Chapter 11- Taunting Friendships

[] L E O []

I tapped my pen against the edge of the table and continued to have a stare-down with the door. Due to this, every person that walked through the door was unfortunately on the receiving end of my glare.

The reason I had been burning holes into the door, was that I was impatiently waiting for a certain brunette to walk through. I finally understood what the boys had been complaining about all this time. Granted, it took Amelia leaving away for a few days for me to realize this, but now that I had, I wasn't going to turn back.

Andre was right when he said that having another friend, although I don't consider her one yet, was not bad. Lunch was more interesting than usual yesterday, and I had found myself even engaging in some of the conversation around me.

It was actually kind of fun.

But heck if I admitted that out loud.

Just as I finished thinking of yesterday's lunch, she walked in.

Today, instead of her hair falling down in their natural waves, she had it pulled back to form a messy bun around her head. For once, her hood was lowered, revealing her face to me. As she got closer, I noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes, her chapped lips, and her puffy cheeks.

Either she had been running late, or she got no sleep last night. Or both.

As she made her way up the ramp, I found myself leaning towards her. Seeing as she seemed so disturbed, I wanted to ask if everything was okay.

However, Amelia kept walking and eventually continued past me without a look in my direction.

'Has she never noticed me?'  I thought stupidly.

She continued walking up the ramp and took a spot near the top. After a few moments, she started pulling out her things. I watched her curiously, wondering what was going on. Her eyes looked glazed over, as if she wasn't living in the present, rather, was reminiscing about something of the past.

Suddenly, the professor's booming voice snapped me back to reality. I turned back around to face the front and listened to the lecture, occasionally stealing glances at the girl at the back of the class.

* * *

For once, Amelia joined us for lunch on a Tuesday. Apparently, Andre had texted her to let her know where we were. She had left right after class, and when I left, I couldn't see her anywhere.

When I came to Coffee Rush, she wasn't there yet. However, Andre, and the girl we met yesterday were already there. Jamal was probably at practise. I took my spot across from Andre and nodded to the duo. They said their greetings in response and I simply sat in my chair, put my textbook on the table, and threw my head onto it.

I was nearly asleep, when something Andre said to the new girl, Gemma, caught my attention.

"You two seemed like you knew each other, yesterday," Andre said.

I lazily popped my eyes open, wondering who he was talking about.

"Yeah, we're actually from the same hometown," Gemma said.

Andre's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? What a coincidence!" he said.

Gemma nodded and opened her mouth to speak further. However, before she could elaborate, the sound of the bell jingling caught our attention. We all turned in hopes to see Amelia, and finally, it was her.

Her hair was down now, and was a bit damp, indicating that he had just come out of the shower. She was a little breathless, presumably from running to get here. She looked around the café and when she spotted us, she started making her way up.

Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed Gemma sitting beside Andre, and my own narrowed in suspicion. As she made her way closer, I noticed the hesitation in her eyes, and in the way she walked toward us. It was as if she'd rather not even make it all the way here, and rather, turn back around and leave.

She finally made it and took the seat beside me, seeing as it was the only one available.

"Amelia, you never told us you knew Gemma!" Andre exclaimed as soon as she sat down.

Amelia nodded slowly.

"We went to the same high school," she vaguely explained, looking over to Gemma.

Gemma grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah we hung out quite a bit until-"

Amelia's eyes widened, and Gemma looked over to her with matching wide eyes.

"Uh- up until we went to college. I moved out of province for a while and Amelia stayed," Gemma covered up.

They tried acting casual after that. However, the damage was done, and now, I couldn't help but stare at Amelia in confusion.

Mysterious, quiet, and completely fake, Amelia.

* * *

[] A M E L I A []

It was finally Wednesday, meaning I had gone through most of the week full of stress. Hopefully, the other half would be better.

I sat quietly in my seat, waiting for the professor to start the lecture. Andre had texted me this morning, saying he was going to sleep in, and this could either be good or bad. Good, because maybe Gemma wouldn't be here either today, meaning I could be alone for once. But bad, because Gemma might walk through the doors any minute, meaning I'd be alone with her for over an hour.

There was only minutes left until the lecture was to start, and just when I was hopeful that Gemma might not make it either, she walked through the doors. I slumped in my seat, hoping she wouldn't see me, however, she noticed me right away and started making her way towards me.

She sat in the seat beside me quietly and started pulling out her things. When she was done, she turned to face me with an apologetic smile.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," I mumbled out in response.

We were silent after that, me trying to avoid eye contact, and her staring at me quietly.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly said.

My head snapped up to her in surprise.

"I'm sorry about almost bringing it up on Tuesday. I didnt mean to, I swear. It's just... I really haven't seen you since high school. I always wondered how you were doing. How are you Amelia?" she said in a quiet whisper.

I was confused at her apology. It wasn't her fault for almost bringing up my past. I had a feeling it was bound to happen sooner or later. However, I didn't think she genuinely didn't want to.

For some reason, her apologizing to me for this made me want to trust her a bit.

"I'm doing okay," I said with a small smile.

Gemma returned my smile.

"That's good Amelia. Really good. And I understand that you don't want to share it with your new friends, but just so you know, having a friend who knows your past isn't a bad thing. I'll keep your past for you."

And with this, I knew that I can call Gemma a friend again.

* * *

Thursday went by in a breeze. Ever since Gemma and I talked yesterday, I felt more comfortable around her. We even managed to grab dinner together last night. I wasn't ready to fully accept her friendship yet, but for once, I made an effort. For now, that was all I could offer.

