"Friendship is not about who you've known from the longest or who you hang out with, it's about who walked into your life, said 'Hey, I'm here for you' and proved it. My friends proved it."
Everyone has secrets and Julie has one that has been eating...
"Just some guy from school. I had to stay after classes and Noah couldn't wait for me."
"So you got a ride from just a guy from school? A random guy?"
"Yes, mom. Don't start imagining things. I'm not interested in that stuff, especially if it's with that guy."
"Whatever you say, honey. If you're not ready to talk about it I'll respect that, but don't forget to be safe and-"
"Use protection, don't give in to pressure, and just get intimate with someone when I feel ready to," I finished the sentence for her. "I know, I know. You don't need to repeat it."
"Just a reminder."
"I'm not Dory, you don't need to give me the talk every time I have an interaction with the opposite sex."
"Stop exaggerating. I only see you with Noah and Micah, this is the first time I see you with someone else, so it's understandable of me to wonder if he is a special someone."
"Who has a special someone?" Asked my father as he entered the room.
"No one"
"Your daughter," my mother said at the same time.
"Julie, I'm the only man worthy of your love. Teenage boys only care about one thing. They have all of these hormones-"
"And I'm out," I cut him, leaving to my bedroom where I let myself fall on the bed. It's in moments like this that I realized my craziness had also a genetic explanation to it.
I knew it would probably be another sleepless night, so I picked up what I call 'The book of sleep'.
It belongs to my father and is the most tedious book I'd ever read; hence the name I gave it. It's some sort of introspective novel with a lot of complicated words, that no one uses in real life; plus, the phrases were so long that I needed to read multiple times to understand what I was reading.
Probably written by a pseudointellectual, it was an awful book yet very useful to help you sleep. Better than taking sleeping pills.
After the usual night terror and consequent shower, I picked and started reading "the book of sleep". The book did its job, and I woke up again only when my alarm went off.
"Julie, wait!" my mother called as I was leaving.
"Give this to Micah, will you? His mother called last week to ask for the recipe. I thought I might as well bake some too. The recipe is inside the front pocket." She said, handing me a lunch bag.
I forced a smile and left the house annoyed.
During the trip to school, I disclosed with Noah all that happened the afternoon before. There were no secrets between us. Except one, I guess.
Now waiting for my history class to start, I doodled on my notebook. Yes, doodled, because calling it drawing would be pretentious.
Anyway, it was a good way to pass time and distract myself from the uncomfortable feeling I had by having Nick seating at the table next to mine.
It felt awkward, mostly because we ignored each other although we knew each other and supposedly had a "friend".
Despite this small history, we shared I think he ignored me because... well, he's an antisocial jerk, whereas I ignored him because I hated everything he represented.
He was arrogant, conceited, rude, and as I put it so eloquently before: a jerk. And worse: he was corrupting my friend, possibly taking him to a dark path.
Accepting the fact that we didn't get along wasn't helping the situation. For some reason, I still felt awkward and I hated it.
This was the problem with me – apparently, I felt the need to be acknowledged, even if by a simple nod, even by the most obnoxious guy I knew.
The teacher entered the room and called us into order. "I want you to work in groups of four to prepare a presentation about any subject we covered or will cover this year. To make it easier, the first and third row turn around. Those who are seating alone move to the nearest available place." Everyone executed the orders, and I heard the chair next to me move.
Great, now I have Nick seating next to me. At least it's just for today.
"This is your group. You can use today's class to start planning. The presentation is due in six weeks."
Yay, six weeks working with him. Just my luck...
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Two days = two chapters
What happened to me? I don't know but I like it, so, I'm thinking of publishing new chapters more than twice per week.
Tuesday's and Friday's updates wil continue and maybe I'll add a few other days like Wedenesday and Saturday?
