Chapter 2: Best Friend Lectures

The first week went by in a blur, and before I knew it, it was Friday morning. 

After the stunt that Giselle and her followers pulled on us last time, it was absolutely hilarious and entirely humiliating to watch her walk into the school the next morning wearing a beach hat and so much powder on her face that made her look like a pancake only to cover up the flaming slap mark that Ellie gave her the night before. Speaking of my best friend, let me say that she was beyond excited to smirk victoriously at Giselle as she tried to explain to the other kids in our school why she's wearing a beach hat to the school. To cut it short, it was really amusing to see her close her mouth and open it repeatedly, looking like a goldfish. 

Pulling out of my thoughts, I hurried to my first period. Taking the first right to Mr Buckman's class, and yes, that's his name. Apart from the ridiculousness of it, he's a married old man around the age of forty with a stomach bump just over his hip-bones and he's the type of person who spills every single event takes place in his household. I swear every single one, from his loud arguments with his wife to the color of his underwear. To add to all of that, he's a physics teacher. I swear, if there's something a word stronger than loathsomeness, that would be close to describe how I feel about the subject. Or maybe he's the reason to why I dislike the poor subject that much, but what I really know is that I hate it. A lot. 

Getting into the classroom, omitting a couple of sleepy figures slouching in their chairs at the front row, the class was bustling with energy. Shaking my head at their ability to be that productive at only seven in the morning, I made my way through a small group of friends conversing loudly and another girl who was busy looking through our main textbook, i waddled my way before finally reaching an empty seat in the middle of the classroom. After adjusting into a comfortable position, I took out my notes and organizer before my mind quickly drifted off to the tiny chance of winning a twelve days ticket to a cruise across the Pacific. I can't even imagine how I'd react if I won, hell, I'd pass cloud nine even. 

I've been sending codes to the radio station for about three years, but it never worked. All we had to do is buy a Hershey and send the code at the back of the chocolate bar to the right station. Though the process is really easy, only two really lucky people get picked each year, and last year the winners went to Paris! Fricking Paris!

I just really hope luck comes on my side this time.

My thoughts were cut off by Mr Buckman when he entered the class just over six minutes late, his breathing rapid. 

"I apologize for my late timing but I had to drop something at the postbox for my wife," 

