" Obviously, my tone doesn't live up to my expression because Lyra gives me a weird look.

"What's wrong?" She asks, sitting down on the floor beside her bulletin board.

"Nothing!"

"You can talk to me, Daniel. If you haven't noticed, I'm a fairly good listener."

"Well..." I pause, sitting beside her. "You know Jasmine, right?"

"We've never spoken, but I've been keeping an eye on her, why?"

"Do you think she likes Caspian?"

"Yes? It looks like they are good friends."

"No, I mean do you think she likes him like for real like... like, do you think she loves him?"

"Platonically she might love him. He doesn't seem to be the one she 'likes for real' though."

"Who do you think she likes...?"

"Who do you think?"

"Asher...?"

Lyra laughs. I've never heard her laugh before. Her laugh is quiet and actually pretty cute. Not cute in a weird way but cute in an innocent way. "Daniel, you're so dense sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"Call me crazy, but I've seen the way you look at each other. Out of anyone here, I'd say she likes you the best."