The next days at school had gone by relatively slow. Imani had noticed a decrease in appetite; as did JT.
"Are you okay?" JT asked Imani at the lunch table.
Imani looked up from the spaghetti she was stirring with her fork. "Huh,"
"Are you okay. Is there anything wrong with you?"
"Are you saying something's wrong with me?" Imani said getting offensive.
"No, I just noticed you haven't been eating as much,"
"Are you saying that I used to eat a lot? JT, are you calling me fat?"
"No, Mani," he took a deep breath trying to think over is words wisely before he said anything else. "You are acting really different."
"Okay. I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me."
"There's nothing wrong with you"
"I've been doing this all week."
"It's probably no big deal."
In the hallway…
"Taylor, Taylor," Chad yelled running behind his girlfriend who was purposely walking away from him. "Taylor."
"Go away," she said still walking away.
"What's up with you?"
"What's up with me?" she asked flabbergasted; she then stopped walking to turn and face him. "What's up with me?" she said a little louder. "What's up with you," she asked poking him in the chest with her index finger on her last word.
"What do you mean me?" Chad grabbed her finger that had been poking him and placing it back at Taylor's side.
"You've been avoiding me. You don't call me at all. We had a date on Saturday and you totally spaced and left me there. Everytime I call you, your mom answers and says 'he's not here right now'."
"Maybe I'm busy. Do you think I'm cheating on you or something," Chad asked her seriously looking at her. "Or is it the fact that you're jealous."
"When my boyfriend is never around, never calls, misses dates, and is hanging out with a girl who isn't me all the time. What am I supposed to think? All you do is hang out with that new girl. I think her name is Imani, but her name is irrelevant. The point is that you never talk to me."
"Taylor, listen to me. I swear, to you on every thing that I own, I am not cheating on you with Imani or anyone else. I would never do that to you," Chad said to her very sincerely; then he kissed her on the cheek.
Taylor inhaled sharply. "Okay. I don't know what I was thinking,"
"Hey, I have something for you," he said as he pulled a ring out of his pocket and slid it on her finger. "You're welcome" he said as he kissed her on the cheek, before she could say a word Chad was gone into the crowd of people that appeared as soon as the bell rang.
----
"Gabi, I have no idea why I thought Chad was cheating on me." Taylor confided to her friend, an hour had passed since her lunch confrontation.
"I told you that. You should really trust me more on these kinds of things," Gabriella said sticking her tongue.
Taylor reached into her locker and pulled her Calculus book. She turned her wrist at such an angle that Gabriella had to see the ring on her finger.
"Where did that come from?" Gabriella asked grabbing Taylor's hand to hold the ring up to the light. "Careful, Tay, you better put continent away before you blind someone."
"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, Gabi. Chad gave it to me."
"How sweet of him," Gabriella smirked. "I'll see you later. The bell's about to ring and I don't want to be late for my history."
"Yeah, see you,"