best friend | zdj

thirteen

lauren stared at me as i walked towards our seats in history class. she continued to stare at me as i put my bag down and placed my things on my desk.

"are you gonna keep staring at me or are you gonna ask me about it?"

she squealed and held my arm. "i thought you weren't dating zabdiel."

"i wasn't." i replied as i tried to pry her hand off my arm.

"but he kissed you this morning!"

i bit my lip as i remembered our first kiss this morning, and all the ones that came afterwards. "he did."

"but you guys aren't dating?" she half asked.

"it's complicated." she raised an eyebrow so i quickly explained myself. "we haven't talked about it. this morning we had breakfast with my dad and sister, right? everything cool, they were being their embarrassing selves, i pulled zabdiel out of the house as soon as i could. i sort of lied to my family and told them that zabdiel wasn't my boyfriend yet-"

"wait, so he is your boyfriend?"

"-because we hadn't labeled our relationship, because we were on that see if we're compatible stage and then it was true but then, shit i have to tell you what happened last night too, and i don't know what came over me and when we were in his car i just pulled him into a kiss and he kissed me back."

lauren sat back and pretended to have a cup of tea in her hands. "i need details, honey."

"oh, laur." i placed my hands over my cheeks to hide the blush that was probably coming. "i felt a whole damn zoo inside my stomach. he pulled me onto his lap and i swear i internally combusted."

she squealed again, but softer this time since the teacher had already walked in and was beginning the class. "what happened?"

i sighed. "nothing else. joel and my sister interrupted us. then he drove me to school."

"ugh, just when the tea was getting hot."

i laughed. "i'll tell you the rest during lunch."

"actually, christopher wanted to have lunch with us. did you tell him about the letters?"

"not really. all i told him was that his letter wasn't the only one that existed."

the teacher mentioned the group project again, reminding us that the oral presentations would begin in two weeks but we had to hand in the written report by next friday. i almost didn't care, until i remembered that richard was in the same group as me. i panicked when the teacher said we would reunite with our groups today, but we would stay in the classroom so he could see what we had done by now.

"i have never wanted history to be over as badly as i do now." i cried as i slammed my head on my desk. 

"ouch, that sounds like it hurts." lauren rubbed my forehead when i looked up. i smiled.

richard's friends joined us and i had to resist the sigh of relief that threatened to escape me when i didn't see him in the classroom. i took my laptop out and opened the document we drafted the first day the teacher assigned the project and never touched again.

"how did you make your browser pink?"

i looked confused at the boy in front of me. "what are you talking about?"

"you know, the google chrome browser. yours is pink, how did you do it?"

i frowned. "how did you see it?"

his eyes widened. "i- uh, i just did."

"you're in front of me, there's no way you could've seen it." i narrowed my eyes at him. "i haven't even opened the browser yet. i only opened a document in word."

oh my god.

  "hey laur, can you watch my computer? i'm going quickly to the bathroom." 

holy shit.

  i walked back to my table afterwards, only richard and laur were at the table now. i sat down in front of my closed laptop. weird, i thought i left it open... 

this can't be happening.  

"you!" i yelled at him. "you got into my laptop."

"what are you talkin-"

"you sent my letters!" i stood up and glared at him. "what the actual fuck?"

"they were funny as fuck, you're lucky we didn't send them to the whole school." the guy beside him shrugged.

my eyes turned to him now. "how fucking dare you? i wrote those years ago, years! if i wanted to send them, i would've."

"we hooked you up with richard, didn't we?" he smirked and fist bumped his friend. 

lauren grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "anna, don't do something you'll regret."

i nodded and mumbled, "you're right, let's just do the project so i can stop talking to these pigs."

"i can't believe you actually made out with richard yesterday and then had the audacity to tell him you have a boyfriend. you could've slept with him and nobody would tell your precious boyfriend."

i turned to lauren, who let go of my arm and shrugged. i looked back at the guy that seemed like the bigger asshole between the two. i slapped him as hard as i could. the sound of my skin hitting his was loud enough for a couple of groups to stop their work and turn towards us. i felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes and my hand stung, but it was totally worth it.

"windsor!" i froze at the sound of my last name. "to the principal's office. now."