Friends Forever, huh?

Chapter 24 | "you're going to regret this..."

He grins and winks at me, "Just so you know, I'd chose you over her any day."

Surprisingly, the rest of the day continues without incident. I carry Cole's words with me for the rest of the day. Given the choice between Shelby and I, he would chose me.

I almost feel guilty about what he's doing, though. It's well known that when a boy asks a girl to go to the Winter Ball, they're basically asking them out. Shelby's animosity toward me may be gone for the moment, but what happens after the ball is over? Surely my problems will multiply. Surely she'll become more enraged over his lack of affection toward her. Suddenly, my smile disappears.

I still have bruises on my stomach and arm that are evidence of what Shelby's anger looks like. I'm beginning to think that Asher and Derek have nothing better to do than follow her orders. They're probably infatuated with her like most of the boys in our school.

A new girl walks into the classroom and the eyes of every boy in the classroom shift toward her. She's absolutely drop dead gorgeous. The boy beside me lets out an appreciative whistle. I roll my eyes as the girl slides into the seat next to me, fully expecting her to be snobby.

Instead of snubbing me, she gives me a genuine smile and extends her hand. Caught off guard, I stare at her for a moment before extending my own. "I'm Shelby Stace," she says with a smile, "what's your name?"

I return her smile hesitantly, "Ashley Grayson." 

"Nice to meet you!" She casts a look around the classroom before glancing back at me, "this is a little awkward...all of this attention." I stifle a laugh, surprised by her words. She looks like the type of girl who would joyfully soak up attention.

"You seem normal," Shelby says finally, after the classroom has quieted down, "want to be friends?"

I bite my lip, unsure about making friends after Cole. He just left a year ago...but in that year, he cut off communication with me completely. I don't know anything about this girl. Is she trustworthy? Will she ditch me for the more popular crowd?

"Sure," I nod, apprehension rising within me, "friends."

I glance over at Shelby as the memory clears. She truly was a good friend to me at first. She didn't bother with popularity--sitting with me instead of the girls that treated gossip like their second language.

I brushed aside my fears and let my guard down. Gradually, I learned to trust her. At first, that decision was validated. She returned my trust and we were the perfect unconventional duo: the quiet girl and the popular one.

I should have known that trusting her was a bad decision. I wasn't bullied at the time, but Shelby was the type of girl that everyone wanted to be friends with. In the eyes of the populars, I wasn't good enough to be her friend. Very quickly, I learned that Shelby didn't fully believe rumors but each one lessened her trust in me. She would question me about the rumors in a subtle way that sounded like a dig to my defensive ears. Still, we valued our friendship enough to hold on through the fights.

Eventually, she couldn't take the up and down friendship anymore and brought an end to it. It was right after Addison asked me to homecoming instead of her. All of the subtle rumors about me stabbing her in the back and betraying our friendship came to a climax. She accused me of simply "pretending" to be her friend from the beginning. I told her she was being absurd. She didn't listen.