Baby Love ── RICKY BOWEN¹

three. care about me

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．

MARITZA'S POV

I don't know what I expected when I woke up the next morning, but I can easily say it wasn't to be woken up to the sight of Amy's face above mine. My eyes that were only halfway open widened significantly, my lips parting to let out a scream as fear coursed through my veins. Her hand was quick to slap over my mouth, shaking her head viciously in an attempt to silence my muffled screaming.

Eventually, I just shoved her hand away, scrambling into a sitting position, horrified by her presence so early in the morning. She was already dressed for school, hair neatly straightened, and clothes probably steamed to perfection. I was ready to yell at her for daring to be the first thing I saw when I woke up, then I quickly remembered what happened yesterday.

"Why are you here?" I finally asked, getting out of my bed and walking past her with narrowed eyes. Amy didn't come to my house usually, claiming that while she loved my brothers, they gave her a headache. Which, to be fair, was expected. So for her to show up this morning, after what happened yesterday, especially, something had to be up.

I pulled open my closet, peering into the mess of clothing like it was the most exciting thing in the world. Truthfully, I just didn't want her to see the deep frown on my lips as my emotions continued to fight forward and make me sadder and sadder.

"I wanted to apologize," I heard Amy sigh, followed by the bouncy springs of my bed as she took a seat on it. "I'm guessing you didn't read my texts last night, right?"

Her texts that I put on do not disturb, so I wouldn't be notified of them. Yeah, I probably didn't see those. "Nope," I mumbled, plucking a pair of jeans off of the neatly piled stack of denim. I turned back to her with raised brows, hoping my expression didn't falter and reveal my genuine emotions. "Did they say anything important?"

Amy frowned. "Yeah, they did." She shook her head then, eyes squeezing shut for a brief moment before reopening. "But that doesn't matter, I can just tell you what they said." I watched as she shifted with obvious discomfort, something that wasn't usual with Amy. I couldn't help but frown at the sight, not used to the sight of my best friend behaving this way. I didn't like it. "So, uh, yesterday I spoke to Miss Jenn, and she told me that the best way to get myself ready for the audition would be to immerse myself into my character. So I did that, and I think I went too far."

Character. She was in character when she said that to me. I knew something felt off about her from when I saw her that morning, but how could I have known of all things that it was her getting into character?

"But that wasn't the problem. The problem was how easily you accepted what I said, which means I've clearly not been doing something right." Amy stood up from my bed, a deep frown on her lips. "I thought you'd fight me on what I said like everybody else did to Sharpay, which was who I was trying to be. But you didn't. So, now I know I really need to work on showing my appreciation towards you, because you don't know how much I appreciate you, Mari. Like, legit, I think I'd be a mess without you there to support me for everything."