Of course he was.

~~~~~

After a very long day at school, I was more than happy to arrive back home and as soon as I stepped a foot into the house, my stomach roared to the mouth-watering aroma of the chicken casserole . My favorite.

Kicking off my shoes, I didn't even bother placing them on the shoe rack as I quickly ran to the kitchen, eager to stomach as much as I can. Don't judge me, my mother is one hell of a cooker.

"I'm home" I announced, getting into the noisy kitchen where mom was too busy multitasking. Turing her head to my side, I gave her a quick kiss as she smiled at me warmly before returning to the stove. "How was your day so far?" she asked, her eyes still focused on the edibles.

Letting out a deep breath, I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from swearing at the cursed hours of my school, "Better than expected."

Note the deep sarcasm, I thought

Before my mom could reply to my last sentence, Madeline ran into the kitchen screaming loudly.

"Mommie!" she screeched, tugging at mom's blue dress with her tiny fists,  but mom didn't pay her the slightest attention. Knowing she's a professional child psychologist, she always used one of her strategies when it came to parenting which left me to deal with her myself but only for the sake of my own sanity.

"Layla," she wailed, turning to me, knowing all too well that mom will keep on ignoring her unless she stops screeching. But really, what killed me was how she wasn't even crying tears. No waters, zilch. Which made me wonder how strong her voice-box could be.

Crouching down to her level, I sighed. "What Mads?"

"Hannah hid my barbies!" She pouted, crossing her arms. That's definitely something my demonic sister would think of.

"Come here," I took her small hand in mine and headed to the living room before yelling, "Hannah!"

We walked over to where she was sitting with her legs stretched out on the large couch, going through mom's phone definitely without her knowledge.

"Hannah." I repeated, only this time it was in a much firmer tone which made her instantly look up.

"Yeah?" She told us, playing stupid but I knew too well. 

"Did you hide any of Madeline's barbies?" I cocked my eyebrow and she drew back in complete horror. 

"Who? Me?" She asked, looking offended before continuing, "Do you seriously think I would do such horrible thing to my little sister? I, of all people living in this house would willingly hide them? I'm sorry but I'm quite offended right now. What kind of sister do you take me for, huh?"

Through all the melo-dramatic speech my sister just pulled, Madeline kept gasping repeatedly making it seem a lot more dramatic than it was meant to be. And judging by Hannah's smug face, I give her points for almost misleading me.

"The kind who steals their little sister's dolls for their own sake of amusement. So cut the crap Hannah, I know you're hiding them somewhere in your closet. Which means you have only three minutes to bring them right here before I tell mom you are going through her phone, again." I threatened, and it was my turn to smirk at her fully as I gave a grinning Mads a high five.

"She already knows I have her phone," She bit back.

Before I could retaliate, Madeline quickly cut in, "She's lying, I swear!"

Chuckling under my breath at my sister's tattletaling, I mused. "Sure she does, but lets prove it out yeah?" I said, giving her a challenging look.

"Okay, maybe she doesn't know but she really doesn't need to find out either." She smiled at me innocently and I turned my head to Mads who had her  eyes narrowed,

"What do you think? Do we tell her?" I questioned, looking down at her small figure. She motioned for me to get down to her level so Hannah wouldn't listen to our small talk, and I obliged.

"What?" I whispered in her ear,

"Do you think I should think about  telling mom or not?" She whispered back, her warm breath tickling my skin and making me shudder lightly. 

"Do you really wanna know what I think?" I asked her and she nodded, nibbling on her bottom lip. "I think you should think about not telling mom about this because I think , no I know she would rip Hannah's head off her shoulders and hang it under the porch."  I told her, shrugging my shoulders as she giggled at what I said.

"Yes, I think we do not tell mom about this too." She agreed, muffling her giggles with her palms.

Nodding, I stood back to my full height and dusted off my jeans, "Okay now that it's settled, Hannah, give Madeline her barbies back if you want this to stay a secret between us." I announced, grinning mischievously at my mortified sister.

"Or mom would rip your head off your shoulders and hang it under the porch." Madeline added in and I noticed as Hannah's eyes almost rolled out their sockets before she sprinted off to the direction of their bedroom to complete her fair end of our bargain.

"She'll be back with your dolls and if not, just call out for mom and she'll take care of her little stubborn head."  I winked at Madeline and she winked back. 

"Thanks L," She gave me a full blown smile, showing her tiny teeth and I couldn't help but smile back as she hugged my thigh. I blew her a kiss before plopping down on the couch and turning on our TV. I flickered through the channels, settling on 'FRIENDS' which I watched just over eight times before. Using the armrest as a pillow, I  watched what felt like three episodes when mom's voice cut through,

"Dinner's ready."

Springing out of my comfortable position,  I quickly switched off the TV and speed-walked to our small kitchen,

"Oh thank god, I was about to pass out from a severe level of starvation." I sighed, taking a seat in my normal place with both Hannah and Madeline beside me. Mom rolled her eyes playfully at my exaggeration, muttering something along the lines of the terrible state of hunger I'm always in, which I scoffed at from her over exaggeration. 

After gathering by the kitchen island and thankfully shutting an annoying Hannah up we started filling our empty dished as mom distributed the silverware. Thanking her, I filled my plate with my mom's delicious casserole, making a huge pile on my plate.

Just before placing a spoonful of my dinner, I noticed the subtle chatter that filled the atmosphere came to a sudden halt and everyone stared at me with my spoon frozen midair,

"What?" I asked. 

"You sure you can eat all of that honey?" Mom asked me, slowly placing salad into my dad's plate while she looked at me warily. 

"Yup," I shrugged my shoulders, moaning as I quickly devoured the edibles.

"I hope that's enough to suffice your tank." I heard my father murmur making mom chuckle lightly while I grunted back.

"I howpe sho," I smiled at them with my mouth stuffed, feeling the greasy sauce drip on my chin.

"You disgust me." Hannah looked at me, shaking her head in dissatisfaction and I pouted before purposely kissing her cheek with my dirty lips, leaving behind an oily imprint.

"Oops, my bad." I smiled at her innocently as I batted my eyelashes. 

And then she shrieked. Loudly.    

