Falling for my best friend [OFFICIAL]

Chapter 18: Jealousy of a best friend I

Sunday went by quickly after that day. I got a letter and a $500 check saying that I won first place. I totally forgot about the competition... I guess with everything that happened on Saturday, it's been shoved to the back of my mind. Some people captured the incident at Miu's party on Monochat and I'm sure people will talk about it today. I still haven't returned Shuichi's sweater... I'll just keep it; he has a lot. "Attention, students. Your first math project will be due next week. I will be partnering you all up to create an artistic piece on what we've learned - the unit circle. Everything else is in the rubric that I handed out. If you look behind you, your partners have been posted," Ms. Shiho said. Everyone ran to the back of the class. I tried to look for my name over the throng of students and succeeded after a couple of seconds.

"I'm partnered with Rantaro Amami... Oh that super quiet-smart guy!" I looked around and found him looking over his notes. "Hey, Rantaro! Looks like we're partners."

He looked up at me. "Oh you're that girl that-"

"Fainted at Miu's party. Yep."

"No, I meant you're the girl that bumped into me."

"Oh!" No wonder he looked familiar. "Right, yeah." I laughed it off.

"Do you want to meet after school to work on it?" Before I could answer, the first thought that appeared in my head was Shuichi.

"We have a whole week; we don't have to work on it right away." He sure is serious about school... Kind of like Shuichi. I shook my head. Ever since the party, I've been thinking about Shuichi more and more. I thought that the Saturday we hung out would've helped me, but I can't get him out of my head. "How about we just work on an outline for the project and once we're done we can work on it over the weekend?"

"Sure." The bell rang signalling that class ended. I headed towards my locker to grab books for my next class.

"Kaede." My heart fluttered as I heard the familiar voice calling out my name. I turned around trying to hide the grin on my face.

"Morning, Shuichi." He wasn't wearing his hat today and his hair was wet and pushed back. Wow.

He gave me a concerned look. "Do I have something on my face?" I blushed immediately shaking my head.

"You look good without your hat."

"I'm glad to hear that. How have you been?" I could tell he was referring to the incident on Saturday and it comforted me to see how worried he was.

"Yeah, totally! I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there, so thank you." This time it was his turn to blush, rubbing the back of his neck.

"N-no need to thank me." None of us said a word as we stared at each other. I noticed his features more prominently: his sparkling eyes adorned with his long eyelashes, his hair, his lips.

"Kaede." I turned my head to see Rantaro walking towards us. Shuichi immediately stepped back. "You forgot your pencil case."

"I didn't even realize it was gone. Thanks, Rantaro." He smiled and walked away.

"Who's he?"

"Rantaro? He's in my math class. We're working on a project together." Shuichi didn't say anything watching him walk away. "Let's head to the tables." It took him a second to register what I said before he nodded and followed me. That was weird.

Everyone was already at our normal hangout spot besides Kokichi. "There you guys are! Shuichi, was Kokichi in your class?" We glanced at Kaito who had a concerned expression.

"No, he wasn't. I assume he's sick. Why?"

"He normally tells me if he is."

"Aww, you miss your boyfriend that much?" Miu teased.

"Maybe he doesn't like us anymore..." Mikan whispered.

"I didn't like him anyway," Maki murmured.

I thought about what he told me in the hospital. Was he trying to tell me something? "I'm sure he's fine, Kaito. You'll see him tomorrow and you can ask then," I reassured the boy. He agreed in relief.

"You're probably right. Sorry for worrying you guys."

"I wasn't worried," all of the girls said in unison besides me. A few classes went by until lunch came and I could not get Shuichi out of my mind. I did think about Kokichi at times wondering if he really was sick and what he meant last night. Shuichi and I headed down to the cafeteria like we always did. "Shuichi! It's the last brownie!" I immediately chased for the rack before someone could get it until I crashed into a body and fell on the floor.

"Hey, are you alright?" I opened my eyes and saw Rantaro reaching his hand out. I took it and stood up rubbing the back of my head.

"Yeah... sorry about that, I was reaching for the-" I looked behind him and saw that the last brownie was not on that rack anymore. I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. "brownie..."

"Oh, here have mine." My eyes lit up as his hand extended a delicious-heavenly square of chocolate goodness.

"I-I couldn't."

"Don't worry about it. It seems like you really wanted it. You're drooling a bit." I blushed and immediately wiped my lips in embarrassement. He let out a gentle chuckle before handing me the brownie.

"Thank you."

"Kaede, did you get the brownie?" I turned around and saw Shuichi whose smile turned into a confused expression.

"I'll get going now. I'll see you in math tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye, Rantaro!"

"What did I miss?"

"Oh, he gave me his brownie since I couldn't get the last one. Isn't that nice of him?" Shuichi nodded with a soft smile, but throughout the rest of lunch he was quiet.

"Kaede, do you want to hang out after class?" I nodded and we headed over to my house. Let's just say, throughout that entire week, Shuichi came over to my place after school. It felt like we were the closest we could get to each other, yet there was this strange dissatisfaction inside of me. Why do I feel this way?

"Hey Grandma, I'm home."

"Kaede! Shuichi! I'm glad you came. I decided to make a fresh batch of cookies." We both smiled and ran to the kitchen like little kids.

"You haven't made these in forever. Why now?" She grinned and put one hand on the side of her face as a sign that she's only talking to me.

"I'm giving your boyfriend another reason to stay." I blushed heavily.

"Grandma! He's not my boyfriend!" I grabbed my backpack and ran upstairs. I could hear them laughing as I flopped onto my bed. I heard the door open soon after and saw Shuichi holding the plate of cookies.

"She asked us to finish the rest while we do homework." I smiled and sat back up on my bed as Shuichi placed himself next to me. I put a cookie in my mouth and got up to play on my piano. I decided to play a cheerful melody as I munched on the treat. Shuichi and I talked for a bit before we started on our homework. We enjoyed dinner together and then he left for his house. I smiled as I felt like I was finally living the life of a normal teenage girl. Boy, was I wrong.

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