Venus
by Tina
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---EDITED-
Just to inform you guys that this chapter has been edited. Not much over all, but things I felt that sounded better this way. More information about it can be found in the beginning of the 4th chapter.
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Rachel came out of the dressing rooms in what seemed to be the millionth outfit she was trying on at that single store.
"Tah-dah!" she posed. "How does that look?"
Michelle and Helen stopped looking at the exposed clothes to look. Michelle applauded and Helen smiled. Gwen was sitting on a couch, practicly falling asleep.
"Pretty, as were all of the others" Helen commented.
"Aw, I wish I was thin like you. Everything suits you, Rach" Michelle said.
Rachel rolled her eyes.
"Things look great on you too, Michelle"
Michelle sighed.
"Yeah, right"
Uncomfortable with discussing the matter of appearance, Rachel shifted her atention.
"Gwen?"
"Just fantastic" she didn't even bother to open her eyes.
"Yeah? What about the color, huh?" Rachel tried to trick her.
"Do I really have to keep on pretending I care?" she finally opened her eyes. "I'm hungry. Uh, that looks nice!"
Rachel chuckled.
"Thanks! And, OK, sorry, I'll just get this thing off and we can grab something to eat." she entered her stall and quickly exited it. "What do you guys feel like having? I'm on a diet..."
"Yeeah, me too"
"C'mon, Michelle." Gwen playfully hit her and she giggled. "And you" she pointed at Rachel. "Shut up! I want a fat burger with greasy cheese spilling on the sides! And you guys are having it too"
Rachel and Michelle looked at each other and shrugged.
"You gotta do what you gotta do...!"
"Yeah, if that's the rule..!"
They giggled.
After Rachel paid for her things, they all headed to the nearest snack place. On the way to it, Gwen saw a puddle on the sidewalk and seized the oportunity. She jumped hard into it and the others ran away, screaming. Amused, Gwen laughed.
"Gwen!!!" Michelle shouted from behind a pole. "Stop it!"
"It's just water, you guys!"
"Dirty water" Rachel corrected, with a smile upon her face. Gwen thought she'd be the most upset of them over her misbehavior. Yet, Rachel didn't look too bothered. In fact, the whole day she wore this never ending, never tiring smile.
"What's up with you, Green?"
"What do you mean?"
"You just look... happy"
"Yeah" the others agreed, realising the truth behind Gwen's statement.
"What's wrong with that?" Rachel chuckled.
"Nothing wrong. Just unusually happy...! Thought there was a reason behind it, that's all."
"OK, so maybe there is..."
"This is the part when you explain it" Gwen rolled her eyes and Rachel laughed.
"Ross is coming over for spring break"
"Really? Wow"
The three girls spilled out a few supporting words.
"So we finally get to meet the famous Ross in like, whoa, a week!"
"Nah, I'm afraid I'll have to keep him from you guys. He's not used to being around many girls like this"
"Yeah, right!!"
Gwen jumped into yet another puddle and the girls laughed and ran away and into Burger King, leaving her outside cracking up by herself. After a second, she joined them inside.
"Wow, kinda packed, huh?" Helen noticed.
The place was filled with students from other schools, which they could tell because of the uniforms they were all still wearing. The four girls looked at each other and understood just what the others were thinking. They wished they could all rip off the school emblema off their chest. There was something about their traditionally famous and fancy school uniform that never atracted good looks from other kids.
Snapping out of it, Gwen took of her sweater and threw it over to Rachel.
"You guys go find us a table. Michelle and I will take the orders" she winked at them.
After the sweaters had been removed and the orders taken, the girls split. Rachel and Helen found a table on the back and took a seat.
"I'm cold now..." Rachel whined.
On the long line, Michelle and Gwen waited as they counted their money.
"OK, this is Rachel's money" she handed Gwen a few bills. "She'll have that chicken burger and diet coke with a lot of ice. This is Helen's" she handed Gwen some more bills and coins "She's having-" Michelle stopped talking when she realised Gwen had mixed the money. "Gwen, don't do that, don't mix them! C'mon, we need to get the change just right. Now, I think Rachel gave me a five and three ones, Helen-"
Gwen rolled her eyes and cut her.
"Michelle?"
"Yeah?"
"Zip it"
Michelle shot her a look and Gwen laughed. She pulled her friend quickly into a hug.
"You are soooo cute!!"
Michelle groaned.
"I'm so dying my hair green tomorrow"
Gwen let her go.
"You'll just look cuter"
They stepped up as the line slowly walked a bit.
"OK, what is it that Helen wants again?"
"Hm... I've... forgotten"
"Way to go"
"Hey, you're the genious! I'll go ask her.. I'll be right back"
Michelle approached the table.
"Helen, what is it that you want again?"
"Want me to write it down?"
Michelle shot her a look and sat down.
"Man, I'm tired."
"Stay, I'll go"
Michelle flashed her a friendly smile.
"Thanks. Gwen's got my money, sort of. I want the Cheeseburger special with diet coke"
Helen stood up and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, you guys..! As if the diet coke would make a difference!"
She left. Rachel sighed and Michelle looked at her. Yup, the smile was still there.
"Hey, so, that's so great about you and Ross. You must be really happy"
"I am... I know I don't say this enough because I don't wanna be a pain on the ass for you guys, but... I really miss him"
"I can imagine... Must be nice to have a boyfriend"
"Yeah, but it's tough when he's so far away..."
"Still..."
Rachel looked at her and her smile became sweeter.
