Bobbi takes a glimpse over at Nicholas, who already looks at her with despair and a hint of... jealousy? His eyes flicker between her and Roberto. Is he jealous that she's sitting beside Roberto and they're getting along? Is that why he keeps appearing? She wants him to know he can't be jealous because she's no longer his girlfriend, and he lost her a long time ago. Jealousy doesn't fit into the equation. He had a problem and she tried to fix the issue. He then tried to make up for it but he did it in the wrong way. It was too late.
She turns back around and opens her bag. Neatly lays out her history book, pencil case, ruler, notebook, and bottle of water - a way to distract herself and ignore the squeeze at her heart. She reads ahead on a chapter her teacher plans on going through tomorrow, highlighting passages, and there's another tight squeeze at her heart, her stomach rolls.
Doesn't know why the feeling presses down on her, but she just wants to cry. Mourn for the loss of a once good, healthy, and happy relationship. As she inhales deeply, tears get caught in her throat and she coughs to stop the tears from building up. Pats her chest to ease the coughing as her throat is scratchy, when another hand pats her back and rubs up and down. She turns her head to Roberto and she says her thanks.
'You okay now?' he whispers, eyebrows raised in concern.
She nods her head, resists the urge to look over in Nicholas' direction.
A few minutes tick by and Roberto leans over to Bobbi, his eyes ahead at the board. Mr Dixon is immersed in a science-fiction book.
'Have you got food?' Roberto whispers over to her.
She stares over at him with wide eyes. 'Was your lunch not enough?'
He had a big salad, two health bars, a banana and apple, and homemade bread. He shakes his head.
'How much more can you eat?' She tries to keep her voice as low as possible, in hopes that Mr Dixon doesn't look up from his book.
At the same time as he pats and rubs his stomach, Roberto whispers, 'A guy has gotta eat, Bobbi.' He flexes his arms. 'And bulk up on the healthy food to keep muscles like these.' He does some flexing with his arms and kisses his muscles.
She smiles, her eyes trailing to his arms and then his chest. 'I only have a packet of chips and they're not for vegans, sorry.'
He waves her off. 'Eh, it's okay. I should get used to you disappointing me.' He faces forward, a straight face on him.
Her eyebrows furrowed, she blurts, 'How?' Her hands smack over her mouth, and she apologises profusely to Mr Dixon, who gives her a warning look.
After a moment Roberto whispers, 'I was joking.'
**
Detention over, Bobbi calls Andrew over before he rushes out the door. As he packs his bag, she turns to Roberto before he reaches them.
In a hushed tone she says, 'You have to apologise to him for bullying him a while ago. You're a good guy at heart, Roberto, so I don't like the way you treated him. Say you're sorry because I know picking on people like that is not you.'
Keeps his head down and nods.
'Hey, what's up?' Andrew strolls over, looking between Bobbi and Roberto.
'Hey, Andrew.' Roberto scratches behind his neck. 'A while back I picked on you when I was having a bad day. I kinda took some of my anger out on you. I shouldn't have done that. You didn't do anything. I'm sorry. Are we good?' Puts a hand out for Andrew to shake.
He knits his eyebrows together as he looks at Roberto and his outstretched hand. Shakes his hand and nods. 'That was a long time ago, thanks. I appreciate it.' He smiles at Bobbi and she smiles back, glad Roberto's apology was sincere and that Andrew accepted. 'Thank you. I'm gonna go catch up on sleep, see you both around.' Adjusts the straps of his bag and makes way for the door, as do Bobbi and Roberto.
'Want me to walk you home? I don't mind, and winter is coming along with the early nights. It's only half-four and it looks like it's six or seven.' Roberto says when they exit the school building.
The sky has become a dark blue. The sun clocking out for the day, leaving in its trails some purple and pink tones that outline some grey clouds from underneath. The moon is starting to show under some clouds, the top half peeking out like it doesn't want to do the night shift, keeping the cloud as a blanket covering it.
'The sky is pretty. You can walk with me if you like. I can't help I'm amazing and you want to spend more time with me, Bert.'
Captured by the pretty sky, she hasn't noticed Roberto stopped walking beside her until something freezing cold and hard hits her shoulder. Rubs the area and sees it's snow, melting between her fingers and wetting her coat. He just threw a snowball at me. Turns around to see a lopsided smile on him, then he looks vacantly around him and whistles.
'What was that for?'
'For calling me Bert. Stop it. Enough. Bold.' He points a finger at her, his tone authoritative.
'I'm not a dog,' she states, unimpressed with her arms crossed, and steps forward to him.
He points his finger out again, and she stops. 'Ah, stay. Good girl.' A teasing glint shines in his eyes knowing he's getting to her.
She creates a snowball and chases him with it on the school grounds. Threatens to throw it at him but he keeps blocking and flinching.
'You call me Gold, so I don't see why I can't have a nickname for you!' she calls out to him. They stopped with a distance between them, moving from side to side as they throw snowballs at each other but miss.
'But I've been calling you Gold since forever. It's second nature to me,' he says as he rolls up a smooth snowball in his hands.
