Only Fools - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

"Good job, Aspen," Mr. Todd tells me with a smile as he hands me back the last test that we took. As I look at the A circled on the front, I can feel the sensation of pride swelling in my chest. I smile appears on my face with my next thought. I need to tell Margot.
I can't help but count down the minutes until the end of class, something that I normally do but has a different feeling today. Rather than counting down as a result of the boredom or confusion that I'd rather leave behind me, I'm purely excited to get to my next class as I know that Margot will be there.
Once the bell rings, I hurry out the door as quickly as possible, leaving Tori behind me, surely laughing at my antics.
As soon as I step foot in the art room, I immediately run to the spot in the back of the class where Margot sits for her independent art, to find her there with her nose buried in her phone.
"Margot!" I say rather excitedly.
"What?" she asks in a rather sarcastic tone, which I elect to ignore.
"I got an A on the last test," I tell her with a smile. She almost immediately smiles back, clearly proud of my accomplishment.
"That's great, A-"
"Margot Annalise May!" someone exclaims from behind me.
"Annalise?" I question her with a single raised eyebrow. She just shrugs before looking up to give her attention to the person who just said her full name.
"What do you want, Harrison?" she asks dryly. It's then that I decide to spare the boy beside me a glance, though to my surprise it turns out to be two boys, connected by the hands. The taller one, Harrison, stands beside me. According to my estimations, he would have to be close to six feet, if not six feet. On the top of his head rests a mop of curly dirty blond hair with seemingly no attempt to have been controlled, which juxtaposes the rest of his look. His eyebrows are so perfectly shaped and filled in that I'm nearly jealous. His eyelashes are extended to an unholy length and his winged eyeliner is far straighter than me. Even the freckles on his face seem to be specifically placed.
The boy standing closely next to him is just a couple inches shorter, but the expectation that Harrison should be the shorter one makes it seem much more drastic. The boy is almost the complete opposite of Harrison. Instead of messy blond curls, his dark brown hair hangs off his head in uniform waves. His eyelids droop with exhaustion while Harrison's eyes are wide despite the lashes you would assume weigh them down. His tan skin reveals no freckles. His hoodie reveals to me that he's part of the school hockey team, but I can't remember ever having a conversation with the boy (unlike the blond who I remember being in a group project with once).
Though, the name Harrison does ring a bell outside of that group project, I can't quite place it.
"Ok. You will not believe what I heard from Veronica,"
Margot just raises an eyebrow at him, beckoning him to keep going.
"Nick just got a girlfriend," Harrison says excitedly. Margot smiles in a wistful way as she shakes her head. I shoot Margot a confused expression to which she mouths that she would tell me later.
"Who's this?" Harrison suddenly asks, finally turning to look at me.
"Oh. That's Aspen," Margot says before turning her attention to me, "Aspen, this is Harrison and then Raider,"
It's then that the names click: Harrison and Raider, Margot's two best friends. She's mentioned them before. Glancing over at the two boys, I notice the difference in facial expressions. While Harrison holds a slight smirk, Raider sends me a genuine small smile which I return.
"Oh. So this is the Aspen that Margot's told us all about?" Harrison says cheekily as Margot just rolls her eyes at him before turning to me to just shake her head at his words.
"We have heard all about you, Aspen," Harrison assures me. My cheeks flush slightly at the words as I look down at the ground.
"Stop it, Harry," Margot says with a glare, not even bothering to refute his point.
Harrison rolls his eyes at Margot.
"Best friend stealer," Harrison whispers into my ear.
"What the fuck, Harrison?" Margot asks him.
"I-"
"Yo. Aspen!" a voice interrupts Harrison's explanation.
I glance back over at Dustin who's already sitting down in his usual seat next to mine.
"I'm gonna...." I trail off as I nod back over to Dustin.
"We're still meeting to study for midterms tonight. Right?" Margot checks with me to which I nod in response. It's then that Harrison begins to look back and forth between Dustin and I.
"Dustin McCob and Aspen Grayson. Football captain and cheerleading captain power couple?" Harrison asks, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Try best friends,"
"Who went to homecoming together?"
"Yeah. I guess no one else wanted to go with us so why not?"
Harrison just shrugs, clearly accepting my explanation as Raider quickly glances at Margot before looking back at me.
"Well, it was nice to finally meet you, Aspen," Raider tells me, causing me to smile.
"Nice to meet you too,"
"Aspen!" Dustin calls again.
"Coming!" I call back. Fucking hell.
