A Fresh Start

New Romantics

"What's up Portland girl?" Annalise said, curiosity evident in every word. I had been calling her in the evenings, but this day called for an afternoon call. 

"Anna, I think my life is really enjoying yanking me around," I said with a sigh, thinking back on how chaotic my feelings had been since Thanksgiving. I continued on to tell her all about Sebastion's strange behavior during Thanksgiving, Anna, being Anna, told me to ignore it, that he was just playing me. As hard as it was, I had to admit that she had a point, I knew that me overanalyzing Sebastion's behavior was pitiful, especially after what he said to me. The only good thing that came out of that night was a blooming friendship between Chris and me, even Sebastion couldn't ruin that, in fact, after his dramatic exit the three of us watched a comedy and spent the night laughing. Chris was pretty embarrassed about the whole situation, but after a while, he got over it, even going so far as to ask my advice about a girl he was crushing on. I for one was relieved at the easy-going relationship, it was something I had yet to find among the girls at school. Don't get me wrong I greatly appreciated Janie and her kindness, but I couldn't see us having a relationship that went deeper than what we had currently. Something about Janie and her friends managed to leave me exhausted, probably because I didn't feel comfortable around them, some of her friends were vapid and obsessed with popularity. After hearing them gossip about people with no hesitance or guilt, it made me think about what they said about me when I couldn't hear.

"Regardless of his pretty face, you are too good for him Marie, any guy who held your interest should be thanking their lucky stars, not playing with your heart." I smiled at her words, after being friends for so long she knew exactly what to say to make me feel better. "You know I still have half a mind to hop on a plane to Portland just to kick that asshole in the-" I couldn't hear the rest of her rant through my laughter. Anna had such a fiery spirit, probably one of the reasons we were so close, it cracked me up to think about my barely five foot two friend attacking Sebastion in my name. "What you don't think I can kick his ass, I might not have training like you but I can still land a hit where it hurts." She said indignantly, only increasing my laughter. 

After I had calmed down, Anna asked how school was treating me. We were three days past the end of break and I was already begging for Christmas to save me from the desolate hallways I spent my weekdays in. "It's fine, you know I'm pretty busy, what with homework, classes, avoiding the guy I'm in love with who now hates me, I don't have a lot of free time."

"Aww Marie, I'm sorry, I wish I could be there with you." She said, pity evident in her voice.

"I know, don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I wasn't sure who I was trying to reassure at this point. I still felt a pang in my chest every time Sebastion was mentioned and considering the fact that we lived together, avoiding him proved to be difficult.

"Well, is anything exciting going on over there?" Anna asked, attempting to divert my train of thought.

I thought back on the announcement they had made during first period. "Well, they're taking the varsity sports teams up to the mountains to celebrate almost making it to state, I don't think I'm going to go though, I mean it's not like we actually won."

"What the hell are you talking about Marie!" She exclaimed loudly, making me hold my phone farther from my ear. "Of course you're going! You need to show that jerk that you are moving on! You're going to have a whole bunch of fun and shove it right into his face." I rolled my eyes at her exuberance. Between the two of us, she had always been the most adventurous. She was the one with the boyfriends, the one dragging me to dances, the one thinking up crazy revenge plots when she felt slighted. Looks like she's still involving me in her plots, even from all the way across the country. I also knew from experience that she tended to be right about most of these things, even if they sounded absurd, and this was no exception, I wasn't going to let Sebastion keep me from taking part in a celebration that was partially meant for me.