Leap Year (✔)

August 26

~187 Days till Leap Day~

"Girl, I hear you. And I love you. But you gotta let it go. It's like Khloe Kardashian said, you can't love someone into loving you."

"Thanks, Pablo," Rosie said. But it wasn't really the consoling comment she was looking for.

The awkwardness of last P.E. class had taken the joy out of everything, including the cafeteria tater tots, Rosie's guilty pleasure. Even the crispy bites of potato heaven tasted limp today.

At least Rosie had friends at lunch. Although, today those friends weren't being the most sympathetic. Hailey and Tessa were stalking Hailey's crush on Instagram and Pablo was scrolling through Snapchat.

"Teens and their screens," Rosie sighed to the only other person at the table not on their phone: Beojun, an awkward, chubby Korean-American junior who had stolen Rosie's heart last year.

Rosie and her friends had met Beojun last year when he'd been sitting alone in the cafeteria on his laptop. They'd asked if they could sit with him and a year later, the five of them had been having lunch together ever since. It wasn't until the end of last May that Rosie had asked what Beojun was doing on his laptop all the time and they found out he was writing gay BTS fanfiction. How awesome was that?

"Beojun, I missed you this summer!" Rosie said. It didn't appear Beojun had gotten a haircut since Rosie last saw him. "We should all hang out soon. It's been forever. Sorry I haven't kept up with your fanfics, it's just that the whole situation with Brie hasn't left me in the best state of mind. But I promise you, sometime soon, I want to hear all about your summer."

He grunted.

Beojun wasn't one for many words.

"Oh, Rosie!" Hailey stood up suddenly, a french fry dangling in her hand. "C'mon, let's go to the library."

"Huh?" Hailey wasn't exactly the studious type. Or did she want Rosie to "help" her with math homework again?

"Yeah, Ro, go with Hailey," Pablo said, looking up from his phone with a nervous glance at Rosie.

Something was going on. Rosie turned around and immediately saw what it was. Brie. Of course. Rosie had spent so long hoping to see her again and now it was like she couldn't get rid of her.  

Brie was standing in the middle of the cafeteria with an overcrowded backpack and a slice of soggy pizza in her hands, swiveling around in circles like a lost puppy. Pity she couldn't find her softball friends now.

"Guys, it's fine," Rosie said. "I'm over her. You don't have to hide me." Having Brie lie to her face in front of all those people was horrible, but Rosie didn't want to dwell in the past. No regrets.

"You know what?" Pablo stood up, shaking his head. "No! No! That girl does not get to hurt you like that and get away with it. I'm going to talk to her."

"No, Pablo--" Rosie started to say, but Pablo was already sauntering across the cafeteria.

"Oh no," Hailey said and Rosie understood. Pablo was a force to be reckoned with, especially when he was defending his fellow gays.

Before she could think clearly, Rosie leapt up from the table and sprinted after Pablo. Unfortunately, Pablo reached Brie first. Rosie watched as he began shouting and gesturing wildly, hopefully not saying anything he would regret later.

Rosie was just feet from Brie and Pablo when she paused. What was she doing? Walking right up to Brie after everything that had happened yesterday? This was insane. But she couldn't let Pablo tear the poor girl apart.