Fourteen

Girlfriend Status

Quinn's POV

The rest of the weekend was a relaxing affair, spent intermittently texting Andrew Summers about homework, biking, and our other interests. When I called Julia on Sunday evening to squeal about a particularly cute texting exchange, she celebrated with me for all of five seconds before asking me, "Why do you still call him Andrew Summers?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice going a little flat. It sort of bothered me that she hadn't dwelled on the details and potential hidden meanings of his latest text, even though she'd already assured me multiple times that boys never had any hidden meanings in their conversations because they were too shallow.

Julia didn't hesitate on the other end of the line. "Well," she said, matter-of-factly, in a way that would have been considered patronizing had it been anyone other than Julia, "You two are sort of together now. Don't you think you can call him Andrew instead of Andrew Summers?"

"I do!" I defended. "Sometimes."

It was true that most of the time I referred to my boyfriend by his full name instead of just by his first name, but I guessed that was the way I'd always thought of him. After all, for the duration of most of my crush on him, we had only been acquaintances, and in order to keep him straight from the myriad of other Andrews at our small high school, I'd always tagged on his last name. I guessed it had stuck and was now a habit, because I couldn't really think of addressing him any other way.

"Do you think he goes around calling you Quinn Ramirez?" pressed Julia pointedly. "Because I'm pretty sure whenever I've heard him, he's just said Quinn."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I said. "I'll work on that. Can we go back to talking about the texts?"

Julia hadn't brought up the Cody incident or our discussion in the alleyway of the school since she'd left to go to tennis practice Friday afternoon, and I was glad as she obeyed and went back to analyzing Andrew's texts. She did seem happier--I figured that she thought Cody and I would never be anything now that Andrew and I were together.

And we wouldn't be. But then why did I have to keep reminding myself of that?

~*~*~

When Monday morning rolled around, I witnessed first-hand how quickly gossip spread at Providence Prep when edged along by a certain drama queen named Vanessa Sloane. I had barely stepped up to my locker and opened the door when Elisabeth pounced on me, twirling her long hair around her index finger.

"You and Andrew Summers are dating?" she asked, her nose wrinkling as she leaned against my door, her eyes not leaving me. It was sort of sad how desperate she was for my answer--she could have joined Julia in Cody's rapidly growing fan club.

I thought about how best to answer the question she'd fired at me. While Andrew had never officially asked me to be his girlfriend, he had hinted that a second date would occur, and we had texted frequently over the last few days. What's more, we'd already gone on our first date to the park.

Brushing my carefully curled hair behind one ear, I said as nonchalantly as I could, "Sort of. We went on a date on Saturday."

Elisabeth's eyes literally widened to twice their size, and then she scurried off down the hallway without another word to grab a friend by her sleeve and drag her away to relay this latest piece of information. I just exhaled loudly, trying to hide a laugh, as I turned back to my locker.

I had free period first today, so I took my time rifling through various books and papers in my exceedingly messy locker, trying to figure out what I'd take outside with me to work on. There were no little pink Post-It notes slapped onto the metal, and I figured whoever had been leaving them had already heard through the gossip chain that Andrew and I were dating. I really wanted to figure out who had been helping me, so that I could thank them; without them, I literally would probably still just be acquaintances with Andrew. And while that would make my situation with Cody a lot easier, it wasn't something I was willing to sacrifice.

Just as I thought this, a shadow fell over me and I turned around to see Cody standing right in front of me, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets and his large brown eyes looking troubled. I had one guess what his sorrows were about.

"Can we talk, Quinn?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed together.

Inwardly, I cursed the fact that he was in my first block Chemistry class and that we therefore had free period together, but outwardly I pasted on a bright smile and chirped, "Sure! I was just heading out into the courtyard to work on some homework. Want to join me?"

Without another word, Cody fell into step beside me as we headed down the large staircase and out a side door leading to the courtyard. He walked stiffly, avoiding my gaze with stony silence, looking at anyone and everyone but me.

Finally, I collapsed onto one of the red metal tables near the door and threw my books down in front of me. "What's up?" I asked.

Cody was staring down at my math notebook that had fallen open when I'd tossed it onto the table. There was a series of geometry proofs written out in my loopy, large handwriting along the lines, and he seemed overly fascinated with it as he focused on ignoring my question.

"Well?" I poked him the arm, but he didn't respond. "You said you wanted to talk to me, so spill. You're honestly freaking me out with this distant I'm-a-stone thing."

Still, Cody didn't say a word, and his actions really were starting to scare me. He was almost acting like he didn't care at all, which confused me. Wasn't he supposed to demand to know what was up with Andrew and then confess his feelings for me? Of course, I'd have to reject him then, but at least things would be out in the open.

When the tense silence continued, I pulled my math notebook away from him and then started writing in it. "I'm doing homework until you talk to me," I said. "I have things I need to get done."

