Hopelessly Imperfect

Three

Taking a deep breath out, I meet his eyes. "Definitely." I wanted to add that I couldn't care less who he hooked up with and that we were never a couple but I didn't. To be fair, I didn't feel like talking to Tom. I never thought there was anything to explain, to begin with.

Tom's eyes looked toward Nathan and a frown drew on his face. But he wasn't stupid. You just didn't mess with Rivers. People tried to avoid him. For a moment, I wondered if those were just rumors. Nathan didn't seem aggressive, to be honest.

In a way to end the conversation, I hitched my backpack over my shoulder as I looked at Tom "I'm happy for you guys. You make a nice couple,"

The crease on his forehead deepened. "Oh we're so not together." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I kind of wanted to ask you out, officially."

"Huh" I bit my lip and looked everywhere but him.

He kept pushing, "how about this Friday?"

I pulled my bag's strap as I turned to look at the watch one more time. Five minutes. Sighing, I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I can't."

His brown eyes darkened. "Really?" he raised an eyebrow, "What? Are you dating him?" He gestured with his thumb at Nathan's direction.

"I'm not dating anyone." My voice tone softened as I added, "but Marissa and you could be a great couple." I had said it with the best intentions. He had been nice to me in the past.

He looked at me completely bewildered, "Why?"

Because she's not broken as me.

"I'm just not good for you right now." And I'm not worth it. I swallowed hard as my eyes casted down. I exhaled one more time before closing my locker's door.

"Sorry" I said to Tom as I found myself gazing at Nathan's scrutinizing eyes. The bell finally rang and I walked away leaving them both dumbfounded.

During lunch period, Farah caught up with me as I walked outside the school's cafeteria to sit against a wall. Apparently, neither her or Nathan could get a hint.

"Hi Cassie!" she chirped in. Resignation washed over me. She was persistent, I'd give her that. Despite the fact that I'd been pretty much ignoring her, she had managed to track me down on recess and follow me wherever I went. As days passed, I had to admit that I even waited for her today at the entrance. She would find me anyway and it was less hassle for everyone. Plus, she was nice. Too nice for me, though. But, she talked a lot. It was refreshing to be around someone like her.

She pulled out her fruit salad as I opened my granola bar and started to munch it. Cheery as she was, she started to talk about what she had done over the weekend. In a short span of time, I already knew so much about her. That she loved reading anything, that she was a lousy singer, that she couldn't boil an egg and that she loved drawing. Her favorite band was Coldplay and her favorite TV show was How I met your mother. She had two younger sisters, she complained endlessly about them, but you could tell that she loved them as much. Both her parents worked. Her father was a construction engineer while her mother was a nurse. She loved them very much. Her favorite color was blue and she preferred the cold weather since she complained endlessly about the sun burning her skin.

She hadn't asked me questions and I appreciated that. I wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

"Cass, do you want to hang out tonight? My parents let us eat pizza and watch a movie every Wednesday to ease the week, or something like that" she grinned excitedly at me. "We could hang out and we could paint each other nails. What do you say?"

After everything that she'd been through to hang out with me, I felt like an awful person. Shaking my head, I murmured while creasing my brows, "I'm sorry. I already have plans."