Tags: Sam/Stacey, Stacey/Toby

Stacey and the Text Message

"Oh my god." Kristy's nose wrinkled in disgust. "You're not seriously going to send that to my brother."

Stacey leapt up from the bench, tilting her phone screen away from Kristy and holding it to her chest. With her other hand, she gave Kristy a firm shove. Kristy gave an undignified yelp, but quickly regained her footing. If she noticed Stacey glaring daggers at her, she didn't show it.

"What was that for?" Kristy moaned, rubbing at her upper arm. "If you didn't want me to see, you shouldn't have been messaging him in front of me! Honestly. I can't believe you're messaging him at all. He's so…"

"We're friends."

"That's how you message your friends?" Kristy baulked. "God. I hope you never message me like that."

Stacey frowned. Instead of responding to Kristy, she returned her attention to her phone, deliberating turning her back to her nosey friend and (more importantly) hiding her screen. Her body was now facing Claudia, who sat on the end of the bench and was hiding a smile. But Kristy remained totally unaware of Stacey's frosty demeanour and, now standing, she moved to stand in front of the two girls.

"He's so gross. Besides, I thought you liked Toby. Are you messaging him too?"

"Kristy."

"Like I said, we're friends." Stacey's voice was firm. "I'm allowed to message my friends, Kristy. Sam and Toby included."

"But they're not really friends, are they?" Kristy retorted. "They're boys."

Claudia leapt to her best friend's defence, rolling her eyes. "Girls can be friends with boys."

"Yeah, but Stacey doesn't want to be just friends with Toby. Or Sam, apparently. That makes it different, doesn't it?"

At this, Stacey flushed. Unable to think of a good response, she hurriedly pushed her phone deep into her pocket. She stood, grabbing Claudia's hand and pulling her up. Then, with her nose in the air with indignation, she pushed past Kristy and stormed away. Claudia called out a half-hearted excuse to Kristy—a hurried mumble about being late for class—and allowed herself to be escorted away.

"She just doesn't understand," Claudia said softly, hooking her arm through Stacey's. "She doesn't mean anything by it."

"I know," Stacey responded. Then, with a wicked grin, "I can't wait until she starts liking boys. It's gonna be so much fun."

The two girls dissolved into peals of laughter.