“Hey Julia. Hey Seth!”
Seth blinked a couple times before he realized that the cheerleader waving at
him was not a figment of his imagination.
He nodded in her direction
and followed Julia to the cafeteria.
He’d been dating Julia
for a couple of weeks now and to his great surprise, people weren’t rushing to
defriend her because of it. In fact, people were starting to look at him a
little differently. Seth guessed that they were trying to figure out why Julia
was going out with him and he didn’t think he was being conceited when he
thought that maybe they were starting to get why.
He glanced at Julia and
smiled. She was awesome. She was well liked around school, teachers included.
His parents loved her and Ryan thought she was hot—all the guys in school did.
And she was going out with him. He grinned more broadly.
At first he’d asked
himself why a beautiful, popular girl like Julia would willingly be seen with
him but it only took a few days of being in her company to realize that she was
one of the most down to earth people he’d ever met and she was becoming one of
his best friends.
Which was the problem. As
much as he thought she was beautiful and great, the attraction just wasn’t
really there. The more they hung out the more he kept seeing her as a
sister like figure and it was fucking frustrating. Finally, he met a girl who
was awesome in every way and he didn’t feel anything more than friendship for
her.
As they walked into the
cafeteria, his eyes wandered over the room looking for Ryan. His eyes paused
when they fell on Summer’s dark head. She’d been avoiding him since the night
of the party. He only saw her now in French class. He missed talking to her, he
even missed the berating.
She looked up as if
sensing his gaze on her and for a second he thought her eyes brightened at the
sight of him. Just as quickly, she frowned and with a flip of her hair turned
away.
His heart fell for a
second and perhaps that showed on his face because Julia looked at him, then
followed his gaze and her brows puckered in a frown. “Seth, we need to talk.”
He looked at her and wondered at the expression on her face. “Yeah, sure.
Let’s…”
She shook her head. “No,
not here. After school at my house.”
He nodded and frowned.
This sounded serious. Was she thinking of breaking up with him? He was
selfishly worried about it even though he knew that with the fact that he still
had feelings for Summer and only a feeling of friendship for her, breaking up
was inevitable.
He just didn’t want to
lose Julia’s friendship. With her, Ryan and now Marissa, who was back to
hanging with Ryan, this year was by far becoming the best one of his high
school career and he really didn’t want to lose that.
…
“Do you want something to
eat or drink?” Julia asked as she unlocked her front door and walked down the
hallway.
“Do you have cereal?”
Seth asked, raising his brows in question.
Julia grinned. “Of
course.”
She led him into the
kitchen and started hunting in the pantry for the boxes of cereal she had.
Finally finding them, she allowed him to look them over before deciding on Corn
Pops.
After they had poured
both the cereal and milk into bowls, they headed to her room.
Seth eyed the back of her
head as she walked in front of him. So, this was it. The walk of shame, the
march of doom. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to hear what she had to say but he
thought dropping the bowl of cereal and on the ground and making a dash to the
front doors would leave things somewhat…awkward between them.
They finally reached her
room and Julia slumped down on her bed, bowl of cereal still in hand. He looked
around before walking over to her desk chair and sitting down on it.
She looked across at him
and straightened up. “I don’t know how to start this.”
Seth felt his heart drop.
She was really going to do it. He decided to make it a little easier for her.
It would be better to just get it out there and over with. “Okay, you want to
break up with me, I get that. Let’s not dance around it.”
Julia looked up at him,
surprised at his words. “It’s not—Look, I like you. I think you’re an awesome
person but…I refuse to play second fiddle.”
Seth’s eyes widened
disbelievingly. “What are you talking about?”
Julia took a spoonful of cereal
and chewed. “Summer, Seth. I’m talking about Summer. You still like her don’t
you?”
Guilt unfurled in his
stomach. Had he been that obvious? He looked at her silently. He didn’t know
what to say.
She shook her head at the
look he was giving her. “Don’t worry about it. I know you’ve had major feelings
for her for a long time and it’s okay.”
Seth put down his bowl on
her desk and walked over so he could sit on the bed. “You’re right, I’m sorry.
I thought things would change but it hasn’t. And like—”
“It’s okay,” Julia said
cutting him off. “Being friends is totally cool with me.”
“I was worried about
that, actually,” he said to her.
“Seth, the last thing I
want to do is lose your friendship. You’re one of the most sane people I know
at school. I think I’d go crazy without you.” She grinned at him and he grinned
back. She put her bowl down and hugged him. “This is probably the best break up
I’ve ever had.”
He laughed. “This would
be the only break up I’ve ever had so yeah.”
Suddenly Julia got up, a
thoughtful look on her face. “So, what are we going to do about Summer?”
“Uh what?”
“I want to help you,
Seth. My cousin needs someone like you in her life.”
Seth gave her a lopsided
grin. “Yeah well, explain that to Summer.”
“Why explain when we can
show her?” Julia’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Where are you going with
this?” Seth asked as he noted the glee in her voice.
“What if we didn’t break
up—I mean, what if people still thought we were together? And so did Summer.
What if we totally shoved it in her face? Jealousy is a great motivator. We saw
that the night of my first party here.” Julia said ironically, thinking of her
unwanted swim in the pool.
A smile slowly came over
Seth’s face. “Okay that is an awesome idea. But, are you sure you want
to do this?”
Julia smiled. “I wouldn’t
have brought it up otherwise. It’ll be fun to play with Summer’s head. I’ve
been wanting to this for years. Besides, I’d love to shake things up a little
for the so-called popular kids in school. I know what it’s like to be the
uncool kid.”
Seth looked at her
doubtfully. “You used to be a geek? Yeah right.”
She grinned at him. “Not
that this proves anything but…” She got up and walked over to her closet. She
slid a box out of it and flipped the top of it open.
Seth looked inside and
saw comic books, some in plastic some not, but all in pretty good condition.
His mouth dropped open as he picked up a well-preserved copy of a 1957 Superman
comic book. “Whoa! The Forbidden Box from Krypton,” he said in awe as he read
the cover of the comic.
He set it down and looked
through the rest of the box, trying to find other hidden treasures. After
looking through half of the collection she had, he looked up at her and
grinned. “Forget about this Summer plan. Let’s get married.”
Julia giggled and joined
him on the bed.
*