Cassie and Harley met up with Zoey at the sushi bar by the movie theater. Zoey was there when Cassie and Harley got there.
"Hey," Cassie smiled.
"Hi," Zoey said, setting her phone down.
Cassie and Harley sat down across from her.
"Hey," Harley smiled. "How's everything?"
"Alright," Zoey shrugged. "What about you two?"
"Tired," Cassie admitted. "Work has been..."
"Exhausting?" Harley raised his eyebrows.
"More than ever," Cassie said. "I've had to deal with so many rude customers. It's so frustrating and draining."
"What happened?" Zoey asked.
"Oh, I don't want to get into it," Cassie shook her head. "It'll just bother me even more than I already am by them."
Their waiter came came over.
The waiter looked around their age, maybe a year older than them. He had short, dirty blonde hair and green eyes. He was pretty tall as well.
Randy, his name tag said.
"Are you ready to order?" Randy asked.
"Um, can you give us a sec?" Harley asked.
"Sure," the waiter smiled.
He walked over to another table and Cassie, Zoey and Harley picked up their menus to take a look at what they had and decide on what they wanted to order.
Once they were ready, Randy came over and took their order.
Their conversation went from talking about what they wanted to order to the movie they were going to watch after dinner.
They talked excitedly about the movie and what they think will happen based on the trailer alone.
As they talked, Cassie noticed a group laughing and talking as they walked over to a table.
It was Farkle Minkus.
It was Farkle Minkus with his friends from the chemistry club. He was with Isadora Smackle. With his girlfriend.
Cassie's heart ached when she saw Farkle with Smackle. Her heart ached seeing him with her, seeing him with another girl.
Cassie didn't hate Smackle. She didn't. She thought that Smackle was nice but... there was a part of Cassie, a part of her that Cassie refused to admit to, that wished she could trade places with Smackle.
Harley and Zoey noticed that Cassie was now distracted and they understood why. They knew what was going on and what Cassie was feeling, despite her refusal to admit.
"Are you okay?" Zoey asked.
"Hm?" Cassie looked away from Farkle, Smackle and their friends to her friends. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"I know you refuse to admit it, but you should tell Farkle how you feel," Harley said. "He might feel the same way."
"We know you like him," Zoey said.
"I have no idea what," Cassie lied. "Even if I did like him, I can't do anything about it because he has a girlfriend that he's happy with."
Zoey and Harley glanced at each other.
Randy came with their drinks.
They thanked him before he went to another table. Farkle's table.
Not too long after getting their drinks, Randy brought their food and they once again thanked him.
After dinner and paying for their food, they went to their movie.
The restaurant and movie theater were thankfully close by so they walked a short distance to get there.
They bought their tickets and went over to the concession stand and stood in line to buy their snacks.
Cassie glanced behind her to see Farkle, Smackle and their chemistry club friends entering the movie theater.
"Huh," Cassie said.
"What?" Zoey asked.
"There's Farkle, Smackle and their friends," Cassie said, pointing
Zoey and Harley looked over.
Harley looked back at Cassie with raised eyebrows.
"And you don't have feelings for him?" Harley asked.
"Oh, shut up," Cassie rolled her eyes at Harley know that he will begin teasing her.
She back to the concession stands to see the group in front of them had gone to the counter.
"Guys," she nodded her head to indicate that they should move.
After they bought their snacks, the trio began heading over to the room their movie will be showing in.
Just as they were getting there, a familiar voice greeted them.
"Hey, guys," Farkle Minkus greeted them.
"Oh, hey, Farkle," Harley said.
"Hi," Cassie said.
"You're Zoey, right?" Farkle asked, turning to Zoey.
"Oh, yeah," Zoey smiled.
"I don't think we properly met, right?" Farkle said.
"No, but clearly, we both know who the other is," Zoey said.
"Yeah," he chuckled.
Zoey and Farkle had a few conversations here and there throughout the school year while they were working on school plays or whenever they Cassie and Harley were hanging out with her. They also shared a few classes with one another during the school year. "Which movie are you going to watch?"
Harley pointed up.
There was a sign saying which movie.
"You're watching the movie too?" Farkle asked.
"You're watching it?" Zoey asked.
A smirk appeared on her face.
Cassie rolled her eyes at her friend.
"We should sit together," Farkle suggested.
"That's a great idea," Harley smiled.
Zoey nodded in agreement.
Farkle looked at Cassie with a small smile on his face.
"Yeah," she said. "That's a good idea."
"Alright, great," Farkle said. "I'll go tell Smackle and the others."
Farkle walked away and rejoined his group.
Zoey and Harley looked at each other with huge smiles on their faces.
Cassie groaned as she turned and grabbed the door handle.
She swung it open and Harley quickly held the door open for Zoey to follow Cassie in and him right after.
