Falling into the Badboy

Nine

The next morning Leah walks with me into school talking about the party for Tom. She's going to have it at her house, but she's not sure if we should have it on Friday his birthday or Saturday.

We walk up to my locker and I put the books I don't need inside and pull out my first couple of classes. "Should we do a black and gold theme or red and black? Gold is his favorite color, but he also loves red."

I look over at her, "well what do you plan on wearing?" You should stand out at the party. Wear something he loves and then theme it around that color." I say closing my locker.

She smiles, "this is why you are my best friend." Black and Gold it is then. I plan on wearing black so..." She stops and looks over at me as we walk over to her locker just down the hall from mine. "What are you going to wear." She opens her locker grabbing her books while looking at me.

"I don't know. I don't have a lot of clothes here. I sort of moved pretty quickly, a lot of my things are still back at home in Minot." She slams the locker and I jump a little.

Leaning against her locker she says, "then I guess we need to go shopping." I feel eyes on me and I glance over to see Brian across the hall down a little towards the school doors. He's watching me, and I feel my heart start to beat a little faster. Heat rushes to my face and I look down breaking the eye contact.

The bell interrupts us and I look back to Leah, "what?" I ask.

"I asked if you were free after school today. We can go shopping. Find something for you to wear to the party."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm free." She smiles and we walk into class going to our seats.

When lunch rolls around I meet up with Leah and she walks next to me to the lunch table. I sit down and pull out water and take a quick drink, "so what do you want to wear? So that we have a general idea of what to look for." Leah asks. Pulling out her own lunch.

"Mmm, " I say swallowing my water and capping the bottle. "How causal is this party going to be?" I ask.

She tilts her head a little and looks up, "mostly causal a little dressy."

"Then maybe a nice crop and some jeans," I say and Leah smiles.

"Okay. I'll drive, just meet me outside after school." She says, just before Tom and Brian walk over to our table.

Tom sits next to Leah and Brian sits next to me. I look over at him but he doesn't look at me. "What no smoke today?" Leah asks Brian.

Brian looks over at her and shakes his head, "I quit. Guess it's bad for your lungs." He says and Leah looks away. Confused I continue to look at him. He makes eye contact with me and I look away a small smile crossing my face.

The last bell came around faster than I thought it would. I grab my stuff and stand pulling my phone out and calling aunt Vicki. "Hello." She says after picking up on the third ring.

"Hey." I smile and unlock my locker. "Leah and I are going to go shopping after school. I just wanted to let you know. I might be home late. I'll text you when we get there and when I'm on my way home." Closing my locker I walk outside the school.

"Ok. Thanks for letting me know. Be good and be safe. I love you." She says.

"Love you too," I say and hang up.

I walk into the student parking and see Leah standing next to her car. Tom and Brian are standing with her and they seem to be arguing. "Hey. What's going on?" I ask once I walk up to the car.

Leah looks over at me exasperated, "Tom and Brian think they need to go with us." She exclaims.

Tom turns to me, "why can't we go with you guys? It's just shopping." He asks. Speechless I look to Brian but he doesn't say anything.