Flames

Chapter 9: Fights

"Hi!! How were your Christmas vacations?" Sarah asks as she sits down next to me at lunch.

"Great! and yours?" I answer with a smile.

"Fabulous," she answers happily. "I didn't hear from you all break."

"Yeah, sorry! I was kind of busy," I reply, not wanting to share more. I haven't told any of my friends about Sam. I don't know how to tell them.

"My two favorite girls," Jake interrupts as he sits down next to Sarah, greeting her with a peck.

"Hey, Jake," I greet him smilingly.

"Hey, you! I missed you over the holidays," he says.

"Me too," I reply, the corner of my mouth quirking down. I guess I kind of disconnected from my friends over the break. Jake just gives me a sympathetic smile in return.

"Guys, I need your help organizing Luke's birthday party next week," Sarah states.

"I'll help you," Genesis jumps in quickly. "I love party planning."

"I can help too," Chris offers. "I can get the alcohol."

"Sweet, thanks," Sarah thanks them happily. Obviously, Jake and I will help her too.

"My great friends, how are you today?" Luke asks enthusiastically, appearing out of nowhere and sitting down next to me.

"Great," all my friends answer.

"What's with the exaggerated enthusiasm?" Jake asks him.

"Can't a guy just be happy?" Luke replies with a smile. Jake just laughs at him. "How about you? How are you?" Luke whispers. The others continue with their conversation.

"I'm good," I simply respond.

"Didn't hear from you over the break," Luke states. I guess everyone really missed me over the holidays.

"Yeah, I was kind of busy," I tell him the same thing I told Sarah.

"Well, I hope you had a great time," he adds. I smile in response, letting him know I did have a good time.

We continue talking about our Christmas vacations, about what we did and ate, until lunch's over and we have to head towards our classes.

"God this class is boring," I say aloud.

"Tedious," Jake adds, agreeing with me. "So, what did you do over the break?

"Well, about that..."

"What?" he asks curiously.

"There is something I have to tell you, but you need to promise me you're not going to overreact nor say anything to anyone, not even Sarah, okay?"

"Okay?" he answers confusedly.

"Promise me," I insist.

"I promise."

"Remember Sam?" I ask.

"The guy who was bothering you at the start of the semester and the bully's brother?" Jake asks. He does remember him.

"Yes, him," I confirm. "Well, I hung out with him a couple of times and turns out he's not that bad, in fact, he's sweet. On Christmas, he met my dad and ate with us. Lisa adores him and he's so sweet with her. We're kind of dating now."

"What?" he reacts a bit loud, causing a few heads to turn in our direction. Thank God we're in the last row, so the teacher can barely hear us talking. "Why you waited until now to tell me this?"