I had been in the girls' bathroom for all of two minutes when the door flew open and my three friends burst in.
Actually, only Alex burst in, and the other two followed behind her. They had long-suffering expressions on their faces, like they really didn't want to and yet, had no choice.
"You're not seriously mad, are you?" Alex wailed the moment she laid her eyes on me. She stood beside me at the sink, glowering. I had just finished rinsing the soap from my hands but I refused to acknowledge their arrival, so I turned the faucet on and lathered up again.
"Oh my God, Adrian. It was just a joke, the likes of which we've made about the two of you a thousand times before. Why should it bother you now?" Alex made her voice louder and whinier than I even thought possible. This girl was not accustomed to being ignored.
She had a point, though. Having friends that were mostly of the opposite sex when I was growing up resulted in this kind of teasing. Having a boy-crazy bestie who planned my wedding every time I locked eyes with a boy for half a second resulted in this kind of teasing. I was two for two and no longer in middle school. I should not only be used to this but also be able to handle it better by now.
I looked up and, instead of turning to face Alex, spoke to her reflection in the mirror in front of me. "I just don't understand how the three of you can take even eating and chocolate, and turn it into some kind of sexy thing," I said, matching her volume and anguished tone exactly. I could be just as dramatic as her if I wanted. More so, even. "It's unnatural and you guys have a real problem."
"Food can be sexy," Alex's reflection insisted. "And chocolate's one of the sexiest food there is. Look it up."
She was so full of it. "You're making that up, Alex. If that were true, kids wouldn't be allowed to have any."
"Why do we give it away on Valentine's?" Alex argued.
"Why do we give it away on Halloween?" I countered. Alex sputtered and her eyes almost bugged out of her head when she heard my retort. I would have laughed because it really was ridiculous to be fighting about chocolate, but I wasn't ready to let this go, so I just stared right back.
"Halloween's sexy," Erin answered for her. Alex and I whipped around to look at her and she shrugged. "It is, hands-down, the sexiest holiday."
"You know you're a freak, don't you?" Alex said, looking at her with disapproval.
"Duh," was Erin's reply. I actually laughed, then, and all was well again. I shook the excess water from my hands and grabbed several paper towels to dry my hands on and tossed them in the bin before heading out.
Before anyone could grab the door handle, however, the door flew open once again and three girls barged in, giving me a weird sense of deja vu.
I didn't know these girls personally, but I knew of them. The one in the middle with the golden glow and ombre hair was the ringleader. Her name was Cassidy Albert and was a freshman when I was a sophomore. I didn't know the other two by name but they were the same two girls who followed her around wherever she went last year.
The older kids basically ignored her, and my friends and I were no different, but from what I had heard, Cassidy Albert was an absolute nightmare to the people in her grade last year. She was a sophomore this year and apart from her grade, had a fresh batch of kids to terrorize, so I supposed that explained the extra swagger in her step.
But what did I care? I was an eleventh grader and had nothing to worry about. Cassidy Albert was of no concern to me, and vice-versa.
Or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when Cassidy's face contorted into an expression of extreme dislike as soon as her gaze landed upon me.
"Why were you skanks talking to Seth Frasier of Off-Kilter and what did he say?" she demanded, blocking my way and folding her arms across her chest.
Was this a joke? Why did I suddenly have to explain something I had been doing since the dawn of time? This girl had some nerve, getting all up in my face like this.
"How is that any of your business?" I snapped. I cast a puzzled look at my three friends who were standing by my side. They all had similar expressions on their faces as me and only shrugged in response.
"I'm just looking out for him," she replied with a smug look. "I am his biggest fan."
Silence followed that statement. Nobody really knew what to say to that, exactly. I furrowed my brows and cocked my head sideways and tried to think of an appropriate response.
Suddenly, my friends, who never really cared about being appropriate, started elbowing me and laughing-right in Cassidy's face. Although I couldn't help but feel like some of the laughter was sort of directed at me, too. We did just talk about something along these lines a few days ago.
Tears formed in the corners of Beth's eyes, which she wiped with the pad of her thumb. "A challenger appears," she murmured. "This day just keeps getting better and better."
"Just how big of a fan are you, Cassidy?" Erin asked, feigning interest. The younger girl did not even seem to notice. She actually seemed eager to talk about this topic.
"I follow him on all of his social media-"
I lifted an eyebrow. Just this statement made her impossible for me to take seriously. Seth did not do social media, okay? He just didn't. End of story.
"And he very recently followed me back on Twitter." More laughter erupted from all around me. Cassidy fumed. "I don't see what's so funny. It's a verified account."
At least, he didn't use to. But then again, I didn't know about the YouTube channel, either-or anything about him anymore, really. So maybe the joke was on me.
