30 Days

III.

"Seven days," someone whispered creepily into Blanche's ear and she jumped sideways, startled. Whirling around, she glared at Jill, who had doubled-over, laughing.

"You're not funny," she hissed.

Jill straightened and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yes, I am."

Blanche rolled her eyes and turned to continue their trek to Biology class. Jill followed and after a while, tapped her shoulder.

"But it has been seven days, you know," Jill told her.

"I know," she muttered unhappily. She didn't like being reminded of their stupid punishment game.

"What's your plan of action?"

"Like I would tell you, you big meanie."

Jill chuckled behind her. Blanche stopped in her tracks to glower at her. Jill raised her hands in defense and she exhaled exasperatedly. It was obvious Jill was enjoying this. It was the first time ever that she won their betting games.

"Are you fighting?" A brown-haired girl with glasses perched on her dainty nose walked over to them. "Is this about your bets again?"

Crossing her arms, Jill answered her rather hostilely, "What's it to you, glasses?"

"Jill..." Blanche warned her.

"What? She's butting into other people's business again."

"Are you never going to get over her helping me with your goo bath punishment?"

"The goo was orange. Orange! Everyone knows I hate orange."

"Are you bullying Emmy again, Mathewson?" Another girl appeared, a rather tall girl that towered all over them. It was Cassie, Emmy's best friend. "I'm warning you right now. If you make her cry, I'll kill you."

"Then why don't you take your friend away, you soccer nut," Jill countered.

Cassie glared at her. "You can't tell me what to do, porn freak."

"Just because I make naked body sculptures doesn't mean I'm a porn freak, you titan."

Blanche knew this was going to escalate into another screaming match. Turning to Emmy, she noted that instead of worrying, Emmy had a resigned expression on her face. Blanche bet she had the same expression too.

"So when are you really going to talk to him?" Jill asked as soon as Emmy had dragged Cassie away from them.

"Soon, okay?" Blanche sighed. "I'll talk to him soon."

**********

"When the hell are you going to ask her out?" Finn asked Ashe irritably. "And get up, will you? We're transferring classrooms."

Ashe lifted his head from the table with a yawn. Disgruntled at having his precious nap disturbed, he gave Finn a scowl.

"Don't scowl at me," Finn grumbled, taking his arm and pulling him up. "Let's go or we'll be late. Everyone's already left. Hurry up."

Still with a scowl, Ashe followed Finn out of the classroom. Finn gave him the book that they'll need for their next class and some pens too. He shouldn't have gone through all that trouble, Ashe thought. He wasn't going to use them anyway.

"Wow, you can't even fix your damn tie," Finn observed. He stopped walking and tugged on Ashe's neck tie. "Hold still, moron. I'll fix it for you because if you do it yourself we'll be here all fucking day."

"Ha. Still Ashe's nanny, are you Finn?"

Ashe glanced behind them and saw their friend, who was wearing a sports jacket, making his way to them.

"Beat it, Nick," Finn retorted.

Nick laughed and ruffled Ashe's hair fondly. "Stop being lazy, Maxwell. And stop giving Finn a hard time."

"I'm not," Ashe mumbled, swatting Nick's hand away.

"And when are you going to quit the arts program and come back to tennis? You were so damn good at it back in middle school."

Ashe frowned. "It's a pain."

"Well, we'll always have a spot reserved for you."

"We're going to be late," Finn interrupted, pushing Ashe from the back. "And Nick, your next class is on the other side of the building you know. Let's go, Ashe."

"See you at lunch," Nick called from behind them and without looking back, Finn gave him a wave.

"Won't you really return to tennis?" Finn asked him as soon as they turned the corner. "You were pretty damn good at it."

"I told you. It's a pain."

"I don't blame you. Being on the swim team is a pain too."

They walked into Biology and saw that the teacher had already started the class. Upon seeing them, the teacher just sighed and waved them to their chairs. Finn gave Ashe a look that said it was his fault and Ashe just shrugged. School was a pain, Biology too, and it sucked that he had to keep coming every single day.

"So when are you going to talk to her," Finn whispered as they took their seats. "It's been seven days already."

Ashe lowered his head to his arms and glanced at Blanche. Her hair was down today, he noted.

"Soon," he muttered. "I'll talk to her soon."