~~~~

Normally, teenagers would spend their Friday nights getting overly drunk in parties or even sucking a stranger's face through out the night but I thought differently.

Parties were never really my scene. I mean through out my seventeen years of living, I went to maybe a couple of parties that my very dear best friend, Elena, forced me to. And by forced me I mean an hour long fight which included a lot of swearing, hair pulling and friendship threats. Another thing is that whenever Ellie would be hell bent on wanting me go to some kind of a huge party, mom would always take her side.

I actually don't know what kind of a mom yells at her daughter to go to a party and find a boyfriend? Well mine, of course.

It's not that I'm antisocial or something, not at all. The point is I'd rather spend my weekends watching different movies with jars of popcorn and Nutella or even sticking my nose in one of my favorite novels instead of standing under a roof filled with the suffocating smell of alcohol and sweaty armpits.

Talking about my best friend, she texted me earlier that she'll be coming over in thirty minutes which means she should be here by any moment.

As if on cue the door bell rang and my two little sisters rushed to the door to greet my very best friend.

"Hey guys!" I could almost imagine her crushing my sisters in one of her suffocating bear hugs,

"Living room!" I shouted, smiling to myself as I heard Hannah gasping audibly for air. Typical Ellie hugs.

When Elena was finally done torturing my sisters, they quickly ran up to their bedrooms to resume playing Doctor and Patient. Just then, Ellie came rushing to the living room before she plopped onto the couch next to me, making it bounce lightly.

"Hey best frien-" I didn't get to say my greetings before I was squeezed into another one of her hugs, instantly feeling the oxygen escape my lungs.

"I missed you!" She told me enthusiastically like the excited ball of energy she is, and I could just make out her shimmering lip gloss in the dim light.

"Yeah, its not like I saw you five hours ago." I replied sarcastically, though my smile kept intact as she laughed.

"Can't I just miss my best friend for God's sake?" She pouted, her warm chocolate brown eyes twirling in amusement.

I narrowed my eyes as they quickly drank in her outfit, taking in the short black leather skirt that ended mid-thigh, along with the orange tube top that fitted her hot body like a second skin. Overall, she looked stunning with her light blonde hair in a French braid along with the light makeup she wore.  

"Hmm, not when you're all glammed up." I arched an eyebrow, closing the distance between us as I made a show of scanning her out.

"Would you like to enlighten me with the reason you're all glammed up on a Monday night?"

I watched as she fiddled with her polished fingers, a habit she does when she gets nervous. But she was quick to cover it up, crossing her arms in a defensive mechanism as she narrowed her eyes back at me.

"What do you mean I'm all glammed up? You make me sound like I dress like a slob." She bit back, her statement sounding like a valid excuse cause Elena Matthews would always dress to impress but I knew better.

She always made sure to look great even if we only went grocery shopping but tonight I'm positive that something is up, take it from her best friend.

And the fact that she fiddled with her fingers nervously and bit her bottom lip righted my thoughts. 

"I never said that young lady," I tilted my head to the side as I tried to bite back a smile, "But I'm not quiet sure I believe that you're all dressed up for no entire reason?"

I remember this time when we were younger, and our moms asked us to grab some croissants from a bakery that was within a walking distance but I was too lazy to change out of my pajamas. Of course Ellie had her favorite yellow sundress on that matched her doll's, her hair styled in a fancy bun while I looked polar opposite.

Well, my pajamas were crumpled, my hair stood everywhere out of my ponytail, and not to mention the unmatchable pair of socks I wore. That's not the case though, I mean after another one of our long banters as she tried talking me into changing my outfit, I refused. And just when we were about to step out of the fornt door, Elena pulled her frustrated face on and held me back before taking a deep bretah,

"Okay L, since you refused to change I think I'm forced to ask you something. I'm sorry L, but please just walk behind me. Act like you don't know me or, or pretend you're my nanny!"

I remember giving her the silent treatment for the next few days but I made sure to walk behind her. Five feet apart at least as I pretended to be her maid. And since then, I always used this incident to my own accord.

