From all sides of me, students either stand or duck for cover, as pasta covered in sauce flies in the air. I drop to the floor, siding with those who don't want to be covered in food. I may have fired the first shot, but I wasn't expecting to start a cafeteria war. It doesn't seem like a very strategic war though, the people throwing food seem to be doing it on a whim, without aim.
I reach a hand up to the table, grab my tray, and use it as a shield over my head. I may not be dressed fancy today, but with my new found hatred of spaghetti, the last thing I want is to be covered in it. Beside me, Candice does the same.
I look towards Rob and see him crawling to the doors, trying to get away from the chaos. I start following, walking like a duck on my feet to avoid all the food accumulating on the floor. I feel the impact of spaghetti on my tray, then feel it slide down to my unprotected back. Some of it finds its way under my shirt.
"Screw this," Candice says beside me. She tosses her tray and stands, realizing the hunching and shield are just making it harder to escape.
I follow her, tossing my tray and running towards the door, trying not to slip on the greasy pasta. I'm almost to the door, so close to freedom, when a fistful of spaghetti collides with my face, blinding me.
I want to turn around, to clear off my face and see who got me, but Candice just grabs my arm, pulling me out. When we get into the hall, I bring my hands to my face, wiping away the food.
"That was," I pull a noodle from my hair, grimacing at it. "Disgusting." I look at Candice, who seems to have gotten away cleaner than I did. She's trying her best to hold in a laugh.
"You have to admit," we start walking towards the front entrance, where our cars are in the parking that, "if a food fight was going to break out, spaghetti day was the best day for it. It's good for throwing, and it's hell to clean up. I wouldn't be surprised if the janitors stay until midnight cleaning that." My irritation subsides for a minute, guilt replacing it. When I threw the spaghetti at Blaine, I wasn't trying to start a food fight. I hate the thought of our janitors staying so late to clean up a mess I helped create.
I try to push those thoughts aside as we go outside, the fresh, cold air making the sauce on my face feel itchy. "Where do you think Rob is?" In the heat of the moment, I didn't grab any of my books from the table, but thankfully, I had my phone in my pocket.
As if on cue, we see him, rummaging through his car a few rows down. We jog to him, trying to warm ourselves up.
He turns around, hearing our heavy breathing and footsteps long before we reach him. "Well," he says, his entire upper body coated in spaghetti, "you both can add starting a cafeteria food fight to the list of insane things you've done. I think it would fit nicely beside TP-ing our principals house." We cross our arms.
"I think the proper words you're looking for," Candice corrects, "is thank you. Thank you, Candice and Addy, for coming to my aid when Blaine tripped and spilled spaghetti on me." She juts out a hip, annoyed at him for not thanking her.
Rob scowls, before turning back to his car.
"She's right," I lean against his car, watching him. "You may be annoyed, for whatever reason, but we couldn't just let him do that and think it was okay. Did you see the look on his face?" Rob let's out a frustrated breath before grabbing a clean shirt from his car, finally finding what he must've been looking for.
"I didn't see his face," he pulls at the bottom of his shirt, "because mine was covered in sauce." I watch as he peels his black shirt from his body, revealing his toned skin underneath. Rob doesn't work out, and he doesn't have abs or anything, but he is nice to look at.
![Olive Green [GxG] de charlie_talesofpen](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/345239216-80-k55119.jpg)
I've seen him shirtless plenty of times, I won't lie, I do look, but never in a serious way. He has a nice body, that's all.
I look away a little later than I should have, and catch Candice staring. She meets my eye and looks away, embarrassed that she was caught.
"Why are you really annoyed? Because I know it's not because we did something stupid. We do stupid things all the time, you're used to it by now." I look across the lot to the school entrance where more students are walking out, all covered in various degrees with spaghetti.
Beside me, Rob puts his new shirt, a twin to his previous one, over his head.
"I think I know why," Candice picks at her nails, probably still ashamed that I caught her. "It's because Blaine caught you off guard, and you hate that." The scowl on his face is answer enough.
Rob prides himself on being unprankable, unable to surprise, and impossible to take off guard. So, on the rare occasion when someone does one of those things, it really gets to him.
I put my hand on his arm, causing him to look at me. "Blaine is a jerk, he got what he deserved when we retaliated. We'll get him back in a better way, but for now, we can't let him know he got to us; we can't give him the satisfaction." Rob nods, knowing that I'm right, and hating how he let him have an advantage.
I catch another glimpse of Candice and see her looking at my hand on Rob. "I think I'm going to go home," I gesture to my ruined outfit. "There's no way I can clean up well enough to go about the rest of the school day." She nods, but doesn't say anything. Whatever alliance we'd had minutes ago is now shaky, the reminder of my relationship with Rob now in front of us.
"I'll go inside and get your stuff," Rob steps away from us, walking back to the building. "My phone is still inside, and I'll be damned if I let that prick take it." I watch him walk away, Candice on his heels, and let out a breath.
As they walk back into school, I try to think about why Blaine is acting the way he is, because he was never this way before.
Yes, he tried to control me by telling me where I could go, and with whom, but that wasn't that bad, was it? An uneasy feeling rises in my stomach as I begin to realize just how wrong our relationship was. I couldn't hang out with certain people because Blaine didn't trust me with them, or them with me, and he was jealous that I would care about others more than I cared about him.
When he first told me he loved me, I didn't say it back. Instead, I told him I cared a lot for him, but it wasn't enough for him. I think he always held that against me, my inability to say those words, because he thought I had feelings for someone else. I just don't understand love, it's foreign to me. I'm afraid of what loving someone could mean, the vulnerability of it. Of course, I never told him, or anyone, that.
He was possessive, but I passed it off as an insecurity. Now, I can see that he was trying to emotionally manipulate me. His goal was to isolate me, to make me an island of a person who only had him, who depended on him for survival. I would never be that, and I would never let anyone, especially not a man, treat me that way again. I am no one's toy to manipulate and control; I am my own person.
My blood boils just thinking about the way he treated me, the way I allowed him to treat me. I let him make me weak, but no more. I'm not the only one who needs to be watching their back, because he has made an enemy of me, and when the time is right, I will hit back hard.
*
The next few days passed by without incident.
Blaine kept his distance, and Candice kept true to her decision. I did try, though, to be sure we weren't being too physical or mushy in front of her. Sure, she needed to believe we were together, but I didn't need to shove it in her face. I needed to prove her true, that I wasn't some cold-hearted bitch.