'Well then, Bert has become second nature to me.' She leans on one leg, making the biggest snowball she could. Both of their hands are red from the freezing snow, but they don't care. It has become a game where one of them has to forfeit.
Roberto looks up and blinks, his lips slightly parting when he sees the size of her snowball. 'Are you gonna throw that at me?'
'Duh.'
The surprise on his face grows but he brushes it off. 'You won't get me,' he teases as he starts to move around, taunting her.
She throws the snowball at a random moment and it hits him in the chest. He doesn't flinch but she still cheers to herself and sticks her tongue out at him. When he's done wiping the snow off his chest, he bends over to pick up more snow but stops half way, his hand on his back, a little yelp escaping his lips.
'My back,' he groans, his face contorting into pain. He takes a couple steps back and sits on the school wall behind him, his hand still rubbing his back.
Instantly, Bobbi drops her snowball and jogs over to him, her anger towards Nicholas bubbles up inside of her, with worry washing over her. Crouches down in front of him, concern in her eyes as she hopes Nick hasn't caused a serious injury to his back. She puts her hand on his knee to console him.
'Are you alright? I'm sorry about Nick, what he did was harsh and rough and he shouldn't have done that to you; it was too much.'
'Gold, it was a fight – a fight I started. He wouldn't leave you alone and I was in a bad mood, but I don't regret it. He should get over you. Did you tell him straight out you've moved on?'
'Of course I did. I don't wanna talk about him, how's your back?'
'Okay- ooh.' He hisses and tilts over to the left, his right hand still behind his back, and Bobbi mirrors him as she tilts to the right, grimacing. Then, as sly as he could, he brings his right hand around and slaps a snowball on her left cheek, but not harsh, and a smirk pulls at his pouted lips.
She gasps and hits his knee -deep down on purpose just to touch him, she didn't look into why- then stands up straight. She's shocked he used his back as a plan to get a snowball in her face, but she smiles along with it, seeing the fun. Wipes the snow from her face and looks around for her bag.
'Were you were acting the whole time?'
'Just until I sat down, if you makes you feel any better.' He's up and grabbing his backpack he dropped by the tree earlier on.
'It doesn't,' she says in a monotone voice, as her eyes follow him she gives him a blank stare. She's deeply concerned if Nick did injure Roberto's back, it was an awful slam into the lockers. She rubs her hands together for warmth before stuffing them in her pockets. 'You should take a hot bath or take something for your back. I hope you're okay.'
They walk outside of the school premises and remain where they stand as they go in opposite directions.
'I am. You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself.'
'Doubt it,' she jokes, raising her eyebrows and looking away as to not show her worry for him too much. She thinks if he knows then he'll tease her about it since they started off horribly. Yet, she can't help caring a lot about people when she makes friends. Because of it, her cheeks warm up. Hopes he thinks her cheeks are just rosy from the weather.
'Well, I'll see you later, Bert.' She can't stop the edge of her lip from pulling up upon mentioning his nickname.
He narrows his eyes at her and sighs. 'See you, Gold.' When he calls her by the nickname given, he winks and pokes her nose at the same time. He turns around and walks home.
Immediately she's grinning and her stomach has that fuzzy, warm feeling again. She knows it's attraction but she also knows it'll pass because he's a friend, but there's also the part of her that hates him for what he did; he is a nice guy with good looks, who enjoys playing with his baby sister – it's no wonder she feels this way about him.
It'll go. It'll go, she thinks in regards to the attraction. It isn't anything big.
**
'Jamelia I'm telling you, you look beautiful,' Bobbi assures her anxious friend.
They are in Jamelia's room as Bobbi helps her get ready for her date with Bruce in another half hour. For the past fifteen minutes, Jamelia has been trying to decide what to wear, phectic as she feels he asked her out last minute and now she's trying to doll herself up.
At the moment, she stands before Bobbi in black tights, black denim shorts, and a black tank top to make her long grey cardigan the statement piece. She wears her favourite camouflage shade of green ankle boots. Debates with Bobbi if the outfit doesn't look like the standard outfit for a date, but Bobbi convinces her she looks amazing.
Jamelia is a beautiful girl but she can't see it sometimes. She may have a tough, independent, and straightforward traits, but she has her insecure side too. She's so nervous she was close to cancelling the date, but Bobbi kept a hold of her phone. She didn't want Jamelia to lack confidence in herself because of Juvante.
'Final touches,' Bobbi elongates the words, clips on the golden necklace around Jamelia's neck, whilst she puts on a golden bracelet. As Bobbi curled Jamelia's hair, she asks her to tell the story of how they met because she didn't see the two being compatible at first meeting him, but once she got to know him better she saw the connection between them and thought they were well suited.
Jamelia elicits a grin from her asking, thinking the story of how they met is cute.
It was Monday in school and the bell rang, indicating next class. She was starving and didn't think she could make it another fifty minutes without food so she rushed to the vending machine to buy a packet of her favourite chips before class. There was two people ahead of her, so she bounced on her right leg as she waited. She looked over the guy's shoulder, who was ahead of her, to make sure her favourite chips were in stock. Cheered in her head when she saw they were displayed behind the glass window. Second in the line, she took out her purse to get ready to buy the chips. She felt like she got hit in the chest as her breathing stopped for two seconds, her hand on her chest, seeing her wallet wasn't there. Only saw her books, pencil case, and a bottle of water.
