4. Invitation

"Hi."

I was surprised at Winter speaking to me. We didn't exactly dislike each other, but we were never introduced to each other by Chad. And we didn't bother trying to interact. But she was doing it out of her own accord, three days of being a girlfriend was it?

"Hello," I said, putting down my pencil on my sketch book.

I'd gone to watch Chad play at the basketball court- which I had no interest in- and since I couldn't bear watching boys jump up and down with a ball for much longer, I took out my sketch book.

She sat next to me and I resisted the urge to move away from her. I really didn't like sitting too close to others, but she smelled nice, like fruit, so I couldn't complain much.

"You're Chad's best friend," she said. She had a lot of freckles on her face and her face looked red, maybe from the heat or something. Her hair was packed into a bun and she was wearing a big ass shirt and pants, so she didn't really look all that- Not like I was saying that she wasn't pretty, but... Well, I didn't just understand why she was dressed like that. She was always looking neat and pretty.

"And you're Chad's girlfriend," I said back.

"Yeah..." She faced me.

"Was there something you needed from me?"

She appeared to be contemplating for a while, glancing at the court, then back at me.

"So. I wanted to ask you something."

I gestured for her to continue.

"Well..."

I really wanted to scream at her to get straight to the point, but I held myself. This was Chad's girlfriend whom he really liked and so I had to be nice, no matter how much it would probably kill me.

"Do you not like me?"

I blinked. Was she joking or something? That's what she wanted to ask me?

"I don't understand."

"I know Chad's not introduced us properly yet, and he promised to. But you act like you couldn't care less about my presence."

"I'm trying to understand where this is going," I said. What was this even about? She wanted me to care about her presence even though I barely knew her. I didn't care much about anyone, even my siblings, so she wasn't special. At all.

"I think we should be friendly with each other," she finally said.

"I don't think I can be friendly with you when I barely know you, " I said.

"We can start that now."

I didn't even know what to say. Should I tell her to fuck off? Or calmly tell her that I wasn't interested in getting to know anyone, and that I was good with just Chad. Besides, who's to say how long she'll be his girlfriend? Not that I'm praying for their breakup, but still.

"I don't know about that- "

"Val! Winnie!" I heard Chad call.

I turned, unimpressed at the nickname he gave his girlfriend.

"Winnie?" I unintentionally said aloud.

Winter laughed. "I'm not too impressed by the name either."

I removed my eyes from my friend back to her. "What do you call him?" I didn't even know why I was trying to talk to her. I should be paying attention to Chad or my book.

"I call him cutie."

"Huh?" What the fuck?

"I call him that because he's a big guy with a cute face and with me he's like a baby."

I nodded. I guess that's something couples did. I never saw my parents call each other such things, but that was most likely because I never paid attention, nor cared about anyone or anything that usually wasn't within my room. Should I start caring?

"Val! Winnie!"

"Yes?!" Winter answered.

I wasn't a shouter and wasn't about to turn into one anytime soon, so I just looked at Chad with a questioning brow.

"What're you talking about?!"

I rolled my eyes. Should've known he was going to ask a stupid question. Neither I nor Winter was able to respond because a shocking figure appeared in front of me.

Everyone gasped.

Why? Because it was Maria Castillo.

***

"Sorry for bothering you," she said, eyes to the ground.

Not knowing what to do with my hands, I placed them into my pockets.

I wasn't exactly happy about the attention her presence brought me at the moment. Chad was going to bother me non-stop, and probably Winter too. She did interrupt her friendship proposal towards me.

I was surprised when she came to me and asked to speak with me. She sounded so confident then, not looking at anyone else but me, eyes hard. But now, she couldn't even look me in the eye. Was I intimidating? I didn't think so. Well, I never thought so.

"So what did you want to speak to me about?" I was curious because we'd never spoken to each other apart from that one time in class. We didn't have anything in common, I was sure.

"I'm having a party," she blurted out, eyes up, but still not meeting mine.

Her fingers were linked in front of her as she continued. "I'm having a party and I'm inviting you... And you can bring your friend if you'd like. I brought extra."

Extra?

I watched her dip into her bag to bring out two envelopes, which surely contained invitation cards. Fancy.

"He's allowed to bring a plus one," she said as she handed them to me. "I heard he has a girlfriend."

"And me?" I teased.

Her cheeks turned pink. That was something I didn't expect. "W- well, if you have someone... I mean, I didn't think you had a- "

"Calm down, I was just teasing," I laughed.

What was wrong with her? Everyone said how confident she was, and here she was stuttering.

She took a deep breath, eyes meeting mine. I was immediately entranced by her big green eyes. They were really beautiful. I didn't know how to compliment her without sounding weird, so I just said nothing. The only woman I've ever complimented was my mother, and she barely even got those from me.

"So. Are you coming?" She asked. "It's on Saturday."

Chad would kill me if I refused. One, because it was a 'privilege to be invited to anything by Maria Castillo' and because I'd be 'ruining both our chances of being influential!'. From the look on her face, Maria wouldn't take a rejection well.

"Yes, I am."

Her face and eyes brightened. "Great! I'll text you- "

"You don't have my number," I pointed out.

"Oh."

I motioned for her to give me her phone and when I finished typing in my number, she smiled.

"Thanks," she said.

I nodded, watching her practically skip as she left my presence.

"That was kind of cute," I muttered.

I felt a strong grip on my shoulders all of a sudden and was about to clock the person intruding on my personal space when I realized that it was Chad.

I groaned. "You stink. Get off of me, man."

"What did Maria want?" He asked. "Everyone was talking about you guys the moment you left. I think rumors are going to start spreading too."

"She invited us to a party she's having on Saturday," I said, handing over one envelope to him as I took my bag from him.

Chad gasped, removing his hands from me. "Oh my god!"

"She says you can bring a plus one."

"I told you she likes you!" He said, excited.

I sighed. "Whatever. Let's go home."

Not like I didn't think it was possible for me to be liked by anyone, I just didn't think Maria did.