Angeline:
Wednesday afternoon, I picked up Luke from school and we headed straight home. Today, Kaizen and I planned to get the lab report done together at my house, so I had Luke stay upstairs.
It was around 5 o'clock, our meet-up time, and he wasn't here yet. I decided not to worry since he was probably just running late. I wasn't sure what his after-school schedule was, so I didn't have a clue where he was.
My right leg bounces up and down anxiously as I wait at the dining table with my laptop open. I skim over the outline again just to kill time. Before I know it, it's been 54 minutes and he's still not here.
What the fuck. Did he forget or something? I didn't have Kaizen's phone number so I can't text or call him to ask where he is.
As I sit here, I can feel myself starting to get agitated more and more. Out of frustration, I impulsively decided to start on the report by myself because it didn't seem like Kaizen was going to be here any time soon. Actually, I don't even know if he was even planning on coming today.
He's an hour late and he hasn't bothered to reach out. He completely ditched me. Thinking about it only makes me type on my keyboard aggressively and I don't even notice.
With a huff, I pull my chair back and before I know it, I walk out of the house and make my way over to the Gryans.
I march up their front porch and knock twice before stepping back, waiting for a response. From inside, I can hear footsteps approaching the door and loud barking— Arlo.
The door suddenly swings open and behind it reveals Lucy who was in a tank top and sweats. She had her phone in one hand and a popsicle in the other.
"Oh, hi Angeline."
"Hey Lu. Sorry to bother but is Kaizen home?" I say, quite out of breath.
She blinks at me.
"Kaizen?" She sounds surprised.
"Yeah. We were supposed to work on a lab report at my house but he hasn't shown." I scratch the back of my neck.
"He's not home right now. I'm pretty sure he's out."
"Like right now?" More questions start to form in my head as my eyebrows furrow with disbelief.
"Pretty sure," she glances at her phone. "Right here, he texted me." Lucy then displays her screen in front of me, revealing text messages from Kaizen himself.
Dingus: Lu
I'm going to be home late.
Call me if anything happens at home, okay?
As I read the messages, I let out a scoff and shook my head. Lucy seemed to notice my reaction because her face cringed when she met my gaze. "I'm sorry about that. Do you want me to call him?"
"It's fine, thank you though." I send a small but disappointed smile before turning around and walking away without another word.
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I ended up finishing the lab all on my own last night. It wasn't necessarily difficult, it was just the fact it took up a lot of my time, so I didn't have room to do my other assignments.
Not sure if annoyed is the right word to describe what I'm feeling right now because I feel a mix of anger and disappointment. Mostly mad though.
I wasn't in the best of moods to see Kaizen's face but it's bound to happen anyway since we share a science class together. If I'm lucky, I might be able to dodge him in the hallways.
"Hey, Ang." A sweet voice brings my attention over, shutting my locker with more force than I initially anticipated. "Oh-kay...you don't seem too happy."
Turning around, I come face to face with my best friend, Lena Mae, who happens to be my favorite person in the world. Her and I have been friends ever since elementary and we've stuck to each other's sides no matter what.
I took a quick notice of how the ends of her blonde hair was curled and the cute jeans that she paired with a white crew neck.
She showed worry all over with her eyebrows furrowed and a noticeable frown on her rosy lips. "What's wrong?" She asks with concern.
"Kaizen Gryan is what's wrong."
"Uh-oh. What'd he do, Ang? Do I need to beat him up because I will." Lena's soft features suddenly tensed.
"No, Lena. It's nothing like that. I'm just annoyed at him for doing something." I sighed, the both of us starting to stroll down the crowded halls.
"Annoyed?"
"Yeah. We were supposed to work on our lab report together last night but he never showed. He completely bailed on me so I ended up doing it all alone." I complained.
"Oh wow. Ballsy move." She shook her head, scowling.
"Yeah. Ballsy." I said, rolling my eyes. "He's lucky I finished it so we're both passing."
"Well for what it's—oh shit." Lena began to say something but stopped. "Don't look now, but uhm, he's coming this way." She avoided looking straight ahead of us.
"Who?" I asked.
"Angeline." A familiar voice called out to me and I immediately knew who it was. In the flesh was Kaizen Gryan and Miles Sawyer right by his side. They both flashed us smiles—Kaizen's being a bit nervous.
Lena returned a smile back, specifically towards Miles though. I watch the interaction unfold, Lena's cheeks becoming pink and flushed.
You should probably know something about Lena and Miles. They've been friends the day Kaizen introduced Miles to us in the fifth grade. I got along with him but Lena seemed to be much closer with Miles. I assumed maybe she was developing a crush on him back then, but when I asked, she denied and told me they were just friends and she didn't see him like that.
