"Hey Stella!" Natalia ran up and hugged Stella from behind, Natalia was so short that Stella never saw her coming.
"What's up! How was your break?" Natalia stared up at Stella, she's so pretty, Stella thought.
"It was great! You're never going to guess what happened,"
"What?"
"Me and Alejandro started dating!"
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Stella suddenly felt very sick.
"Oh.... That's um- so cool!" Stella stuttered, not knowing what to say. "I'm happy for you guys!"
"Yeah! And I wanted to tell you," Natalia fiddled with the straps of her backpack, she hated telling her friends bad news, especially when that friend was Stella. "Me and Alejandro are hanging out after school, so I can't go to Starbucks."
"Oh," Stella could feel tears welling in her eyes, she pressed her tongue to the top of her mouth, trying not to cry. "That's okay, I hope you have fun!"
Just then, Avery and Talia walked up to Stella and Natalia holding hands. They had been together all schoolyear, so it wasn't a surprise to see them so lovey-dovey, but today in particular, Stella felt like gagging. She averted her gaze and looked back at Natalia, she was snapping Alejandro, ugh.
"You ready to go to lunch?" Talia asked the group.
"Yep!" Replied Natalia.
Sophia, Gabi, and Polly were sitting at their usual table in the North cafeteria. They were probably talking about politics, or the new Taylor Swift. Stella didn't care to talk today, it was only 12:07 and her day was ruined.
"Hey guys!" Gabi greeted the group who had just sat down.
"Hey, how was your break?" Avery asked as she retrieved her lunch from her bag.
"It was okay, I didn't really do much of anything," Polly said with a British accent.
"Whoa! Polly, what's up with your voice?" Talia asked as she shooed Sophia's hand away from her water bottle.
"Oh yeah, I went to the ol' UK for a bit, just to have a cup of tea," Polly took a bite of a custard creme and lightly dabbed her mouth with a napkin.
Stella sighed, she didn't care about Talia and Avery, or Polly's new voice, all she wanted was to go to Starbucks with Natalia. She looked over at her to see her comparing Spanish homework with Sophia, I wish I could talk to her. Stella looked down at her lunch, red mac n' cheese again. Gross.
"Stella!" Stella looked up to see a 6'3 boy with brown hair, green eyes, and a beaming smile. "Hey!"
"Aidan, hey!" Stella got up and hugged him, Natalia turned her head, confused at who this was, she felt strangely jealous.
"Who's that?" Sophia asked.
"Oh, this is my friend Aidan, he's in my math class," Stella gestured to Aidan, who just stood there awkwardly. "He transferred this semester".
Everyone greeted him but Natalia.
"So Stella, I was wondering what you were doing after school?"
Various ooos and aaaas came from the lunch table. Stella blushed, Natalia stared down at the floor.
"Ignore them," Stella turned to face Aidan, "Um- I'm free!"
"Cool," Aidan adjusted his backpack and ran his hands through his hair, "Meet me by the corner."
Natalia felt her stomach drop. She looked into her brown paper bag; Takis, a sandwich, and grape juice. Her lunch routine was the only thing that could provide her comfort.
Stella sat back down at the table "Sorry guys, he's just a friend."
"Oh sure," Sophia elbowed Stella, "There's nothing going on there"
"I'm serious!" Stella exclaimed, "He would never be interested in me...."
Natalia looked up, "Well- are you interested in him?"
"I don't know," Stella stared back at Natalia, why does she care? "Maybe, I guess I'll have to find out today"
"Oh- well let me know how it goes," Natalia looked back down at her lunch, how could she be so stupid? She should've told Stella she liked her before Aidan swooped in.
Stella kept her eyes on Natalia, Is she sad? I thought she liked Alejandro. Maybe she's just tired. Stella poked her fork into her lunch, it made a weird squelching sound. Gross.
