The Pop-Up Shop

Chapter Three

2 Days Later

I arrived at school by bus, walking through the gates, I headed to my locker near my home room. As I pass some of my teachers, I greet them with a 'good morning' before seeing Luna standing at my locker on her phone zooming in on a picture of Ruel. Classic.

She looks up just as I smile at your art teacher and I catch her as she rolls her eyes. 'Dude, you are such a teachers pet' I furrow your eyebrows, was that supposed to be an insult?

'I am not' I defend, starting to unlock my locker and she leans against her locker as Mr Blackwood approaches us

'Morning April, Luna. How are we this morning?' he seems cheery today, this was different.

'Good thanks Mr Blackwood. And you?' I ask politely.

'I'm well. Luna, phone please' he smiles at me before holding his hand out for Luna.

Luna rolls her eyes and hands her phone to him before he walks into the staffroom. 'See what I mean? If you were on your phone he would ask what you were looking at and ask if he could see.'

I chuckle and put my bags into your locker when two girls from our year level come up to both Luna and I.

They knew about Ruel, they liked him but if I was being honest to yourself, they were total locals, a term that I had recently learnt from Luna. 'Hey April, Luna. How was Ruel yesterday?' Kim asks, leaning her hand on the lockers next to us

'So amazing Kim. Like, seriously. Ugh it was the best thing. He was-' Luna starts but I cut her off

'Yeah, we had a lot of fun'

'Sorry, I tend to ramble' she mumbles and I smile at her

You're so lucky you got to even see him' Emma looks back at Kim

'Yeah, Emma and I missed out on tickets for his concert by an hour' she groans as I smile and nod while I try to avoid the fact that he texted you last night.

I don't want to make a big scene or deal about it. He was probably gonna forget about me in a couple of days anyways once he finished all his other pop-up shops. There was no point getting my hopes up.

'Yeah, we were pretty lucky. Luna's dad bought pre-sale tickets so it was pretty good' I continue on

'Yeah, that's so good. Well, have fun at the concert!' We both gave one final smile to Emma and Kim as they walk off and you start walking to homeroom with Luna

'What are you doing?' Luna appears beside you at lunch from absolutely nowhere, making you jump and immediately shut off your phone.

'Huh? Oh. Nothing' I put my phone face down on the grass to avoid any messages from Ruel that might pop up.

'Well, Mr Blackwood is around the corner. He wouldn't be too happy if he saw you with a cellular device in front of you.' I smile at her joke and slip my phone into your pocket after double checking it was on silent.

I had a gut feeling that she would be mad or jealous if she found out that Ruel texted me, not her. Considering both of our usernames were on the Cheeto packet, it could've easily been her bu no, it had to be me.

'Ugh. It's too long until the concert. Another 8 days' She flops onto the grass and puts her hat over her face as she groans.

'Yeah, I'm excited though. I can't wait to hear him sing live' I say as she looks up at me with a confused look.

'Since when did you take such an interest in him? You didn't even know half of his songs until I introduced him to you. You're practically a local.'

'I am not! I know all his songs off by heart' I defend myself.

'Only because I play them for you non-stop. Ok, what's your favourite song off Free Time?' she sits up and crosses her arms, getting defensive of him.

'Unsaid. It reminds me of Bella...' I mumble, looking at the ground

I suddenly feel choked up, thinking about it all. I shake the feeling away as I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out to see another message from Ruel.

oneruel: you want backstage passes to the show?

I quickly type 'No' and then put it back into my pocket, hoping you would have the chance to explain it to him later.

'Who was that?' Luna furrow her eyebrows, curious

'Oh, just my mum. Wanted to know if I was catching the bus home' Luna nods and lyes back down.

I couldn't stop thinking about that he offered backstage tickets. Did he really want to see me that bad? But it wouldn't be fair on everyone else who had bought meet and greet tickets and plus, I wasn't even that big of a fan so what was the point?

I decided to just keep it to yourself, for now at least. I know Luna would murder me if she found out you said no to backstage passes.

It was a complicated situation I was in. On one end, I have Ruel, one of the kindest 'celebrities' I've ever talked to, as if I've met anymore, but on the other hand, there is my best friend who I know will take this to her advantage.

It's not a big deal to me, talking to him, and I want Luna to be happy, yet, I don't want to tell her that we haven't stopped talking since the night of the pop-up shop.

Why do I feel selfish if I keep it to myself?