Convulsion

✿ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ✿

Lily

"Wait!" A girl comes running over to me, her black french braids bouncing with every step. "Are you doing anything after school?" I sigh, trying to hide my smile as I continue to walk. My best friend, Katie, asks me this every single day on the steps of our school, Timber Creek Middle and High School, right when I'm about to leave. Even if I say no, she'll ask me the next day, and the next, and it goes on and on. Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes it's welcomed. But I've heard it for three years straight nonetheless.

"She'll probably use one of her excuses like, 'Oh, I have to feed the dog.' Blah, blah, blah, the usual." Katie laughs at Michael's comment, and I push him lightly as he falls into step beside us. Even though I give him a glare, I can't help but keep my smile from showing.

"I wasn't gonna say that. And you guys know it's not an excuse," I argue, eyeing the both of them. "I have to feed Trixie after school." Anna elbows me as she joins our group, raising her eyebrows at me. She has a weird thing whenever I use words like 'gonna' or 'wanna' and she always corrects me, as she does right now.

"Going to say that. It's going to. Not gonna." I tilt my head at her, nudging her back.

"Right. Sorry." Katie and Anna start laughing abruptly, Anna's silky blonde hair bouncing up and down as she laughs, motioning for me to turn around while pointing at something behind my back.

"What?" I question. I turn around to see what they're looking at, my eyebrows raised. Once I'm turned around I see Michael standing behind me, copying my every move. The sun reflecting on his glasses makes me squint, but the light makes his sky blue eyes stand out as I try to find out what he's doing. I smirk when I realize he's trying to get a few laughs out of Katie. Of course he is. He always tries to make her laugh.

"Really, Michael?" I ask, annoyed and amused at the same time.

"Really Michael?"

"Haha. Very funny."

"Haha! Very funny!" I've known Michael since third grade, and even though we're practically done with eighth grade, he hasn't changed that much. He's fifteen, one year older than me, and yet both him and Katie act like they're still ten years old.

"I'm Michael, and I like Katie," I declare. Katie shoots me a look and for a moment I think I've succeeded, but Michael only smiles.

"I'm Lily!" He yells at the top of his lungs. "And I like Chr-" I slap a hand over Michael's mouth, the word "Chris" coming out as gibberish. I glare at him, peering behind me. Chris is at his usual spot by the entrance of the school with his friends. Great. He's not looking this way. As long as he didn't hear. I take my hand away from Michael's mouth, turning back to face him and pulling at a strand of his smooth black hair.

"I don't like Chris, and you should know that by now." Just the thought of Chris flusters me. He's always mocking me, annoying me, and doing a bunch of stuff that I hate. Well, I pretend to hate it at least. Sometimes he's actually pretty nice and cool, and I might even call him my friend. Still, there's something off about him. He's always watching my every move. Not even in a creepy way, more in a protective way. I can't tell why, though. Of course, my friends mistake this as having a crush on me, but I don't think that's what it is. It seems like that a lot of the time, but there has to be something going on. At least, I think so.

There are strange things that happen with not only Chris, but Michael too. Lately whenever Michael has gotten really excited I feel the air around me heating up, and whenever Chris gets really into teasing me I can feel a sudden breeze, even if we're inside of a closed room. But every time I bring it up to them, they both deny it and push it off as something else. Is what's going on real or is it all in my head?