best friend | zdj

seventeen

i dreaded monday. this time not only because it meant that i had to go to school, but because i had to spend extra time at school. for once in my life, i got up and was ready to go before my family.

"good morning, dad." i smiled and kissed his cheek.

"what's got you so happy?" he turned to look at me. "and dressed for school already?"

i grinned. "couldn't sleep, so i got up earlier than usual."

"how much sleep did you get?"

"am i supposed to keep count?" i laughed nervously and reached for the coffee. "okay, like four or five hours. don't get all medical on me, please. i get my eight hours of sleep all the time."

he hummed, clearly not happy with the fact that i was running with five hours of sleep, when it actually had been around two.

in my defense, it was zabdiel's fault.

"good morning." isabelle walked down the stairs with the biggest smile on her face. i narrowed my eyes.

"what's got you so happy?" dad repeated.

isabelle seemed to realize something and quickly tried to hide her smile. "nothing. look at the time," she pointed to he left wrist, which clearly didn't have a watch. "got to go. bye!"

"wait for me!" i shouted and grabbed my bag before following her. once we were outside and away from dad's earshot i spoke again. "i've completely forgotten to ask about your pregnancy scare. did you take a test?"

isabelle sighed. "you have no idea the heart attack i almost had. i bought a test on thursday and took it, and it turned out positive. now bare with me, you were so upset on friday that it slipped from my mind and then i didn't have a chance to talk to you alone."

"i'm sensing there's a twist in this story because you're not having a breakdown over the positive test."

"that's where i'm going!" she whined. "okay, so i decided to buy two more tests on saturday and both turned out negative! the first test was a false positive."

"oh, thank god." i hugged her.

"and then i got my period this morning, you have no idea how fucking ecstatic i was."

"so that's what that was about." i laughed as we pulled away. "does joel know about it?"

"he doesn't." she looked down. "but it doesn't matter, right? it was just a scare."

"i still think you should tell him, and make sure you don't accidentally make me an aunt yet. i don't think the next time it will be just a scare."

she bit her lip. "i'll try to tell him now."

"what's the chisme?" zabdiel walked up to us wiggling his eyebrows. i giggled at his dorkiness.

"chisme de hermanas." i kissed his cheek and pushed him towards his car. "bye, isa!"

she laughed and waved until we were inside zabdiel's car.

"alright, it's just us now. tell me the chisme."

"i told you, it's between isa and i."

he pouted, then he started driving towards school. the ride seemed short that usual. he was pulling up into the parking before i knew it and i found myself dreading walking in even more. i got out and slung my bag on my shoulder.

"where do you think you're going?" zabdiel stepped in front of me. "you haven't even given me a good morning kiss."

i pulled him down to press my lips against his. it hurt to stand on my toes for a long time, so he would have to deal with the back pain if he wanted to kiss me so bad. i wrapped my arms around his neck. he pulled away just enough to talk.

"tell me if richard messes with you again, alright?"

i nodded and reached up to peck his lips, but he had other plans before he tightened his arms around me and refused to let me go as he kissed all over my face.

"not my makeup!" i whined and tried to push him away. "i actually did my makeup today and you just go ahead and mess it up."

"you look perfect with or without makeup." he kissed me again before letting go of me.

"thanks for your opinion, but i prefer my face with makeup."

he rolled his eyes. "have a good day, belle."

i smiled. "you too."

i adjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked towards the school, where i saw richard standing at the doors. if i walked fast enough and pretended that he wasn't there, maybe he won't notice me.

"annabelle!"

goddamn it.

i turned towards the source of the voice and confirmed my suspicions that richard was the one calling me. i sighed. "hey, richard."

"i heard what happened on friday. can we talk?"

i glanced at zabdiel. he was back inside his car, but i knew he hadn't left because he had seen richard too. "fine, but make it quick. i'm not gonna be late to french for you."

he grinned and pulled me inside the school. we started walking towards my locker as we spoke.

"so chad and ian were the ones that sent the letters?"

ooooh. so those were their names. "how do you even know this?"

"i heard they got suspended so i asked them about it and ian spilled the beans." he bit his lip. "look, i'm sorry that they invaded your privacy like that. if i knew that's what they were doing, i would've stopped them from touching your laptop."

i furrowed my eyebrows. "you saw them sending the emails?"

"yeah. lauren told them it was okay to use it to begin on the project. i assume that's when it happened?"

i stopped in my tracks. i knew that day was the only time they were near my laptop when i wasn't looking, but that lauren told them to use it when she knew i don't even lent it to my own family? that was a low blow. we stopped at my locker and i grabbed the books i needed before muttering an excuse to richard and racing to my first class.