"The thing with you Michelle is that I don't think just any guy will be good enough for you." Michelle frowned. "No, I mean, you're just too good for these stupid little boys...! Take it from me, I used to date them and they'd hurt me so much... And then I finally found Ross and... It'll just happen when you least expect, I promise you."
"Hah, thing is, I'm always expecting it! Maybe that's why it'll never happen!"
"Oh, honey, I just hope you understand how great of a catch you are"
Michelle smiled at the truthfulness she felt in Rachel's voice. She could almost believe her.
"Thanks, Rach" she sincerely responded.
"Damn it, what is taking this so long?" Gwen looked ahead and noticed there was a girl taking a thousand orders at the same time. "Oh fuck, look at that, Helen!"
"Yeah, they just ruin it for the others, huh?" she sarcastically replied holding up the other girls' money.
Gwen rolled her eyes. As she did so, she noticed there was guy behind them on the line was looking intently at her. First thing she noticed was his pierced left eyebrow. She quickly looked away, but when she looked back, he was still looking. He smiled at her. There was something about him that made her smile back.
"Which approach do you think it's the safest? The weather or the lenght of this line?" he asked her.
She chuckled.
"I'm not gonna give you hints...! Take a shot!"
Helen turned around to see what was going on. She noticed the pierced guy - atractive, very tall, dark hair, blue eyes, looked very interesting in a smart and yet outgoing kind of way. 'Damn, Gwen's found her soulmate' she thought to herself. There was another guy standing next to him. He had honey colored hair, green eyes, silky looking white skin. 'Oh, cutest guy on Earth allert!'. But he just stood there.
"OK, then, let's see... Full house, huh? Must be the weather outside, it's been 'oddly' rainy lately, huh?"
"Nice touch"
Helen stood there, uncertain as to what she should do. She'd never really seen Gwen interact like that with an unknown guy before.
"You two by yourselves?" the pierced guy went on.
"No, two other friends are saving us a table"
"Cool, we also came with a bigger group. Think we could maybe gather everyone up?"
"Maybe"
He smiled.
"I'm Jason, by the way. This is my friend Cameron"
"Hey. I'm Gwen and this is Helen"
They all said hello, shaking their heads politely. After all the orders had been taken, they tried getting everyone together in two big tables they managed to get, one right next to the other. Jason and Cameron's gang consisted on two girls, Jackie and Gabrielle, and another guy, Danny. Helen quickly took a seat next to Rachel and noticed the look on Cameron's eyes when they landed on Michelle.
He managed to sit next to her. She was startled and confused when he started talking. As the first few words had been exchanged she looked at Rachel, who smiled at her. She smiled back, still taken aback. Was this what she'd been waiting for all of those years?
"Where do you girls study again?" he asked her.
"Linwood." she couldn't read his expression, but still, out of habit, felt the need to go on. But she was nervous. God, she was nervous, as if any bad choice of words could screw things up. "We're not like that though"
He smiled at her.
"Like that what?"
"You know... Linwoody!"
Cameron laughed and she smiled.
"Right... I get what you mean. You girls really seem very unique"
Michelle looked at her friends and smiled.
"We really are" she blushed.
His hand covered hers on top of the table and she blushed even more. Oh my God... she was about to be sick.
James laughed hard at the joke Gwen had just told. And not just 'cause he was trying to impress her. That girl was really something...!
"The Doors, really?"
"I swear to God"
"Wow..." he just admired her for a while. "Hey, you guys should come to this little party we're throwing saturday night."
Cameron heard his friend.
"Oh yeah, you should totally come"
"What kind of a party, exactly?" Gwen questioned.
"Not much, we'll just have some music and some people and some food and stuff. No drugs or anything like that, I promise"
"Sounds fun, we'll be there"
"Speak for yourself" no one noticed the grumpiness on Helen's voice. "Gotta check at home"
"C'mon, your parents are cool about it, I know it. We should be worried about Michelle"
Michelle shrugged.
"Actually, all of those times I said my parents wouldn't let me were simply because I didn't want to go" she giggled.
"OK, see, even Michelle wants to go"
Rachel had to laugh.
"You girls coming, right? C'mon" Jackie asked Rachel, who grabbed Helen's hand.
"We're all going"
"Don't you have a boyfriend's photo to be staring at all night?" Helen hissed.
"Don't start"
"OK, fine, I'll go. Now can we please go home? I got some home work to do"
"As if you are not gonna copy it from me tomorrow morning" Gwen rolled her eyes. "But yeah, it's late, we should get going"
The girls started getting up and gathering their things.
"So I'll be seeing you on saturday?" Cameron asked Michelle.
"You bet"
"Can I... Can I get your phone number now? I might not be able to wait that long"
Michelle didn't know what to say for a moment.
A few minutes later, the four girls were making their way to the bus stop. They were silent. Michelle was still in a daze, having trouble to believe herself what had just happened. Helen was looking down. Rachel had a smile on her face and Gwen looked devilish. After another silent second, she jumped into a new puddle and the others didn't have time to react.
"Gwen!!!!"
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lol, little note to Mel.. yeah, I guess you did read too much into Mr. Judkins! But the other day I re-read that part and felt weird about him myself! lol. That did not come out right. But it's nothing, the guy's just a nice guy. In fact, I'm basing that character in my form teacher from NZ, really. Mr. Judkins, ah, nice guy! I miss the candies :D And the books I pretended to read... lol! And thanks for the review! ;)