"Whatever you're going to say about me and Farkle, don't," Cassie said.
"Oh, come on," Zoey said, "don't take it personally."
"Just stop, okay?" Cassie said.
"Alright," Harley said.
"Okay."
They took their seats and seconds later, Farkle and his friend group came in.
Harley stood up.
"Farkle!" he called.
"Hey!" Farkle said.
Farkle lead the way to the row that Cassie, Zoey and Harley were in.
"Hey," Farkle said again.
Farkle looked over at Smackle and the chemistry group.
"You guys know, Cassie, Zoey and Harley, right?" he asked them.
"Obviously," Smackle said.
"Yeah."
"Uh - huh."
"We do."
"Weren't you guys at the sushi bar?" one of them said.
"Yeah, we were," Zoey said, leaning forward.
"We thought we saw you guys," Farkle said.
"Are you excited for the movie?" another member of the chemistry club asked.
"Yeah," Cassie nodded.
"Harley, is your mom in the movie?" Peter, one of the chemistry club members, asked.
"No, she's not," Harley shook his head.
"What about your dad?" Peter asked.
"James?" Harley said. "He's not either. But one of their friends is."
Peter nodded.
James is Harley's mother's boyfriend. They began dating eight months earlier after meeting while working. During this time, Harley and Peter began looking at James as a father figure after not having one for nearly five years now.
The movie finally began and everyone grew silent.
Cassie glanced over at Farkle, who sat there, excitedly waiting for the previews to end and the movie to begin.
A small smile appeared on Cassie's face. The moment she realized why she was smiling, it quickly disappeared.
She couldn't admit it to herself of what she was feeling. She can't feel whatever she's feeling when Farkle has a girlfriend. She can't when he loves Smackle.
Cassie was never close with Smackle but she can't do that to her.
Cassie glanced at Harley and Zoey when previews ended and the movie actually began. They were both smiled, relieved that there weren't anymore commercials they had to watch.
The two hours went by quicker than Cassie expected.
She, Zoey and Harley whispered to each other as the movie went on cracking jokes about the movie and making comments.
They sensed some of Farkle's friends glancing over at the three. They knew that his friends were judging them and glaring at them.
When the movie ended, Cassie, Zoey and Harley fell behind from Farkle and his friends, not wanting to deal with them.
" - the movie was soo good -"
"- I knew it was going to be good, but not this good -"
"- probably the best movie that has come out this year -"
Cassie, Zoey and Harley were talking over one another as they walked out of the room.
Cassie stopped talking when she noticed Farkle's friends glancing back at them, whispering among each other. Farkle wasn't paying attention. He was in a conversation with Smackle.
"What's going on?" Zoey asked, noticing where Cassie was looking.
"Farkle's friends," she said.
"Ugh, don't get me started," Harley said. "I noticed how judgmental they were."
"Here I was, thinking that nothing was going to happen," Zoey rolled her eyes.
"What?" Cassie asked.
"I hung out with them a few times," Zoey said, glaring right back at Farkle's friends. "I've never seen such a judgmental group of friends. It left me wondering why Farkle even hangs out with them."
"Huh," Cassie said.
Farkle stopped talking to Smackle and looked over at Cassie, Zoey and Harley, and smiled.
He walked over to them.
"Hey, guys," Farkle said.
"Hi, Farkle," Cassie said.
"What did you guys think of the movie?" Farkle asked, looking at the three of them.
"It was good," Cassie smiled.
"Yeah," Harley smiled.
Zoey smiled and nodded in agreement.
"What did you think?" Harley asked.
"It was great!" Farkle smiled.
Farkle glanced back at his friends.
"Hey, um, my friends and I are planning on going over to Peter's place to hang out for a while," Farkle said. "Wanna go?"
"We can't," Zoey spoke for the three of them. "The three of them were planning on going over to my place," she lied.
"Oh," Farkle said, disappointedly.
He looked at Cassie.
"Oh, yeah," Cassie said, going along with the lie. "Sorry."
"Sorry, man," Harley shrugged.
"Okay," Farkle said, his smile faltering.
"We'll see you later," Harley said, patting Farkle's shoulder.
Cassie and Zoey said goodbye to Farkle and left the movie theater.
The moment Cassie lied, instant guilt hit her.
"Man, I wish we didn't have to lie to Farkle," Harley said, guiltily.
"You didn't have to go with the lie," Zoey said, "but I didn't want to hang out with his friends."
"What makes you think we want to hang out with them?" Cassie questioned. "After how judgmental they were of us during the movie, there is no way in hell I'm going to hang out with them."
Harley nodded in agreement.
Zoey's mother picked the three of them up to keep up the illusion that Cassie and Harley were going over to her place to hang out for a bit. Little did they know, Zoey's mother dropped Cassie and Harley off at their places and went home.