It was now over two weeks since Joe's play and my soccer game, and everything between the two of us went back to normal, for the most part. I pretended I didn't have a clue as to what had happened the night after the play, the night I saw Joe and Melissa together in the dressing room.
Joe told me about her soon after, of course. He never kept anything from me. It was the next Monday at school when he stopped me midway through our random conversation that he informed me of his newfound relationship. He chose his words slowly, carefully studying my face as if he wasn't exactly sure how I would react. Since I had already known about Melissa, I knew it was coming. I had been practicing my reaction for hours, knowing Joe would have to tell me about it sooner or later. I told him how excited I was for him and was so glad he seemed to have found such a nice girl. Even though I wanted to, I could never bring myself to tell Joe how I really felt about it. It was his very first girlfriend, and there was no way I would mess that up for him. No matter how much it pained me, I just wanted him to be happy.
I decided it was better that I focus more on school anyway. My grades had been slipping a little lately, and I could not afford any more bad grades like I made on my last Calculus test. Joe, wishing me luck beforehand, had distracted me yet again and I found myself doodling his face on my paper when I was supposed to be figuring through a set of problems. My teacher obviously wouldn't accept a sketch of a pair of bright blue eyeballs instead of the graph I should have been drawing.
I hadn't seen James since the day of the game; however, we did text occasionally to see how the other was doing or to talk more about soccer. He was nice enough, and it was a relief to be able to talk to another guy so easily, with no complications whatsoever. I looked forward to the days we would send the other our advice or words of encouragement as a big match or important event was approaching.
Joe didn't know about James, but I really never even thought anything of it. I hardly even knew the guy, and I only texted him once or twice a week anyway, so I knew it wasn't a big deal.
Today was now Wednesday, by far the most boring day of the week. Nothing exciting ever happened on Wednesday, and being assigned a project worth thirty percent of our grade just made it all the worse. In Chemistry, we had to pair up with one other person and make a presentation together to discuss one of the groups on the periodic table. Luckily, Joe and I were in the same class, and we paired up immediately to choose the easiest group of all, the noble gases. We made plans to work on it the following Saturday since weekdays were always so busy with other activities.
It wasn't until later that day when Joe came up to me, excitedly explaining how Melissa was in another chemistry class and had the same project as well. She was originally working by herself, but since she also had the noble gases, she would be joining us to work on the project together.
Working together, for hours at a time, would be the adorable new couple and the pathetic third wheel who secretly longed after her best friend. Great.
Super short, I know. Sorry about that, but I've been pretty busy. Hope you enjoyed it anyway :)