"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage"- Anais Nin.
Ashley's POV
"Congratulations." Cam grins as she playfully wiggles her brows at me.
"Ugh!!... I don't like this." I whine as we walk towards the parking area, "And where is Rosie Wood?" I don't understand why I'm supposed to be Catherine. Why? Just why?
"Not here." Cam mutters, grin unfaltering.
I sigh defeatedly, "Isn't she supposed to be Catherine? Why am I Catherine now?"
"You're her substitute, probably when she arrives you'll give her back her position," Cam says in hopes to cheer me up.
"But what if she never comes to school?"
Negativity, I know. Can't help it.
The grin fades off her face as she stares at me disbelievingly. "Don't say that," she scolds "just hope she would come back to school. Who knows, maybe she has an emergency to deal with and will come back when she's dealt with it. Or maybe she's sick. You know Rosie Wood barely misses school."
"Aargh!!! I feel like crying."
"Is it that bad?" She scoffs.
"Very..."
She raises her brows, "You dislike Grayson that much?".
I sigh "It's not like that, it's just whenever he's around I get pretty nervous. But then, when am I not nervous, right?!"
"Mmm...." she taps her chin in thought.
"Besides Lucas had a not-so-nice conversation with him this morning, I believe? I don't even know what had gotten into him. I mean who does that on their first day of school?"
"What happened?, I'm itching to know." She says, so I tell her everything, everything that happened this morning, not leaving a single detail out.
After hearing everything Cam burst out into laughter. "Aww, poor Grayson. Lucas probably scared the heck out of him." Her laughter dies down a bit. "Do you know what?" She asks and I perk up.
"No. I don't know what. What?"
"Lucas, he actually wanted to switch seats with me so he could sit with you."
I gasp "Oh no! He didn't."
"Oh Yes, he did." She smiles shaking her head in amusement at my predicament.
"So that was what he was whispering into your ears?"
"Yep."
"Overprotective my foot, I'll deal with him for this. Such audacity!"
"And I'm not going to stop you, mon amie."
I sigh for the thousandth time, "The problem at hand is Grayson. How am I supposed to act in his breathing space without feeling like I'm being attacked, you know by nerves? I'm allowed to think Lucas said not-so-nice things to him since he refuses to tell me the conversation that ensued between them. What if it becomes extremely awkward acting with him in the next class?" I facepalm in horror.
"Ash, you need to breathe, Calm down. You're overthinking things."
"But I am not, I promise I'm not overthinking this. It's just, I get pretty nervous whenever he's around, and now with Lucas having a so-called 'man to man' conversation with him, the heck that means, I can't help but feel more anxious."
She winks at me "Someone is definitely in like."
"Really?!! Is that all there is to say?" I scowl at her. "Cam, I AM NOT IN LOVE! Can you be serious for once in your life?"
"Well, whatever. I know I can't be classified as a serious human being but I love me and I'ma do me, so yeah," she flashes me another wink. "Just search deep within your heart, and you'll see that I'm right. Or better still google 'signs of liking someone' and I bet you'll realize I've been right all this time."
I shake my head in disbelief, "Crazy you."
"I'm crazy, you're crazy. Together, we aren't crazy. We are we."
"What's that?" I chuckle.
"A quote."
"A quote?"
"Yep! By my all-time favorite, Kadira."
"Who's that?"
"Why don't you Instagram search, kadira_writes. I'm so freakishly in love with her quotes."
"Well... Okay. I'll do that when I'm free."
"Don't forget!" She warns. "By the way where's Lucas?"
"Football tryouts."
"Football what?!!"
"Tryouts, why?"
"Wow!! Just wow!! Does this guy enjoy torturing us girls or what?"
"I don't know, why the question though?"
"He's trying out for football. FOOTBALL!!"
I chuckle "I'm lost."
"Don't you know that that alone will make him more appetizing than he already is? Goodness! Our poor hearts." She places her palms on her chest and sighs dramatically.
"You know you shouldn't like him right?" I ask.
"I know, trust me I do. I'm not ready for any form of heartbreak."
"I don't know about that, but I'm just looking out for you."
"I know."
"Yeah, right!" I shake my head "I have something to tell you."
"Aren't you going home yet?" She asks.
"Well, I have to wait for Lucas. Don't worry, you can go home but I will text you."
"Oh Okay," she says.
"See you." I wave her and leave for the field, where the football practice goes on.
"Bye." her voice utters from a distance.
______
I take my seat and wait for Lucas.
After some minutes of doing nothing, I decide to text Cam.
"You're home by now?" my text said.
Twenty minutes later, a notification pops up on my phone's screen so I tap on it.
