The Girl Next Door

23.

Four days, 6 hours, and 42 minutes after Gisella made me her girlfriend, I was still sitting on a cloud. We texted 24/7 and even fell asleep on the phone at night twice. I never imagined being her girlfriend would make me so happy but it did. Even if nobody but the two of us knew, I was happy.
It was Friday morning and I was waiting for dad to finish getting ready. I wore my hair in two French braids because I knew Gisella liked it that way and light blue jeans with a blue hoody. Even though my outfit was simple, I tried to look cute.
"Morning princess." Dad entered the kitchen with an extra pep in his step.
"Morning daddy. You're in a good mood,"
"It's a good day. Got a date tonight and work shouldn't be too bad." Dad put the sheriff's hat on, grabbed his keys and opened the front door.
"Do I even want to know with who?"
"Estelle."
"Oh. The married lady next door." I rolled my eyes. When dad laughed, I stared at him. I didn't think anything was funny.
"She isn't married. Won't be engaged much longer either from what she told me. You okay with that?" He asked as we backed out of the driveway.
"No. But does it really matter?"
"Of course it matters honey." Dad's concern distracted me from the fact I really didn't want to be in his squad car as we pulled up to the school. I rolled my eyes again.
"Good. Don't date her then."
"Why don't you want me to see Estelle? I thought you liked her and Gisella." Dad was starting to make me mad as we sat in the car. The heat was burning my eyebrows off.
"I didn't say I didn't like her dad. I just said I don't want you to date her. Gisella was my...friend first. Just...find someone who isn't her mom. I gotta go. Have a good day." I closed the door and walked up the walkway to the school. As soon as I was in the hallway, I spotted Gisella leaning against my locker. She looked good in the oversized grey sweater clinging to her body. Her hips hugged black jeans almost as tight as I wanted to hug her.
"Hola Bonita," she greeted me with a smile. Every time I saw her, I got butterflies. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her.
"Morning Gisella. You look pretty."
"No, that is definitely you who looks pretty." She blushed and looked me over slowly.
"Thank you." I felt my cheeks turning dark red from having her eyes on me.
"There's a test in Spanish class today. Are you ready for it?" Gisella waited for me to put my chemistry book in my locker. While she waited, her attention wandered behind me. Spanish class wasn't on my mind at all.
"Hi Benny." Gisella forced a smile as he leaned against the locker next to mine. This time, I could tell she was jealous. He couldn't tear his eyes away from me.
"Hey. Y'all look good. So Stacy, I ran into your dad last night."
"Okay...?" I was confused and Gisella was ready to walk away.
"I asked if I could take you out this weekend." Ben's smile was innocent and precious enough to make my stomach hurt. If looks could kill, Gisella would be classified as a murderer. She looked down at the grey Uggs on her feet.
"Oh." I didn't know what to say but I could feel Gisella's good mood evaporating right beside me.
"Just let me know what time to pick you up." Ben smiled before dashing off to class. It was like he was oblivious to the obvious. I did not want to go out with him.
Gisella walked away without saying another word to me. She was pissed. I'd rather her be mad and yell at me instead of being pissed off and quiet but when I called her name, she kept walking without looking back.
The rest of my day, including Spanish class was horrible. Gisella being mad at me was something I didn't know how to handle. And on top of that, I'm pretty sure I didn't pass the test we had to take because I couldn't focus on anything besides the way she went out of her way just so she didn't look at me.
I didn't want to text her but I wanted to talk to her so bad. By the time I got home from school, I felt stuck. Instead of acting on my emotions and texting Gisella, I ate and took a nap. Maybe if I was sleeping I wouldn't think about her...