Pinky Swear

Chapter 23: Crazy Move

"I hate my life,” Alex huffed while leaning on the locker beside mine.

“More than I do mine?” I closed my locker and we started to walk together. School was over and we were ready to go home.

“Oh please, I would do anything to be in your shoes right now.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.

“That bad?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes. Wanna know why?” She asked and I nodded. “The real reason why I look so fucking fabulous today is that I’m trying to get Bradley Styles’ attention. But he didn’t even acknowledge me. It’s like I don’t exist to him.” Bradley Styles was a very quiet guy but he’s really good looks made him stand out.

I’m actually surprised she liked him. I thought someone like her would go for the bad boys.

“You have a crush on quiet Brad?” I asked with a teasing smile on my lips.

“Yeah, so what? I just think he’s cute, that’s all.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

“If you like him, just go up to him and tell him. I’m sure if he has half a brain, he’ll realize what a wonderful person you are ” I encouraged her as we passed through the double doors of the school and headed towards the school parking lot.

“Thanks, kid. But I’m not doing that.” She declared while I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

Alex was the most confident, badass, and sassy girl I’ve ever met. So it’s kind of a surprise that she’s scared of talking to her crush.

“And why’s that?” I looked at her as we kept walking.

“I would love to tell you why, but it seems you have bigger issues than that right now.” She was looking straight ahead with furrowed eyebrows so I followed her line of sight.

I stopped walking and stood rooted on my spot, not wanting to go further. This made Alex stop also.

Ryan was standing or rather leaning on Alex’s car while his eyes searched the parking lot, but he hadn’t seen me yet.

“Why is he leaning on your car? Is he looking for you?” I asked Alex without taking my eyes off him.

“I doubt it. I’ve never talked to him before.” She replied while I took slow steps backward, waiting for the right moment to bolt out of there.

I’ve been avoiding him all day. In fact, I’ve been avoiding him since last week, after we kissed. Running into him right now, with everyone looking wasn’t good.

“I should take the bus...” I was saying and would have run too but Alex caught my hand and pushed me back forward.

“No, you’re not running. You’re gonna face him head-on and not act like a thirteen-year-old running from her crush.” She kept dragging me ignoring my protest.

But even though I wanted to run, I couldn’t anymore because Ryan noticed us then and his eyes didn’t leave me till we reached him.

Alex pushed me forward, while she stood behind with folded arms across her chest.

He didn’t say anything. He just folded his arm across his chest and cocked his head to the side, with an expressionless mask on his face, while I stood awkwardly in front of him, and I probably had a terrified expression on my face.

Okay, I should get this over with because people were starting to stare.

“Ryan...how’s it going...” I didn’t get to complete my statement before he interrupted me.