Gifted #Wattys2015

Chapter 21

Teenage Tula

Tula and Ethan walked over to Albey's house, laughing and making jokes. When they got there, Albey was waiting for them. "Tula! Finally! I've been waiting for you forever!" Albey said, hugging her. "Oh hey Ethan," she said, noticing him behind Tula and blushing.

"Hey Albey," Ethan said, as Albey hugged him too, "I just walked over with her because I had nothing else to do. I should probably go home though. My parents will be home soon."

"Aww, I was hoping you'd stay a little bit. Tula, you can dump your stuff in my room, and then we can go for a walk or something."

"How about we walk Ethan home?" Tula suggested, trying to keep a straight face because she was laughing so much inside. These two were so cute. They were both literally much too shy to admit that they liked each other, so it was so adorable to see the way they acted around each other.

"Yes!" Albey said, and Ethan nodded enthusiastically. Tula couldn't help but laugh as she walked to Albey's room and dumped her duffel bag. on the floor. She walked back out to see Ethan and Albey laughing about something, sneaking glances at each other and occasionally making eye contact. Chuckling to herself, Tula swung an arm around each of her friends' shoulders and they walked out together.

***

On the way back to Albey's house, Tula decided to ask Albey about Ethan, just to be sure. "Albey?"

"Yeah?"

"You like him, don't you?"

Tula didn't need to hear Albey's mumbled, "Maybe," to know she did. The look on her face and the sparkle in her eyes told Tula plenty. "Oh my god Albey, that's great!"

"How did you know?"

"Just did."

"Okay."

Tula was dying at the cuteness of the situation inside. She couldn't wait till her two friends finally confessed their feelings to each other. Lost in thought, Tula didn't focus on where she was going until they reached Albey's house and she bumped right into someone. A friend who didn't really want anything to do with her right then. Erika. Albey looked between Tula and Erika. She didn't know exactly what had happened that day at Ethan's party, but the tension between her two friends was unbelievably high.

"Hi Erika!" Tula said in a high pitched voice. Erika didn't even acknowledge her as she turned to Albey, "Why is she here? I thought we were going to hangout."

"I hoped you wouldn't mind if she came too, because her parents had to go out of town so she's staying over."

"Ummm. I thought it would just be us. I guess I'll go home then."

"Erika, please, it'll be fun."

"Albey, I can go over to Jay's house. You guys can hang out," Tula offered, not seeing any other way out.

The relief on Albey's face was obvious as she asked, "You sure?"

"Yeah, Al. I'll see you later. Come pick me up maybe?" Tula asked, winking at her with a small smile.

"Of course!" Albey said, "See you later."

Tula left as soon as she could, texting Jay and Ethan in their group chat as she walked over.

Tula: Hey guys, mind if I come over?

Jay: Not at all, come on over.

Ethan: Why, did something happen? Aren't you supposed to be at Albey's?

Tula: I'll explain later.

Ethan: Okay sure.

Tula: Thanks, see you in a bit.

Jay: See ya!

***

Tula walked in and found Jay and Ethan watching a show on TV. They looked up and smiled together. Tula sat down on the couch with them and watched the show they were watching. Fifteen episodes later, they were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Tula answered it to find Albey at the door, come to pick her up,the way she she said she would. "Hey Al! Did you have fun?"

"Not particularly. I listened to Erika rant about everything as we sat in the park, it was actually a little annoying."

"Oh. Well, you wanna leave?"

"In a minute. I need to talk to Ethan about something."

"Okay!"

Though Tula was curious, she didn't ask what Albey had to talk about, instead letting her in and walking with her to where the boys were sitting. Then, she went to the bathroom to give them some privacy, and when she got back, Albey was all done and ready to leave. On the way home, they walked in silence, each absorbed in her own thoughts. Tula debated on whether on not she should ask Albey, when an idea struck her. She was Telepathic for a reason, she should just find out for herself. As soon as the thought struck her, she tried to squish it down, telling herself, "That's despicable, Tula!"

"Huh?"

"Oops, did I say that out loud?"

Albey chuckled and said, "Yeah."

This broke the unintentional tension between them and they chatted the rest of the way back. After dinner, the two friends sat down to do the typical Sunday last minute homework, glad that they were graduating in a couple of weeks and would be free at last.

In the middle of their work, Tula decided that she couldn't delay asking Albey any longer, because her mind kept wandering back to everything that had happened that day, and she knew that Albey had the answers, some of them, at least.

"Al?"

"Took you long enough."

"What's going on?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Erika."

"Are you serious Tula? Is it not utterly obvious to you why she doesn't like you? I thought you would have guessed by now. Everyone else can tell, even Ethan."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tula, Erika likes Jay, but he can't even think about liking her because he likes someone else."

"Me."

"Yes, tube light. You."

"No way."

"It's true."

"I feel so bad!"

"Why?"

"Because I never noticed! I should have noticed! The way he acts, the way Erika treats him and me! It was so a vinous but I couldn't see it! Does Jay know?"

"No. Ethan only figured it out today."

"I have to talk to him."

"Jay?" Tula nodded. "No, Tula! What would you even say? I just found out Erika likes you but you like me, so she's mad at me?"

"You're right. What should I do?"

"Listen. There's more to Erika's problem. She lost her mom in an accident two days ago. She never knew her dad."

"So, what is she going to do?"

"She's staying at Maya's house for now, but she can't stay there for too long, because her parents are old fashioned. That's where this gets complicated. She's coming to stay here, starting the day after tomorrow."
***
A/N: Yay! More complications! Note my sarcasm. Well, I needed a problem, so here we are. Any guesses for what's going to happen with this situation? The adult chapter is going to be a fun one, so look forward to it!
Vote if you liked it, comment your thoughts! Thank you all!
-H