PINKY PROMISE ; CLEARWATER

IV.

WITH A SIGH, Nicole fell into her seat, throwing her head onto her hands. She didn't lift it until she noticed Cecelia sitting down beside her. "You're some best friend. You just left me there, all alone with him."

Cecelia looked at her best friend and began to feel guilty, "Come on, it couldn't have been that bad."

Nicole sunk back in her seat. "But it was that bad! I mean, the beginning was okay but then he asked me about volleyball and things got awkward after I told him about Port Angeles. Why did I have to tell him about that? I am so dumb. I should probably leave the country."

Cecelia laid her hand on her best friend's shoulder, "What exactly did you tell him?"

Nicole looked up from her laid down position. "Just that I didn't like it there and returned to the res."

"And then he didn't respond with anything?" Cecelia inquired, just to be sure. Nicole nodded in confirmation. "We can work with that. Maybe he was just nervous and didn't know what to talk about with you?"

Nicole shrugged, she had already thought about that possibility, but her thoughts wandered fast and she began thinking of him telling his friends and laughing with them about her. She told all of this to Cecelia.

"Shut up. You're just putting yourself down now. Didn't you say that he's a really sweet guy? I'm sure he would never do that."

"But what should I do now, Cece?" Nicole asked exasperatedly.

"How about paying attention to my lesson, Miss Coberly?" Their teacher spoke from the front of the class, only now did Nicole notice that everyone else had begun working with the microscopes, except her and Cecelia.

"We're just gonna see and wait, if he's really interested in you he'll come back and talk to you again. And if he doesn't it's good riddance, I'd say." Cecelia explained to Nicole as they had set up their microscope and began working on the given task.

Nicole nodded, "Sounds good to me, but what if he also thinks like that?"

Cecelia shrugged, "I don't know, let's just hope for the best."

And the best happened. Right as Nicole got out of her class, Seth was already there, waiting by the lab door. As soon as she exited with Cecelia next to her, he took a step forward.

"I'll see you later then", Cecelia said and went off with a grin on her face. Nicole wanted to do nothing but shout after her best friend not to abandon her.

"Hi again," Seth greeted Nicole. "I thought I could wait here for you, because I could go earlier from math."

Nicole looked at him, "That's really sweet, thanks. So what's your next class? I have History."

Seth thought for a second and responded then, "I have English, so I'll go with you for a bit."

The girl nodded, one of her braids falling to the front by this motion. "By the way, I wanted to apologize."

Seth looked at her in shock, not knowing why she would feel the need to do that. "What for?"

"Just", Nicole shrugged her shoulders, unsure of herself, "I made our conversation from before really awkward. I'm sorry about that."