Next Door Lovers

Act 4

The bell rang and we parted ways. It was time for jazz band, and Joe and I were in the same class, again. I was one of the trumpets, and Joe was a guitar. I think it suits him, but he said he always wanted to do drums. I couldn't see him do drums, and plus all they required was just being able to hit them. The guitar is definitely more difficult and more admirable.

We were currently practicing for our concert, which would take place in about 2 weeks, so tensions were high. Thankfully, all the music arrived on time. Normally, we would have one or two pieces come later than the others, which only raised our teacher's stress. Thankfully, Mrs. Bate was a mostly calm and collected teacher, so she could handle the stress.

Unfortunately, while I was going to get my music, I accidentally bumped into Joe and spread his music all over the floor.

"Sorry!" I said, starting to pick his music up.

"It's ok."

That's Joe, always trying to be sympathetic and nice.

"So, while I have you, what were you about to say when we were going to English?"

I froze.

"It's nothing to worry about," I say with my feelings crawling up my back; anxiety flushing my face.

"Ok." I still felt like he was kind of suspicious.

That was the end of that interaction. (Thank God). While the rest of the band played their best, I was trying my hardest to survive the rest of the period. Before long, the bell rang and I dashed out of the band room (right after packing up my stuff, of course).

There were only 3 other periods left, physics, Spanish, and study hall. Then this awkward day would finally be done, and I could go home and lay on my bed. Thankfully, Joe wasn't in any of those periods, so they were a breeze. I would like to point out an interaction between me, Micah, and Oliver. We have the same study hall, so we generally like to talk about the day.

"Oh my gosh, Ms. Olrach is so crazy!" Micah grumbled.

"I know right?" Oliver responded. "She gave us so much homework and didn't explain any of it!"

"What does she teach again?" I chimed in.
"History. And she's so bad at it too! She doesn't explain anything. I'm glad I have a B in that class."

"Same."

"When I don't have her and I have an A," I bragged.

"You truly are lucky you don't have her," Oliver laughed.

"So in other news, Linc. Spill the tea. Now," Micah demanded.

I blushed. "Oh, what? It's nothing..."

"Come on, I know you're wanting to tell Joe you like him. So tell me, when will you two be dating?"

"Come on, Micah!" Oliver exclaimed. "He hasn't even told Joe yet, let alone started dating."

"Sorry, sorry, I just want to see you two together. You two seem like such the perfect couple!"

"I think I'll tell him after prom, hopefully. Maybe he'll be broken up with Amanda then."

"I certainly hope so. Those two are like peanut butter and jelly; they're always together!"

"Yeah, and I recently heard their relationship isn't going the greatest."

"I can confirm that is the case. I talked to Joe this morning and he said there was a feud between the two of them."

"What was it about?"

"Apparently Amanda was yelling at her friends for 'copying her look' or whatever, and when Joe tried to calm her down, she started yelling at him!"

"What a prick."

"I know right? She thinks she's all high and mightly. Bitch, sit the fuck down."

We all just laughed, and then the final bell rang. It was time to go home. We all said our goodbyes, and I went to my locker. I looked for Joe, and then for Bradley. Nope, no signs of any of them anywhere. Good. I like the quiet.

I quickly put back my books, got my coat and lunchbox, and rushed to tennis practice.