"Well you were kind of hard on her" Gus carefully told his girlfriend. With the school break over they were back to walking the halls before homeroom and Becky was currently explaining that things between her and Vanessa still weren't totally back to normal.
"I guess but how long can she stay mad?" Becky questioned, she and Vanessa had been fighting all their lives, it was just who they were. In the last few years however, big fights had become more and more rare. But even when they were common, Vanessa never stayed mad this long.
"Did you apologize?" Gus asked only for his girlfriend to look at him in disbelief
"Of course i did" she answered, annoyed that he could think she didn't.
Gus only shrugged "Then you did all you can do" He said which Becky half agreed with, her apology had been more of just explaining herself and now she was thinking she should try something else.
Spinelli wasn't really sure of how it had happened, over the four days off of school she and Damion had hung out twice and today when he put his arm around her in the hall she didn't think anything of it until ten minutes after he walked her to math before leaving for his own class. But she had stopped thinking about it by lunch time and, much to her surprise, Damion showed up at her table five minutes in.
"Sup guys" Damion said casually as he took the only available seat which was between Spinelli and Gabe
"Hey" Spinelli, Gabe and Vanessa all said in something close to unison, at this point in school they all knew that skipping class was daily occurrence for some people.
"Skipping class?" T.J. asked as if to confirm what everybody knew, and sure enough Damion nodded.
Everyone continued to go about their lunch and conversations, despite the fact that nobody really knew why Damion had selected their table to hide at. Vanessa sort of knew the guy but they were't great friends, she didn't have a problem with him, in fact she thought he was a great guy. But they didn't talk much. Gabe knew him a little better and was pretty good friends with him but they never sat together at lunch. T.J. and Gus hardly even knew who Damion was which left Spinelli as the only member of the table with a reasonable guess as to why Damion was here.
"Roberts! This isn't your lunch! Get to class!" Finster's shrill voice shouted after ten minutes when she finally spotted Damion
"Really? There's only five minutes left" Damion muttered as he got up from his chair, ignoring the chuckling that was endlessly coming from both Gabe and Vanessa.
"Alright guess I'll see you guys later, bye Ash" He said then gave Spinelli a small kiss on the cheek before leaving.
"Bye" Spinelli said as he walked away.
Once he was gone everyone just continued on with what they had been doing, well almost everyone. Spinelli was picking at her little bag of chips pretending not to feel T.J. eyes burning a hole through her, but after less than a minute she couldn't take it anymore.
"What?" She asked, trying her best not to snap at him.
T.J. shook his head "nothing" he muttered turning back to his own lunch.
He had to admit that it did sort of bother him that Spinelli didn't tell him she had a boyfriend but he couldn't tell her that. The conversation from the first day of school had already returned to his mind so he kept his mouth shut, she had been so cool about it when she found out the hard way about him and Ashley, he owed her the same respect.
"So your boyfriend?" Butch asked for possibly the nine hundredth time since the beginning of the school year.
"For the last time Nate is not my boyfriend!" Joslyn exclaimed, once again uselessly trying to complete her homework during study hall.
"The last time? So if i ask you again…?" Butch sarcastically asked, Joslyn groaned in response
"Butch" she said getting extremely annoyed but at this point that was normal
"What?" He asked innocently, Joslyn rolled her eyes
"Shut up" she said to him but of course he didn't
"I'm just saying that i've seen you around school with Nate and the two of you make a great couple" he said while Joslyn tried her best to ignore him.
Truth be told she actually did feel like she may have some small feeling for Nate, but they weren't anything she planned to pursue.
"You're blushing" Butch teased when he snapped her out of her thoughts
She blushed a little harder at the comment, but this was mostly out of embarrassment
"You've named three good things about me, it's hard not to" she said, Butch had been listing reasons he believed that she and Nate would be a good couple and this involved saying a few nice things about her, apparently.
Butch grinned one of his signature, sly, grins.
"Well good to know you're listening" he said so naturally Joslyn rolled her eyes again.
"Whatever but Nate and me, not happening anytime soon" she said knowing that the conversation was still far from over.
"Why not?" Butch asked, genuinely interested.