I knew that was a bunch of bullshit, yet I didn't bother pursuing it any further. As we grew older, their dynamic hasn't changed one bit—constant bantering and teasing and whatnot. All the things that seemed innocent at the time. But recently, I've noticed things have been different between them. Nonetheless, I chose to keep my mouth shut...for now I guess.
"Miles," I nod in acknowledgement and he does the same. As for Kaizen, I send him a side-eye, ignoring his presence overall.
"Morning, Lena Mae." Miles greeted sweetly. Another thing: Miles was the only one who called her by her full name.
"Morning, Miles." Her smile brightened even more.
Could they not be anymore obvious?
Meanwhile, I could feel Kaizen staring at me, hoping I'd look back. But I wasn't going to. "Angeline, I'm sorry for last night."
Miles seemed to be confused because his eyes bounced between Kaizen and I, silently giving Lena a 'what happened?' look. She pressed her lips together, creating a thin line and quickly grabbing his wrist.
"Me and uh, Miles have that thing we have to do." She rushed, tugging him the opposite direction.
"We do?"
"Yes, we do."
And just like that they disappeared around the corner.
"Angeline." There goes my name again. I turned to face him this time, meeting his pair of brown eyes that complimented him so well.
"Where were you?" I harshly asked as I crossed my arms against my chest. "You knew we agreed to meet up yesterday."
"I know," he says quietly.
"I waited for you."
"Yeah, I know."
"I finished the entire report all by myself when it was supposed to be a group effort. You do understand that, right?"
"And I do. I was busy and—" He tried again but I cut him off.
"You didn't bother to call or text?" I instigate.
"I don't have your number."
"Well I don't know, Kaizen! You should've said something instead of wasting my time because I waited an hour for you when I could've been doing something else." I raise my voice, loud enough for those around us to hear. Those who walked by gave us sheepish looks. But at this point I don't really care much. "Look, don't give me the excuses because I don't want them, alright? Bye, Kaizen." I turned my heel and left him standing there on his own.
"Angeline! C'mon can we please talk?" I hear him shout but I don't to look back. Instead, I fly by the many bodies in the cramped corridor and hope to avoid Kaizen for the rest of the day.
__
Okay, so maybe I was being a little harsh back there but I was pissed and there isn't much you can do when I am. Throughout the day, I've grown calmer than this morning so that's some progress. Right?
Ugh, I seriously need to control my anger levels because right now I feel like a bitch. The entire day, Kaizen's been trying to explain and apologize but I didn't bother to listen or hear him out. He sat beside me during science today and he kept bugging me. Soon afterwards, our teacher noticed and told Kaizen off for distracting me. So he stopped eventually but there wasn't a part of my day where he wasn't trying to apologize.
Sure, I was planning on listening to what he had to say, but just not right now. I was too mad at him. I needed a day to think things through.
"Hey," Lena poked my cheek with her finger, bringing my attention back to her. "Are you okay? You spaced out."
I nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry. I'm just...frustrated." Letting out a breath as I run my fingers through my dark hair.
A concerned expression washed over Lena's face as she put away a few things in her locker. "Was it because of what happened this morning?"
"Yeah," I answered, leaning against the locker beside Lena's.
"Thought so," she frowns. "It was definitely something."
"You can say that again."
Before shutting her lock, she applies a layer of lip gloss on her lips, staring at herself in the mirror stuck behind the door of her locker. "Do you really hate him?"
"Hate who?" I raise a brow.
"Kaizen." She shuts her locker.
"Uhm, no?" I shrug unsure.
"I get that you guys had a fallout but did you guys leave on bad terms or something? Because it seemed like you had a lot of hatred for the poor guy." She frowned as she placed an arm around my shoulders and guided me down the hall.
No. That's ridiculous.
Okay maybe.
"I promise you, I don't," I assure, not really sure if I was telling the truth or not. "What about you? What's going on?" I counter the question.
"What about me?" Lena confusingly asks.
"Don't act stupid."
"I'm not!" She laughs. "What are you talking about, Ang?"
"You," I dig a finger in her chest. "And Miles."
And just like that, she's blushing. "There's nothing going on between us. I've told you this."
What do I smell? Lies.
"Right because it's not like you go red every time he says your name or whatever." I tease, smirking at the way she becomes so easily shy.
"I don't like Miles like that, Angeline!" She whines, now burying her face in her hands, hiding the massive pink on her cheeks.
"Oh-kay, whatever you say Lena. But you do know you can tell me anything, right?" I pull her hands away from her face and make eye contact with her.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." She grumbles and pouts. "Okay, can we please stop talking about this now?"
"Fine, but don't think you're off the hook. I'm watching you. The both of you."
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Author's Note
FINALLY UPDATED OMG. sorry for the long wait i got caught up in school for the last month. i couldn't find the time and energy to write but i finally do since i've started summer break! this chapter is kinda shitty since i wrote it at 2 in the morning so it's a bit sloppy.
anyway thank you for waiting <3