Girl's Love | Editing |

Chapter 3

Now is the time I must formally apologize for putting you through two chapters worth of exposition. I promise everything you read in the plot synopsis is about to take place. And it all started with this conversation.

The next day, on Tuesday afternoon, Amber didn't have rehearsal. She was taking the bus home with me. Of course, she talked with Lily several feet away from me and my friends. On this day, though, it was good that she was keeping her distance. Jimmy was hiding his laptop from me and Peter, which only made us more curious about its contents.

"I promise you, Reese, you do not want to see this!" Jimmy said. His face was bright red.

"And why not?" I asked. "What does it matter?"

Suddenly, Peter snickered next to me. "Oh. I know what it is," he said.

He leaned close to me and whispered what it was. The p-word. The thing every high schooler probably looked at least once, but would never admit to it.

My face burned. "Jimmy, what the hell?!"

"What?! I have needs!"

"Which is fine, but we're at school!"

"Listen, I had a bad day today! Drawing helps me feel better!"

I blinked. "Wait. You draw it?"

"Don't judge me!"

"I'm not judging you. It's just now I know that Safe Search exists because of your work."

Jimmy just laughed. "Yeah, probably!"

I sighed. "Listen, could we change the subject? My sister is, like, five feet away."

I could already see her glancing towards me out the corner of my eye. I didn't want her mad at me now that we were sleeping in the same room. She seemed preoccupied with her conversation, so I doubted they heard everything. But hey, nothing wrong with being cautious.

Peter laughed and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's alright. I could clear up the situation later for you, if you want."

"So I take it you're going to keep talking about it?"

"Hey, you don't have to be involved if you don't want!"

"What's going on over here, you guys?"

It was Lily, with Amber in tow. Great.

"It-it's nothing..." I stammered.

"Jimmy's talking about porn," Peter answered.

"Peter!"

"And your sister is just as appalled as a lady should be. She's not involved."

He added that part at Amber, who simply shrugged. "Alright."

She doesn't care? Huh. Wait, why am I surprised? I guess she doesn't care about me normally...

George approached us, gave Jimmy a warning look, and sighed. "Dude... I told you, not at school."

"Again, I was having a bad day!!"

"So what kind is it?" asked Peter.

"Don't encourage him," George said.

Jimmy grinned. "Just girl-on-girl... anime."

"Oh God." George sighed and put his hands in his head.

"He doesn't like anime," I explained to Lily.

My sister's friend just shrugged. "His loss, then."

I smiled. I wondered for a moment why I seemed to avoid Amber's friends (other than Peter). Sarah seemed to like me, and Lily liked anime just like I did.