"Just did."
"Took you longer than usual."
"Yeah, had to drop Dylan off."
"I nearly forgot about him. Thanks for sending him home."
"You're welcome. After all, what are friends for?"
"Yeah.... I don't know if I should say this."
"Say what?!"
"I don't know, an observation I had today."
"Spill."
"I caught Cole staring at you at lunch."
"Which Cole?"
"Kensington. COLE KENSINGTON."
"You need to get your eyes checked, really."
"I knew you wouldn't believe me. Talk to you later."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I believe you."
"I know you don't but whatever."
"You know me well."
"Some friends... lol."
"But honestly, if what you're saying is actually true why didn't I feel his stare."
"You were too busy, enjoying your meal."
"Eating is good, so yeah."
"You know, he was staring at you intermittently, and it felt like he didn't even notice he was."
"Maybe he liked the hoody I was wearing, a lot of people threw nice comments about it."
"That must be it then because the hoodie really looked good on you."
"Yeah, definitely must be that."
"I've got to go, it looks like they're rounding up."
"Okay, but do remember to send me a video of him all sweaty and stuff."
"Cam!"
"Girl chill! I was just kidding."
"No, you weren't."
"Party pooper!."
"Love you too. Bye!"
"Bye! Don't forget."
I laugh at this. She wants a video of him all sweaty, how crazy of her. Am I going to do that for her?
No! Thanks.
I lift up my head and finally see Lucas approaching me.
"Took you long enough." I roll my eyes.
"Forty minutes isn't long enough, mademoiselle." He smiles.
"It's enough to make me hungry, I'm craving for pizza."
"Let's get you pizza then."
"Don't get all modest on me, I did earn it though."
"Indeed! But how?"
"I waited for you, that alone is enough to earn me a box of pizza. Or do you think otherwise?"
"Nu-uh, come on." He drags me to his car, opens the passenger door, and ushers me in.
I oblige and he walks over to the driver's seat. He sets his car into ignition and drives us out of school.
"Yuppi!!" I squeal after after three seconds into the drive. The excitement bubbling within was too much so I had to let it all out.
Lucas chuckles at me. "Childish!, you act like you're still six."
"And who says I'm not? I'm six and a half." I indicate with my fingers and he bursts out laughing.
I smile sheepishly.
"Honestly, what did you talk to Grayson about," I ask once he calms down from the excessive laughter.
He shakes his head disapprovingly "Not telling."
"Come ooon." I whine "I'm your favorite person, you've got to tell me. Or am I not anymore?"
"Of course you are! But I'm not saying anything, so save yourself the stress."
"Pleeeeeaase!" I puppy-dog my expression and add a pout to it.
He shakes his head and chuckles. "What are you?"... Oh! Oh! I nearly forgot, six and a half."
I ignore his statement and with determination, I press "Pretty pleeeaaassse," and pout some more.
Heck! If that's possible.
"Princess, I'm not telling you anything, just save yourself the trouble." He smirks.
"You're not my favorite person anymore."
"Oh trust me, I know."
"Whatever," I say and decide to play games on my phone.
Tick! Tock! Tick! Tick! Tock! Tock!
"We're here." He says but I ignore him and look out of the window.
"Don't tell me you're upset because I refused to tell you that."
"Okay, I'm sorry." He presses but I still don't turn to look at him.
He's going to tell me because he's feeling bad. Yay!!
"I'm still not telling you what happened though."
Meanie!
At this, I actually turn to face him, with the intent of hitting him. With him not probably expecting it, I throw to his shoulder a feminine punch.
"Ouch!" He mutters just as I open the door.
Well, that serves him right.
Not to forget the ache in my fist. In annoyance, I huff and step down from the car. He gets out too and walks over to me, holds my hands against my protests, and takes me inside.
Once we enter, "Go find a booth, I'll be right back." he says and leaves me to myself. I sigh and allow my gaze to roam around the interior walls of the building, which was furbishly decorated with different colors.
Most booths were occupied by mostly teenagers, college boys, couples, families, and friends.
Empty booth, empty booth.
As my gaze continues its survey, it lands on an empty booth close to a booth occupied by a brunette who had dyed the tips of her hair pink. She was sipping—whatever her drink was— ever so lightly while her fingers worked their way on her phone.
Involuntarily I clutch my phone tighter in my hands, and steadily yet hurriedly I walk towards the empty booth and take my seat.
I plug my earphones in and allow myself some fineness as Down goes Rome blasts through my earphones.
*******
Hellooo
Ni hao
How have y'all been doing?
Sooooo....
How's this chapter
What's to come? Guess!!
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