“I see you have new glasses.” I motioned at his brown frames.
“Yeah. It was t-time for a change,” he joked, but I noticed a trace of dejection in his voice. “The last ones had a b-b-boring color anyway.”
My heart sank. I hated Masen for what he’d done to Kevin’s glasses. “I didn’t see you at school last week.”
His expression went from innocent to sour, and he remained silent as we walked out of the classroom. I already regretted my words, fearing they had been too intrusive. Kevin seemed like a good kid, yet he’d had to experience that horrendous humiliation last week, and I had a hunch he’d been hiding or playing hooky.
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat. “I s-s-skipped some classes,” he mumbled with his eyes downcast. We walked through the crowds of students, but he didn’t look at anyone, trying to be as invisible as possible. “I was eating in the restroom.”
His revelation hit me hard. I stopped and looked at him with a lump in my throat. “I’m so sorry, Kevin. You should’ve come to Jessica or me. Remember what Jess told you? She said you could hang out with us, and the offer still stands.”
He blushed at the mention of her. “Jessica? How is she?” he asked quite shyly, confirming my suspicions.
He likes her.
My smile was gigantic. “She’s great. She mentioned just the other day that it would be great if you joined us for lunch.”
It was sweet how soft his eyes became at this. “She did?”
“Yes. So let’s eat together, okay?”
He nodded quickly, his smile matching mine. “Okay.”
Jessica and Kevin were both cute, innocent souls, and they would look perfect together. I was all excited about it as we reached the cafeteria, waving at Jess and Mel who waited next to the doors.
“Hey!” I greeted them.
“Someone’s happy,” Mel said with an amused twist of her lips and cocked her head at Kevin. “And who are you?”
“Kevin! Hey!” Jessica beamed at him.
“Hey,” he replied with dazed eyes as he looked at her. How cute was that? Melissa cleared her throat, picking up on their vibes. Kevin blushed. “Right, s-sorry. I’m Kevin.”
Mel’s smile outmatched mine. “You mean, you’re cute.” She winked at him and broke into chuckles when his cheeks turned redder. “Kidding, kiddo. I’m Melissa.” She wrapped her arm around Jessica’s shoulders and pulled her against her side. “And you’re just like our lovely Jessica, all shy and cute. So sweet.”
I gaped at her, watching her transform into a matchmaker in a second. Jess and Kevin’s gazes didn’t move from the ground.
“Mel,” I warned her through gritted teeth. “Don’t do this now. Let’s eat.”
Her face was a picture of innocence as she shrugged. “Sure. We don’t want to miss the tastiest school food there is, note the sarcasm. Come, children.” She motioned to Jess and Kevin to follow her. I met Jess’s exasperated gaze with a shake of my head.
“That’s Mel for you,” I told Kevin apologetically.
“She’s nice,” he said, and my lips curved up. I was glad we could all get along from the start.
My smile vanished the moment I saw Masen, Blake, and Steven in the lunch line. They stood with their backs to us, so they didn’t see us yet. If only it could stay that way.
“What are you going to take?” Kevin asked Jessica, studying the food choices.
“Macaroni with meatballs. One of my favorites.”
“Really? Mine too!”
Mel met my gaze with a knowing smile and leaned to me. “OTP,” she whispered into my ear. “They’re almost as cute as babies. So innocent.”
“You act like you’re their mother,” I whispered back at her.
“More like godmother to their future children. I can already imagine how sweet they will be.”
I raised my brow. “Are you nuts? They barely know each other and you’re already imagining their children?”
She pressed her hand against her heart and looked into the distance. “But they will know each other, and their love will blossom, and they will be a golden couple, and it will be so perfect, and I’ll spoil their children and...” She continued babbling, reminding me of the excessively dramatic actors on the stage when their characters professed their profound love.
“That’s too many ‘ands’ in just one extremely long sentence,” I interrupted her monologue when she stopped to take some much-needed air. Luckily, Jess and Kevin were so deep in their conversation about their favorite foods they hadn’t heard her. “Besides, we still don’t know if Jess likes him too.”
“Nonsense. She will for sure, if not already.”
I sighed at her stubbornness, but then I met Masen’s gaze and tensed. He moved in our direction with Blake and Steven, and my gaze flickered to Blake. He was glaring at Kevin, his jaw set in a hard, unforgiving line.
Jess laughed at something Kevin had said, unaware of Blake. Blake stopped behind them in a wide-legged stance and observed their interaction, the air growing thick with impending conflict.
My stomach gave a nervous jolt. Not this again.
“What are you now? A statue?” Mel scoffed at Blake. “Stop standing there and move already.”
Blake ignored her, sneering at Jess when she turned around. She froze when she spotted him. “You fit each other, losers.” He indicated Kevin with a jerk of his head and shifted his cold stare to him. “I feel second-hand embarrassment just watching you two.”
My blood boiled. I was tired of this. I was tired of watching the same antics over and over again.
“Do you want me to poison your food?” Mel said, pointing at Blake’s tray. “There’s something seriously wrong with you that you can’t stop lashing out. You’re walking PMS.” Stop this.
“The pot calling the kettle black,” Masen replied. “I’m expecting you to pull out your voodoo dolls and perform some nasty rituals on us any moment now, Satan.” I was going to explode any second. Enough.
“Do you even hear yourself? No, of course not. After all, your IQ isn’t even average.” Stop!
“While your IQ, which stands for Irritating Queef, exceeds the highest score ever measured,” Masen bit back.
Blake and Steven laughed out loud. “Now that’s a burn, sis,” Steven said with a lazy smirk, enjoying this drama a little too much. “Seriously, though. Who’s this wuss here?” He pointed at Kevin and grimaced. “Look at him. He’ll start crying any second—”
“Will you all stop it?!” I erupted, completely losing it.
Everyone grew silent, gaping at me. Blood surged into my cheeks, but for the first time, I didn’t care about the maddening tempo of my heart or everyone’s unwanted attention. For the first time, I reached my limit and was finally able to speak my mind.
“Every single day! Absolutely every single day you do this, and it’s sickening,” I glared at Blake and Masen. “Are you jealous?” I directed this at Blake. “You’ve been obsessed with Jessica, and now you want to ruin her friendship with Kevin? Kevin has never done anything to you, yet you bullied him. That’s completely unfair, and I’m revolted by it. And you”—I pointed my finger at Masen—“Why can’t you leave Melissa alone? Stop getting riled by every single thing she says. I just want to have a normal lunch without all of you arguing, bullying, and competing who will throw the best insult! Grow up!”