Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Chapter 4

Nancy's POV

June and I walked to our second period class, which was history. Thankfully, I had another class with June. I don't know how I got so lucky.

As I made it further down the hallway I saw Ham at his locker. I figured I would go talk to him. However, once he was fully in my line of sight I saw something odd. That was the best way I could describe it. Odd. Out of the 171, 476 words in the English language, there was not a perfect one to describe the situation I was witnessing. There was a girl, a gorgeous girl, standing beside Ham while he grabbed the appropriate school materials from his locker. They were talking and it seemed like a normal conversation. An outsider would assume they were friends, but my heart told me they were much more than that.

From now on I would always listen to my heart because apparently it is, without fail, right. The girl smiled brightly and kissed Ham on the cheek. He blushed in response. My heart simultaneously stopped and broke into millions of pieces. I remember June telling me that I should leave everything to fate. I guess, to my dismay, that this was meant to happen. There was one problem with that however, maybe it was a problem with fate in general. My feelings didn't align with what fate had decided. I didn't realize it till this very moment, but I still had feelings for Ham. Feelings are weird like that. It takes seeing a person with someone else to realize that you want to be with them.

I glanced at June to see what her reaction was to, well, everything that was playing out in front of us. I couldn't tell if she was more shocked or confused.
"Are you seeing what I am seeing?" She asked. She became more and more puzzled as she spoke.
"I see it too," I said. With one last exchange of bewildered looks, June and I walked over to Ham and the mysterious girl.

June led the way to Ham's locker, I lingered behind her. He noticed us immediately and the look on his face was priceless. It was the epitome of awkwardness.
"You two are probably confused, huh?" He asked.
"Yeah," June said.
"Okay...I...I have a girlfriend," he explained.
"I know that part, I'm not stupid," she replied. "Who is she?"
"My name is Alicia," the mysterious girl introduced herself. You know those people who say nice things but they say it in a rude way? I'm ninety-nine percent sure that's how Alicia is.
"Alicia, this is June and Nancy," Ham did the talking for us.
"It's nice to meet you both," Alicia smiled. It was the fakest smile I've ever seen. It was one of those sarcastic smiles. It contradicts with everything the person is saying. The person wasn't being mean, but they weren't being kind either. It was a loophole. A way to be hateful and obnoxious, but nobody could call them out for it.
"We should go, we have to get to class. It was nice meeting you Alicia," June said quickly. She lightly tugged me by arm and pulled me away.
"Why the sudden urge to leave?" I asked.
"Well we do actually have to go to class, but I couldn't stand the awkwardness anymore," she answered. I nodded and we kept walking.

We made it to history class on time. I was so thankful for that. I didn't want to be late on my first day of school. I opened the classroom door and my eyes found Squints, Yeah-Yeah, and Smalls. June was already walking over to them, so I followed her.
"Did you guys know that Ham has a girlfriend?" June asked as she sat down next to them.
"What? No!" Smalls eyes went wide. He was surprised to say the least.
"Are you for real? You aren't pulling our legs, right?" Yeah-Yeah questioned. He was questioning everything he just heard.
"I'm not! I saw her! Nance saw her too," June said.
"I did, she really exists," I nodded.
"Did you two talk to her?" Squints asked.
"We did," I answered.
Smalls's eyes were wide again. "What was she like?"
"She was kind of nice," I said. I didn't know how to explain the conflicts in Alicia's personality. Luckily, June knew exactly how to do it. "What she was saying to us was nice, but there was a massive tone issue."
"Okay, good to know...what did she look like?" A small smirk formed on Squints's face as he talked.
"You guys have a lot of questions. I feel like I'm being interrogated," June remarked. Squints rolled his eyes and she continued. "She is really pretty. I don't know how or why she is dating Ham. She is way out of his league." I laughed and everyone else did too. June was always able to make us laugh.
"So, how long have they been dating?" Smalls asked after his laughter faded away.
"I don't know," June shrugged. "I was going to ask Ham, but then it got really awkward so I left."
"How awkward?" Smalls's tone suggested that he didn't want to hear the answer to his own question.
"Terribly awkward, it was painful," she said. Smalls cringed and June followed suit. We would have kept discussing Ham's love life, but class had started. The teacher's loud voice called for everyone's attention and that was it. It was time to learn about history.

I was actually happy that class started. I didn't want to talk about romance anymore. Especially since the romance was centered around the boy I had a crush on. That's right, I just said that. It's official, I still have a crush on Ham.

Author's Note: Chapter 4!! This chapter is just full of tea! It is piping hot and it has been spilled!! ☕️ FYI, I don't know if the 171, 476 words in the English language was right. That was the only number I could find from reliable sources. So let's just go with it! 🤷‍♀️😂
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! 😊❤️
Like usual, I proofread but if you find any typos please let me know! 👍