Prologue ( Marissa's POV)
How can something this wrong feel so right? You know you shouldn't feel the things you do for her. You can't tell her. Sometimes you open your mouth, about to let those words slip out, and you snap it shut again as she looks at you questioningly. You always give her a weak smile, and try to look as if you don't know what she means. Sometimes, though, you think she sees right through you. You think she knows, but then you dismiss that idea. Wouldn't she say something about that?
You can't remember when your feelings changed from friendly to something more. You just know that the time between you realising and now is becoming increasingly longer, and you still haven't told her. She's your best friend, how are you supposed to tell her that what the two of you have is not enough?
You tried to tell Summer, once, too. That didn't work out either. You mumbled, tripped over your words, and then the phone rang, and when she put it down you pretended it didn't matter. She saw right through you, you know she did, but she didn't push you. Maybe she sensed it wasn't the right time. So here you are, waiting for the right moment, and you're scared that it's never going to come. What if she never wants to speak to you again?
Part one:
The bell rang, signalling the first lesson of this year. Marissa was running late, as usual, having taken three times as long to get ready as the average person. Summer was having difficulty keeping up with Marissa, who had picked her up this morning, and said, a little out of breath,
" Come on, we're late already. A few more minutes won't hurt."
Marissa just frowned and stopped for a second to allow Summer to catch up.
" We promised Alex we'd be here early, remember?"
" Nope, I don't remember that," said Summer dismissively. Slightly distracted, she almost walked into the door of her classroom instead of through it, and waving over her shoulder at Marissa, said that she'd see her at lunch. They didn't have any classes together today.
Marissa reached her class and slipped into the empty seat next to Alex. Fortunately for her, the teacher appeared to be running late as well today.
" What happened to getting here early?" asked Alex, a teasing tone apparent in her voice.
" Oh, you know, Summer took forever to come out of her house," said Marissa casually.
" Really? So it had nothing to do with the fact that you spent three hours in the bathroom this morning?"
" Not at all," replied Marissa, grinning a little. " We're really really sorry, and we'll make it up to you," she continued.
" You'd better," said Alex in response. " How about…umm…you can be my slaves for the week."
" Looks like someone's feeling a little…or a lot…lazy this week."
" Looks like some other people broke their promise," Alex shot back.
" Really? What kind of people would do a thing like that?" asked Marissa innocently.
" People who are very vain," said Alex, a slight smirk on her face.
" I'm not vain! I just like to look good."
" Yeah, whatever, sounds like the same thing to me. How long did you stand in front of the mirror admiring yourself today then, Miss. I'm-not-at-all-vain?"
" Oh, just an hour or so," replied Marissa.
" Not long then," said Alex seriously. They both held their serious expressions for a moment before they caught each other's eyes and burst out laughing.
" So how have you been…since I last saw you…" asked Marissa slowly.
" You saw me yesterday," said Alex. " Does it look like a lot has changed?"
" Hmm…" replied Marissa, pretending to inspect Alex closely.
" What are you doing?"
"Checking to see if anything has changed," said Marissa.
" You need to look that closely? I'm hurt that you can't tell from just looking at me for one second," Alex said, pretending to look sad.
Marissa blushed slightly. Alex noticed, but couldn't pinpoint what she'd said to make Marissa's face redden like that. Marissa cleared her throat awkwardly, while Alex looked at her a little amusedly.
"Why are you so nervous and jumpy today?" asked Alex curiously. " It's not like you."
Marissa just shrugged. Alex turned to say something else, but she was interrupted by the arrival of their teacher.
" Sorry I'm late," said the teacher as he opened a folder to look at his notes. Marissa and Alex looked at each other, sharing a smile as they realised that this was where they both stopped paying attention.
Summer was not having a good day. She'd reached her class, where her teacher, unlike Marissa's was actually on time, and she'd received a detention for being late. She muttered under her breath as she sat down next to Seth, not because she wanted to, but because it was the only space available. "Could this day get any worse?" she thought, as he shifted closer to her. Apparently it could, was her next thought, as she felt something hit her on the back of the head. She turned around to see Jodie grinning at her. Great, Seth and Jodie in one class. She could handle one of them at a time, but not both of them. She sighed, resting her head on the desk and preparing to sleep for the next hour.
At lunchtime, Summer was the first out of class. She looked around for her friends, well if you could call Jodie and Seth friends that was. She smiled as she saw Marissa and Alex, closely followed by Jodie. She might complain about both her and Seth on a regular basis, but she loved them really.
They all sat down outside, as the weather was typical Californian sunshine, and began to eat. Partway through the meal, Jodie noticed Summer staring at her.
" What?" she said.
" You just have a little…" Summer said gesturing to Jodie's cheek.
Jodie wiped at the spot Summer was pointing at, but felt nothing. Summer leaned across the table wiping off the speck with her thumb. Their faces close together, Jodie said,
" I knew you wanted me as much as I want you."
Summer just rolled her eyes, sitting back in her seat.
They were then interrupted by Seth.
" Don't fear, ladies, for I am here," he said, closely followed by, " hmm, I can rhyme stuff."
" That's…um…interesting, Seth," said Alex.
Jodie looked at Summer. " I can't believe you dated that nutcase," she said.
" Yeah, me neither," replied Summer looking at Seth as if he were from a different planet. " I mean, he could have told me about his sexual preferences before, to avoid that disaster of a relationship."
" Aw, are you worried it might have been you that turned me, again, Summer? That's cute," said Seth.
" Careful, Seth. Rage blackouts, remember?" said Marissa.
" I remember well," said Seth darkly.
" You brought it on yourself, Cohen," said Summer.
No one said anything. Seth looked around. " Come on, back me up girls," he said overdoing his pouting expression so he looked like he was attempting to imitate a fish.
Jodie shook her head. " I still think you're insane to want a guy over Summer," she said. Summer smiled, before remembering she wasn't supposed to be encouraging Jodie, and changing her smile to a frown.
" Alex?" said Seth hopefully. " Come on, you're the only one here who won't be all, well girls are better anyway. No offence, girls, but no."
" Sorry, Seth, I'm with Jodie on this one."
" Whaaaaaaaat? You're the straight one, you're supposed to back me up."
He looked at Marissa. " Well, it's no good asking you," he said, admitting defeat.
Marissa grinned. " Not really, no. Besides, Seth, I'd be more willing to back you up if you had better taste. I mean, Ryan?"
" Ew," said all of the girls in unison.
" What?" said Seth. " He's sexaay," he informed them.
" Ugh, the mental images," said Summer. And on that note, the bell rang. Quickly arranging to meet after school to "study" they all went their separate ways.
Marissa and Jodie were the only two out of the group who had a class together that afternoon. They sat together at the back of Spanish.
" So when are you going to tell Alex?" Jodie asked casually, using her arm to block the fact that she was eating chocolate from the teacher.
" Tell her what?" asked Marissa.
Jodie raised her eyebrows, swallowing the chocolate that was preventing her from speaking.
" You know what. Stop denying."
" Never is looking like a good time to me," said Marissa hopelessly.
" Come on, Marissa. It's like blindingly obvious. She's going to notice sooner or later."
" It is not obvious!"
" It really is," said Jodie, actually looking a little sympathetic. " Even Summer's started to notice, and you know how oblivious that girl is to anything but fashion."
" Oh. My. God," said Marissa.