Page 29

Kota

“W as that Bobby?” I quietly asked, peeking my head around the corner of the hall.

Crew spun around, seemingly jolted by my presence. “Uh, yeah,” he said rather sheepishly.

“What did he want?”

“He asked to talk to you.”

“Oh,” I uttered, probably inaudible from across the room. “And you...”

Crew’s eyes found the floor as he shrugged. “I told him to fuck off.” When he looked back up at me, his expression turned cautious. “Unless you wanted to talk to him?”

“No,” I immediately said. “I don’t... so... thank you.”

His mouth formed a hard line as he gave me a cordial nod and walked off down the boy’s hall.

I stood there quietly by myself, as if my feet were nailed to the floor.

Why would Crew help me? We’d been getting along a bit better after the whole awkward apology thing, but I didn’t think we were at the point where we’d consider ourselves “friends,” so I wasn’t sure what Crew’s intentions were right now.

Unless he didn’t realize he was helping me when he did it. Maybe he thought I actually wanted to talk to Bobby and scared him off just so that I wouldn’t get the chance to.

Whatever the reason was, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t grateful for it.

Instead of continuing to overanalyze it all, I retreated to my room. I wanted more than anything to crash into bed with some ice cream and a sad movie on, but I refused to give in to the heartache. I had my ten minutes to let it out, and those ten minutes had passed, so that was that.

While I sat at my desk, I avoided looking into my mirror. I was too afraid to see the woe that was probably covering my face.

So, I took out my bio notes and began making flashcards since Thanksgiving break was coming up and I had a mid-term right beforehand. Luckily, I got an A on my bacteria essay, which saved my grade from plummeting and put me in a pretty good spot going into finals.

But after ten or so minutes, it became harder and harder to focus.

Because my phone was blowing up.

I had two missed calls from Bridget and six from Bobby, along with a multitude of texts.

Bobby: Hey can we talk?

Please?

I know what it seems like, but I want to explain

I tried stopping by, but Crew wouldn’t let me in

Can I come over? Or u can come stop by here if u want

Kota

Please don’t do this

With one click of a button, I put my phone on do not disturb and tossed it behind me, onto my bed.

Nearly twenty flashcards later, Bridget burst into my room.

“Hey, um, what the hell?” she squealed with her arms up.

“Hey,” I casually said, glancing up at her briefly and back down at my notes.

The strawberry blonde knot on top of her head bobbed as she tumbled onto my bed. “You can’t just text me that and then ignore my calls!”

“Sorry,” I murmured. “I got distracted.”

B sighed, letting it go. Her voice softened. “Are you okay?”

“Perfectly fine.”

“Hey,” she said, “you don’t have to lie. It’s just me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Kota,” she pressed.

I sighed, swiveling around to face her. “I already had my ten minutes.”

She rolled her eyes, letting out a small grunt of frustration. “Kota. It’s okay to have feelings, you know. You don’t need to bundle them up and lock them away after ten minutes.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t,” she insisted, leaning forward.

I eyed her quietly for a moment, before ultimately turning back around. “Well, it’s too late,” I muttered. “They’re already locked away.”

“You didn’t even explain what happened. All you texted me was Just ended things with Bobby. Woohoooooo! With a bunch of smiley faces.”

I shrugged tenderly with one shoulder, pretending to be occupied by the blank notecards in front of me. “How do you know I didn’t mean the enthusiasm? Maybe I did.”

“Because I know you.”

A loud sigh escaped my lips and I looked up at B in the mirror, whose gaze was already stuck on me. Catching the sight of the leftover redness in my eyes, I nearly winced. “He was planning on seeing another girl tonight. And when I asked where things were going between us, he pretty much said he didn’t want to date me.”

B spoke with her hands, utterly confused. “Hold on. Back up. He was going to see another girl tonight?”

“Yep.”

“How do you know?”

“I saw his phone.”

She gasped. “Kota! You snooped?”

I rolled my eyes. “First of all, I did not snoop . He had the goddamn phone practically on display. All I did was glance at it when it went off. Second of all, are you brushing over what I said? B,” I said sharply, “he’s entertaining other girls.”

“Well, did you confront him about it?”

“No.”

“Are you gonna?”

I brought my feet onto the desk chair, hugging my knees to my chest. “Apparently he tried stopping by to talk.”

“Okay... So did you talk to him at all?”

“No,” I shook my head. “He didn’t make it past the door.” Bridget leaned back into her hands, waiting for me to explain. A small smile appeared on my face as I spoke, growing like a balloon as it inflated. “Crew wouldn’t let him in and told him to fuck off.”

Bridget’s brows lifted, a tiny chuckle escaping. “Interesting.”

“I know.”

“Did you ask him to do that?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm,” she hummed.

“Hmm is right,” I said. “But anyway... enough about Bobby. Let’s change the subject.”