Everything Has Changed

We All Love Overthinking Here

A/N I feel like this chapter isn't my best work lol--but at least it's longer than the last one. I feel like I'm running out of funny chapter titles too. Oh well, hope you like it anyway!

ARU

Aru was officially bored.

At first, the trip hadn't been so bad. Mr. Acharya might've been a jerk, but he stocked all his cars with junk food, a fact that Aru had eagerly exploited. Except now, she was full. Normally that wouldn't have stopped her, but she was also feeling kind of nervous, and she didn't want to puke when they got to Mr. Acharya's house.

Aru turned up the volume on her music a few degrees to drown out the awkward silence in the car, glancing over at the tall girl in the driver's seat.

Kara had her driver's license, so she was apparently their chauffeur as well as their chaperone. Mr. Acharya must have really trusted her if he let a seventeen-year-old drive a car this expensive. She was a very responsible driver, stopping at every single yellow light and coming to a full stop at stop signs. Not even Aru's mom, who was always in a hurry, did either of those things.

Aru looked over at Aiden, on the other side of the car. He was engrossed with something on his camera. He also hadn't talked to her in miles. Had she said something wrong earlier, before they left? Upset him in some way? Aru thought over the last thing she'd told him, that she knew he liked her as a friend. Maybe it was the truth, but she had shut him down very quickly. She should apologize.

"So, how is the school year going so far for you two?" Kara chirped in the front seat. She seemed so...cheery. Aru didn't trust people who were happy in the early morning. She resisted the urge to bang her head against the window. The last thing she wanted to talk about right now was school.

"Good," Aiden said, surprising her. He lifted his head up, a trace of his usual optimism showing in his face. "I'm working on a project for yearbook right now. I'm almost finished."

"That's so cool!" Kara said. "I'm in yearbook, too!"

Aiden sat up straighter. "Wait, you are? Oh yeah, I've seen you, but only a few times. I thought you were just on errands to our classroom or something."

"You two have met before?" Aru asked, taking out an earbud.

"I never knew her personally, but yup," Aiden said. "So Kara, what do you do for the yearbook?"

"I'm actually a volunteer–I don't really take yearbook. I work behind the scenes, mostly, on the marketing committee although I'm kind of a jack of all trades. I can do everything but my favorite part is definitely interviewing people. Let me guess, you're a photographer?"

Aiden laughed, a sound that made Aru's heart skip a beat. "Yeah, kind of obvious, isn't it? Do you..."

The two of them launched into a long geeky conversation about the yearbook committee. Aru secretly rolled her eyes, and immediately felt bad. She had no reason to be possessive of Aiden. He could bond with other people besides her. She didn't need to be jealous...

Wait. Jealous? She had no reason to feel jealous--not platonically, and not romantically. Aiden could befriend or date whoever he wanted--well, maybe not date, since he was already pretending to date Aru.

Enough, she told herself sternly. Heading down that route would only hurt her. Still, that didn't stop...something from gnawing at her heart.

"Oh no," Kara said suddenly, peering at her dash. "The car's tank is getting low. I'm gonna have to make a quick pit stop. Is that okay?"

"No problem," Aiden replied.