We're Still Nerds

Prologue 

8th grade- the last day

                 I had always been a pretty good actress. It wasn't hard for me to act like nothing was wrong around people, but I knew that he knew. He was my best friend, he could read me better than anyone else. So, as soon as he saw me he went into his 'funny mode'. When I saw him, I put a smile on my face that wasn't as big as the one I normally had when I saw him. He was waiting for me outside the Junior High School as always, wearing a blue hoodie over his Zelda shirt that had the old Legend of Zelda master sword on it, and under it: "It's Dangerous to go alone. Take this." 

                        He glanced down my own shirt, the shirt with the same Master Sword icon, and under it: "Don't Make me go Zelda on you". He grinned, and I grinned back, hooking my arm through his. "My Zelda shirt is cooler than your Zelda shirt," I commented, and Aiden snorted. "Is not." 

                      "Is to." 

                    "Is not!" 

                     "Is to!" 

                        It was then that we were interrupted by a loud, irritating voice. "Arguing about what the square root of pi is?" We turned and saw Alex Derron smirking snottily at us, and I shot him a hateful glare while Aidan said calmly, "You really need to learn the difference between book geeks and math geeks, my friend. If you've seen our grades lately, you'd know we're both horrible at math."  Alex ignored this comment and glared back at me. "Something you'd like to add, Gray?" Alex sneered. "Of course there is. But where to begin?" I said teasingly, tapping a pale finger to my chin. "Are you coming, Alex?" A girl's whiny voice called, and Aidan and I saw it came from Emma, the school's princess,  who was wearing her cheerleading uniform to brag that she'd made the varsity team for next year. 

                    "Of course I am," Alex said smoothly, and sent us one last smirk before stalking off after the popular crowd. Rolling my eyes, I turned to Aidan, mimicking Emma by tossing my frizzy brown hair as if it was her own blonde locks. "Are you coming, Aidan?" I said in my best whiny voice. Aidan copied Alex's cocky smirk and said in a low, rude voice, "Of course I am." I burst out laughing at his weak attempt before grabbing Aidan's arm and pulling him from the sidewalk through the school doors. The bell rang, and we hurried off to class, Aidan making comments about every person that walked by while I tried to keep in the laughter. When he whispered "Mufasa" as an old teacher walked by who had hair as if she thought it was the eighties, I burst into a fit of laughter while everybody gave me wierd looks. The two of us ignored them as always. 

                 This was how each last day of school usually began. We wore matching t-shirts of one of our favorite characters from comics or books or games, and we would spend the day laughing and joking and ignoring everybody else. What made this last day different was the fact that it was our last day together. And I wasn't looking forward to telling him. 

 * * * 

                   "Cassandra Saria Grey, I command you to tell me what's got you so down," Aidan said when we were sprawled across my bed that afternoon. I sighed. "How did you know? I played it all so well," I murmured, pulling at my t-shirt uncomfortably.  "Because I know you better then anyone," Aidan said, looking over at me. I opened my mouth, shut it, and opened it again, trying to figure out what to say. "Well- I'm kind of- Er- Ugh, how am I supposed to say this!" I groaned turning away from him. 

                    Aiden gently grabbed my chin and turned it to face him. "Cass, we've been best friends since second grade when you beat me at Mario Kart on your old 64. You can tell me absolutely anything." I then jerked away, stood up, and faced him. Before I could hesitate again, I blurted, almost screaming it:

                 "I'm moving to Ohio!" 

                   I was on the verge of tears as I turned around, so I wouldn't see how his grin faded and his eyes darkened. I heard Aidan stand up, and then he was in front of me, his blue-violet eyes devestating my own. "What do you mean, you're moving to Ohio?" I stumbled backwards. "My parents want to go live closer to the rest of my family since Jessie had a baby and Bella's going to the college there. I've tried everything to convince them to let me stay, even if I'm staying alone. They wouldn't budge. They already found a Private School they want me to go to," I whispered, my bottom lip quivering. Aidan's face changed, his eyes vulnerable and hurt. "I'll come with you," he choked out. I let out a high pitched, choked laugh. "Aidan, you can't take off and follow me to Ohio! I get that we're best friends, but I can't drag you away from your family and haul you to a different state." 

               Aidan's eyes darkened, his face stony. "When are you leaving?" I sucked in a shaky breath. "Tomorrow night." He shook his head, eyes shining. "You should have told me sooner. We could've had days, weeks, months maybe. We could've figured something out." I moved forward to grab his hand, but he jerked back as if I'd burned him. "Aid, I was scared to tell you! I diidn't want our last day to be any different, and- and I didn't want to hurt you," I said in a pleading voice, but Aidan just shook his head. "Please, Aidan. You're my best friend. You'll always be my best friend. Nothing can change that!" I shouted, but Aidan backed away from me. "I thought you knew what you meant to me, Cassie. You're going to leave me all alone, just like that, after everything.  Don't bother to call," he said, opening my bedroom door and stalking out. I ran after him, tears running down my face.

                  "Aidan, we're best friends! Of course I'm going to call you," I said, reaching the front door where he was standing, staring at me in a way I'd never seen him look at me before. With anger- pure anger that showed no signs of forgiveness.  "Cass, you were all I had. And now you're leaving like everybody else did. I thought you were different," he whispered, and I closed my eyes as the tears kept running. When I opened them, my best friend was gone. I looked around wildly, wishing he'd come running back, apologizing, saying that he was still my best friend. That he was still there for me. But, of course, he didn't. 

                   "You were all I had, too," I whispered.