French Teacher

Chapter 27

"It wasn't like that!" I told Kim. "I didn't mean to, I swear. It was purely an accident."

Kim shook her head, lowered her gaze on her meal then stabbed one of her meatballs. I blushed.

"I did not know this was my brother's briefs." I deadpanned again. "I was in such a hurry this morning that I didn't even--"

"Save your breath. I knew you had a fetish for your little brother. With all the borrowing his clothes in stuff? How could I have missed it?" Kim gave me a smirk, then she wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I scratched my forehead frustrationally. For the pass minutes, I've been trying to convince Kim that I didn't intend to wear Skyler's underwear today. I didn't even realized it until Kim and I went to the girl's bathroom this morning and thanks to Kim's horrible habit of peeping at me whenever I used the stall, she spotted Skyler's name written at the inside. It was totally embarrassing.

"That is so gross, Pey." She joked, which really annoyed me.

"Kim, why can't you just--!"

"Do any of you want some of my cookies?" Mica spoke up.

I looked at her and saw a forceful look on her face. And when I say 'forceful' I meant it in a way that she forced herself to speak up. Mica had been hanging out with us for weeks now but I could tell she still wasn't use to us. She'd always look so hesistant and grounded.

I'm not really pushing her into something that needs time, but it wouldn't hurt to feel a little bit more comfortable with us.

I sighed, wanting to give Mica's attempt some credit. I let myself back and rolled my eyes.

"I'm sure Penny didn't mean to," Mica told Kim. "And...it is a little funny, isn't it?"

Kim simply shrugged her shoulders. "It's alright."

I kicked Kim's leg under our table. Kim glared at me and mouth the word; 'What?!'

I glared back, knowing she knew what I meant.

This situation between them had been so awkward that I'm starting to think that this whole 'making Mica join us' is a bad thing. I mean, I don't regret it. But I wish I would've thought it through. With Mica's uneasiness and shyness, and with Kim's trust issues, how could I've been so careless?

I looked at Mica, hoping she didn't thought about anything with what Kim and I just did. She turned to me and didn't hesitate to smile. 
With that alone, something inside of me just went soft.

I love it when she does that; how she'd always seem so hesitant but when it comes to beaming at me, she wouldn't. There's just really something about her smile that really grips my heart to the core. How, despite her eyes looking sad most of the time, she could still pop that little sign of joy. It's like, in spite of everything, there's still hope inside of her. A dash of hope that makes me want to clench on it so hard that it wouldn't fall and break into a million pieces. It gives me a reason why I shouldn't let go of this.

Something flattered inside my chest and I couldn't help but smile as well. Mica was just too cute.

"Hey ladies," a call came from our back. We turned around and saw Lloyd.

"Hey Nel," I waved, raising my hand up so he could give it a high five.

"Sup Pey, Kim." He gave me the high five I was expecting. Then, he turned to Mica. "Hi Mics."

Mica's eyes averted shyly, she waved back. "Hi Lloyd,"

"What are you guys talking about?" He asked.