Falling for my Best Friend

Awkward

Wren

Once a seating crisis was averted in Lit class because of Riley coming in clutch, I tried to relax in my seat, but everything went from zero to sixty. Now I found myself sitting across from Kilian and Gael, with Riley to my left. Mrs. Patrick had just dropped off details of our extensive semester-long romance project. Are you kidding me? 

Of course, as the one with the 4.0 GPA, everyone looked at me anxiously to take charge. I can't let this drama with Gael and I bring down my GPA. I worked way too hard to get here, and my application to Columbia is due next week.

So I push my feelings down deep and look around at everyone, "This first page is a list of suggested titles, we should see if we recognize any of them and decide if we want to act out or simply read aloud at the end of this. That way we can write our piece accordingly."

The boys shout, almost in unison, "Act!"

"I hate reading in front of the class, you know that Wren, if we have to read at least let me have fun with it," Kilian pleads.

Riley chimes in and says, "If they want to act, we get to pick the piece."

"Seems fair to me," Gael says, "I don't even know what half of these are."

That sounds about right. Leave it to these boys to make a game of this, but at least it should be fun for a while.

"Okay, then, what do we think about Romeo and Juliet? It's the one we are probably all the most familiar with," I suggest.

"Barf!" Kilian blurts out.

"Hey, I think it's so romantic, and isn't that the point of this project?" Riley replies.

"Sure romantic, they both end up dead," Gael huffs.

"Well you all just proved my point, see, we all know the story so I think it's a good piece to go with," I insist.

"Fine," both boys say in unison again.

For someone who wanted to have "that fucker's throat" less than an hour ago, Kil is being considerably friendly with Gael.

"If we're going to act, we should choose what character's we want to be before we start writing, to make it less awkward later," I suggest.

"You should be Juliet," Riley pipes in, "You're the most well-spoken and I don't like to be in front of the class either so I don't want such a big part." 

"Okay, I'm not the most happy about that but I'll deal. So we need a Romeo and Tybalt, boys, any preference?" 

"Romeo!" in unison again. 

What is going on with these boys? "We only need one, it's a big part and you're going to have to romance me, think this through," I plead with heat rising to my cheeks.

"It should be Kilian, everyone in school has been shipping you two since junior high, we'll get an A just for that," Riley exclaims.

"Shipping?!" Gael retorts, "What even does that mean?"

"It means we want them to make out and have babies already," Riley replies.

Kilian's face noticeably reddens, "I think you skipped a step there, Riley," he coughs.

"Don't be gross Kilian, you know what I mean!"

"Okay, whatever, I'll be Tybalt," Gael interjects.

"I think it would be a good idea to let Riley be a neutral actor until we know which scene we want to act out we won't know for sure what character we need to place to continue the story," I say pretending that I know what I'm talking about.

Everyone seems to nod in agreement. "Okay, that's two big decisions settled, great start team," I say trying to motivate them. "We still have like twenty-five minutes left of class, let's split up. Two of us should go to the library and get a copy of the play for reference and we probably need some type of dictionary or something to help us figure out the old English."

Almost before I can even finish, Kilian pipes in, "Gael, let's go."

Gael looks almost nervous, why would he be nervous around Kil? At least he didn't get stuck with me. They stand up and head to the library. Riley and I start doing research on the internet to figure out which scenes we want to translate.

Gael

What is this world? How did I end up here sitting next to the friend who wants to put my ass in a sling, across from the girl who has claimed me and the girl I wish would. This is going to be an interesting semester. After arguing briefly about who would get to be Wren's Romeo, somehow I get stuck with Tybalt and now I'm walking to the library with the guy who wanted to kick my ass this morning. 

Why does Kil even care who plays Romeo? He said himself he doesn't want to be in front of the class? Unless... Shit. My stomach feels like it twists, this just got a lot more interesting. I have a feeling that he is more into Wren than he is telling me. Where is Declan when you need him? This is fine. Everything is fine.

I shake myself back to reality, only to have my thoughts interrupted by a punch to the arm, "Shit, bro, what was that for?" I say to Kilian angrily.

"For what you did to Wren last night," he replies.

"Okay, well at least someone knows what I did, but I don't even know, so feel like cluing me in?" I insist.

"She heard you, and even if that is really what you think I don't know why you would say that to Declan, why would you spread that shit around our group? Even if she didn't hear you it would have gotten back to her, SHIT, why did you even want to take her to the dance if that's what you thought of her?!," he ends his reply almost yelling at me.

I try to rack my brain to figure out what the hell he could be talking about. I don't remember saying anything about Wren at all last night, except for once she left, I was asking around for her, but I sincerely don't remember saying a damn thing. The silence is broken by the loud squeak of the library door and we go inside.