Repaired

Chapter Five

Anabelle

I woke up quite early the next morning, and despite my best efforts, I just couldn't go back to sleep. Frustrated, I grabbed my phone to check if Ray had answered.

I had two missed messages from him, one apologising for the late reply, and one asking if I wanted to go to dinner tonight at 6. I simply sent him a quick reply saying yes. I figured we wouldn't be going anywhere too fancy; probably just some diner.

I kicked my legs over the side of my bed while putting on some music. Cole had recently gotten me obsessed with She's a Rebel by Green Day; he said it reminded him of me. I smiled, the thought of Cole thinking of me making my cheeks blush.

I decided to wear a simple outfit; a white T-shirt and some leggings. When I got down to the kitchen, as usual, my step mom was making me breakfast. Again, I loved her dearly,  it's just she's overly nice to me.

"Good morning sweetie!" She chirped, smiling at me brightly. "Good morning." I replied, pouring myself some coffee. I took a sip, and memories of my mom rushed in.

I clearly remembered her driving me to school for the last time; it was cold, and there was about an inch of snow on all the roof tops we drove by. I remembered taking a sip of her coffee before I got out, and her telling me an extremely dragged out goodbye as she dropped me off. Never would I have thought that those would be her last words to me.

I snapped out of it when I felt my eyes become watery. I cleared my throat and wiped away the forming tears. It's had been four years, I shouldn't still feel this way. I sighed as Catherine put a plate of bacon down in front of me.

"I saw you were a tad upset while you drank your coffee, so I thought you could use some artificial happiness." She said, starting to load the dishes into the sink. I smiled, and thanked her. Sometimes, I was happy that she was overly kind. I took my meds, and we left the house.

It was a quiet drive with Catherine to school. I would've turned the radio on, but honestly, I didn't want to have any noise right now.

Cole and Bianca were talking while waiting out front for me as always, so I threw on a big, fake smile and said goodbye to Catherine. She pulled away, and I made my way to my friends.

Once they noticed me, they quit talking and Cole threw his arm around my shoulders. All it took was this for me to smile for real. I looked over at Bianca, who was too busy on the phone to notice Cole and I.

It was at times like this that it took everything I had to not stop him and kiss him. He was perfect. I looked up at him, his blonde hair falling slightly in his face. I looked back down, feeling my cheeks blush. When we became friends years ago, I had no clue that he'd end up being everything I wanted.

But I knew he didn't like me back. He was my best friend, and that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Although, I did find solace in the fact that we would always be friends.

Cole removed his arm once we were inside the school, and I felt a small amount of sadness. He walked me to my class as always, but he seemed more paranoid than usual. He was looking around a lot, and I was worried about him.

When I got to class, I saw we had a substitute.  "Ugh." I said. Cole looked at me a little confused, so I elaborated. "I HATE Mister Urai. His personality totally clashes with mine." Cole let out a small laugh.

"He must be a Taurus." He said to me. "Want me to stay with you? I could make class less boring. I can throw paper planes at him."

"Cole, behave." I heard a voice say from behind us. I turned around to see Ray standing there, in the doorway. "Hi Belle. Are we still on for dinner tonight?" He asked me. Out my the corner of my eye, I saw Cole clench his jaw and ball his fist. I had no idea why he was upset, but I was worried.

"Actually, Ray, I totally forgot that Cole and I are going to the fair tonight. Im sorry, but we can go some there time for sure!" I said to him with a smile. He frowned and looked at Cole, but smiled back at me. "Some other time it is." He said, before turning and walking away.

"Cole, what's wrong?" I asked. I had no idea why he was acting like this. He just shook his head, before relaxing himself.

"I'm fine, Belle. Just having a bad day. I think I just need a hug." He said to me. Before I could speak, he wrapped his strong arms around me. I leaned in and hugged him back, feeling myself completely relax.

When the bell rang, he let me go before people began filing into class. "I'll see you at lunch, Belle." He said, and with that I sat down and got ready for a hellish hour.

Thankfully, the morning passed by quickly. I don't know why, but Ray wasn't in class. I figured that, like most kids, he ditched. I rushed to lunch, eager to see Cole.

When I arrived outside, there sat Cole and Bianca, on their phones doing whatever it is that they do. When Cole looked up, I saw that he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself.

I sat down next to him and began to eat my lunch. "So, we're going to the fair, are we?" He said, a smirk on his face. "Well yeah. I was going ask if you wanted to go, but i thought why ask if there's only one answer I'd accept?" I replied.

"Did you ditch dinner for me?" He asked. "I wouldn't call it ditching;" I said."I just wasn't really up for that type of socialization tonight."

Cole nodded his head, and we continued eating. When the end of lunch bell rang, Cole walked me to class.

"Hey, I've got some stuff I need to do so I can't walk you to last class. I'll be back after school, though. To drive you home." He said, leaning up against the lockers outside my class.

"Okie doke. I'll see you after school, nerd." I said to him, waving while I walked into my class room. I couldn't wait for tonight.