His Marshmallow

Six

"Since I don't look like every other girl, it takes a while to be okay with that. To be different. But different is good." - Serena Williams.

*

IT WAS MONDAY again and I did my usual morning routine. After my mom dropped me off, I headed into the school and straight to my locker. I kept wondering about one thing all weekend and it was the same this morning.

Why on Earth was Alex being nice to me?

He had not shown any form of ill-treatment towards me ever since I met him and I felt weird about it. There was something suspicious about it. To someone who was used to being treated like trash, this was new.

At my locker, I dropped the stuff I didn't need and picked up the books for my morning classes. I was so occupied with my thoughts that I didn't realize that I had company.

"Hello..." The person said to gain my attention. I was surprised to see that it was Avery.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She said it so casually, easily – as if we'd been friends for a while.

I didn't know what to say so I just settled for "Hi."

Avery pouted, a frown appearing on her flawless face. "That's not how you greet your future sister-in-law."

"What?" I stared at her, eyes wide and mouth gaping like a fish. What the hell was she talking about?

Avery chuckled, "You went on a date with my brother on Saturday."

"No, I did not. It wasn't a date. It was actually a discussion session for our literature assignment," I told her.

Avery clapped her hands, laughing. "Oh My God! I was just messing with you. You should have seen the look on your face."

I watched her, my face blank. I've never liked someone laughing at my expense so it was not funny to me at all. And we weren't even friends.

When she was done with her laughing fit, she said, "I'm sorry about that. I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me."

Taken aback, I took a step back. "Um... what?"

"Let's have lunch together. I want to get to know you better. I barely know anything about someone that I consider a friend and that's not good at all."

I stared at her, wide-eyed. Was I in an alternate universe or something?

Avery considered me a friend?

"You want us to have lunch together?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Sitting together at the same table in the cafeteria?"

"Yes, Maisie. Together."

Wow, this was new. People don't ask me to have lunch with them. I hadn't been eating in the cafeteria for a while so I contemplated telling her or declining her offer because of that, but I decided against it. I shouldn't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of that.

"Okay, sure. I'd love to," I smiled at her.

"Great," she chirped. "Do you know where my locker is?"

"No."

"Then, let's meet here during lunch break."

"Okay."

"I'm off to class then. See you later."

I watched her walk away and she turned around to wave to me with a smile lighting up her beautiful face. Because she was walking backward as she waved, she bumped into a guy. The guy's phone fell to the ground due to the collision. He looked pissed as Avery apologized to him. She picked up his phone and scrutinized it for any damages before handing it back to him with a smile. He mumbled something and walked off with a scowl on his face.

Avery watched him go with a frown, then she moved her mouth and head in a funny way, seemingly mocking him.

I chuckled and she saw me. She smiled and waved one last time before focusing on the way.

*

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't eagerly waiting for lunch break. I was kind of looking forward to it. The sound of the bell reminded me of it each time a class ended. I wondered why she wanted us to be friends. I wondered what we'd talk about and if it wouldn't be awkward. Yes, I was skeptical about it but part of me was excited too.

When the bell rang for lunch, I packed up my stuff and left the class earlier than I normally would. I got to our meeting point but she wasn't there yet. I made myself look busy as I waited. It had only been about two minutes but I was already thinking Avery has come to her senses and changed her mind.

Don't blame me, I was paranoid.

I grabbed the paper bag containing my lunch and my bottle of water, ready to go eat alone. Just then, Avery appeared.

"Sorry, I'm late. The teacher wanted to have a word with me. Did you wait long?"

"No, I didn't." I smiled, relieved that she showed up.

Avery grinned. "Let's go."

I was caught off guard when she linked our arms together as we walked towards the cafeteria.

Once in, I was assigned the duty of finding us a table while she joined the queue to get her lunch.

I found a table a little far away from the popular kids. The tables close to the popular kids usually got occupied quickly because everyone wanted to befriend them, be like them, or see some drama.

I waited patiently for Avery and it didn't take as long as I had expected. She returned with her food tray and sat in front of me.

"Remember how I bumped into a guy this morning?"

"Yeah."

"He's really cute. I'd totally date him. Too bad he was an arsehole. He got so angry that I bumped into him even though I sincerely apologized."

I shrugged, "Maybe he was just having a bad day."

"Yeah, sure." Avery rolled her eyes. "Let's eat."

I took out one of my avocado and turkey sandwiches and took a bite of it.

"Hey. Now that I think about it. I don't think I've seen you in the cafeteria before," Avery commented.

"That's because I don't eat in the cafeteria anymore," I answered. I was uncomfortable sitting there. I

could feel people's stares or rather, glares at me. I looked around and my eyes met Brittany's. She gave me an evil smirk and I looked away. I was reminded of what happened the last time I was here. I just hoped nothing would happen this time.

"Hey, where does your brother sit?" I asked her, trying to erase the image of Brittany's smirk from my head. " I thought that you guys would sit together."

"We used to. Then, we were both invited to sit with the jocks. I got tired of sitting with them. All they do is talk about how hot and sexy a girl is. Alex even hates that kind of stuff. I can guarantee that he'd stop hanging out with them soon."

She pointed at where Alex was seated and sure enough, he did look like he'd prefer to be somewhere else. I smiled at the sight. I unwrapped my second sandwich when I was done with the first one: and just as I was about to take a bite, something hit me and liquid splashed on my face.

"Oh my God!" Avery exclaimed in shock.

I looked straight to where I saw the Bs seated only to see that they were already on their way here. Brittany looked proud of herself.

Why did I think nothing bad would happen?