Collide

18

Important note at the end, please read it;

The week passes by. Nothing changes. Reece doesn't talk to me. He avoids me, ignores me. I've texted him once about a show, he left me on read.

It is Thursday when I walk into class and Reece is nowhere to be seen. He doesn't turn up after me. The one guy, his friend, says he's sick.

"Sick?", I whisper to myself.

Malie next to me notices it and shoots me a quick look. "Why so bothered?"

"Only wondering. I've told you, I brought him the papers during the time he couldn't come to school. How did he manage to get sick again that quickly?", I mumble.

She shrugs. "Who knows, maybe it's just a headache or a cold. Everyone gets those." She leans closer. "But, that's all? You two aren't close, are you?"

"Not close", I say with a lump in my throat.

"Oh."

"Malie, there's nothing up with me and Reece Bibby!", I whisper, just to make sure.

"Yeah, sure", she mumbles distractedly as the teacher calls up on her. She answers the question and then comes back to me. "I wouldn't blame you. I might like girls, but I'm not blind and am able to tell that he's good-looking."

"God, I just said that there's nothing up!"

"I don't wanna get into your business. But anyone could tell that you're desperately trying to cover up." She pats my shoulder. "You'll need to get better at that if you don't want everyone to know."

She ignores me when I answer. And when I try to start another conversation, she does too. Reece Bibby 2.0. Fun times for me.

After the lesson, when we pack up our stuff though, she starts a light conversation about something minor. We keep talking as we walk up to some random desks where we've been spending our breaks recently. November's there too, already, but there's some girls standing with her. Nov doesn't seem like she's listening to them though, she's staring at her phone.

I notice the blondie under the girls, and when one of the other girls calls her Hailey quite loudly I finally know her real name. I start listening without really wanting to.

"You spend the evening with him?", the other girl exclaims, still quite loudly.

Hailey laughs. "We went out. That's all. Pretty fun though, he goes outside his house once and catches a cold."

I frown. She couldn't be talking about Reece?

However, within a few seconds the third girl makes it pretty clear. "Poor Reece."

I feel like I get ripped in two. Malie seems to notice. In the same moment, Blake turns up. Nov finally stops living in her own little world and joins us all. After greeting Blake she says hi to Malie and me. She looks at me for a while longer. "Anything up?", she asks.

I shake my head right away. I'm fine. Reece has made a choice, and it was to ignore me and instead hanging out with a girl he called fake and annoying. It doesn't bother me. It shouldn't bother me.

I'm grateful for Malie who starts up another topic to draw the attention away from me. She's overheard the conversation too, and she literally just found out about me liking Reece. She must know that I feel like shit.