She knows she can be dramatic at times, sometimes purposely to entertain Bobbi and others, but she felt like her heart broke at the sight of her wallet-less bag. She couldn't believe she forgot her plan to leave her wallet at home and make her own lunch for the day, which she ate every piece of at lunch. Her eyes widened and her stomach rumbled.
From the shock, she exclaimed, 'I can't believe I left my wallet at home! I'm starving!' A little cry escaped her lips as she looked down the corridor where her classroom is located, and wondered if Bobbi had extra change to spare. She scolded herself as her stomach cried out for food again. At the same time of releasing a saddened sigh, she put one foot forward to walk to class, until she heard,
'What do you want?'
Her eyes shot over to the guy at the vending machine, his money at the slot. She saw him around once or twice and thought he was cute. He wore black jeans and a black hoodie most days.
'What?' She didn't quite understand and wondered if he was talking to her. He looked directly at her, so his question was for her. She didn't know what he meant, her eyebrows furrowed at him.
'Here, take this,' another male voice caught her attention. Looked to her left and saw coins in her face. Her eyes followed up the arm and saw another guy helping her. He wore a grey tracksuit and had a shaved head.
It finally registered in her head the two guys were offering her money to buy food from the vending machine.
'Oh. No, no. Keep your money, I'm fine,' she said to the guy in the grey tracksuit.
Asked her if she was sure and she nodded her head frantically. 'Okay then,' he said nonchalantly, and walked to his class.
'What do you want?'
Jamelia's head snapped over to the first guy at the machine, his money still waiting to be slotted in.
'No, you don't have to get me anything.' She waved her hand at him, guilt sat at the pit of her stomach – she'd rather it be food.
'It's fine. What would you like to eat?' He looked at her expectantly, waited for an answer.
They went back and forth with this for a short time, until she shuffled her feet and held her hands together and named her favourite chips. 'That- that's if you don't mind. Its fine,' she spoke up, shy. She wasn't one to take people's money or have anyone spend money on her, even if it was for chips at a cost of ninety cent, but she was uncomfortable with it and didn't like it.
After he put his money in the slot and pressed in the code, he bent down and opened the flap door to hand her the chips. 'There you go.'
'Thanks.' She smiled, and admired his pale green eyes. They were mesmerising and distracting – in a good way.
'What else would you like?' Stood by her side as they both stared at the options behind the glass of the vending machine.
The corridors began to empty from students as they went to class, and they had yet to go to theirs, but neither of them moved.
'No, no, this is enough, thank you. You're too nice and I can't take anything more from you. I'll owe you back next time I see you.' She didn't want to be bothersome and take the guy's money for food.
He approached the vending machine again, pressed in the code for a chocolate bar, and put it in her hands. 'Don't give this back, it's yours. It's just a chocolate bar.' He wore a friendly smile she found to be distracting as she absentmindedly put the food in her bag, staring into his eyes.
'Thank you. I owe you this, too. Thanks a lot. I'm Jamelia, by the way.' She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and looked up at him with a small and cute smile – her signature flirting move. It never failed.
Smiling lopsidedly, he checked her out and stuck his hand out. 'Bruce.'
~
'That's such an adorable story,' Bobbi beams.
Jamelia can't help but smile. 'He's so cute. He told me he wants to be a chef and I'm impressed because you know me and my love for food. And you know the way people say "a way to a guy's heart is through his stomach"? The same applies to me, so saying he wants to be a chef gets a brownie point from me. And he can make me laugh easily; I like a guy that can make me laugh.' Feels like she's on a high when she talks about him. 'There's just something about him.'
'Yeah, that's true,' Bobbi agrees with raised eyebrows, puts the curler on the desk. 'Ta-da. Beautiful as always.'
Jamelia smiles at her work. 'Thanks, babe. You did an amazing job.' She scrunches up the end of her hair to give it volume. 'I'm excited!' she squeals, scrunching up her face and smiling like an idiot. It results Bobbi to laugh. She stands and takes her handbag with her. 'It's time. I should go now,' she sings, and together they leave her room.
As they get outside Bobbi teases, 'Have fun, but not too much fun.'
'I know it,' she replies cheerfully, spots Bruce driving down the road to her front yard, and she makes her way over to him.
'Don't forget your pepper spray.' A big, cheesy grin grazes Bobbi's face - Jamelia's upbeat mood contagious.
Jamelia turns to her before she hops into to the car. 'Don't you mean peppermints?' Wags her eyebrows when Bruce gets out of his car and opens the passenger door.
Bobbi would've liked to give her a knowing look and continue playing along with her, but since Bruce is out of the car and would hear her, she just smiles and tells them both to have a good time. After she waves them goodbye as they drive off, Bobbi walks home, remembering the exciting rush of a first date.
It makes her think of Roberto.