This Girl

Chapter 39: Is This Bird Box?

"You shout it out, But I can't hear a word you say," I sing as I vacuum my room. I didn't bother cleaning it while Mum was vacuuming, so now I have to do it myself. I'm almost finished. My music is on high volume while the whooshing sound of the vacuum cleaner is drowned out by Sia. 

I scream when hands wrap around me from behind. I pull out my head phones and turn around. "You idiot, Alex!" I shove him playfully then turn back around to turn off the vacuum. 

"Hello to you, too," he says, flicking up his sunglasses. I walk over to my bed and sit down on it, cross legged. I check the time. Six o'clock on a Friday night. I should not be vacuuming. Adele and Bubbles have gone out without me. I feel very rejected. 

He lies down horizontally opposite me, taking out his phone. I grab a book. "I know you love being the Gabriela to my Troy. We're so OTP."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever floats your boat, babe," I say and return to my book. 

"M'kay, baby," he says. I look at him from under my eyebrows, not moving my head, the book still clasped in my lap. He grins as he says it playfully. I shake my head and return to my book, smiling. 

After a while my back begins to hurt and I shuffle over beside Alex. He wraps an arm around my shoulder, not taking his eyes off his Candy Crush game and I lay my head on his chest. 

This week we've been rehearsing for the musical, which happens in the last few weeks of school. Amanda decided she'd actually do the part (after a heap of yelling at Ms Carter in her office about how she should be Gabriela, she calmed down and gave me the evil eye, watching Alex and I together), but, to be honest, I feel much worse for Vanessa the Cheerleader. Rehearsals are fun. Someone called Rachel Augastines will be singing as Sharpay, since she has stage fright and Bubbles (sadly) cannot sing. 

Alex is good at acting. Not as good as Zac Efron, but still. He's fun. 

***

I open my eyes when the door bangs open and my two best friends run into my room. I quickly pull myself off Alex and sit up, yawning. They gape at the two of us.

"You were sleeping together! This is totally amazing!" Bubbles shrieks. 

"We - we.. we weren't actually sleeping together.." I say, awkwardly looking back at Alex. He smirks. 

"Blah blah blah. Sleeping in the same bed, doing it-that-shall-not-be-named... same thing!" Bubbles says. I pretend to dry retch. 

"I was reading and it got late!" I say. 

Adele rolls her eyes. "Alex, d'you wanna be a part of our sleepover?" 

Alex grins but shakes his head, slipping off the bed and putting his phone in his pocket. "See you, Greg," he says, walking past me quickly and ruffling my hair. I try and twist my lips from the smile that's coming into a frown. He laughs and flicks me before jumping off the railing and pulling his curtains, ignoring the wet weather. 

Bubbles and Adele drop their bags. Adele pulls over my desk chair and Bubbles collapses dreamily on my bed. I look at the time. Nine o'clock, I was sleeping for an hour and a half. 

"You two are goals," Bubbles says happily, looking at me with a beam with her hands on either side of her face, her feet kicked up. 

The rain starts to fall down on the roof heavier. I shake my head at Bubbles and Adele speaks. "Yeah, you two are OTP," Adele says. I roll my eyes. 

"D'you know what OTP is, Adele?" I ask her, remembering what the abbreviated version of the words is for the second time tonight. "And, no, we aren't OTP."