Strength |✔️

eighteen

Alisha

"I can't believe you and Neil kissed!" Faith squeals, gleaming with joy. "And this time, it wasn't awkward!" She squeals even more, jumping up and down. I sit on my bed, putting on socks and laugh. Ever since last night, I've been happier. So much happier. Last night was so indescribable, it felt like a dream.

"You have to tell the details to me, Ali!" She says and sits next to me on my bed. I sigh and say, "It was a great kiss. Like, it felt so electrifying and-"

"Did you guys do it?" She says, interrupting me. I am confused at first, but then I raise my eyebrows and my cheeks turn red. "No, we didn't Faith," I say slowly. She frowns and I say, "but, we made out," I try to reassure her.

"Still not as good as the other option," She winks and she gets a text from someone. She looks at the notification, a smile creeping on her face. I clear my throat and she looks up. "What?" She pulls out a cigarette and sucks in and then out, letting out a huge amount of smoke. "So, are you going to tell me who that text was from?" I ask questionably.

She cheeses really hard and says, "it was from Connor. He was wishing me a happy birthday, and said that I was beautiful."

"Aww," I say. When I first woke up this morning, I immediately figured out that it was Faith's birthday. So, doing what any friend would do, I screamed HAPPY BIRTHDAY into her face.

"What time is your party going to start?" I ask. I tie my shoelaces and stand up, pulling up my high-waisted jeans.

"It's going to start around dinner time and it's going to end at 12," she says, continuing to smoke. "It's also going to be a pool party, so don't forget to wear a sexy bikini for Neil." She winks and I groan. "You just have to bring him up every five seconds, do you?"

She laughs. "Yeah, I totally do."

I laugh and someone knocks on the door. Going over and opening it, I see Neil, standing there with a broad smile on his face. God, he's so cute. "Hey, cutie," he says. He leans in and gives me a peck on the cheek. I try to ignore Faith squealing in the background.

"Hey, Neil," I say, smiling. "Are you here to walk me to class?"

He smirks. "Yes, indeed."

He leans into the door and shouts to Faith, "I'm stealing her, if you don't mind!"

"No worries!" Faith says back. "You can steal her anytime." She winks and Neil looks at me, grinning. Ever since last night, I guess we both are in the best of moods. I felt bad after rejecting him, so I wanted to be sweet to him. I'm actually so done with my logic, how I say things I don't mean to say. I love Neil, so he needs to know about that.

Neil nods as he closes the door. He looks at me and says, "I really enjoyed last night."

I blush. "Me too."

He sighs and grabs my hand, locking our fingers together and squeezing my hand. "You know that you're my girlfriend now, right?" Neil says as we're walking to math.

I nod. After that kiss, I kind of figured out on my own that we're dating now. I can't believe it, though. The Neil Shah is my boyfriend. I swear, it's all a dream.

"Good," he says, and we continue to walk to math. His fingers are still intertwined with mine, and it's a good feeling. I look at him and his face looks gleaming with happiness. He notices me staring at him and he smiles. "What is it?"

I shake my head and grin. "Nothing. I'm just lucky to have you as my boyfriend."

He smiles even more, his dimple pushing into his cheek. His hair is seeming to be messy, but a cute kind of messy. I ruffle with it and I say, "come on, we need to go to class, before the teacher yells at us." I walk forward and he pulls on my hand and chuckles. "Okay, calm down."