Four Years

Chapter 7

I, Alyssa Dion, must become the millionth person to proclaim this with grudging finality: Mondays are the worst.

Dragging my sneakers clad feet, I grouchily walked towards my locker as I aggressively sipped on my mandatory morning coffee. Caffeine is a breath of life when schools are hellbent on killing you. Wow, that sounded like a nice tagline for a coffee shop. Maybe when I give up on school one day, I could open my own coffee shop and put this as a tagline as a tribute to the struggles of the students.

I shook my head to get rid off my weird thoughts. No, that's just a dream. I spotted Savannah standing near her locker along with Shelley before I started walking towards them.

"Hey, guys," I said to them when I got close.

Shelley was busy tapping into her phone as she muttered an absent-minded greeting. Savannah, on the other hand, had this dreamy look on her face which could only mean one thing: she probably talked to her girlfriend last night.

Savannah's girlfriend Kate used to live here but because of her father's passing away, her family had to move to Denver where her maternal grandparents lived. Though, neither of the girls wanted to be in a long distance relationship, they couldn't just move on from each other because of their deep-rooted love. So, after trying to go on dates and kissing other girls, Savannah and Kate decided that no matter the distance, they were never going to move on from each other again.

It was adorable. I cried a little.

Kate was the complete opposite of my best friend; while Savannah was bubbly and chirpy, Kate was more composed and calm. She had olive like skin which I always found to be gorgeously exotic, and her lean and tall figure complimented Savannah's petite, curvy one. I also adored Kate's shiny black hair so much. Both of them looked like literal couple goals in my eyes. My eyes were probably turning into hearts thinking about this.

"Soooo," Savannah squealed.

"Kate called you last night?" I exclaimed softly.

She clasped my hands, nodding her head excitedly. "Yes, she did! But it was today morning! Damn, I didn't know how much I missed her. We both cried for a good fifteen minutes, it was awesome."

"Awwww!" I pinched her cheeks.

"And guess what? She's visiting the next weekend. I cannot wait, Alyssa, I'm so excited!"

I laughed with her in pure joy. I was so happy for her; they both deserved all the happiness. I wished Kate lived here so we could see her every day.

"Why are you both so happy?" Shelley snapped at our squealing.

We quieted down. Oh, right I forgot. Apparently, when we were freshmen in high school, Shelley and Kate went to the same party thrown by a bunch of seniors. Fast forward to a few drinks later, both of them were super drunk and somehow ended up playing truth and dare. I didn't know what went down after that, but Shelley and Kate had ended up together in a bed. Even though, Shelley didn't swing for her team, no one could deny that both of them had slept together.

After that moment, they didn't see eye to eye and hence, ended up being arch-nemesis. Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but close enough.

"Um, Kate's visiting next weekend." Savannah informed her, grinning widely.

Shelley rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She flicked her over shoulders before walking away.

Savannah was aware of their history, but that didn't stop her from being there for Shelley whenever she needed. When all of this happened, Kate wasn't involved with Savannah so neither of them were affected by this hookup, and therefore, didn't treat this as a breach of trust or anything. But for some reason, Shelley could never really like Kate as a person. No one actually knew what exactly was the issue that made her this way and nor did Shelley ever communicate on this topic.

I watched sadly as Savannah stared after Shelley with a hurtful look. Truthfully, sometimes I had noticed that Shelley could be very insensitive to others' feelings by blatantly disrespecting them or sidelining them.

"Hey, let's head to English class or we'll be late." I swung my arm over my best friend's shoulder and steered her away from her locker. I hoped Shelley stops acting like a jerk over Kate.

Our English class was in the opposite direction as Shelley's current class for which I was grateful. It would've been a little awkward to share a class with her right now.

"Sav, let's go for stuffing ourselves with good food after school in the celebration of Kate visiting!" I said to her, always in the state of mind for good food.

She punched my arm. "Stop salivating and start walking."

When we entered the class, the very first thing I saw was Jace sitting at the back in the near filled classroom. Instantly my face warmed up as if it was doused in boiling water all of a sudden. Wait, why was I being like that? I shook my strange thoughts away.

"What are you doing?" Savannah asked as I fidgeted on my toes.

I giggled nervously. "Me? Oh, nothing!"

She gave me a weird look before heading towards where Jace was sitting. Before I could stop her from greeting him, she was already calling his attention. Goddamn, I was beginning to sweat. It baffled me the reactions I was having to him. I didn't know what had changed but I sure was too self–conscious around him.

"Hey," He smiled at me as I sat down next to him.

The sight of his smile made me tether on my feet causing me to drop my bag on the floor. Pencils rolled out and my textbook was splattered in a fatal position on the ground. If it were a living thing, the book would be so injured.

I stuttered to apologize (though, I didn't know to whom I was apologizing) and crouched down to stuff everything back inside the bag. As I reached for the last pencil, Jace somehow thought of doing the exact same thing which led to our hands clasping it at the same time. I internally gasped, thinking how soft his hands actually were. Wow, I must ask for his healthcare routine.

"Oh, wow." I heard Savannah's voice right behind me.

Jace let go of the pencil. "Uh, um, here you go."

"Thanks," I mumbled, keeping my eyes on my hand.

Fortunately, we were saved from any further interaction because the teacher chose that moment to enter the class. Even while the teacher droned on and on about the subject, I couldn't lose the sense of hyper awareness of the person sitting to my left.

God, I hoped I wouldn't develop a crush on the guy my best friend liked.