Friendzoned

Rumor Has It

Everyone seemed really hazy once school started again that Monday. Rumors were flooding the hallways of what happened during the party, most of which I didn't know whether to believe or not. Brooke Valentine was pinned to have started the majority of them, and I couldn't decided whether her facts were valid this time. 

Everything seemed different after that weekend. Pete had ignored me that whole morning, and Schoop was too caught up in Brooke to even care that I existed. The thing that hurt the worst though was seeing Danielle. Her thin body was pinned up against Jett's. Just like Schoop had told me, they were together, and I didn't like it one bit. I tried to avoid her, but somehow I couldn't. Her radiant beauty was overpowering, but how could I still feel like this about her when  Emily finally noticed me?

Danielle caught me eyeing her, and just to anger me she kissed Jett. I looked away, deciding not to stoop to her level. While exchanging some books in my locker I noticed something red appearing in my peripheral vision. Emily's hair was tied back, and my heart couldn't help but skip a beat when she approached.

"Did you have a nice weekend?" she asked me with a slight smirk. She knew exactly what my answer was going to be, but for some reason she wanted to hear me say it.

Before I could reply, Danielle waltzed over edging Emily out of sight with her elbow, "Bren," her long fingernails found my arm, "missed you Friday, where'd you run off to?" 

As if she didn't remember. I gulped a bit as she licked her strawberry lips, "I had an event to attend," I told her honestly.

She blinked her eyes a few times before replying, "That's too bad, I felt like we were just starting to have some fun," Danielle peered over at Emily to catch her in a state of jealousy, except Emily wasn't jealous. 

Emily's pale arms were crossed over her chest with a smile attached to her face as she watched Danielle try to remove her from the picture. She even let out a small giggle as Danielle played with her long hair. 

I noticed her laugh and smirked a little myself, "Yeah, too bad..." I let my voice trail as I maneuvered myself around Danielle's tall frame and over to Emily, "really too bad," I repeated slinging my arm around Emily's waist and walking off to Spanish class. 

Seniorita Alvarez and Señor Gomez were standing awfully close together as we walked into class that morning. Suddenly, I was starting to believe the rumor to why she hired him. Emily took a seat near me, as I made sure that I was as far away from Jett Wardorf as possible. He was certainly the last person I wanted to hear anything from. 

As class began, Señor Gomez took the floor announcing that we were starting a new project, "In your groups," he explained, "you will each be assigned a certain aspect of Hispanic culture. It could be a holiday, or a book, or even a painted," Señor Gomez didn't make much of an effort to make this project sound exciting at all, "and as motivation, Seniorita and I are letting you choose your partners." 

The minute he said that every student's heads were tossing and turning to make eye contact with a supposed partner. Mostly, though, I noticed how many heads turned to look at Emily. One too many, for my liking. However, when I turned to look at her, her eyes were already glued to me. She gave me a reassuring smile, then returned her attention to our student teacher.

"You have until the week before winter break to finish this project, and we expect it to be completely in Spanish," Señor Gomez emphasized the 'we' a tad aggressively, as if speaking a hidden message to his Spanish adviser. 

I turned to Emily as he finished speaking, "So...partners?" I mostly just wanted to make sure by asking. She laughed at my desperation, then nodded.