The Challenge

"You need to learn to be like Elsa and just let it go."

Lilly's POV

"What time is it?"

"Two minutes after the last time you asked me," Anna replied with a wry smile. "Lilly, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," I said quickly with a smile that wasn't fooling anyone. "What makes you think I'm not fine?"

"Well," she drawled looking down at my leg that was bouncing up and down rapidly.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized.

I stopped bouncing in my seat, reaching over for the ends of my hair.

"Okay, Lilly!" Anna said, placing a hand over mine. "What's wrong? Why are you so eager to leave class?"

I shrugged, my hands nervously wringing around the fabric of my sweater. "I just want to avoid the rush of students in the hallway. You know how crazy people get before lunch."

"Mmhmm." Anna nodded. "And you also want to avoid bumping into Dustin at your locker."

I slumped in my seat. "I just think it'll be a lot easier if we didn't run into each other."

"You can't avoid him forever. You're going to have to confront him sooner or later," Anna said. "I prefer for my fist to confront with his face. But that's just me."

I rolled my eyes just as the bell rung. The shuffling of papers and scraping of chairs on the floor could be heard throughout the classroom from kids just as eager to leave class as I was.

"Anna," I said, standing up from my seat and gathering my books. "I want to do this my way."

"Also known as the boring way."

"Yeah, well, maybe I like the boring way," I argued back. "The last time I did something out of my comfort zone, I ended up heartbroken and alone."

"Lilly," Anna sighed, placing a hand on my shoulder in sympathy.

"I know, I know," I said, shrugging her hand off. I walked towards the door, hearing Anna's footsteps following closely behind me.

"Forget and move one," I repeated the mantra Anna had told me countless times since the break up.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed, grinning as she swung an arm around me.
"Forget about that low-life. Move on and be happy."

I rolled my eyes. "Anna, I told you, I'm over it. If he doesn't care about me, I'm not going to waste my time being upset over him."

"Atta girl," she said with a smile. "You deserve someone so much-oh"

"Anna?" I asked after hearing her cut off.

I followed her gaze across the hall, until they finally landed on Dustin. He was smiling and laughing without a care in the world. I felt my breath catch in my throat at the sight of him so calm, so unfazed, so normal. He had his arm crossed and he was leaning against his locker, grinning as he spoke.

"What an ass." I heard Anna whisper from beside me.

I didn't pay attention to her because now my gaze was focused on the person standing opposite him; a pretty, little blonde in a floral dress. She laughed at something he said, holding onto his arm as she giggled. Dustin smirked at the hand the was gripping his bicep and I knew that smirk; that smirk was when he knew he got a girl exactly where he wanted her.

The girl tossed a strand of perfect strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder as she let out another laugh. Dustin's grin grew wider as he watched the girl go out of her mind to seem appealing to him. He played into the act, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. My stomach lurched, not because of the fact that the girl was practically throwing herself at Dustin but because I recognized all of his actions. I recognized all of the laughing and the smiling and the hair playing because they were all things that he used to do with me.