The Other Side of Unrequited Love [JustWriteIt]

Chapter 6- Distractions

"Myra!" Gabriel hissed.

Myra turned in surprise. "What? Sorry, I blanked out."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I can tell. Did you hear a word of what Tim just said?"

She winced. "No."

Gabriel sighed. "Hold this trophy with me and look happy."

Myra turned to the camera, holding the trophy with the biggest grin she could muster.

They were currently running a series of photoshoots. After the competition scene, Tim decided to have a montage of newspaper headlines with the two of them taking the world by storm. Myra wasn't entirely sure, but she thought they won a few more competitions, then invented some robots that helped disabled people. It wasn't a lot of work so much as a lot of time with her stylists getting her hair and costume changed as quickly as possible. Her mind kept drifting back to Dallas. She hadn't expected him to do something as drastic as stalk her to a party. How had he figured out she was going? The only people that knew were Ardith, Evie, and Jenna, and they hated Dallas as much as she did. Wait, how had he known there was a party at Rohan's in the first place? What if Rohan—

"Myra McCaffery!" Gabriel said loudly, snapping a finger in front of her face.

She looked at him, bewildered. "I'm sorry, what's going on? I blanked out again."

Gabriel looked at her in disbelief. "Seriously? Twice in five minutes?" His face quickly changed to concern. "Hey, are you alright?"

She nodded harder than necessary. "I'm fine, I promise. What am I supposed to do?"

Gabriel only looked more worried. "We just have to change again. But seriously, are you alright? You're really out of it today."

"Yeah, I'm good, I pro—"

Another look from Gabriel cut her off.

She sighed. "I'll text you later."

He nodded. "Okay. Now go change."

She smiled and saluted him. "Aye-aye, Cap'n."

He smirked and walked off.

She turned to go to her own dressing room, desperately trying to not let herself become consumed in her thoughts again.

***

The next day, Myra had just finished texting Abir the whole story. She looked up from her phone, a slight headache forming. Being on the bus gave her a headache most days, regardless of whether she was staring at her phone the whole time.

"Myra? You ok?"

She looked up at Neil. "Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Just...distracted."

He looked a little uncomfortable. "Oh...um, okay." He opened his mouth like he was thinking about saying something else, then closed it quickly. Myra frowned slightly. Usually, in that situation, the typical response was to ask why she was distracted. She hadn't said it so he would ask, of course, but she still found it weird that he didn't. At the same time, she was oddly relieved.

"Hey, guys!" a cheerful voice said. Myra looked up to see Bryn plopping down in the empty seat kitty-corner from her. Myra smiled.

Bryn shrugged. "I got bored in the seats up front, thought I'd come back here and chill with you guys."

"Of course!" Myra responded happily.

Neil smiled awkwardly. "Hey. Uh, have we met?"

"I don't think so," Bryn said. "Bryn Cavanagh."

Neil shook it quickly. "Neil."

Bryn smiled warmly and looked back at Myra. She raised her eyebrows. 'You okay?' she mouthed.

Myra nodded, biting her lip. She was somewhat okay.

"So, uh, Myra," Neil said, turning back to her, "how was your day?"

"Oh," she said in surprise. That was oddly targeted. "It was fine, I guess. I mean, it was just a day."

In truth, she had been on edge all day, nervous that Dallas would find her. But she had never told Neil about Dallas, and she didn't intend to now.

She turned to Bryn. "What about you?"

Bryn shrugged. "Can't say I loved it. I had a test in five different classes today. Honestly, that should be illegal."

"I hear at other schools, they have a rule about which subjects can test on which days," Myra commented.

"That would be brilliant," Bryn agreed. "Your thoughts, Neil?"

"Oh, yeah, I agree with Myra," he said quickly.

Myra stared at him. What a weird answer. Bryn was the one who had expressed the opinion. She had simply stated the fact.

Just then, their stop arrived. Bryn and Myra stood up and began making their way to the front of the bus.

"See you around, Neil!" Bryn called.

"Bye Myra! Oh, uh, see ya, Bryn!"

They got off the bus and began climbing up the horrible hill.

"Neil was acting weird today," Myra mused. "I have no idea why."

Bryn gave her a look. "Seriously?"

Myra frowned. "What?"

Bryn raised her eyebrows. "He's so into you, girl."

Myra's eyes widened and her mouth dried. "You mean...you think he has a crush on me?"

Bryn nodded grimly. "An intense crush at that."

Myra felt the pit of her stomach go cold. She looked down, running her fingers through her hair. "No! No, this is bad! Neil and I were just supposed to be friends!"

Bryn laughed a little. "I gotta say, didn't exactly expect this reaction."

"I'm sorry, it's just..." Myra sighed. "Boys having crushes on me tends to not work out in my favor."

"Ah," Bryn said in realization. "You're talking about—"

"Crap," Myra breathed, freezing.

Bryn stopped, frowning. "What?"

Myra just raised a shaking hand and pointed.

For standing in front of her house with a glare to rival an army, was Dallas.