“UGHHH! This is driving me insane!” I groan as I shove my best friends’ phone out of my face. “But don’t you see that at least some of it has to be true? I mean, they are screenshots and..” Amiya continues on, but I’m not listening. First day back to school from being sick, and this is the first thing I get told. About a “Bop” account for the man I was literally daydreaming about yesterday? Of course I’m gonna be pissed. I’ve heard enough of the drama, and gossip about him. Him, being Matthew. I’ve known Matt for at least a few years now, but our relationship has been complicated. Ever since that stupid Helen decided to park his business right into her mouth. I was never really fond of her before, but I have absolutely despised her ever since she tried to insert herself in Matt’s life, and, well, mine too. She can’t help it, the drama practically follows her. Which, as long as she stays in her lane, it’s all good. But I’ve had about enough.
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“Ok. I’m done talking about this.” I say as I grimace at Amaya and take a sharp left, ducking through a few seniors as I try to speed away from her, and get to my class. I continue down the hallway until I see a familiar blond mop of hair. “Matt!” I plead as I rush around a few freshmen girls struggling to put their makeup on. Probably for their hallway crushes. Couldn’t be me.
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“Oh, hey!” Matt takes his earbud out and smiles down at me with that sweet spirit of his. “What’s up?” I ask as we stride along the hall to our biology class. “Nothing much, just trying to ignore Helen’s stupid harassment tactics” He says, acting all serious, and I roll my eyes playfully. “You blocked her on everything right?” I ask, and he simply nods slowly in response, that gorgeous hair of his bouncing slightly as he sticks his earbud back in, and we walk into our Bio classroom.
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“POOKS!” I hear a familiar voice yell, as I’m suddenly engulfed in a bone-crushing hug from behind. “HIII!” I pretty much squeal as I turn around, and hug her back. “How are you? Now that you’re not sick anymore..” Her, being Imogen. “I’m doing waaaay better! What’d I miss?” I smile as I find my seat, and sit on top of my desk. “Ehh, not too much.” Aleya comes, zig-zagging through the desks over to mine, and sits in my seat. “Has it gotten worse?” I gently take her wrist and examine it. “Yep, my mom said it’s infected, she was too worried about my skin to scold me though.” She says, as I examine her tattoo in the shape of a butterfly wrapped around the letter R. I had almost forgotten about it, while I was sick. “Are y’all still together..?” I ask, skeptical if I should bring up that subject right this moment. “Umm, I’ll talk to you later about that.” She replies, her eyes no longer glowing with the usual glimmer they have. Until she snaps up, “But, more importantly! How are you twooooo?” She drags out the “o” as if trying to tease me. “Hmm. Well I got a sweet smile today, and we’ve been texting a bunch so I think he feels the same way!” I practically squeal as I smile so wide, my face starts to hurt.
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“Class, I will be giving you today to work on your final projects. If you need any help, feel free to come ask me.” Mr. Everest says, as he shuts the door, and walks over and sits at his desk. I whip my head around to Aleya, and smile wide. As if reading my mind, she pulls out her switch, and we scroll through games.
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“Mr. Everest..” Matt says, as he raises his hand. Mr. Everest ignores him on purpose. “MR. EVERESSSSSSTTTTTT!!!!!!” Matt yells, and dramatically waves his arms frantically to get his attention. “Yes? Matthew?” Mr. Everest puckers out his lips and we all laugh. “Uh huh so funny.. Can I go to the restroom?” Matt says, as he mock-laughs at him. As soon as Mr. Everest approves, he races out of the room so fast that he forgets his phone. “Wow, someone really had to go..” Imogen says as she shakes her head, glances over at Aleya, then goes back to journaling in her small notebook. “Well he’s not the only one.” I giggle, as I hop up and ask the same. Before I can leave Aleya jumps up to “throw away some trash” and whispers in my ear, “Send me the wedding invite!” We both start laughing as I walk out the door. I soon find my way trotting down the hallway humming to some random tune, as I turn into the restroom.
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“MATT?!” I almost scream as I stumble backwards, out of the restroom, staring at what looks like Matt and Helen…making out?! “B-but.. She…” I struggle to find the words to say. Struggle to find the feelings to feel, and what to think. “But, we were, wait…what?!” I can almost feel my heart plop out of my chest and slowly ooze onto the cold, cruel floor. “Mmm.” Helen hums in pure pity, as she looks at me with the most pitiful look on her face. “Kinda sucks to get your feelings played with..huh?” She says as she tilts her head at me, and laughs a mocking laugh. I stand there, fuming with anger, and overall embarrassment, as I stare Matthew down. “What the heck man?! I thought we really had something real too!! I mean after Lu-” I shake my head at the itching sound of my ex’s name on my tongue. Matthew just grimaces in response, and I just shake my head, and turn around, but I can already feel the tears coming.
