•••••
-E-
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You know those people who you know are going to be your life forever? Well, I have one person. That one person is Zoriana Ramos. That girl on the picture. She was waiting on her acceptance to a ballet camp. I think they call them intensives? I don't know, but we sat out on her balcony for hours waiting for it to come through. She was so nervous, but I wasn't. She's the best dancer ever. She's the best person ever.
But she's been lying to me. About what? I have no idea. I want to pry and ask her, but I figured she would tell me in her own time. Well.. that's what I was hoping for.
•••••
"Hey dummy. Dad is gonna be home late for dinner. He said order take out. So, tell me what you want now or you'll starve."
If you're wondering who that jerk is, it's this guy. My brother Everett.
He's loud and obnoxious, that's all you really need to know about him.
•••••••
"Um, sesame chicken and noodles." I said as I focused on my work. Well, I was trying. Something wasn't sitting well with me about my conversations with Zori. It felt weird. Off.
Everett sighed, "Should I order Zo's regular too? She is coming over tonight right?"
I dropped my pencil and turned in my desk chair, "Can I ask you something?"
Everett groaned loudly, "I guess, but hurry up."
"I told Carly I would pick her for school tomorrow and Zori like completely did a 180 and said she was gonna drive to school. Drive, Everett. Zoriana Ramos said she would drive. Isn't that weird? Should I have not invited Carly?" I asked him.
Everett sighed and sat down on my bed, "I don't know I mean. Have you ever thought that maybe Zo is finally sick of you and needed excuse to stop being around you?"
"I should've known not to ask you." I turned back around and went back to doing my work.
Everett laughed, "I'm sorry, bro. But I mean I guess its only weird if you make it weird."
I waved him off, as I was done with the conversation. I dialed Zori's number and it went straight to voicemail. Okay, now that was bizarre.
•••••
I picked up, Carly and we had a... pretty uneventful car ride. My car was usually filled with the sounds of Zori's
morning playlist and us playing "Would You Rather?", but not with Carly. With Carly, all we did was talk about people. She asked me about five times if I thought another girl was prettier than her. It was exhausting.
We finally got to school, and I pulled my car right next to Zori's black Honda Accord. I sighed relief when I saw it, knowing she made it safely. I jumped out the car, making sure Carly got out and jogged toward the school. I rushed to the senior wing and scanned the hallway for Zori.
"Zo!" I pushed through the crowd and saw her standing at her locker, smiling at someone. When I finally got to her, I saw Bryce leaning on the locker next to hers. They stopped talking when I approached them. She looked up at me and smiled, but not the same way she was just smiling at Bryce. I pushed that thought to the back of my head, "Zo, hey. You made it safe."
"Good morning, Ev." She smiled and went back to organizing her locker. She looked at me, "And yes, I did."
Bryce cleared his throat through the awkward silence that fell on us, "Um, what's up man?"
"Nothing much." I responded simply. I turned my attention back to Zori, "Did I interrupt something?"
"No." She stated lightly, focusing back on her locker. She was struggling to pull a book out, which Bryce and I both noticed. We reached for it at the same, only I had a better grip on, so Bryce let go. I pulled it out hard, careful not to hit Zori. I laid it on her shelf. She sighed relief, "Thank you."
Bryce sighed, "Um, I should get going to class. See you guys later. Zo, remember, meeting you in the yearbook room, right after dance class."
Zori looked at him and nodded, and he walked away from us. I tapped her on the shoulder, "Since when do you two meet after dance class?"
She closed her locker slowly, like she really didn't want to answer the question, "Since he asked me to be the subject of his senior photography project."
"Oh.." I cleared throat. "So, are we like not meeting after that?"
Zori turned to me, "Can we talk about this later? I have a big Calculus test."
Without getting an answer from me, she walked away. Carly came up next to me and held my hand, "Walk me to class?"
"Uh, yeah sure." I grabbed her hand as she led the way.
Carly swung our hands back and forth, "Are you coming to the game this Saturday?"