"I just felt like it L! So if you please, just shut up!" She glared at me, her face turning a bright shade of vermillion red as I positioned my self so that I sat cross legged with my body facing her.

Nodding my head, I raised my hands in mock surrender, biting the insides of my cheek to stop myslef from smiling as I continued teasing her.

"Okay, I'll shut up and I'll just pretend that you weren't overly peachy when you came over just after ten in the evening, and that you did not fidget with your fingers as you lied to me and last but not least, you're all dressed up for no one but me!" I wiggled my eyebrows at her, girnning like a Cheshire cat.

"Yes! Thank you," She patted my shoulder before continuing, "And you're gross." She replied to the last part of my sentence to which I stuck my tongue out childishly as I got up.

"Oh and maybe I could also pretend to be your nanny!" I called out, laughing as I got into the kitchen.

"Come on L! That was just over seven years ago, you know I didn't mean it that way! And you already gave me the silent treatment the week after." She whined, following behind me into our small kitchen.

"You deserved it," I grinned at her as I placed a pack of microwaveable popcorn into the microwave. Pressing a couple of buttons to start, I leaned back onto the skin as I watched her shuffle through the cupboards.

"I guess you're right," she mumbled, still going through the cabinets and fishing out whatever junkies she finds. "Hey L,"  she said, looking over her shoulder before turning back.

I made a sound of acknowledgement as I put my light brown hair into a loos ponytail.

"Do you remember Marco?" She asked, placing a family sized Dorito onto the kitchen island as she waited for my answer.

"The barista," I replied to her question as I leanded onto the cool table, using my arms to support my weight.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion but not because I can't remember him but cause I wondered why she would bring him up now. Marco is a Korean barista at one of the coffee shops in downtown.

He used to hit on Ellie almost two months ago, but we stopped hanging there overall. I mean he's cute and all but it was nothing too serious.

"That's him."

"So what about him?"

"He took me out," She told me, playing with the fair ends of her French braid. "Tonight."

Her confession didn't really surprise me, I know Ellie gets asked out a lot, especially by the male population so her statement didn't sound like news to me.

"Oh, he finally had the balls." I smiled at her, "Though I'm not so sure I like him, and I know he's not worth your time but if that's what you really want then I'm genuinely happy for you."

It's true, though the guy doesn't seem the best but if it's him that she really wants than I'll support her, even if I know it's wrong.

"Well I appreciate, but I'm not here to talk about this." She sighed, her eyes looking everywhere but me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I reached out to squeeze her hand and she squeezed back, reassuring me that she's okay.

"Spill." I told her.

Taking a deep breath, she started,

"Okay, so you now how Marco always used to have a thing for me and all? Well I know you must think it's over now that its been close to two months ago, but he proved me wrong when I passed by the other day to grab a coffee before I started on my errands. Don't ask me, it was the closest coffee shop, plus I didn't actually know he'd still be there. The point is that I didn't really know he was there expect when I went to take my order. So I grab my coffee and just before I could lift my hand, it was covered with a larger one that held me in place. Of course my first instinct was to scream 'rape' but he was quick to place his other palm over my mouth. I tried licking his palm or even bite it but he wouldn't even budge. When I finally calmed down, he placed a piece of folded tissue paper onto the pocket of my jeans and winked at me. It had his phone number scribbled on it."

She exhaled, letting her rant out in just over fourty five seconds which amazed me. I've been her closest friend since kindergarten and I'm barely used to her fast rants. Its impressive I can keep up with her motor mouth.

"Um, Ellie, I didn't really ask for how he asked you out. I meant what happened during the date." I pressed my lips into a thin line, ready to listen to her second round of waffle.

"Oh okay. He actually took me to a very cute pizzeria by the outskirts of the city. He claimed this was one of his favourite places during his childhood which was understandable. It was a very nice place after all. We kept talking about a lot of things, we even talked about how much he loved pizza, but not as much as he loved me."

She blurted out, biting her cuticles as she waited for a reaction to what she just said.

My eyebrows shot up, reaching the far end of my forehead as I opened and closed my mouth, making me look like a goldfish.

"Oh..wow."

Her words actually made me pause for a second.

He loves her?

I've never really fell in love with someone and I don't really have a problem with the phrase. But these particular words are so strong yet they're thrown around a lot without being given much value or respect.

