Ugh, another Monday. Another week of school. Another lifetime of boring classes and prettier girls. I shoved the hair from my face, staring helplessly across the hall at my best friend. Kaleb sat to my right, trying to explain the complexity of a certain video game.
“Hey,” I snapped as my friend passed, the look in her eyes suggesting she was once again somewhere else. She glanced over and grinned, wiggling her eyebrows, momentarily tearing away from her other friend’s sides. I smiled, feeling another pang of jealousy. She was so popular...
“You’re gorgeous,” I told her, leaving Kaleb to join her side instead.
“You gorgeous,” she said in an unplaceable accent, winking.
I laughed, linking my arm through hers and longing for a few more moments. “Hailey, you’re so crazy.”
“I know,” she dipped her head in embarrassment, but let a laugh slip. “We are crazy.”
See, that was all. That was how our normal conversations went, and the simple words thrilled me, but if only she saw how attention deficit she was, how little time she spent on anyone… We were best friends, we have agreed, but I could be telling a story and she would be distracted by her other friends squealing over a new song…
There was silence, which was replaced with smirking as she bumped me. I hadn’t noticed, but my crush had appeared to my right, and Kaleb was bouncing on his heels behind me. I reddened.
She again bumped me, and I bumped back; she was trying to push me into him. “No,” I protested, suppressing a giggle.
“He got quiff game, go touch that quiff game,” she snickered, and I groaned and flitted to her other side, disabling her push-and-shove.
“He should ask you out, you’re pretty.”
“No…” I faltered.
“You’re model status, dangit, don’t argue with me,” she frowned, but was trying not to smile, staring up at me knowingly. She could try to convince me, but I knew it wasn’t true. So why was she so frustrated? She shouldn’t get frustrated trying to prove something that isn’t true.
“You’re beautiful, I wish I had your eyebrows,” I said indignantly.
She rolled her eyes, looking down. “No, you don’t.”
Silence fell, and I sighed as I realized it wasn't really silence; she’d just been distracted again, snickering across the room at Jenika and Alice.
I chewed my lip and watched her slip away, then turned back to Kaleb sullenly.
If only she knew.