"I really like you," he answered, as calm as could be.
"WHAT?" Hallie stood up and stomped her foot. By now, the whole basketball team was watching the two.
When Hallie ever got this mad, her voice wouldn't get louder, it got softer, which seemed to scare the shit out of just about everyone. "Now, I will talk to you after fourth hour on the way to lunch at your locker. Hopefully you will have sorted out your issues by then," Hallie back slapped Zack on the head, but not too hard, then stomped out leaving the whole gym silent.
HOA Cousenling Rm. 222 8:32 am Tuesday, August 27th
Steph was sitting on the itchy puke green couch in Mrs. Prosser's office. The smell of cats and moth balls filled the compressed air.
"Now," Mrs. Prosser sat her white china coffee on the clear coster lying on the wood table in the center of the room. She fluffed up her mousy brown-gray bob. "I understand that you have some feelings between each other that aren't that nice."
Steph couldn't stand the beginning of the year 'let's get together... and have some fun' kick-off for the year to be more friendly-oriented. She felt like she was about to puk with her sweet voice that sounded so fake, but then she remembered her and the rest of the gurlz had spray painted the rest of the big banner so it just spelled 'let's get together'. The next morning Mrs. Norbert had made an announcement over the PA system that anyone who knew about the vandalism at the fair the night before should talk to her immediately and that she would do anything that she could in her power to catch these 'ruthless crazy people'. She had spent the whole time in homeroom that day laughing.
On the other side of the uncomfortable couch, Hallie sat, her eyes bugged open, not being able to close them for long periods of time. This, she couldn't tell anyone. Not even Michelle. On one hand, she really wanted Zack and Steph were absolutely perfect for each other, and she wanted them to be together. But ever since the day that Steph had made Hallie test if Zack was gay or not, she had known he liked her and wondered if they could ever be together. No. She shook the thought from her head. That was the one biggest thing, over anything, that she just couldn't and wouldn't do to Steph. Hallie always took extra time to get ready when she knew that he was going to be at the same party or basketball game or something like that. When she smiled and flirted her best when he was around. She just couldn't ruin that for her friend.
Jess moved her suspicious gaze between Steph and Hallie. She knew that something was up, she just didn't know what. Normally, she wouldn't have cared less, but something inside of her told her not to let this feeling go. Jess knew that such good friends like Hallie and Steph would have been sending text messeges saying "this is so gay" or some other inside joke about Mrs. Prosser. Or they would have been sending each other silent messeges between glances. But there was nothing.
Hallie was just sitting there, looking unusually bug-eyed and not blinking for long periods of time. Jess squinted and looked at Jill to see if she had noticed the coldness between the two yet.
Jill's eyes flickered to Steph, then to Hallie, then back to Jess. Jess shrugged her shoulders slightly. She didn't know what was going on either. By then, Steph had caught on that Jess and Jill were having a silent conversation about her and Hallie. She gave Jess a death glare then stared at the floor. What were they talking about? Steph knew it had to be something mentionable, because even she realized that Jess wasn't so stupid as to openly silently talk about her, especially with her in close quarters.
"Now, I want Jess and Steph," Mrs. Prosser gave her assingment. "Hallie and Jill, Rachel and Michelle, and Alex and Lexi to sit by each other," She waited for the girls to move halfheartedly.
"Each of you pairs will be working together after school on Monday and Wednesdays after school from 3:30 to 4:45 pm.
You girls will be making posters that will hang around the school that symbolize unity and togetherness at HOA," Mrs. Prosser clapped her bony hands together and grinned as she waited for the girls' reactions. Silence. "You will each get $150 for supplies and other costs of your posters. We will meet next Monday to review each team's progress. You may go." Mrs. Prosser returned to her desk, apparently disappointed that her students weren't full of enthusiasm about their project.
As the girls filed out, Hallie was determined to get to her locker, being able to avoid Steph. "Hey," Steph had to run to keep up with Hallie's pace. "What was wrong with you in there?" She grabbed her by the arm and pulled her so they were face to face.