East Chapel Academy

Chapter 14- Marcus

"Are you going to stare at Nia for the whole lunch period or are you going to take a break soon?"

    Nick asked, with his mouth full. My eyes snapped back to my tray. "I wasn't staring," I denied it.

    Nick rolled his eyes. Taking a sip of Red Bull, he said, "I'm glad you believe that." While he was talking, my eyes began to drift back to Nia and Lavender's table. Suddenly she turned back to me. Fuck.

    Unsure of what to do, I waved at her, like a complete idiot. She waved back at me before turning back to Lavender.

    "Hah, you got caught!" Nick laughed next to me.

    I elbowed him in the side. "Shut up," I said, embarrassed.

    "So what's the game plan for this weekend?" asked Nick.

    "What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

    "Are you guys going to study," he put air quotes around studying, "and then make your move on Nia or what? Like what's the plan?"

    "The plan is to study," I told him, unsure of why he would expect anything else.

    "That's it—just study," he sounded disappointed.

    "Yes," I said, not seeing the problem. "Is there a problem?"

    He sighed. "It's just that's so...lame. I get it you were with Whitney for a long time, and you're out of practice in the whole dating thing, but you're going to have to do something different. Or another guy is going to steal Nia right from underneath you."

    "Another guy, like Sam?"

    "Sam isn't the only guy you have to worry about," he warned. "Nia's new, and she's pretty, guys are noticing. And prom is a few weeks away, if you're going to make your move you might want to make it soon."

    I know he's right, I heard guys in the locker room talking about her yesterday. I've never had to work for a girl's attention before. It was simple with me and Whitney, one day Whitney just decided that we were together, and I went along with it. But Whitney and Nia are so different, I can't treat them the same, I don't want my relationship with Nia to be like my relationship with Whitney.

    Speaking of Whitney, she, Crystal, and Stacy came up to our table. Sam tagged along behind them.

    Whitney sat down with her tray full of rabbit food. Suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore.

    "Where's Nia?" Stacy asked, cutting into her grilled chicken.

    Whitney sneered in disgust. "She's sitting with Lavender."

    "But why?" Crystal asked. "Did she not like us?"

    "No, she—," Sam tried to explain, but Whitney interrupted him.

    "Who cares," Whitney brushed it off. "If she wants to sit with that freak, let her. But quite frankly, I think it's rude. I went out of my way to invite her to sit with us, and she decides to sit with her. I know she's from a bad neighborhood, but I at least thought they had manners."

    "Oh, get over it, Whitney," I groaned, tired of her bitching. "It's not that big of a deal, she can sit with whoever she wants."

    Shocked, Whitney's mouth dropped open. Nick put his hand over his mouth to cover his laugh. Crystal shot him a look in warning. Stacy and Sam remained silent on their ends of the lunch table.

    She flipped her hair behind her back. "Whatever," she fumed. Whitney wasn't going to yell at me, so in her typical fashion she turned her anger on someone else. In this case, it was Stacy.