Please Write Back

Chapter 25

Sarah quickly places a note on my desk as I sit at my desk. She doesn't make eye contact with me; she's looking out the window. I guess she's trying, but still, I wish she didn't act like she doesn't know me.

so u saw alex's new friend?

I look at it and sit down, taking out my pen and writing,

You already saw him?

of course i did.

I'm already in a bad mood from earlier this morning, and Sarah isn't making it any better. Maybe I'm just taking this the wrong way, but her replies are so snarky and irritating. I write,

Just talk to me. Why don't you? What are you afraid might happen?

Sarah looks at the note, and she crumples it up, getting up out of her seat, throwing it in the trash can. I can't believe this. Maybe I should just give up on trying to stay friends with her. The thing is that I really trusted her. I thought she was loyal because we've spent all these years together as friends. But now I guess it's time for me to move on.

                                                                            . . .

Hunter sits next to Alex at lunchtime, but Alex and I still sit across from each other. And I eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, per usual.

"How did you become friends with him?" Hunter asks Alex. I find it kinda strange that he didn't call me by my name, but maybe he forgot it.

"Oh, you mean with Earn?" Alex asks. "Well, we kinda just ran into each other my first day here—literally—and we already knew each other."

"What'd you mean by literally?" Hunter asks

Alex chuckles. "He almost bumped into me, so I stopped him."

Hunter looks at me, and we make eye contact for a second before I look away, down at my sandwich. His stares always make me feel unsettled, but I don't know why. I just feel like crawling away every time he does that.

Alex and Hunter talk to each other for the rest of the lunch period, while I sit there eating my sandwich silently. I get it, since they haven't seen each other since their old school closed. But I thought that Alex would say something to me, at least. They talk about a lot of things: relationships, family, friends. I'm surprised that they haven't exchanged phone numbers or something, because they're talking about so much. Or maybe they did, I wouldn't know. When the period is almost over, Hunter stands up.

"I should get going, my next class cuts into lunchtime a little bit," he says.

"Oh, catch you later then," Alex says, and Hunter walks away. I watch him as he exits the cafeteria. "Sorry for totally ignoring you the whole lunchtime. I—"

"No, no, I get it. It's... it's fine," I say. "Here, I... um, forgot to give this back to you yesterday," I say, pulling Alex's sweater out of the backpack beside me.

"Thanks," Alex replies, taking the sweater from my hands as I try to quickly pass it to him. "You could've kept it if you wanted to, I have another one of these. But that would've been kind of weird, wouldn't it?" he asks while tying it around his waist.

"Uh, yeah..." I say. There's a few moments of silence between us, a small smile on Alex's face. I get up and say, "I actually have to go too."

"Aw, really?" Alex asks, his smile dropping. "Okay. See you later then."

It's nice how Alex doesn't question me whenever I say I have to do something. Becuase I'm terrible at lying. Not that I'm always lying to him, of course. But I can just easily get away if I have to. Now that I think about it, maybe that's not a good thing.

I walk out of the cafeteria, to my locker. The halls are empty, with either students in class or at lunch. I open my locker, and I hear footsteps from down the hall. Turning my head, I notice Hunter right behind me.

"Oh, um, hi," I say, startled to see him there.

"You don't... like Alex or anything, do you?" he asks me out of the blue.

I immediately got nervous, my ears and face getting really hot. I was seriously put on the spot. Like who just asks that to someone? With that much confidence?

"W-what do you mean?" I ask, nervously laughing and scratching my neck.

"You know... do you like him?" he repeats, not really answering my question or helping me at all.

"I-I mean... no, of course not," I reply. "Why would I like him, I mean... I'm not into guys or anything," I add a bit too quickly, laughing again.

"Uh huh..." Hunter says slowly, a stark contrast from my speed. "Well, I was just going to say that he wouldn't really be into you anyway. Y'know, to help you out. Just so you wouldn't get your hopes up."

I nod. "Um... thanks?"

"Yeah, he hasn't dated a nerd before."

Why is he still talking? I literally told him that I didn't like Alex, and he's just talking to me like I said yes.

"Well, I gotta go, see you," Hunter says with a straight face and not a hint of sincerity in his voice.

I look at the floor, as he walks away down the empty hall, my mood now completely down. I guess he is right, though. I'm not Alex's type at all. I'm not like him either, so I should've known it was hopeless.

"Getting to know Hunter?" I hear from down the hall. I look up, spotting Alex walking towards me.

"I guess," I mutter, turning to my locker.

"Yeah? I was hoping so," he replies, behind me now.

I really can't help but think about what Hunter said to me just a few minutes ago. It really hurt, and it still hurts, especially now that Alex is here.

"You're going to class now?" Alex asks. I pull out a book and turn around.

"Uh... no. I just—"

"But you said you were going to class," he says, interrupting me with an abrupt statement. It's the first time Alex has ever done that to me.

I can't look him in the eye. "...yeah, I just wanted to get away from everything for a bit."

"Oh," he replies, looking down the hall. "I guess I should leave you alone, then."

I don't say anything. I just let him go, watching him walk back into the cafeteria. I don't really have a chance with him anyway. And I can't risk getting too attached to him because it'll just be really painful in the end.