Joslyn sighed
"Because one i don't like him, two even if i did he doesn't like me, three even if he did he's too much of a wimp to ask a girl out and four, i just don't see it working out" she ranted hoping that maybe Butch would finally back off but of course he didn't.
"Why wouldn't it work out?" Butch asked, Joslyn sighed but decided to tell him the truth.
"Because honestly, i can't be in a relationship. Two years ago my dad left and this girl i'd been friends with since elementary school just stopped talking to me. I hate to admit it Butch but i don't trust people, and i don't want to let someone that close to me" she explained. She really did hate this about herself and truthfully had it been just Monica who hurt her she probably wouldn't have these issues, but her dad was a different story.
Butch seemed to think about it for a minute and Joslyn thought that he was actually going to stop bugging her, but of course he didn't.
"Well sorry to hear about that but it only helps my argument. You said he hated you until the end of last year because your friend hurt him, sounds to me like he's got some trust issues too" Butch said and for once Joslyn considered his words.
It was true, Nate had been affected by Monica ditching them, more than he should've been. It made her wonder, who else had left Nate?
"Hey" Becky said to Vanessa as she sat down next to her sister on their bus seat
"Hey" Vanessa replied solemnly, her voice was not happy or sarcastic as usual and instead just sounded lonely and vacant.
Becky sighed, unsure of how to start this
"Vanessa I'm sorry-" she began only for her sister to cut her off
"No you're not" she said, just like she had on Thanksgiving.
Becky's eye narrowed "Yes i am. I'm not sorry for what i said but i am sorry for how i said it." Becky said, Vanessa looked up at this, seeming to be surprised by what Becky said but not angered.
"Look i'm not sorry for telling you that the dinner was hopeless but i am sorry for saying it in front of everyone and for saying it so bluntly." Becky apologized, Vanessa smiled a small smile, seeing that her sister really was sorry for what had happened.
"Apology accepted and sorry i kind of over reacted" Vanessa said causing Becky to giggle.
Ashley A. and T.J. were watching a movie at T.J.'s house later one that night and T.J. told her about the incident at lunch.
"T.J. you didn't tell her about us" Ashley reminded her boyfriend who sighed
"Yeah i know i'm a hypocrite. But that was only because i didn't know how to tell her, i just can't see why she would keep a relationship from me" he admitted, his voice heavy with guilt. He knew that he had no right to be upset, not after Spinelli handled this exact situation so maturely.
"Maybe she didn't know how to tell you" Ashley suggested, T.J. hadn't expected her of all people to defend Spinelli but then again he hadn't expected her to get Spinelli a birthday present either. At first he had thought the gift was a joke but Ashley had assured him it wasn't, she said that she truly believed Spinelli would like it.
Ashley had to admit that since the school year started she had grown rather sympathetic towards her old enemy. That angry tomboy who had too much pride Spinelli used to be was gone and in her place was a teenager who wanted to change but didn't know how, it was like she decided to grow up years after everyone else.
"Why wouldn't she know how to tell me? I didn't know how to tell her because, well you and her have sort of a bad history, Damion and I have barely even met" T.J. pointed out only for Ashley to roll her eyes, boys could be so clueless.
"Maybe because she's never had a boyfriend before, or because the last time she told you a guy asked her out you told her he was bad news" Ashley suggested, she had heard about the Eric Baker incident.
"He was" T.J. argued still not having forgotten last Halloween
"Still, she was probably afraid that you wouldn't trust her judgment" Ashley said to which T.J. didn't respond, Ashley looked down at her lap.
"Why do you care so much anyway?" She asked her boyfriend although she already knew the answer. She had hoped that his feelings for Spinelli had subsided since elementary school but it was clear they hadn't, and probably never would.
"She's my best friend" T.J. answered but Ashley shook her head
"No, she's more than that" she said, T.J. looked at her in surprise
"Ashley-" he began but he was cut off, and he was happy he was because truthfully, he does still have feelings for Spinelli.
"It's ok, i kind of thought you did the whole time" Ashley confessed, for a moment the two were silent.
"She has a boyfriend" T.J. said but of course they both knew that
"They'll break up, and when they do we can't be together" Ashley said, this hurt both of them but at the same time it was a relief to them both.
"So are we done?" T.J. asked but he knew they were, he knew it was over.
"Yeah, we're done" Ashley answered him.