It's saddening that people never seem to understand its merit, and I know it's the most misued thing on earth.

It can mean that you're fully present; physically, emotionally and spiritually.

It can mean a lot of things at the same time. It can mean that you're ready to sacrifice whatever it takes but you would know that it's worth it.

The words are hard to explain, and very tough to understand and it's understanding doesn't really need anything but the taste of it.

Call me a weirdo but I know that mostly teenagers get caught up in the fire of 'First Love', and their confessions rarely count as 'I love you.', but more of 'I like you."

The constant beeping of the microwave shook me out of my trance, and I blinked a couple of times to focus on the matter at hand.

"What?" Elena eyed me warily, studying my stance as I stood back to my full height.

"Do you think he meant it?" I asked her, hoping her words would match my expectations.

It was her turn to pause, and I knew I was right. After taking a moment to word her thoughts, she finally spoke up.

"I don't know." She said.

"And do you love him too?" I questioned, watching as her faced morphed into one of pure horror.

"What? Of course not! I don't know anything about the except that he's a barista at Abby's, he's Korean and his favourite edible of all time is pizza. Oh and he claims to love me." She air quoted the last part which made me chuckle.

"Great." I answered as I took the warm buttered popcorn out of the microwave.

"What do you mean by 'Great' L? I need a legitimate answer here!" She huffed, grabbing the numerous snacks and jars to the living room as I followed behind her.

"It means that I'll meet him." I told her, grabbing a handful of popcorn and stuffing my mouth with it.

"Really?! You'd do that?" She squealed, dropping a couple packs of Cheetos to the floor in the process.

When I nodded my head at her, she went on planting sloppy kisses to my face, making me groan in disgust.

"Thank you so much!"

~~~~~

By the end of the second movie, our bellies were full and the jars were empty.

Sighing, I patted my stomach,

"I think I'm about to faint." I said before let out a loud burp which instantly made me feel better. Elena's features contorted into a grossed out face but I just rolled my eyes at her exaggeration,

"Yeah and I kinda look like I'm six months pregnant." I laughed at her uptight frown.

I turned my head to look at the clock which read 12:16 a.m. Elena had already decided to stay the night and it was safe to say I was more than happy that we could have some alone time after a very long week.

Getting up from our weird position on the floor, we turned off the TV, threw away the litter to escape mom's hour-long lectures and quickly headed to my average sized room.

My eyes raked across the plum colored walls of my room which didn't include the various pictures of Shawn Mendes stuck randomly on my well-painted walls.

My bedroom is pretty simple with its queen sized bed placed in the middle of the room, along with multiple cushions and soft pillows on it.

Next to it, laid my nightstand with a  white lamp while the other had my alarm and a small frame which didn't have a photo in it yet.

I have my desk opposite to my bed with my laptop on it and a couple of notebooks overlooking the very large glass window of my bedroom.

One that leads to my bathroom and the other to my dressing room.

I assure you though, it's not a room, neither is it a walk-in closet.

Its basically a tiny chamber that you can simply turn your body around to reach for whatever you need.

And it's pretty messy if you ask me.

Not that my room isn't messy, I kinda have a pair of socks in the far corner crumpled with my black track pants that I just found right now?

Awesome, and I thought I lost them.

Yeah, so pretty much a couple of pizza boxes on my desk and my ruffled bed but that's all, I promise.

If I thought I could escape mom's wrath over hygiene, then I don't think I could escape Elena's OCD.

Turning around to look at her as she roamed her eyes around my room, I quickly rushed to my bathroom, hoping I could escape her venom.

I swear sometimes  she's worse than mom which definitely says a lot.

I quickly brushed my teeth and put my hair into a long braid which reached the far end of my waist. When I was finally done, I wearily got out of the bathroom and to the sight of Elena standing with her arms akimbo along with a frown etched on her baby face.

"I swear sometimes you're worse than a fucking dude at the peak of his hormonal teenage phase." Elena looked at me in disgust before continuing,

"I'm so not closing my eyes until this room is entirely spotless." She glared.

See? That's what I meant.

And pretty much, that was how I ended up falling asleep way past midnight.

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