As I made my way to English today, I wondered if I should finally make an effort to initiate some sort of mutual understanding with Leo as well. As much as I tried, I couldn't pull myself away from Andre and Jamal, and because of this, I had to see a lot of Leo as well. It might be easier if we sort of got along. Seeing as he made an effort to be civil with me, maybe I should do the same with him.

However, I still didn't have the guts to sit next to him in class. I was still confused about whether or not he wanted me around, or if he only spoke to me for the sake of his friends. If he didn't want me in his personal space outside of our lunch times, then I shouldn't bother him in class.

I made my way inside the classroom and started heading up the ramp. To my relief, Leo wasn't in class yet. I sighed and continued up the ramp to go to my usual seat.

I pulled out my belongings as usual and somehow, my notebook got stuck in my backpack. I tried tugging it out, however, it wouldn't budge. I let out an annoyed huff and tried detangling it. It eventually budged, and I let out a content sigh, pulling it out and onto the desk.

Due to my focus being on my notebook, I didn't notice the shadow looming above me. When I looked up, I let out a small gasp in surprise, seeing a stranger standing right in front of me.

He had shaggy brown hair that was falling over his eyes, and he wore a hat on his head, making it to be backwards. He wore a plain white tee and Khaki bottoms, with his hands tucked into his pockets. He screamed total F-boy to me, but I didn't want to be too quick to judge.

He let out an awkward chuckle when he noticed my surprise.

"Hey, sorry about that. I'm Ryan," he introduced.

"Amelia," I hesitantly said.

He nodded. "Nice! Can I sit next to you?"

I awkwardly looked to the empty seat beside me, thinking of a million ways I could say no to him. I knew for a fact that there was a lot empty seats in the hall, so choosing sitting next to the awkward and shy girl in the corner was just suspicious.

However, there was no reason for me to say no to him. He seemed nice enough, and maybe, he'd just leave me alone after I didn't make much conversation with him. I let out a deep breath, ready to say okay to him, when another voice beat me to it.

"No you can't," a voice suddenly cut in.

Ryan turned in the direction of where the voice came from, giving me a full view of who had spoken those words as well.

My eyes widened in surprise as they latched onto Leo's approaching figure. He was staring at Ryan, almost with hidden anger, but why that was, I didn't know.

"Huh?" Ryan said.

Leo finally came to a stop in front of him, nearly an inch or two taller than him.

"Sorry, seat's taken," Leo said with a one shoulder shrug.

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and turned to me.

"Well, I'll see you around Amelia," he said, smiling at me.

I nodded hesitantly, and seeing that as a good enough response, Ryan turned away from me and started walking down the ramp. I finally turned my attention back to Leo who was making his way around row of desks to sit next to me.

"Hey," he breathed out, after sitting in his seat.

I nodded to him and quietly faced the front.

After a moment of silence, I turned to face Leo, who was staring at front of the room with a poker face.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"Don't worry about it," Leo said without looking at me. "The guy looked too loud anyway."

The fact that this was exactly what I had been thinking of him, made me smile a little. I shook my head and faced Leo again. This time, he was already staring at me. My miniscule smile faltered and I swallowed the lump in my throat. At this, Leo smirked.

"You thought the same thing, didn't you?" he asked slyly.

I gave him a sheepish nod.

"Well neither of us were wrong," he said, nodding to where we had seen Ryan disappear off to earlier.

He was sitting near the middle of the room. However, he wasn't alone anymore. Now he was surrounded by at least 3 or 4 boys and girls, all of whom were talking loudly amongst themselves. It looked like they just met, and were able to get along nicely. My face flamed from embarassment, thinking of how easy it could be to make friends.

All this time, I felt Leo's intense gaze on me. However, I was too embarrassed to look at him again. I already had a feeling that guy like Ryan was probably looking for some time to kill when he asked me if he could sit next to me, but seeing that it was actually true was a small stab to my already nonexistent ego.

Before I could think of anything to say to him, Leo beat me to it.

"Hey Amelia... remember that guy from the alleyway that ran?"

I thought about what he was asking and my mind drifted off to the time when I came out of the library, looking for a place to hide from him. I remembered I had coincidentally fallen upon Leo and a guy in the alleyway, who were both arguing about something. I also remembered the bitter look the guy had given me as he left. Then, I thought of how Leo unintentionally saved me, something I will forever be grateful to him for.

I turned to face him, a little surprised that he suddenly brought it up. He wasn't looking at me anymore and was instead facing the table, tracing the edge of it with his finger.

I waited for him to continue, wondering where he was going with this.

"He told me to tell you that he's sorry for putting me in a cranky mood which made me spit out his anger on you."

I blinked at him. Then blinked again. Before I could blink a third time, his words finally clicked in.

And I smiled.

For the first time in a long time, it was a genuine, real  smile. I didn't mean for Leo to catch it, but somehow, he turned at the exact moment I had smiled. But instead of faltering this time, I kept smiling.

He blinked at me, his mouth a little parted after seeing my smile.

"Well you can tell that guy that it's okay," I said honestly.

Leo opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, and then opened it again.

"I didn't mean it either... that day in the alley way," he suddenly blurted out. "Actually before that too, I realized I made you feel pretty unwelcomed and I didn't mean too," he finished off, scratching the back of his head.

Now, my smile vanished. I stared at him with my eyes wide, surprised that he was directly apologizing to me. This was new. And definitely something I never expected in a billion years.

That a guy like Leo, would apologize to a girl like me.

However, I knew what to do, and it didn't require much thought.

"You're forgiven too, Leo. You and the guy both."