My mood change went unnoticed and the sound of my friends' laughter filled the small space of the girls' bathroom, as Cassidy turned red. Even her two friends, who were standing guard at the door, appeared to be cringing from secondhand embarrassment. I was this close to feeling bad for her, too, when she spoke again.
"Watch your backs, skanks," she told all of us. And then, narrowing her eyes unmistakably at me, added, "especially you."
With that and a hair flip, Cassidy and her two sidekicks were out the door, leaving the four of us confounded.
Alex was the first to react. "Did that really just happen?"
"That was pretty bizarre," Erin breathed. She turned to Beth, who nodded that it was, indeed. I thought so, too and was glad we were on the same page so I joined in on the conversation.
"So weird, right?" I mused. "Who knew Seth was on Twitter? Why?" I wrinkled my nose. "What would he have to tweet about? Like, do I even wanna know?"
I trailed off and continued this train of thought internally. Seth on Twitter, I rolled my eyes. To be fair, the character limit would suit his manner of speaking.
Who else was he following from school, I wondered, and why wasn't I among them? An involuntary huff escaped my lips and then, I realized that the room had gone silent.
"What?" I asked my friends. Alex was facepalming and Erin looked like she wanted to strangle me. Beth, however, simply smiled.
"Never change, Adrian," she said, chuckling. Nothing fazed that girl.
Before I could ask what she meant, our Vice-Principal, Mr. Tinsley stuck his head inside the bathroom door to tell us to wrap things up and get to class. So inappropriate. We all huffed and glared at his intrusion but he acted like he didn't even notice. Maybe he didn't; he was really old.
We did as he said and left the bathroom. None of us had classes together next period and were just about to part ways when Erin stopped abruptly and turned to me, nose wrinkled. "Seriously, Adrian? Cassidy Albert threatens you and your biggest concern is Seth joining the Twitterverse?"
My eyes widened. Was that how it sounded? "She threatened all of us," I said dismissively.
"Especially you," she said, mimicking the last thing Cassidy said.
I started to fret. "That's insane. Why should I be singled out? I was barely even laughing at her."
"'Cause you're the skank that Seth Frasier had eating out of his hand, obvi," Alex said, snorting. Upon hearing that, I let out a strangled cry. Beth, Erin and I all turned to her and Erin whacked her on the arm, making Alex protest. "Cassidy's words, not mine."
Beth, for maybe the first time ever, had a little crease between her eyes as she spoke to Alex. "I can't believe you, of all people, would-"
"Stop it, you guys," I told them sharply. I ran both palms over my face once and gave them a serious look. "You see? This is exactly why you can't say things like that anymore. Not everyone will get that it's just a joke."
"That's their problem," Alex said, huffing. "Besides, I'm not scared of some snotty tenth grader."
"I don't need any more bathroom drama in my life, okay?" I wailed.
A look of understanding registered in her Alex's wide hazel eyes and her features softened. "I'll tone it down," she conceded. I let out a small sigh of relief. Alex could be reasonable, if it was important enough.
"But not when it's just us," she added. The other two agreed to the same terms and I decided to let it go.
The four of us finally did part ways after that. My next class was located in another part of the building but I knew I could make it with minutes to spare before the bell rang, so I took my time walking over there so I could be alone with my thoughts.
Things were good, I told myself. The guys were back, and things with Seth seemed to have sorted themselves out. As long as the girls kept their word and didn't make any awkward comments, everything would be back-to-normal soon enough.
I should be relieved. All the tension and worrying should have left my body at this time and yet, I still felt like something inside me was about to burst.
Maybe it was just that single coffee bean and the girls were right and I should have let the girls take the jar away after all. Hmm...
Nah, I decided, and kept walking.
As I had predicted, I found myself outside the classroom where my next class would be held with minutes to spare. Although, judging by the noise I could hear just from standing outside the door, it was already filled with students.
What I saw when I opened the door didn't help the way I felt at all and just made me stop in my tracks. There was someone sleeping at the very back of the room. I couldn't see his face: He had his back to the door and his head his head was down and turned toward the window but I knew it was him. The perfect fitting, nice white shirt I almost ruined earlier gave him away.
I refused to believe my fate at first. I checked my printout to see because there had to be some mistake. I couldn't possibly be having this class, with that boy, in this room full of periodic tables and scientific equipment, at this very moment. This had to be a joke, I thought-a cheap one, at that.
No such luck. Even the universe was a comedian today, it seemed, and it had the exact same sense of humor as three hormonal teenage girls I knew.
Chemistry with Seth, I scoffed inwardly. Like, when did my life start to get so ridiculous?
***
A/N: Hope you like it. Thanks for reading, voting, commenting, etc. ILY all! <3