A Girl I'd Kinda Be Into

Chapter Nine

(y/n)'s POV

Today was the day. Today, during lunch, the cast list would show up at the drama room. Today. Monday. September 28th, a day that would go down in history.

I nearly tripped off the bus' stairs, eager to get into school and have the day go by already. I needed to know if I got the role or not. I was probably shaking, I was just too fucking excited!

I saw Christine up ahead, so instead of getting her attention, I instead charged at her and nearly tackled her to the ground in a hug. She whipped her head around, but grinned when she saw me. I turned her around and gave her a proper hug before opening the door and holding it for her. She smiled at me as she walked in and I quickly followed.

"Someone's excited. Could it, per chance, be about the cast list coming out later?" She squealed and I nodded, taking her hand and swinging our arms. She laughed and leaned on me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"How are you so subdued about this? I've been like, internally screaming all day! It's the gosh darn cast list! I know you're as excited as me," I told her. She shrugged, which was a bit awkward with our current position.

"I was bouncing my leg the entirety of the bus ride, and that helped get some of it out. Plus, I like this. I like being all touchy with you. I'll probably be freaking out when it gets closer to lunch, though," She explained, and my cheeks heated up at the whole "I like being all touchy with you" thing. My itty bitty little crush made me feel warm all through my body when I was with her.

"We shall freak out together," I announced to her. She nodded with far too much determination in her face, but it was beyond adorable.

"Wanna walk to the cast list during lunch together? I mean, we both know where the drama room is, but it'll be nice to see that we got the roles we wanted together, right?" She offered, back-pedaling instantly. I nodded, and saw her face soften as I felt some tension leave her shoulders.

"That would be nice. I surely wouldn't mind a good friend being there while I receive my affirmation that yes, Emma Nolan is the perfect role for me!" I winked at her jovially. She blushed the tiniest bit, but winked back and held her free hand out to fist bump.

I accepted and we did the Baymax fist bump because we were nerds, so of course we only chose to do it when we could reference Big Hero 6.

"Oh hey, could I borrow your hoodie today? For good luck?" Christine asked, all out of the blue. Her ears were tinged with red when I looked over at her.

"Yeah, sure. It's hot in here anyway since none of my teachers believe in opened windows or air conditioning," I grinned at her, gently removing myself from her to take the hoodie off. I set it in her hands, just balled up in a pile of fabric.

She eventually found her way into it and I grinned at how adorable she was in it. She knocked the hood off her head with her hoodie-paws, and looked up (slightly) at me. Her face was slightly flushed and she was glowing like an angel under the harsh fluorescent lights of the school. Wherever she went, whatever she did, she always was an angel to me.

To be fair, she was an angel to everyone. She was the cinnamon roll of the friend group, the adorably innocent kid that could still sass her ass off if she tried. And she was probably my favorite person ever, but don't tell Brooke I said that. Or rather, thought that.

Thinking of Brooke, she and I hadn't even talked this weekend. That was weird, since normally we were practically inseparable. Did I do something to make her mad at me? What if she hated me? She didn't tell me that she was busy or anything. That was really strange, and I didn't like it.

"What's on your mind? You look sad," I felt Christine wrap her arms around one of mine, and I looked over at her, trying to erase how troubled my face must've looked.

"Oh nothing! Perfectly fine, everything's all good!" I said unconvincingly.

"I have no clue how you're a good actor when you suck this much at lying. You can tell me, you know." She told me gently. I laughed humorlessly and took a deep breath.

"I just... do you think Brooke's mad at me? We haven't talked all this weekend, and she didn't tell me her parents were forcing her to go camping with no WiFi or anything. What if she hates me? We're best friends, but I don't know if-"

"Everything's fine! I'm sure she just forgot to text you. Or maybe she forgot to tell you that she couldn't use her phone or something. Or maybe she and Rich were out being sickeningly cute together," She assured lightly, making me feel a little bit better. But I still felt as if there was a literal rain cloud over my head, with Christine's sunshine just barely peeking through the cracks.

"Yeah, okay. I'll just ask her what's up later. I'm sure everything's fine," I was definitely not sure, but I decided to put on a brave face for Chrissy. Everything was gonna be fine, it had to be. Christine was probably right, Brooke probably just forgot.

But the probably scared me so much. What if she forgot about me, left me behind in the dust? What if-

I decided to shrug it off and hurry to class before I was late, because that was not what I needed right now.

"I'll see you at lunch, Chris. Gotta go to class," I waved goodbye and removed my arm from her. From there we silently parted ways and proceeded onward to our individual classes.

(1018 words)