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The bell suddenly rings, and I zip on through the kids racing out of their classes, and go into Mr. Everest’s and grab my backpack. “Hey! Wait..Woah..What happened to you?” Imogen asks, as she stops me in the doorway. I flat out crumple into her, as I break down crying into her arms. She embraces me in a warm, comforting hug, and I look up to watch her glare at Matthew as he walks by with Helen. I finally get myself together, and we start to walk down the hallway. “I literally just walked in there, and he just…and she was…” I can’t even put words together to describe what I witnessed. “It’s okay, I had a hunch..” Imogen says as she takes my arm, and guides us down the stairs. “I need to give something to my cousin, wanna walk with me?” She asks, as if trying to distract me. “S-sure” I sniffle, appreciative of the distraction attempt, but it doesn’t work for very long, when Amaya comes running up to me. “OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU OK?! I SAW THEM WALKING TOGETHER AND I JUST WA-“ She frantically waves her arms as if trying to take me from Imogen. “I’m-” I start but Imogen cuts me off. “She’s fine, c’mon he’s over here.” She guides me away from Amaya, thankfully, but I’ll definitely have to hear Amaya complain later about this.
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We start to walk down the stairs when I see a familiar red head pop around the corner, into the cafeteria. “There he is.. I just have to give him my phone charger, cause he forgot his.” “That goofball..” I say as I try to lighten my own mood. She simply chuckles in response. “Yeah a goofball that…” She trails off as I zone out. We finally get to the end of the stairway, and we try our best to push through all the kids walking in our way. “Hi Carson!!” I wipe my tears on my sleeve, and wave as we finally get to him. “Oh, hey Li-” WHAM! Matt slams into Carson playfully, and drags him halfway into the cafeteria. ‘The crap?’ I think as I look up at Imogen. “Good grief” She mutters under her breath, as she takes my hand, and we push through even more kids to get into the cafeteria. Carson finally pulls free of Matt’s grip and jogs over to us. His face is mad like he’s angry..wait no..is he laughing? I didn’t think it was that funny, especially with the events that happened today involving him, but seeing him laugh brings a smile to my face. I don’t know, but something about him being in a good mood brightens up my day.
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“Mr. B! What are we doing today?” I say, as I skip through his classroom door, and over to my seat in the corner. “Probably another IXL.” My teacher replies, not looking up from his computer. I groan and lean my head back onto the wall, and stare up at the Dua Lipa poster across the room. We got him that poster for Christmas last year, and he adored it. “Why can’t we just talk about the printer exploding, and the school going on lockdown because of it?” Denny says as he walks into the classroom, over to the desk in front of mine. I can almost feel Mr. B’s eye roll. I think back to the second day of school when we were going over the school’s emergency procedures, and how Mr. B used the “printer exploding and sounding like a bomb” as an example of a threat. It’s been a popular inside joke in this class ever since. I turn around to see a familiar red-head trudge in. ‘Hmm. Wonder what’s up with him today..?’ I think as I shrug it off. Usually he walks in joking around, or at least positive. That’s what I love about this class, Carson just makes it downright bearable/enjoyable for once. He sits down behind me and looks almost sad..? ‘That can’t be right.’ I turn around and say in the goofiest tone possible, “We are gonna talk about the exploding printer todayyyyy!” He just glances at me then looks back down at his desk in response. “Ok what’s wrong?” I ask, genuinely starting to get worried. “Nothing.”
That was the only answer he would give me that day, and I never found out what was wrong until later on. He was having relationship issues, I think.
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“Lilah!!” Carson says as he waves his hand in front of my face to get my attention. “Yeah, yeah, what?” I say, as I silently scold myself for zoning out about him. Like dude. Why am I zoning out about Carson? I don’t even know if he’s single, and I JUST GOT MY HEART RIPPED OUT!! ‘Lilah get yourself together!!!’ I can practically hear Amaya screaming at me in my head. “How are you and..” He doesn’t finish the sentence as Imogen glares at him. “Oh..” He says as he looks over at the cafeteria. I just stare down at my feet in the awkward silence, not knowing what to say. “C’mon Lilah, I’ll walk you to class.” Imogen says, breaking the silence. ‘Thank goodness’ I think as I let her guide me back up the stairs, and to my ASL class.
