Not You

Chapter Five

Wednesday, and Kady woke up with much less pep to her step than she had the day before- in fact, it could be argued that she woke up with much less enthusiasm than she ever had in her life; Kady found herself frowning and groaning throughout her entire morning routine, and then frowning all the way to college.

By the time she reached her locker, the red-haired girl could feel the beginnings of a headache forming- even her jaw had begun aching but she was much too focused on her frustrations to release any sort of tension from her face.

"Heya, Kay." Symphony stopped abruptly when she noticed the look on Kady's face, her smile dropping and her brows knitting in worry. "What happened?" Kady couldn't help but roll her eyes as she remembered her encounter from the day before.

"Just a run-in with Lucas on my way home." Kady sighed as she pulled her Politics folder out of her locker, her movements more abrupt than usual with all the emotions she was feeling.

"Your super genius plan didn't work?" Symphony let out a chuckle as she finished, laughing louder when Kady turned to shoot her a displeased pout.

"Shut up, it was foolproof."

"Apparently not." Symphony had stopped laughing and was instead grinning widely, especially when Kady's furrowed brow finally lifted enough for her to crack a smile. "There you go. Come on, cheer up- this isn't the Kady I know."

"It isn't?"

"You're right, it really is." Symphony pushed against Kady's shoulder gently, earning herself a wider smile. "I'm always here for you."

"I know, thank you." Kady shot her friend a genuine smile, her mood somewhat lifted with the comfort Symmy always brought, before finally closing and locking her locker. Kady had barely finished lifting her hand from double-checking the lock before Symphony was already wrapping her arm around her, pulling Kady carefully in the direction of their class.

"Forget about him for now anyway, you have two whole hours where he can't bother you. Rejoice."

"I guess you're right." Kady met Symphony's eyes and the two shared a grin. "Come on, let's go."

~~~~~~

Two hours of Politics might not be everyone's idea of a good distraction, but this was one of the very rare times when Kady found the topic fascinating, and with being completely absorbed in her work it wasn't hard to forget all about the blond boy tormenting her.

"What do you want to do for break?" Symphony leaned against the locker beside Kady's, looking around the hallway as she waited for Kady to reply. Kady took a moment to think, placing her folder back into her locker with much more gentleness than she had taken it out with this morning.

"I'm not really sure. Let's just find somewhere to sit for now."

"Sounds good!" Symphony pushed off the locker once Kady had locked hers, waiting for her to double-check it before the two made their way outside, finding an unoccupied bench a small distance from the field where it all began. Kady shot the field a glare, as though that would change anything now.

The two were engrossed in a very intense discussion on the topic of today's Politics class, which might be why Kady only noticed Lucas when he was already on the field.

"Ugh, he's everywhere." Kady groaned out the words, keeping her frown directed firmly at the boy who had become the bane of her existence. Symphony raised an eyebrow, no doubt confused at the abrupt change in topic, and turned to where Kady was now glaring. Symphony let out a quiet laugh when she saw who they were now talking about, the two girls now watching as Lucas, James, Callum, and the rest of their group sprayed each other with water bottles, laughing so loudly Kady could hear the irritating sounds from where she sat. Her frown deepened when she noticed Lucas stop, look in their direction, and wave- his face shifting into the brightest smile Kady had seen on him yet. Kady ripped her gaze away and back to Symphony, watching as her friend waved happily in return.