Buried (Bailey Roberts Trilogy #1) Editing

07: Complicated [3rd draft]

Looking towards Gwen, Bailey could see the girls nostrils flare slightly, but not from anger. It was something else, like she was trying to stop herself from crying. These two had history. A painful history of love, but someone... Bailey furrowed her brows in concentration. His mother. Oliver's mother had gotten in the way.

"Hey look, here they come." The false cheeriness in Gwen's voice hurt Bailey's ears, but she turned towards the front. 'They' turned out to be Grayson, Damien, the blond haired guy she'd seen earlier giving Damien a high five, and a petite Asian girl.

"So, the blond is Seth Wilson and that cute Asian girl is Willa Michaels. They've been dating since freshman year and they're both juniors like Damien and Grayson."

Sometimes the second day of school was rougher than the first. How was she supposed to remember all these people? And did she need to know who was dating who? Bailey gave a subtle sigh. She didn't want Gwen to notice her slight irritation over the situation. Bailey liked Gwen, and she didn't want to come off as disinterested, even if she was.

"They've been having trouble." Oliver commented.

"And you've been consoling her, I'm sure."

Oliver shrugged nonchalantly, not denying nor confirming. A move that very clearly irked Gwen, but the girl was very practiced in hiding her emotions. If Bailey hadn't been watching her so closely, she might have missed it.

Gwen frowned. "I wondered why he'd been checking that girl out at his last party."

Bailey inwardly cringed, thinking again that this wasn't a topic they should be introducing to the new girl. It wasn't Bailey's business. She didn't want to hear about others relationship problems. Problems that for every couple becomes inevitable until someone cheats. Love doesn't last and sometimes she didn't understand why people bothered.

Everyone cheats eventually.

Oliver nodded, confirming Gwen's statement to be accurate. "I think they're fighting about school."

"That seems like a pretty stupid reason."

"Willa's mom thinks she should start focusing a little more on school. She's got SAT's coming up and Willa actually agreed with her mother. Law school ain't no joke."

Gwen nodded, "That means less time for Seth."

"And sex. Seth's never been down with that. Willa knows it and she's starting to feel resentful towards him because he can't appreciate her decision," Oliver said, reaching for a second bag of chips and slammed both hands on either side of the bag. Chips scattered everywhere, one even went far across the table. "Chips for everyone. You know, I thought Asians were just naturally smart."

Gwen stared down at him with disapproval. "How very stereotypical of you Oliver... you know, once upon time it was thought black guys were only good at playing sports and weren't smart at all. Please, and answer this question seriously, Oliver, who is still number one in the entire state? Academic wise?"

He didn't respond.

"Anyone?" Gwen spoke louder, looking around the basically empty table.

Oliver decided then to let his cocky persona slip into place. He licked his bottom lip suggestively and leaned back, tilting his head to the side. "Me."

Gwen's eyes widened with mock surprise. "Really? And what color are you?"

"Black."

"Ergo, don't be a stereotypical jerk."

He shrugged. "What can I say baby, when God made me he broke the mold."

Gwen gave him a small, soft smile with a distant look in her eyes.