Teacher's Pet {b.a}

32.

The next day at school, Friday, 10:02 am

"So wait..," Austin said, "He made dinner for you guys?"

"Yeah and then we had a conversation afterwards." Victoria said, "Let me start from the beginning of dinner." She said.

***

The beginning of dinner, after Victoria and Brandon got off the phone, around 9:00 pm

Victoria walked into the Kitchen to find Zion grabbing a plate from their cabinets.

"Grab one for me too?" Victoria asked him, sneaking up on him.

"Well there you are, you've been upstairs all day I though you just passed out or something." Zion handed her the plate. She looked around at the food on the island. There was grilled chicken, rice with corn, freshly steamed carrots, broccoli, squash, and chopped, grilled potatoes. Even though she didn't want to admit it, the food looked good and smelled even better.

"Where is everyone?" She asked noticing no one was in the kitchen but them.

"We're all in the backyard. Edwin lit up the fire pit." Zion said grabbing himself a water bottle. Victoria looked outside and saw everyone gathered around the pit in their own chairs. They all sat on the patio under the string lights. It looked like a nice scene, so she decided to join them and walked out with Zion.

"Guest of the hour everybody." Zion 'presented' Victoria to the group outside. She grabbed a chair and sat next to Zion and Nick.

"It lives." Edwin joked. They laughed and went back to talking about whatever they were talking about before Victoria came outside. She just sat and listened, eating her food.

"Pretty good, huh?" Nick leaned over to her and talked quietly.

"I gotta say, it's not too shabby." She admitted.

"Can I ask you something? And can you be honest?" Nick asked. Victoria hesitated for a moment to answer. She knew she gave herself away earlier when Nick walked into her room when she was on the phone, so what was she going to say now? It's not like Nick has to know exactly who Brandon is, she can just be vague.

"Shoot. I'm all ears." She said.

"What's the deal with you and Joe?" He whispered. Victoria mentally sighed, relieved that she didn't have to come up with some elaborate lie about Brandon to one of her closest friends.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Of course she knew exactly what he meant but, she knew she couldn't go into exact detail about why she doesn't like him. At least, not right now in front of everyone else and Joesph himself.

"Well I notice every time you guys are around each other, things get kind of awkward and tense. Like in the car today, and you guys haven't even looked at each other since you came out here." He pointed out.

"It's an..... interesting story," Victoria said, struggling to find a way to describe their relationship, "But I don't think I can tell you here or even tell you everything." She said. Victoria debated on telling Nick the entire truth about Joesph. She knows she already told Brandon and why she doesn't like him and that it probably wasn't a good idea but he doesn't know Edwin and Austin like Nick does. It would humiliate them more if Nick knew and it didn't come from them.

Joesph peered over at Victoria and Nick. They were leaned in pretty close to each other, whispering back and forth. He watched them talk for a moment until he looked away, as to stop himself from staring. That would be rude of him.

***

10:05 pm

Victoria threw the empty soda cans into the recycling bin and washed her hands. She had just finished cleaning off the island and putting the dishes in the dishwasher when Joesph walked into the kitchen.