"What the hell, dude?" I ask as I set down on the stool next to him.
"I was bored," he explains with a shrug.
"So you sabotage my chances of making new friends?"
"You don't need anymore. You have me,"
"And you have Declan,"
"And you have Ivy. Do you wanna keep playing this game?"
I narrow my eyes at him but shake my head. It's then that the bell rings and our teacher decides to begin class by simply telling us to continue working on the design project we started yesterday, and so Dustin and I get to work.
"What are you going to do now that football is over?" I pipe up after a few minutes.
"Declan said that he wanted to join robotics club so I might do that too," Dustin says with a shrug.
"Oh yeah. I forgot Declan was smart, much too smart for you. What are you going to do in robotics club?" I tease the boy next to me. Dustin glares at my comments, but decides to respond to them anyways.
"Declan said he would help me out," Dustin says, his attention suddenly extremely focused on the design he's currently working on.
"Aw. How cute,"
Dustins cheeks heat up slightly, but he quickly shakes his head so his hair falls out from behind his ears and in front of his face.
"You're no fun," I pout.
"Yeah? What club are you joining this time because Ivy's in it?"
My cheeks go red at his words so I quickly look down too.
"I'm actually not planning on joining any clubs this year. I need to focus on cheer and school more," I tell him.
"So she hasn't told you what she's joining yet? I give it a week,"
I roll my eyes at him, not wanting him to win this one but also not having a good enough comeback. And so I just stay silent and definitely don't miss the smirk on his lips that he shows me when he tucks his hair back behind his ears. Within a few minutes we both have earbuds in and are working silently on drawing out our projects.
My earbud being pulled out of my ear is what breaks my trance.
"One Direction?" Margot questions me. I glare at her for interrupting my music before snatching the earbud away and taking my other one out, then pausing the music and shoving everything into my pocket.
"Walk you to your next class?" Margot asks me, my expression softens before I nod my head in response. Margot begins to walk away and I start to stand up before I feel Dustin tap me on the shoulder.
"Hey, if Ivy doesn't work out...." Dustin nods his head towards Margot. I take a second to follow his nod to glance over at the girl, the sleeves of her oxford rolled up and paint spots on her plaid skirt.
"I'm pretty sure she's straight," I respond.
"Ah, so you have a type," Dustin says with a conniving smile.
"Dude, I don't like Margot,"
"Hey, Aspen. You coming?" Margot pipes up. I smile at her.
"Yeah,"
I send a quick goodbye to Dustin in the form of a small smile and then begin to follow the girl out the door.
"So, you met Harrison and Raider...." Margot says as we exit the classroom.
"Yeah. I did. Though I'm not sure Harrison likes me much," I say sheepishly.
"Oh, don't mind him. He'll warm up to you. He's just.... he's a little protective of his friends,"
I nod at her explanation.
"So.... about what Harrison had to tell you....??"
Margot opens her mouth to explain but then stops walking.
"I think this is your stop, but I can tell you in theology," she tells me. I nod, but I'm not sure she sees it as she hurries away to get to her class, though not before stopping after a couple steps to turn around and give me a quick smile which I return before walking into history.
————
"Hurry up. Take your seats," our theology teacher calls out as she begins to write due dates and topics on the board that we will also most likely be forced to write down.
With a sigh, I sit down in my normal seat, pull out my notebook, and drop it onto the table in front of me. After flipping to a fresh page, someone slides into the seat next to me and I turn to see Margot sitting there.
"What are you-"
"Micah's absent today so I figured this seat was up for grabs," she explains with a shrug before slouching down in her seat and turning her attention to the whiteboard, making a face at the words written on it.
"You know she's going to yell at you for not being in your seat,"
"I can see the board better from here,"
"You're one row ahead,"
"That's still one less row I have to see over,"
I roll my eyes at her but studiously date and label my notes and quietly wait for class fo start.
"For such a party animal, you're a pretty rule abiding student, Aspen Grayson,"
I shrug at her.
"Oh yeah, Miss Scholarship, right?"
"Yes, Margot. Now class is starting,"
"Wow. It's like an entirely different person,"
I glare at her as the teacher begins to talk about the lesson of the day.
It's not even five minutes into the lesson when I feel Margot tug my notebook out from underneath my arm. I scowl at her, but that morphs into confusion as I notice she's writing something.
Hey
That's it?? Pay attention.
I try to tune back into the lesson after writing back to her, but if Margot is anything, she's persistent.
I figured you wanted to know what Harrison was talking about. But I guess I was wrong....
