Weird friends are the best ones!
1330 Words
“That f*****g family. They’re going to rig the entire f*****g thing!” Astrid slams her fist on the keyboard of her laptop.
“Astrid, that’s enough swearing for today.” Adan rubs her shoulders calmly and passes her the bowl of M&M’s and gummy bears. She dips her hands into it in a harsh way and stuffs the candies into her mouth. Kaia, Adan and Astrid are all spread out on Astrid’s queen-sized bed doing one school assignment or the other.
“Plus,” Adan continues, “They won’t rig anything. Kaia deserves to go to Washington. It’s a no brainer.”
“A no brainer?” Astrid grunts. “You think Jacob Kang coming to school a day after the announcement was made is a coincidence? Hell no! Have you forgotten how obsessed he used to be with Bren being at the top of the school? The articles and magazine post and all the publicity?”
“Every parent would be proud if their kids topped the school records,” Kaia chips in, sitting cross legged on the bed.
“Correct.” Astrid snaps her fingers. “But this is Jacob Kang we’re talking about. Jacob Kang. The number one parent of Wintercrest. Do you even understand how big of a deal this is?! It’s the White f*****g House!”
She’s right. It really is the White f*****g House. Kaia lets what Astrid just said simmer in her head. Could Bren’s father really be desiring to rig this? Would it bother her if Bren went and she didn’t?
“So,” Adan heaves. “What do we do now? I’m really going to have a word with Principal Jan if it’s announced that Bren’s going to Washington.”
“You’d have a word with her? I’d cause a riot!”
“Okay.” Kaia hold up her hands as if in surrender. “Let’s forget about that for a moment and focus on school work.” She’s working on the Social Studies group project thing with Shira. Shira had sent a freshman to tell Kaia to prepare the slides and have them forwarded to her. She’d make the presentations. Rude, that was very rude and uncalled for. But Kaia didn’t dwell on it since she had made up her mind to work on it like it was a solo assignment anyway.
“Don’t act like this is something you can just brush off, Kaia. You know what going to the White House could do for your med school dream. You’d get into any school you want so easily.”
“I know,” Kaia nods. “But right now, more than anything, I’m trying to process the fact that my mum would waltz into our lives next week like nothing ever happened. And I’m the only one not ready for that.”
On cue, Adan and Astrid scoot towards her and each wrap and arm around her. She instantly feels so safe. This is something Cliché would do. But Cliché’s not here right now.
“Little K,” Adan says in his warm, honey voice. “It’s okay. It’s totally fine if you don’t feel like you’re ready to see her yet. It’s understandable.”
“Totally,” Astrid adds. “She didn’t leave in the best way, so she can’t expect you to welcome her with open arms.”
“Mmhmm,” Adan hums his support. “But . . .you should give it some more thought. Figure out the long-term effects of however you choose to react to her coming back. Think really well, little K. You don’t want to do anything you’d regret later.”
“Yeah.” Astrid finishes.
“You know, I always meet my friends in the weirdest of ways. Micah and I wore the same outfit on the first day of high school, Adan had maxed out his card and couldn’t pay for his meal and then we miraculously met again at Wintercrest, and Astrid drew a stupid heart on my shirt with ketchup right after I just got ‘initiated.’
“Hey!” Astrid swats Kaia’s arm. “How dare you call my heart ‘stupid?’”
“It was,” Adan takes Kaia’s side. “You didn’t help the situation.”
“Exactly! And you kept yammering about how I was at the bottom of the social class chain.”
“Because you had to know! That was the nicest thing I did for you then. Trust me. You’re lucky you didn’t have to hear it from Sage or Emma or God forbid, the b***h herself.”
Kaia chuckles. Astrid really hates Shira and vice versa. It almost feels personal. But it’s Shira, she sets herself up to be hated.
“Whatever. There would have been better approaches to that than telling me right after smelly food got dumped on me.”
“Since we’re talking about this, I never ever imagined myself getting comfortable on the bed of a junior.”
“Eww!” “Adan!” Astrid and Kaia say in shrill voices and burst out laughing.
“What?” Adan asks genuinely oblivious. “What did I say? Why are you guys being—Oh.” He finally realizes it and joins in the laughter. “You guys understand what I mean though! Astrid, I blame you for this. Kaia wouldn’t have read any other meaning into this.”
“Really?” Astrid smirks. “The Kaia whose had her first ‘neck kiss?’”
Oops. Darn, Astrid and her big mouth! The laughter ceases in sync and Adan casts the both of them a questioning glance. “First, neck kiss?”
Astrid clears her throat. “Neck kiss?” she laughs awkwardly. “What does that even mean? I clearly said necklace. Neck. Lace.”
“Shut up, Astrid,” Kaia sighs and Astrid bites down on her lower lips. The lie is pointless.
“It’s not serious, okay? Bren did it to get us out of trouble with Mr Ariel.”
Adan’s face scrunches in comical confusion. “Bren kissed you on school grounds to get you two out of trouble?”
“He kissed my neck! Look, I know it sounds ridiculous, but . . .he really did it to get us out of trouble. We were kind of loitering instead of being in AP Math class. I was actually sent to get him, but Mr Ariel almost caught us so he just—” Kaia rubs her forehead. This explanation is the most ridiculous thing ever!
“Just know that it’s not even serious. I should have kept my mouth shut,” Astrid says.
“Yes, you should have!” Kaia sucks her teeth and raises her hand as if to hit Astrid.
Adan remains still, visibly trying to process all he had just heard.
“You’re overthinking this, Adan. It’s not even a big deal.” Kaia takes his hands in hers and squeezes to assure him.
“Are you sure?” Adan asks and his voice is suddenly so soft and his eyes so fragile looking.
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”
Adan’s lips tug in a slight grin. “Why did he go for your neck though? He went past your lips and went to your neck?”
“Exactly!” Astrid claps. “You think he’s a vampire too, don’t you? I mean he’s flipping fine; he could totally pass for one.”
Adan snorts. “I’m fine-er.”
“No, you’re not.” Astrid deadpans and before she can blink, Adan hurls a pillow at her head like her expected her answer. They start a pillow fight and Kaia swoops into to move their laptops from the way before they can break it. They look so silly so Kaia brings out her phone to record them, but she gets a text that makes her heart stop.
I wanna talk to you. Daisies and Dessert rooftop. 7pm?
- Writer
