Not in That Way

13: not in that way

I grumble underneath my breath as I reach for my phone and shoot Ethan a quick message. To my surprise, he answers a second later which means his phone was probably in his hand. Does that boy ever get off his phone?

Ethan tells me that he's in the cafeteria, so after shoving my phone into the pockets of my uniform pants, I tug my bag further up my shoulder and head on there. I spot his familiar curls of hair towering over a few Year 11 girls walking past. With an eye roll, I shuffle over towards him and stand beside him in line. He's staring at the various items of food scattered in front of him, squinting thoughtfully. Finally, he decides on a chocolate brownie, and only when he reaches into his pocket for his credit card does he notice me standing right beside him with a vapid look on my face.

"Well, good morning to you too," he mutters as he takes look of the sour expression on my face. He tells the cafeteria lady to add on another brownie to his bill, and he hands the second one to me.

"Thanks," I say as I slowly reach for it.

Ethan just shoves the brownie into his mouth and gives me a questioning look. He's probably wondering why I look like I just ran three laps around the school. He'd be correct in assuming so.

"So..." I trail off we as both begin to walk by side by side. I take a bite out of my brownie and almost moan at the chocolatey goodness. Ethan stops and stares me, awaiting an answer. I'm too busy stuffing my face with the brownie to take notice of that, and when I look back up, Ethan looks like he's struggling to hold back a laugh. "Shut up."

Ethan picks up a hand and wipes his cheek. "You just spat on me," he notes causally. "Anyway, what'd you want? It's too early in the morning to be acting all mushy."

This elicits an eye roll in return. "So I'm sure you've heard about the upcoming dance," I decide to ignore his previous caustic remark. "And I remember you telling me at the beginning of this term that you'd help me find a partner."

He passes me a confused look. "Okay...but we've already established the fact that nobody wants to date you."

He pretends to busy himself by chomping on his brownie and ignoring the death glare I send his way. We both leave the cafeteria and make ourselves outside into the basketball courts. "You're not funny," I murmur as I dodge a flying ball. "It's pretty much expected that I go with you at this point."

At this, Ethan emits a loud groan. I take small nibbles of my brownie as I frown down at the floor. "You've gotta be kidding me," he murmurs. "First, I have to dedicate my time into pretending to date you and now I have to spend money on you and take you to the school dance?"

I let my hand drop down the side dejectedly. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on going anyway," I divulge as I chuck the remains of my brownie in the bin.

"If you really want to go, then don't let me stop you," Ethan says. I look up at him in surprise when he laces his fingers through mine and stares down at me fondly. Then, I realise a little too belatedly it's because we have audience who consists of Martin, Taylor and Makayla.

They walk inside the school gates when they spot us. Makayla's frown shifts into a polite smile as she ducks her head and hurries past us. Taylor narrows her eyes at us in the morning sun and her gaze falls to our conjoined hands. She slips her hand into Martin's one and they both walk past us. Even though Martin doesn't bother acknowledging my existence, I still feel shudders down my spine as he walks off with Taylor. I see something from the corner of my eye fall to the ground so I squint and spot a fifty dollar note falling from Taylor's pocket.