I do. But why can't you just text me??
*Gasp*
Did good girl Aspen Grayson not put her phone in the phone box!
I'm pretty sure no one does that. I bet you don't.
I'm not a rule abiding good girl like you, Aspen.
One, I am not. Two, what are you then?? Definitely not a true rule breaker.
One. You definitely are. And two I'm not telling you. You'll have to figure that one out for yourself. ;)
Ok. Sorry that I follow the rules for free tuition. And I thought we were going to talk about what Harrison said. He said something about someone named Nick?? Who is he??
She was one of my best friends. She, Harrison, Raider, and I practically grew up together.
But....
But she ended up having a crush on me.
Oh. And....
Well, I didn't like her back.
Were you really mean about it or something??
No. I tried to be as nice as I could be. But she thought it was all too awkward and eventually just ghosted me completely.
I
I begin to write a response before I suddenly hear my name. I look up to see our theology teacher standing in the front of the room scowling at Margot and I.
"Sorry, Ms. Bard. Aspen was just showing me the notes on what you just said because I wanted to make sure I got it all," Margot covers for us.
"And what, may I ask, are you doing in that seat, Miss May?" Ms. Bard finally notices what I assumed she would've at the beginning of class.
"Well, I usually can't see the board very well so I figured I would move up since Micah is absent today," Margot attempts to explain. Ms. Bard narrows her eyes at my friend.
"You only moved up a row, Miss May. Go back to your assigned seat,"
Margot nods, but quickly scribbles something on my notebook before winking and walking over to her seat.
Guess I broke a rule.
I roll my eyes at her messy writing before turning back to look at the girl who now has a smirk etched onto her face.
But then as I turn back to my notes, or the conversation that's scribbled in my notebook, I can't help the overwhelming feeling of realization and worry.
In my head I always assumed Ivy would be the one to end the friendship if she didn't like me back. I never even thought about the possibility that I personally might not be able to be friends with her anymore. I cringe at the thought. Could I actually just leave my best friend like that because things would get awkward? I know that I don't do well in awkward situations to begin with. But would that be enough? And suddenly I'm doubting myself. Just another reason to stay quiet about it until she gives me a reason not to.
————
"In theo.... was that all you had to tell me?" I suddenly pipe up as I'm in the middle of trying to work through a calculus problem. Margot glances up from my paper to look at me.
"About what?"
"That girl. Nick," I say quietly. Margot lets out a sigh.
"Yeah. I mean, we're still friendly towards each other. We smile at each other in the hallways. But.... I guess it just hasn't been the same since. Why?"
"No reason," I say with a shrug, trying to play it off.
But the way that my mind is nearly drowning in images of what could be my future is a different story. Me seeing Ivy's missed texts and calls and just turning my phone off. Walking past Ivy in the hall and not even looking her way, though that will eventually turn into friendly smiles that don't actually mean anything. Having to hear about Ivy through someone else. Not knowing her anymore. And through it all, knowing that she's hurting too. But maybe that's the redemption in it. She hurt me and so I would have to hurt her back.
I pinch myself for the thought.
"Aspen. Are you alright?" Margot asks from beside me.
"Yeah. Just stressed about this midterm. That's all,"
Margot nods as she scans her eyes over the paper in front of me.
"Well. Everything seems to be right so far. So how about we take a break?"
"What?"
"A movie maybe?"
I smile at my friend, my eyes watering a little bit.
"Whoah, Aspen. I didn't know you were that stressed. You should've just told me," Margot says with a small laugh, noticing the tears in my eyes. And something in her eyes tells me that she knows that this "stress" is mostly coming from a source other than studying. But she doesn't bother asking, most likely knowing that I don't want to bother telling. I shake my head at her as she gets up and walks over to the selection of DVDs.
"You choose," she tells me as she gestures to them. And I can't help but be even more grateful for her and her ability to put me in a better mood when I need it the most, her ability to pull me out of my head and help me think straight again.
"Scream," I tell her, choosing the movie that's strangely enough comforting to me. Margot raises an eyebrow at my choice but puts it in the DVD player and starts the movie.
"Lights," I say to which she quickly shuts off the lights before returning to sit on the couch next to me.
"Wait. This isn't a horror movie is it?" Margot suddenly asks. But the movie has already started.
"Shh,"
I glance over to her to see her roll her eyes but stay quiet nonetheless. And so I lean into her and rest my head on her shoulder, attempting to show just how grateful I am to have her without having to say anything at all.