Was I? I mean, did I really want to go? I liked football, but our team sucked. People only went to socialize and look at the cheerleaders. I already have Carly, I didn't need to look at her like that.
I shrugged, "I'll have to see."
We got to her class and she made a pouty face, "Please be there. We can go to Crazy Charlie's after. It's always fun after a game."
"Okay." I smiled as genuine as I could.
She squealed and hugged me tight. Okay, so this meant a lot to her. I had to do it. Great.
When lunch time came around, I realized that Zori was going above and beyond to avoid me. We have second and third period together, and she switched her seat in both. I sat with Carly during lunch, but she end up leaving with Macy, her teammate. Something about a cheer emergency, I don't know. Zori sat with Bryce. She wouldn't even look my direction.
I saw her get up and she headed toward my table. Suddenly, she cut across a few tables in front of me. I laughed in disbelief.
"Zoriana." I stopped her, when she got close enough to me. She turned around slowly, I laughed, "Were you going to ignore me?"
I saw her shoulders drop and heard her sigh. She approached me, dropping her tray on the table. She sat down and folded her arms like a child who had been caught in the act.
I scoffed in disbelief, "So, you were going to ignore me? Wow, Zo. You said we would talk later, its later. Why are you avoiding me?"
"We spend so much time together. I was thinking maybe we could cut that down some." Zori blurted out, as she scratched her arm. A thing she only did when she was nervous.
"I don't.. understand." I blinked fast. "We're best friends. How do we spend too much time together?"
Something was bothering her. I could tell that this was stemming from something and I needed to get to the bottom of it. "Zo.. you know you can talk to me about anything. Right?"
"Carly.. called me a tick." Zori looked down." She said it yesterday when she was talking to her friends."
I blinked fast, "A tick? What does that even mean?"
"She said I suck all the life out of you." Zori shrugged. "And she's right. You give up so much of your social life for me. I don't want you to do that anymore. I think we need to take a break. We have to figure out who we are without each other."
"Zori, no offense, but that's dumb." I rolled my eyes. "Best friends don't take breaks. We work out our problems and then move on, but no breaks."
"Well, I think we should." Zori stood up and grabbed her tray forcefully and throwing it away.
I stood up quickly and followed after her. I called after her in the hallway, "Zo, really? You're going to make me chase you?"
She turned around and held her hand up, "Just give me a few days of space. I love you, but we need this."
Her words rang in my head all day. We didn't need a break. We needed to work whatever it was out. I was going crazy thinking about how she was blowing everything out of proportion.
I walked down the hallway and heard a familiar laugh coming from a room. I walked toward it to see the yearbook room door half open, with Zori and Bryce sitting next to each other at a computer. I stood behind the door, so I could listen.
"I was thinking peaceful dancer in mad world. She moves gracefully amongst all the chaos of everyday life." Bryce explained to her with pride.
Zori smiled, "I like that."
He leaned in closer to her, showing her all the sights around our town that the pictures could be in our town. That's when I saw it. Zori looked at him like he was the only person in the world. She liked him. Zori liked Bryce, and she was scared to tell me, so she suggested a break. It was all making sense.
"Evan?" Carly's voice made me jump. I looked back to see her looking puzzled. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." I sighed. I had been dreading this conversation since I talked to Zori. I turned to her, "Did you call Zori a tick?"
"What? Where did you even here that?" Carly said, clearly avoiding the question.
"Zori heard you in the bathroom. You can try to deny it, but Zo rarely lies to me. So, I know it must be true." I told her before she even thought about lying.
Her expression changed. Her eyes softened and she gave me the most apologetic look. I'd never seen Carly look so vulnerable.
"Evan, look at you. You are so wrapped up in her." Carly sighed out. "You need to figure out who you are without her. Otherwise, you're gonna always be on the other side of the door watching. I would hate that for you."
There it was again. The second time someone told me to figure out who I am without Zori. It made me think.
Who was I without Zori?
I wanted you guys to see Evan's POV on his relationship with Zori. Tell me what you think? The next chapter will be in his POV too!