best friend | zdj

nineteen

"thank you." i smiled and hugged christopher. "i really needed to hear that."

"anytime! want me to walk you to your class?"

"no, thanks. we're already late, wouldn't want to get you in trouble." i grabbed a hair tie from my wrist and pulled my hair into a messy bun as i turned around to head towards my class. i cursed when i began to see less and less students in the hallway, and i still had to go to my locker to get my books because i refused to grab them before lunch. i should know by now that i should do it before because i'm always late.

i stumbled into the classroom and thankfully the teacher hadn't arrived yet so i could waltz in and grab my seat without another punishment. a couple of seconds later he walked in and i silently thanked whatever god was hearing me for my luck. i managed to get to my locker and run away from lauren right when the bell rang. i shrugged and told her i needed to be in detention because i didn't want any more punishments.

"look who's in trouble again." a guy whispered as soon as i walked into the detention classroom.

i rolled my eyes and pretended not to hear him, but i froze when i heard the guy next to him reply.

"did the principal catch her with richard's tongue down her throat again?"

i felt the tears prickling at the edge on my eyes. i blinked rapidly and lowered my head as i kept walking towards the back of the room.

"not that it's any of your business," a familiar voice said. "but we never made out. girl's got a boyfriend."

richard was the savior i didn't want, but the one i needed all along.

i looked up in time to catch his eye. i smiled and mouthed a thanks, to which he answered with a smile of his own. he walked over to the seat i had chosen and sat beside me.

"is this seat taken?"

i shrugged. "are you going to try to tell me that lauren broke my trust by letting your asshole friends touch my laptop?"

he sighed and dropped his weight on the seat. "i told you what happened, i don't think she did it on purpose, she seemed distracted enough to not realize what she had done."

i looked down. on purpose or not, the damage was done. my reputation was being dragged through the mud, and sooner or later joel would find his letter and isa would kill me. the only good thing this brought me was my relationship with zabdiel. my heart fluttered as i remembered every kiss, every innocent touch i shared with him. i had to pull myself out of that hole before i dug too deep and ended up thinking about him for the next hour, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if i'm being quite honest.

"i haven't really apologized for what happened last week... i'm sorry. i shouldn't have come onto you like that, even if you were single."

i bit my lip. "don't worry about it. it's all forgiven now."

he nodded and turned towards the front of the classroom. today's teacher was the one who taught calculus, he was old enough to have been einstein's best friend since they were in diapers. isa told me he was a good teacher and she would've learned a thing or two if she actually gave a shit about the class, but here he was, sat down at the desk and fell asleep in two seconds. was he any different during his class? he better be, i won't waste my junior year taking calculus with someone who can't stay awake for two seconds.

"are you and de jesús good?" richard surprised me with his question, and i silently searched for any hidden intentions behind the innocent question. "you know, after the whole detention mess we got into."

i almost forgot that a week ago i was fake dating zabdiel, but now i was really dating him. making that switch in my head was taking me longer than it should.

"he understood that people like to gossip and nothing actually happened between us."

he nodded and sunk back into his seat, not bothering to pick up the conversation with me. i placed my precalc book on the desk, which was huge as hell, and my notebook to pretend i was doing something productive, but i actually took my phone out and hid it from the sleeping teacher so i could text zabdiel. gosh, was i getting clingy with him? i bit my lip and threw my phone back into my bag, i could wait until he picked me up. i didn't want to bother him any more.