Forevermore

One

The sound of the school bell ringing pulls me from my intense focus on the AP World History textbook sitting in front of me. Less than two weeks back at school and this class alone has already had two essays, a quiz, and three other assignments due.

Granted, everything has been far from difficult, but I know better than to assume that it'll always be this easy. In fact, I know as the quarter goes on, my workload will multiply.

Nobody lies about the absolute torture that junior year is.

After putting my pen and pencil in the pocket of my denim shorts, I stack my notebook on top of the now closed textbook and carry them in one arm.

"Linh!" I whisper-yell my best friend's name from the other side of the classroom as people spill out of the doors.

She holds up a hand before typing away on her sage green-cased cellphone. I walk over to where she's standing and put her things into her messenger bag so we can get to lunch quicker.

I may be dramatic, but I feel famished after forgetting to eat breakfast this morning.

After Linh pockets her phone, she slings the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "Thank you for putting my stuff away," she says.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, referring to the concern etched into her eyebrows when she was texting just a moment ago.

She smiles and nods. "Yep."

I don't get the chance to question her about it because she walks ahead of me and I have to catch up to her. She's not much taller, but she's won countless trophies for this school's track team, making her naturally a lot quicker than I am.

We're some of the last people out of the classroom and we walk to my locker. Some people in our grade still use backpacks since the teachers don't mind despite it being against school policy, but in freshman year, I tripped over my own when returning to my seat after finishing a math test and ended up with a bloody nose.

I still haven't fully recovered from that embarrassment.

When we get to my maroon-colored locker, Linh waits behind me as I spin to each of the three numbers that make its combination.

7-27-19

After putting the textbook and notebook against the locker's right wall, I grab my favorite Dior lip gloss. My dad got it for me as a back-to-school gift.

I look into the mirror hung on the interior door, carefully applying the clear gloss. I rub my lips together and wipe the excess that got onto my skin.

When I'm done, I turn around to look at Linh. "Want some?" I ask.

She grins at me and grabs the tube from my hand. She then goes through the same process that I just did.

"You're so pretty," I tell her when she takes a step back, handing it back to me.

Her lips are the perfect shape and size, she has naturally long eyelashes that don't even need to be curled, and her perfectly done hair just tops everything off. She gets it done quite often because apparently her mother just remembers to make those kinds of appointments.

I wouldn't know what that's like.

"Oh shut it," she replies.

I put the lip gloss in my favorite tote bag. It's beige with a painting of Tokyo on both sides of it. Too bad it has to remain hidden away for the majority of the day. As I reach for my sketchbook–since I have an art class after period–I feel Linh tap on my back.

"Yeah?" I say without turning around.

"Indi, it's your man."

My man?

I turn to my left out of confusion only to catch the stare of Ezra Clancy at the far end of the hallway. My heart oddly skips from the eye contact.

He instantly turns his head to look at the person he's walking with.

Ezra has to be at least four inches taller than the guy I'm slowly starting to recognize. Malachi–I think that's his name–waves around his brown hands as he speaks, not even realizing I'm looking at them.

I'm surprised Ezra isn't walking with my brother Lucas since they're practically best friends now. Not only does Ezra live across the street from me, but he's also been at my house almost everyday since Lucas joined the same baseball team as him.

After every practice and ever game they win, they come back to our house since it "has the better PlayStation." Surprisingly–and to my misfortune–it hasn't stopped even though the school year has started.

And though he's looked away, I can sense the knowing between us. Almost as if we have a shared secret.

It is not that serious, Indi. Calm down.

"You're turning red." Linh squeezes my cheek and I swat her hand away.

I almost give her a weird look for referring to Ezra as my man, but here's the thing...

My friend group is more likely to leave me alone if I tell them I have a thing for a guy than if not since they're all a bunch of hopeless romantics–which I'm definitely a little guilty of as well. They're used to my track record of having new crushes every month.

That's why they wouldn't leave me alone when we hung out just before the school year started. Everyone–even Linh, who I'm closest with–was convinced I was secretly pining for someone.

Spoiler alert: I wasn't. In fact, I swore to myself at the end of last school year to not be pining for someone until I'm twenty-five, out of college, and deep enough into my career that romance won't distract me.

They wouldn't leave me alone, though, and I grew sick of it.

At lunch on the first day, they asked me for what felt like the millionth time as Ezra just so happened to pass by the table. My gaze also just so happened to linger on him for a beat too long which caused Layla, the gossip of our group, to excitedly hit the table and almost announce to the world that I'm in love with Ezra Clancy.

Now, the whole group is convinced me and Ezra are America's next successful marriage.

I've denied it over and over again, because I truly don't see him in any light really. Especially not a romantic one.

Is he tall? Yes.

Jacked? Yes.

Handsome? Conventionally, yes.

But he calls me by my actual first name–Indigo–when he knows how much I despise it and he's too close to my brother for me to get involved in any shape, way, or form.

I don't hate him but I can't like him like that.

Case closed.

Wordlessly, I grab my sketchbook and shut the maroon door. "Enough of that," I say before Linh and I fall into equally paced steps.