Flag 4

- Elizabeth Andrews -

I head towards the classroom building. In the hallway, I see a cheerful Amber surrounded by a small circle of people and annoyingly, I see Hayden right next to her. I turn facing the other way to move towards my classroom but was stopped by a hand on my wrist pulling me backwards. An arm freely falls over my shoulders, "Hey," I hear a soft and sweet whisper slightly behind my right ear. Her voice, consoling yet intense. It ignites flames rushing every bit of emotion inside of me and impulsively wrecking up the rate of my pulse. She's everything that could break me and everything that could possibly fix me at the same time but she stays completely unaware.

She later releases me from her arms but I can't bring myself to face her, at least not right now with my face all flustered.

"H--h--hi!" I stutter and strut into my classroom. As I move towards my seat, I can feel my cheeks heat up. This has never happened before. With two open palms, I slap each side of my face at the same time to gain my composure.

"Yikes," I face upwards to find the voice behind the funny comment and standing before me is Arnold Vixen, apart from being my classmate for the rest of this school year, he is also a close friend, a close friend of both Amber and I.

"Oh hi, Arvi," I greet him with a forced smile.

"Yeah, so why you hitting yourself?" He replies with a worried look on his face.

"Oh--um--uh--um--what?" I struggle to give him an answer and I hate myself because of it.

He looks at me raising an eyebrow, "Hmm, you like her, don't you?"

"Wait, WHAT? what are you talking about?" I reply in shock of his preposterous presumption.

"Don't think I don't see the signs girl, you and Amber? You got some boiling hot tea to spill," he chuckles.

"WHAT? NO, I DON'T...We're friends. We're just friends and besides she's got A LOT of people lining up at her doorstep."

"So you do like her?" He asks for a confirmation.

"But, I thought we all promised not to date each other?"

He laughs loudly, "Girl, that promise has already been broken like two years ago when Trish and Bryce started dating". Trish Kash and Bryce Downey, another two friends of our circle. "You have all the reason to chase her, well, I mean if that's what you want, or like, before you-know-who gets into the picture," he continues. I notice his eyes shoot towards the hallway. I turn, facing the same direction and I see Hayden and Amber, chatting. AGAIN.

My eyes meet hers, she waves to the both of us with a smile on her face.

He asks one more time, "You like her, don't you?"

"I...I don't know."

- Amber Hills -

The bell rings indicating that it's time for our next class so I end the conversation with Hayden and head back to my classroom.

He giggles, "So, I'll see you after class?" I give him a short nod, as I enter the room and move towards my seat by the window.

After a long hour of hardly comprehensive lectures, class is finally dismissed. I clear out my desk, put the things in my bag, fix it up, lift it up and head towards the door. The moment I step out, I see Hayden leaning his back against the wall. I stare at him blankly until our eyes meet. He walks with me out of the classroom building and starts off another conversation.

"I'll carry your bag for you," he offers kindly.

"I can carry it myself," I respond.

"Please, let me." He insists so I thought why the hell not?" "Oh, and here", he hands over an apple juice box.

"Oh, thanks!"

We continue walking out of the building and later part ways at the same intersection. He gives my bag back and I thank him again for his kind gesture. He waves goodbye while running towards the school parking lot and I proceed to the same spot to meet Lizzie.

- Elizabeth Andrews -

"Ready to go?"

I turn to meet her beautiful auburn eyes, we exchange sweet smiles and I give her a quick nod. I lift myself off of the wooden bench. I catch up to her and slide my hand into hers smoothly, intertwining our fingers. Her hand, warm and soft, it comforts me.

We reach the parking lot and hop into her car. I suggest we keep the windows down this time, I turn her radio on and blast out a bit of indie pop music and just take in and enjoy the fresh breeze until we reach our destination.

She pulls over a sort of retro-themed café. We proceed inside, I find a good place to sit while she orders for the both of us. She heads towards our table and moves the chair to my side as sitting opposite from someone in a table for two isn't really her thing. She tends to get super tense in face-to-face situations.

The waitress arrives with two cups of warm coffee.

"So...you and Hayden?" I ask to start off a conversation.

She snorts, "What? No, we're just--I mean we just hang out," she explains.

"So it's not a thing?" I let out in curiosity.

"Oh, yeah, it's definitely not a thing. I don't even see him in that way," she replies.

I let out a breath of relief because "I definitely don't ship it," I mumble.

"What was that?"

"Oh--uh--nothing!"

I take a huge sip of coffee as a way to hide my embarrassment.

"Wait, Lizzie careful with that," she looks at me, slightly worried as I lift the cup to my lips.

I wait till she finishes her coffee. We step out of the café and into her car. She has her left hand on the wheel and I notice her right hand is free. I wonder if it would be okay to hold it. I slowly move my left hand closer to hers but I try to avoid watching the movement and face outside the window for there is a strong feeling of hesitation and nervousness. I let out a breath of relief as I feel her fingers find their way and lock themselves in between mine almost instantly. I clasped her hand tighter. Sometimes, I wish moments like these would last longer.

I'm starting to miss more than just her touch.