all that glitters » david dobrik au

forty four

To say my heart fluttered would be an understatement. It was more like my heart jumped out of my chest, took a run around the block, and jumped back in once it got all sweaty and out of breath. It didn't have a problem pumping blood to my cheeks, though. It never did.

"I'm gonna be late," I giggled as I jogged towards him, wrapping him in a tight hug. "I literally missed you so much, you dumb cunt."

"Prison changed you," David joked, taking my cheek in between his index finger and thumb and squeezing it. "Mona Lisa, you look beautiful today."

"You're my friend, not my boyfriend, remember?" I pointed out, making a show of taking one step back. "I have to go anyways. We're both gonna be late."

"Mona—"

"Bye, loser!" I sent him a halfhearted wave over my shoulder as I picked up my fast walk to get to class. "See you in fourth!"

I practically skipped into my first period classroom until I realized it was empty. Only my teacher sat in the back of the class, literally just staring at the wall (and now, me).

"Um... is it a block day or something?" I looked around in confusion at the empty classroom just as the bell rang.

"You're in the library this morning working with Mrs. Schorr's students on a project," he sighed. "I sent a text."

My phone was in my bag, and I honestly didn't feel like pulling it out to check.

"Oh," I awkwardly laughed. "Well, I have my work from the past three weeks."

I did end up digging around in my bookbag, pulling out my blue folder labelled "Gov". I walked it up to his desk and laid it down in front of him.

"Were you at the Wright Center?" Mr. Combs asked, staring up at me with a very plain look on his face. I immediately tensed up at the mention of the fucking rehab I was at. David told people I was in Houston. How did he know I wasn't? Based on my look of shock, he added, "Your boyfriend can lie and say you're in Houston, but a scholarship student needs a valid reason for missing three weeks of school."

"Um..." I trailed off, finding it hard to piece together my words under pressure. "Yeah... I was."

"My wife went there a few times," Mr. Combs told me. "It's a great place. I wish you all the best on your journey, Mona."

"Thank you, Mr. Combs. I'm gonna... go to the library now."

With a regrettable and awkward wave of my hand, I slid out of the classroom and made my way towards the library. It was all the way across the school from where I was, and I was already late, so I chose to just take my time instead. What was it gonna hurt? We were working on a project I didn't know we had anyways.

"Miss Greene," Mrs. Schorr fake smiled as soon as I stepped into our small library. She was my Econ teacher in the next period, so she already knew who I was. "Nice of you to finally join us. Mr. Dobrik claimed you as a partner already."

"Of course he did," I laughed, making my way over to the empty seat beside him. Alex was on his other side. "Hi, David."

"If you would've shut up for two seconds, I would've told you we were in the library," he smirked cockily at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"I had to turn in my work, genius," I lied, knowing for certain that that story wasn't my original plan. "What kind of project are we doing?"

David explained that the economics kids and the government kids were teaming up to create a project about how the government influenced economics, and to eventually "pass" a "law" to help the economy.

Over the two days I was gone while we had the project, he had done literally zero work. It wasn't much of a shocker, and I was actually kind of thankful for it. David was smart but lazy, and he acted dumber to impress his friends, so I'd probably have to erase all his work and start over anyways.

I spent the next hour trying to research the national debt crisis while David and Alex messed with me instead of helping their partners (me for David and Carly Incontro for Alex). I hated to say it, but it was good to be back. I missed their constant bantering and my inability to get anything done around them. It was better than my rehab room, counting tiles on the ceiling. 236.33, if you were wondering.

"Are you hanging out with me after school?" David asked on my way to the next class. "I haven't seen you in forever. I really missed you."

"Are you gonna kiss me?" I raised my eyebrows. He innocently shook his head, but looked like he was fighting a smile. "We're hanging out as friends, Dobrik. Let's get a coffee. That's what me and Todd always do."

"Why do we have to be friends if you're better?" David said a little quieter so he didn't announce my problems to the whole school.

"David, I'm not all the way better. Maybe I'll never be all the way better. I don't know," I sighed, flipping my ponytail off my shoulder. "You don't deserve to be with me while I'm like this. I've been boring and sad and distant and lonely for the past month and a half. You shouldn't be forced into dealing with that."

"You aren't forcing me to do anything!"

"I know," I frowned. "I know, but... it's not fair to you. Even if you think it is, it's not. Here I am."

"So I can't kiss you?" he asked with a sigh, and I shook my head. "When do we start dating again? This is so boring."

"You are so dramatic," I laughed, shoving him away from me. "I'll see you in fourth, Dobey. I love you!"

"You love me, and yet you push me away," David dramatically declared, and I laughed, rolling my eyes at his stupidity.

"Go. You're gonna be late, dummy. Your teacher's going to kill you."

"I'll explain I was talking to my sexy girlfriend I haven't seen in three weeks," David smiled, walking backwards so we could still talk while he made his way to class. "I'm sure Steinberg will understand."

"I'll call him and tell him we're just friends and you have no excuse," I childishly stuck my tongue out at David, who repeated the gesture and added a new one (a middle finger, of course. It was David, after all). "Bye, idiot!"

hi guys!! ive lost 10 pounds on my diet already :)))) and when i lose 20 im getting a cookies and cream milkshake from chickfila its just inevitable but IM SO EXCITED hopefully by next week ill be down 20 or somewhere close !! :))) xoxo abby