Grit | under construction

3.

Joshua's POV

I saw Mabel in the hall, and I felt the need to approach her after what happened with my friends yesterday. I wasn't gonna play her though, I actually wanted to become her friend. Maybe, me being her friend will give her some popularity. If her and I become something else after that, oh well.

"Hey" I said, walking up to Mabel, "it's Mabel, right?" I smiled. Mabel stared at me, wide eyed and silently. I gave her a moment, because I knew she was shy and possibly had a crush on me. She finally nodded, as well as had a noticeable chest rise, as if she was taking a deep breath.

"You should stop by my house today, we can work on Spanish homework" I said bluntly. It was something I was thinking of, and I didn't even realize I said it. "Uh, sure" Mabel muttered, which I was not expecting, "can I have your number?" she continued.

I nodded and held out my hand, "phone" I said. She nodded and opened her phone up to contacts, then handed it over. I typed my name and added a red heart emoji, then typed my number and saved contact. "Wait, do you want a contact photo?" I asked before handing Mabel her phone back. She shrugged, "sure" she said, as I opened her camera. "Let's take a photo together" I said while wrapping my arm around her. She gave me a hesitant nod and gave the camera a shy smile. I then went back to my contact, and added the picture.

"I have to go" I said, "but meet me here after school. We'll take a back road so that we don't run into Sami." Mabel nodded, "is it okay if my friend Bubba comes? She usually comes home with me every day" she said. I thought about it for a second, and then figured that wasn't a good idea because Bubba could come back to school gossiping about it or take pictures of us. "Tell her you're taking a rain check. I wanna be friends with you, not her" I said, as she licked her lips and nodded before turning around and walking away.

Mabel's POV

Once I was sure Joshua was out of sight, I pinched myself. I pinched myself so hard that there was nail marks in my skin. "This cant be real" I whispered to myself. I had to tell Bubba, she was my best friend and knew everything about me. I texted Bubba and asked her to meet me in the bathroom next to my locker. She agreed, and said she'd be there in five.

If I was a somebody to anybody, someone would've came looking for me by now, but I'm not. I asked to use the bathroom a good fifteen minutes ago, yet I was still not back in class. Even my teachers didn't care about me, they saw me as a burden because if I was close to a teacher, kids wouldn't like that teacher.

"Hey girl, what's up" Bubba said, catching me by surprise. I should've checked to see if anybody was in the bathroom, but I assumed all the stalls were empty. "You wouldn't believe what happened to me" I said to Bubba. She nodded her head, telling me to continue. "Joshua Lewis gave me his number, then asked me to go to his place!" I exclaimed, as Bubba gasped. "Wow really?" she asked, I shook my head for confirmation.

"Yeah" I said, "but the bell is about to ring and I've been gone for like twenty minutes. I better get going to class." Bubba nodded and gave me a hug as we left the bathroom and went our separate ways.

Miranda's POV

As soon as I heard voices talking, I sat up in the stall. They were whispering, but I could make out Bubba Romero's voice. I have french class with her, and she's fluent in French, so she talks plenty in that class. By process of elimination, I was able to figure out that she was talking to Mabel Cano, because Mabel is literally Bubba's only friend.

I tried not to listen in on their conversation, as I just had a mental breakdown and was trying to privately calm myself down, but then I heard some interesting information. Mabel said that she would be going over to Joshua Lewis' house. So does that mean that Sami and Josh are over for good? Is that why Sami hates Mabel so much?