I spent the whole weekend with Vic and Asashi. We went to his martial arts show and then on sunday we took him hiking and picnicked on the beach. It was a nice weekend even if my heart wasn't completely at it.
The real torture would start on monday. I was absolutely certain about that. Homecoming week was starting with a loud bang and the first activity was the 'costumes day'.
Of course, Vic and I never participated. It was just a pathetic excuse for girls wearing their underwear to class without getting detention for it.
She came to pick me up in her lousy loud bike, that I could hear from two blocks away. I prepared my stuff listening to it coming closer, thus, calculating the time I'd spend waiting on the sidewalk.
As I closed the door, my eyes cought movement on the Rossi's side. Lucas and Dante were heading towards the Jeep.
"Morning, Belle!" Dante screamed, unaware that his brother and I were in bad terms. "Hurry up, we're running late..."
"Dante, get in the car..." Lucas barked. But the kid kept looking my way with a smile, waiting for me to walk over.
"I- I'm riding with Vic today, D..." I stuttered, watching my best friend pull over by my side. "See you at school."
I jumped behind Victoria, who kept her eyes narrowed in the Rossi's direction, making Dante's face drain out of color.
The sorroundings of the school's building looked like a streeper's club. I don't know why this girls think that costume day is a permission to dress like hookers... Well, even more than on regular days.
Vic and I made our inconspicuous way in, in a sea of spandex, leather, vinyl and lace. There wasn't a boy around whose eyes were in their sockets. You could practically smell the hormones rage.
We were on the way to our classes, walking down the hall when I noticed Lucas laying against his locker wearing a fucking crown on his head. A girl wearing a cat woman leather outfit was eating up his face.
"God, they are such sluts" Vic whisper-shouted while her eyes were starting to turn red. Danger ahead!!
"In this crowd, you need to be a little more specific, V."
"All of them, Damnit! Specially your idiot neighbour!" She screamed in his direction, getting him to open his eyes in the kiss to look directly at us. "Yeah You heard me bitch" She said, her eyes never wavering from his.
Lucas just chuckled and kept doing his thing. Literally.
I don't know why, but my heart sank.
"Hey, B... Your phone is ringing. Don't you hear it?" My best friend asked.
I fished it out of my back pocket and saw it was a video call from Adrien. My mood improved immediately. That's the power of my best friend, for you.
"Hey, A..." I said while Vic waved at the camera.
"Yo! How are my favourite girls doing today?" he asked, making everything around us glow.
"It's costumes day" I answered raising a brow, like that's all the explanation needed. He started laughing.
"Ohhhh... it's that bad, huh?" I turned the camera a little showcasing all the skankiness around.
"Damn! I wish I could go back in time..." he joked. His eyes suddenly growing. "Is that leather and a whip!?"
"Shut up, Adrien!" Vic and I said in unison and all three of us started laughing again.
"Yo! Bro!" Dante came up from behind us and greeted him. "This is crazy!! Girls are wearing lingerie at school, Bro!"
"Could you be any more perverted, D?" I hissed, annoyed.
"Only if you teach me, Belle..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Anyways... Belle, can you go to a quiet place? I need to talk to you about something."
Dante and Vic said their goodbyes and I got into the empty Calculus classroom.
"What's up?"
"That's what I'd like to know, B... I got a call from Thomas this weekend. They barely escaped from the cops on saturday. Lucas was dead drunk throwing rocks at the street lights"
Oh. My. God.
I never heard about that. They didn't call me this time, and Lucas didn't come by my house either. Or maybe he did, but I was at Vic's... But Asashi would have told me if he went home...
"My mother called today to tell me he showed up completely wasted on Sunday."
I didn't know about that either...
"I was wondering what's going on, Belle. Things seemed to have turned, finally. He's been sober for weeks he doesn't smoke anymore... And now this? What's happening?"
What was I supposed to answer. I didn't know myself. All I could say is what i felt.
"I don't know, A. We were getting close again, getting along. I even started to halucinate that I got my old friend back... But he just pushed me away. On friday he messed his hand up and had to go to the nurse's office. When I tried to help him he lost it and said he didn't want me around anymore... That we'd lead those girls away by not talking to each other ever again. I'm not even riding to school with him anymore."
His face was still, he kept looking at the screen like he was out of words or thinking real hard.
"I'm afraid, Adrien. He's acting really stupid. He could hurt himself or get himself off the team. I don't want him to waste his chances with this behavior. Your parents would be so upset if they saw what he's been doing"
"What the hell is going on in that head of his... He's worked so hard to get here... He's got everything to make his dreams happen, a future all kids dream about"
My end of the line was silent 'till he talked again.
"I know I'm being selfish by asking you this, but please, B... Put up with him a little longer. He needs you. You are the only one who can deal with him."
Silence again. But I couldn't keep it for long. I sighed and muttered a reply swollowing my pride.
"Okey, Adrien. I'll try. I'll do it for you But I can't promise, tho... he's been really hurtful and cruel."
"I know, Belle. But think about him as a lost puppy biting the hand of the rescuer"
"He's no puppy, A... He's a fully grown rottweiler."
Adrien laughed.
People started to enter the classroom, 'cuz it was almost the bellring time. I said goodbye to my best friend and headed to my seat.
It was one day at the time. I needed to go through today. That was the goal. To survive Lucas today.
I was the one daydreaming of things that weren't there. So I have no right to reclaim someone who didn't want to be my friend. Lucas and I were in two different leagues. He was NFL, I was Junior League.
After school, that resulted to end the day quite uneventful, I went straight home. My aunt, her men, and his gorgeous son were gone already. But Asashi promised to visit again soon and to go with me to the Harvard tour in a few months. He still hadn't gotten home, and he was already texting, bless his soul. I could totally see a lasting friendship forming between us.
The house was silent and dark. Grandma was working the night shift today too, so I went straight to take a shower. I then changed my sheets and opened the window to air the room and take aunt Clair's strong perfume off the walls. Then I threw myself on the bed, to read.
I woke up two hours later because of the cold getting in from the window. I got up to close it, but then the light in the room on the other side of the garden turned on.
Lucas threw his jacket and t-shirt on the bed, walking around the room displaying his absolutely perfect body and tattoos. He turned on the computer and then music was blasting from the speakers. I stood there, like an idiotic stalker, watching him go around 'till he noticed me. His face scrunched up in disgust and he came to the window. I thought maybe he'd say hello, or apologize... but he only closed the black out curtains in my face.