Scarlett
It's the start of a new week, and yet my head was still buzzing from the Friday before. I have never drank that much and all the drinking and partying made me forget what happened that entire night. The last thing I remember from that night was giving James flowers.
"What's wrong with you? You seem out of it." Cassidy analyzed me as we walked down the vast halls that seemed like they never ended.
I rubbed my eyes. "I'm fine. I just have a really bad headache from Friday."
"I have Advil if you want some, or Tylenol. I can take you to the nurse?" Cassidy was always ready for any type of situation.
"No thank you, I'll be fine. I can make it through the day."
Her bright blue eyes judged me silently. "Alright. But I'm here if you need anythi-," she turned to look at the lockers to her right, "-hey, Ian!"
When Ian and I made eye contact, I got a sudden chill. His hazel eyes bored into mine, and the frown on his face made me realize something was wrong.
Cassidy pulled me by the arm and walked us over to his locker.
"We haven't talked in a while, how are you?" she asked him.
"I'm doing...fine I guess." His vibe gave off a different impression than just 'fine'.
"Yeah, I feel like we haven't hung out in a while," I chimed in.
He didn't dare look me in the eye. In fact, he didn't even respond.
There was an excruciating silence between the three of us. Cassidy and I stared at eachother in confusion, while Ian stared at the floor.
"It hasn't been that long, Scarlett," he finally acknowledged me. "I was the one that picked you up from the party on Friday."
I blinked. "That was you? Oh, thank you so much for looking out for me. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there," I thanked him, but he didn't seem pleased.
"You're welcome." Ian rolled his eyes and walked off, his shoulder hitting mine in an aggressive way when he passed me.
I fell back a little when our shoulders touched because he was much bigger than me.
"What the hell was that about?" Cassidy asked, confused.
"I have no idea..." I've never seen Ian act like that. That wasn't the Ian I knew.
Me and Cassidy stared in disbelief as we watched Ian sulk away into the crowd of students.
The way he was acting made me think he was upset, but the look on his face made me believe he was in pain.
And it definitely had something to do with me.
James
Usually for lunch, the boys and I will go drive around and stop at the local pizza place near school to get something to eat. But as we were walking to the school parking lot, something caught my eye.
In the distance, I saw someone sitting alone on the bleachers that surrounded the football field.
I smiled. Even from far away, I knew it was her.
"James, hurry the fuck up!" Grant shouted at me as he hopped in the trunk of Vincent's—one of my other friends's—Tacoma.
"What are you staring at?" Jackson asked me as he threw his binder in the backseat.
"Nothing, nothing. I'm going to skip lunch today, I'll eat with you guys tomorrow," I told my friends.
"Why?" another one of my friend's, Cameron, asked.
"I'm not hungry," I lied.
Jackson and my other friend Kaden got in the car. Once Jackson understood what I was looking at, he gave me a knowingly nod. He was the only one that knew about my friendship with Scarlett.
"You're such a fucking pussy," Grant barked at me.
I ignored him and started walking off to the field. "See you guys at practice tonight!"
Vincent sped through the parking lot and down the road and then they were gone.
I walked slowly to the bleachers. I knew if she saw me coming she would probably end up leaving. She's very difficult but I don't mind; it makes the chase more interesting.
I stared up at her. She was far up on the bleachers.
"What are you doing out here all alone?"
She took her attention off of her book and onto me. When she realized it was me, she turned a bright red.
"James, what are you doing here?!"
I started stepping up the stairs. "I just came to say hello."
She scrunched her nose. I thought it was so adorable.
"Oh...hello," she responded.
I sat down next to her — close, but not too close to where she would scoot away. The tips of our knees barely touched.
"You didn't answer my question," I reminded her as she stared wide-eyed at our knees. Just a simple touch like that blew her away.
"Huh?" Her eyes met mine. "What question?"
"I asked you what you are doing here alone."
"Oh." She took her eyes off of me and stared straight ahead into the distance, beyond the football field. "I don't know...I'm just in a predicament."
I stared at her intently. "Tell me about it."
She looked down at her journal. I looked down as well, trying to read the writing on the paper but she slammed it shut.
Scarlett's face was scrunched up in anger. "My personal thoughts. Not yours. Don't try to read my journal!"
She was so cute when she was aggravated. I just wanted to squish her face like you would to a little puppy.
"I don't think you would want to know. It's about Ian."
My blood boiled. "Did he do something to you? What happened?!"
She rolled her eyes. "He didn't do anything to me. Why are you so over protective? You know he's my friend."
"I'm over protective because you're my friend," I lied. I was trying my hardest not to act how I truly felt about her. If I acted how I really felt, I knew it would scare her.
The tension there was between us when the world went silent as we stared at eachother was unexplainable. I never knew eye contact was such a dangerous thing until I met this girl.
My eyes slowly fell to her lips. As I stared at them, I remembered the first time I kissed her.
I wanted- no, I needed to feel that feeling again.
I wanted to kiss her so badly.
But she looked away, brushing off the tension with conversation.
"But anyways," she gulped, flustered. "I feel like he's mad at me."
And just like that, the moment was ruined.
I brushed my fingers through my hair, trying to recoup myself. "Why do you think that?"
"I don't know, really. Everytime I make conversation with him, he blows me off. I feel like I said something to him the night of the party."
She turned to face me. "He's one of my good friends, you know. I don't want to lose him but he's not giving me chances to talk to him."
I sighed. "I'm not really good with advice but I think you should give him some time to cool down. Then maybe he'll be more open talking to you."
Scarlett tilted her head. "You're not bad with advice. I think that was some pretty good advice!"
My heart warmed when she opened up like this. She rarely did it because she always keeps a wall infront of anyone, but I could slowly see her true self poking out of her shell.
"Thanks!" I smiled.
I noticed she didn't have any food with her. "Have you eaten yet?"
She shook her head. "No. I rarely eat lunch."
I frowned. "That's not good, Scarlett."
Scarlett stood up, putting her journal in her mini black bag. "Gee, thanks mom."
I smirked, standing up as well. "Leaving so soon?"
I easily towered over her but that didn't seem to intimidate her at all.
"Yes."
"How come?"
A childish grin formed on her lips. "You're boring me."
Offended, my mouth parted open as I blinked slowly. "Boring?!" I sounded hysterical. "Says the girl who sits alone at lunch and writes in a journal."
She playfully shoved me. "Hey! This is the first time I've sat alone. Don't be mean."
"So you can be mean to me, but I can't be mean to you?"
She nodded and started walking down the stairs.
"That's not fair," I whined.
She shrugged. "Life's not fair, hun. Get used to it." Then she started walking off towards the campus.
I've never had the opportunity to see Scarlett so cheerful and playful like she was a few moments ago. I didn't want her to leave. I wanted her to stay.
Run to her; it was a powerful instinct.