Paper Thin

• 25: The Difference •

Carson

I didn't see you in English.

Are you here today?

Carson White; 10:01am

No, I have an appointment.

Melody Reese; 10:15am

Oh, right!

Are you okay?

Carson White; 10:17am

I am, but thanks for checking on me though.

Melody Reese; 10:22am

I smiled after seeing the little pink heart Melody sent after her message.

"Who are you texting?" Harvey whispered from beside me. "You look way too happy to be staring at your crotch." I glared at my best friend.

"No one. Now shut up before you get me in trouble," I told him, slipping my phone into my back pocket. Harvey grinned impishly at me and faced the teacher. Usually, biology was interesting, but everything seemed duller knowing that Melody wasn't in school today. It sucked knowing that I was going to have to go an extra twenty for hours without seeing her beautiful face.

Five minutes later, Harvey leaned over. "Is it the new girl Rose gets all pissy about? I saw you smiling at her at lunch... and heard you've been driving her to and from school," he whispered.

"Yeah, it's her," I sighed. He wasn't going to stop until I told him.

"Knew it!" Harvey exclaimed, getting a warning look from Mrs. Butler. He lowered his voice and continued. "Nice catch – she's hot!" I gave him a dark glare, which made him grin. "Oh! Bro, you really like her!"

That earned him a shove.

"Carson! Harvey! Pay attention!" Mrs. Butler yelled.

***

"I need to get my nails done," Jennette sighed loudly. "Who's coming with?" She asked Julia, Veronica, Summer, Serena and Rose. The girls at our very large table all began gushing about nails with excited looks on their faces. I rolled my eyes in boredom at the thought of listen to yet another conversation about the difference between gel and shellac nail polish.

"I'm thinking full mani-pedi. My cuticles need to be fixed," Veronica told everyone, flipping her dip-dyed blonde and pink hair over her shoulder, while examining the other hand.

"Okay, talk of cuticles makes me not want to eat my pizza... and this pizza is damn good!" Harvey protested. The guys at our table nodded and voiced their agreement.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Harvey on this one," Ben said with a laugh.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, distracting me from the conversation. Excitedly, I pulled it out and bit back a smile when I saw Melody's name on my screen. There was a message from her.

You said your favourite team was the Golden State Warriors, right?

Melody Reese; 12:01pm

Yeah, it is!

Carson White; 12:02pm

"– our meals!" Mason whined jokingly when I tuned into the conversation again. Everyone laughed and I chuckled along too, though I wasn't quite sure what the joke was. While no one noticed, I think Rose might have. Her eyes lingered on me then flickered down to my phone before looking away.