"Was that your girlfriend?" Oscar asked nonchalantly.
I choked on nothing when I heard the question, almost stumbling on the pavement as we walked from the bus station on the way to the house.
"No. Why do you ask?" I cleared my throat.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Oh nothing."
And that was the end of that weird conversation.
Well, kind of.
"She's just a friend." I cleared that up. "Nothing else." The words came out bitter out of my mouth.
Oscar playfully hummed as a response.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm serious."
"I didn't say anything!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "And why are you being so defensive about it?"
"Am not!"
"You are!"
"I told you, I'm not being defensive. I'm just making it clear that Bri is my friend."
"Okay, whatever floats your boat." That was the last thing he said before running off.
° ° °
The rest of the month went by like a blur. The annual school district competition was about to start in a few days. Training has been hard and Coach has insisted to put us on a strict diet to keep a better shape during the games. Which made me pissed because I can't taste much of Momma's cooking. She's been testing a lot of new recipes and I just stare at my siblings with jealousy while they're able to enjoy all those treats and I sit there in suffer.
School has been hard. I spend a lot of my extra free time studying because I've been putting it on the side due to practices. I'm planning to retake the SATs because I wasn't satisfied with my scores the first time I took them.
"Sir Fernandez hasn't come in yet, right?" I asked Bri in a rushed and out of breath tone as I slide into my seat next to her.
Practice took a little longer than usual. I think I just broke the world record of the quickest shower ever in history before running over to class. While running, I didn't realize that I forgot to zip my bag close, so I was picking up my fallen things off the hallway floor before sprinting again.
Bri looks up from her book to glance at me and shook her head. "Nope, your attendance is safe."
I breathed out a sigh of relief, putting a hand over my heaving chest.
Good.
I wasn't in a mood for an uncomfortable stare down with Sir Fernandez today.
I told Bri about what happened in the hallway with me and she laughed. I smiled, almost grateful that it happened because it made her have a good laugh.
Right in the middle of her laughing, Sir Fernandez came strutting in the room with his booming voice that class was about to start.
After class, Bri and I were walking, we stopped by at my locker shortly. Opening it, I grabbed the small container of lemon bars and gave it to her.
"Dev, I still have those fudge brownies you gave me a few days ago." Bri noted, looking at the lemon bars. "I might turn into a pig one of these days."
"You'll be a cute one either way." I voiced, leaning against the side of my locker. "I did mention my Momma's testing out new recipes, I thought you would like them."
"No, no, I do like them." She interjected. "They're really good. Tell her that her cooking is very delicious."
Little that she knows that I didn't bother telling Momma if I could give some to anyone. I just grabbed one of the thousand tupperwares we had and filled it with treats to give to Bri.
I smiled. "I'll tell her later when I get home."
Sadly, Bri had to get to her next class which was on the other side of the building, so she needed to be on the run. I watched her quietly as she left until the ocean of people swallowed her.
Once I could no longer see her, I closed my locker only to be startled by Lucas and Ryan.
"What the fuck, dude?!" I exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me."
"What's going between you and that girl?" Ryan pointed his thumb behind him.
Lucas lets out a loud scoff. "Let me answer for him: She's just a friend." He said, mocking my voice.
I punched him by the arm. "Bri is my friend, you dickhead!"
"I'm your friend, too, but why didn't you give me those baked treats your mom baked?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. "We've been through thick and thin. It's you and me against the world, bud." He patted me on the shoulder.
My face scrunched and I visibly shivered. "Maybe this is the reason why."
"I'm tired of third wheeling, if you're done with this bromance stuff, then we can start proceeding to class." Ryan chimed in, looking annoyed at us.
Always the party pooper.
I shake my head at my friends. "Yeah, let's go."
-----
Not edited.
Author's Note:
Hi, hello. I swear I have plans finishing this book. School has just been hard just like what Dev said. This chapter is more of a filler, but I'll try to make it up next update. Also wrote 90% of this during my vacant time in school when I wasn't napping lmao.
Kinda gagged because I just realized that Dev and the guy I used to like irl has the same number on their jerseys. I only realized the other week when it was raining and he was wearing a hoodie given by the school and it had his number on it, which was the number 14. That shocked me a bit, a total coincidence.
Anyways, I'm gonna go rest now because I have busy day tomorrow! Bye!!!