Coffee & Cigarettes

Part 12

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"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."

-Rumi

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In the last month and a half, I've learned a few things.

First, much like what I thought, not having classes with any of my friends sucks ass. Every school day blurred together and I looked forward to my time out of class.

Second, I don't really know who started it or why but my dad did not like Mr.Schindler. Not even a little bit. They couldn't be in a room together for 60 seconds without my dad saying a snarky comment and my mom defending Schindler and snapping right back at him.

Third, having little sisters was great... except when they did everything in their power to annoy me. Erin wasn't so bad mostly because I barely saw her and when I did she was usually babbling songs to herself. And Vanessa... well, she wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't always around.

Whether it was at school or at home Vanessa always found a way to pop up and start rambling about something.

And finally, when Emma asked if we could 'forget everything that's happened last year and go back to the way things used to be; back to when we were friends' she really meant she was going to avoid me as much as possible and pretend we never met in the first place.

And man was she really fucking good at pretending I didn't exist.

"You're thinking about Emma again aren't you?" a voice asked snapping me out of my train of thought.

I turned to Ashley. Her eyes already on me.

Her colorfully dyed hair was tied up in a messy bun away from her face.

"No, I'm not." I lied.

"Bullshit, you're making that Emma-dumped-me-and-I'm-still-not-over-it face again." She said easily calling me out as she shoved a hand full of popcorn into her mouth.

I stared at her. It had been a few weeks since that day we danced at her house and started hanging out and it still felt weird being around her sometimes.

If I've learned anything about Ashley it would be these two things: 1. It was impossible to tell what game she was playing at 2. She was always playing at something

She turned away from me looking back to the small TV in my living room. She had shown up at my house an hour earlier demanding we watch some lame-ass movie named 'Clueless'. An hour in and I was still waiting for the plot to start.

"I was not," I muttered quietly as I turned back to the tv.

"Liar" She snorted as she ate more popcorn.

"I mean I get it, Emma's cute and has that damsel in distress innocent thing going for her but she is a real bitc-"

"Don't talk about her that way," I said cutting her off.

"Why not? It's true."

Before I could reply, Ashley's phone rang. She smiled largely as she looked at the screen before answering the facetime.

"Double-A!" She yelled loudly. Wait, I only knew one person who went by tha-

"Little A!" a familiar voice yelled back.

"I'm not that short," Ashley whined, "Only short people say that." The voice answered.

"Azeem?" I asked in confusion. I hadn't heard from him since that day I 'helped' him pack.