How Could I Lose You Too // RUEL

7. Rachel and Luca

I drive around the senior area and drop Jonah off. He gives me a high-five and runs out of the car, already greeting his friends who've just arrived with their parents. Jonah has since told me off for following him to the gate because everyone's with their parents and I'm only his sister. Big ouch but I get where he's coming from. I think to myself, he's just a kid, Anna, he's just a kid. He'll know better when he grows up.

I round the BMW into the senior parking lot, grab my bag and folder and lock the car. Other kids are on the parking lot too, filed in their own group of friends. It's the 21st Century right? Screw the system of labeling. The nerds are now communicating with the jocks, and the cheerleaders are dating the stoners. This gives me hope that maybe I'm not entirely doomed in school to conform into something I don't want to be.

As I walk up the stairs to the school hallway, someone grabs me by my neck and locks me in a hug.

"ANNA BANANA!" My best friend, Rachel, screams in my ear. 

"Aye! Hands off the precious package!" I say, trying to free myself from her strong grip.

She shakes me and proceeds to straighten me up so she can embrace me into a squeezing hug. Rachel then shakes me profusely and jumps up and down. "I MISS YOU BITCH! I MISS YOU! I MISS YOU!"

Rachel and I have only been friends for six months and she's treated me like a sister from the same mother. I'm grateful for that but sometimes, she's too much for my introverted self. She's the headmistress's daughter. Two people from opposite sides of the social spectrum come out with an unexpected destiny. It was during gym when she hit me with a volleyball at my head and we created a special bond at the nurse's office.

"SO HOW WAS SEMESTER BREAK?" she wires her arm around my shoulders. Her Balenciaga bag swinging left and right on her right shoulder. 

"Rache, how much coffee did you have? You're starting to make my ears bleed," I moan.

"I had plenty," she pouts. 

Someone slips and arm around my shoulder from the other side and I look up. Green eyes all looking down at me. "Hey girls."

"LUCA! MY GAY BEST FRIEND!" Rachel screams, hopping up and down again.

"Rachel, how many times do I have to tell you I am not gay?" Luca hisses. The three of us walk through the swarm of adolescent bodies that create a mix of body odour and expensive cologne. "If you keep saying that-"

"You'll do exactly what, Luca? Hit me with your man purse?" 

"It's a satchel!" Luca groans.

"No, I might have to agree with Rachel on this, Luca," I say. They both drop their arms and conveniently, our lockers are next to each other. We click our lockers open and sort our schedule for today. "That does look more like a man purse than I have to admit."

Luca says nothing and chuckles, shaking his head.

"Besides, there is nothing wrong with being gay," Rachel shrugs. "Look at Ethan, he's proud and out."

The three of us turn around and look over at Amanda's group of friends, idle at their lockers. Their eyes wild with the prospect of new gossip. Ethan, wearing shorts and a long-sleeved shirt with his jumper tied around his shoulders, stand with them in a feminine posture. He suddenly gasps to add in to the dramatic effect as they whisper about something.

Luca imitates him and we share a laugh.

"Of course, there's nothing wrong with being gay," Luca comments. "There's something wrong with not being truthful with your sexual orientation though."