In reality, I could barely focus on copying down a problem from my textbook because I was so overly conscious of the fact that he was sitting next to me, studying me as he tried to think of how best to start his conversation. I'd written out the entire question and was beginning to try and work my foggy brain through a solution when he said, "There's a lot of rumors going around this morning."

"Do tell," I said placidly, erasing a number that I wrote and scribbling down a three in its place.

Before I could check my work, Cody yanked my notebook away from me. "Can you look at me when I'm talking to you?" he asked.

Trying not to show my frustration, I set my pencil down on the table and looked up at him--and he was finally looking back at me, too. "So what kind of rumors are we talking about?" I asked.

"You know exactly what kind of rumors." Cody's mouth was set in a tight line. "You know, the ones about you and Andrew Summers?"

"So?" I asked.

"So are they true?"

I knew he was working really hard not to look like he would be affected by my answer, but the truth of the matter was that he was working so hard at looking nonchalant that he actually looked like he was clinging onto my response. Clearing my throat, I said, "Sort of. We did go on a date on Saturday and I think we're going out another one."

"Why do you like him, Quinn?" he demanded, his voice rough. "He's going to pretend to care about you and spit you back out."

It took everything in me not to get angry then, even though I could feel my heartbeat increasing. Cody knew nothing about Andrew. They'd probably never even spoken. And now he was trying to ruin my relationship with him, just because he was a little jealous even though I'd made it clear, time and time again, that he and I were just friends.

"Cody," I said, speaking between my teeth to try and sound unfazed, "I'm a little confused right now. Would you like to know exactly why I'm so confused?"

"Enlighten me."

His bored tone just made me even angrier, and I had to practically lock my jaw as I said, "I'm confused why you care. We are just friends, Cody. You know that--at least, you should know that. When have I expressed explicit interest in anything else? It's not like I've led you on. So please stop meddling in my love life and pretending to know what's up."

There. At least I'd said "please" to try and soften it up.

His eyebrows furrowed together and he looked so confused/hurt/shocked that I almost felt like I'd uttered the most despicable words imaginable. But I'd only friend-zoned him--when he should have known the truth all along. Couldn't he get a message?

"If that's how you want it to be, Quinn," he said simply, shrugging and flipping the hood of his sweatshirt on before standing up and starting to walk away.

I stared after him for a few seconds, my mouth hanging open a little bit, and then hurried after him. It wasn't long before I'd caught up to him and grabbed his sleeve. "You can't just walk off like that!" I said. "We weren't finished!"

"I thought we were," he said, so calmly it made me even more angry. "What else is there to discuss?"

"You're going to hate me just because I don't like you the way you want me to?" I demanded.

"I never said anything about hating you, Quinn."

Angrily, I smoothed down my t-shirt--which I remembered picking out specially that morning for Andrew--and said, "I can't help who I like."

"So you admit you like someone?"

"It's not a crime!" Angry tears were beginning to leak out of my eyes-I couldn't believe I was getting into a fight with my best guy friend over my crush. "Stop trying to control me, okay? You don't get to walk around and decide who I like, and who I date, and act like a jerk when you're not satisfied. Okay?"

"All right, Quinn. Whatever you say."

I could practically feel my blood starting to boil, and I yanked on his sleeve for the final time before snapping, "Stop it, Cody! You're my friend. Can't you see through that? I don't like you that way, so stop trying to twist everything and make it seem like it's my fault."

He just stared back at me unblinkingly, so unresponsive, like my rant wasn't even worth a reply. Looking at him as he treated me this way was the final straw, and I figured I'd just screw it all and go the whole nine yards.

"You know what?" I spat, trying to make him react in some way--any way--because it hurt more than anything that he was acting like he didn't even care. "Andrew and I are dating. There. Happy? He asked me to be his girlfriend on Saturday and I accepted, and I'm really, really happy about it. You should be, too. Now you can stop worrying about me and go pick someone out of your quickly growing fan club of girls who fawn over you."

This time, he was the one to grab me and turn me around when I walked away. His hands clamped down on my shoulders like iron as he snapped, "No, Quinn, I'm not happy. And I'm not going to my little fan club or whatever you want to call it. I'm worried about you. It's unhealthy to be this obsessed with someone, the way you are with Andrew."

"Well you would know, since you seem to be so obsessed with me," I snarled. Shocked, he let go of my shoulders, and I hurried back to my table to pack up all my books as quickly as I could as he stood by and watched. He didn't move a muscle as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and pushed past him roughly to head into the main school building.

Slumping against the wall nearest the staircase leading up to my locker, I began angrily braiding my hair as I watched Cody turn around a corner and disappear out of sight. This was not going how I'd expected.

I'd been standing there for a few minutes when Andrew Summers himself entered the door leading out to the courtyard, holding a yogurt parfait in one hand which I guessed he'd just bought from the cafeteria. I tried to smile at him, but it came off half-hearted as he came to a stop beside me and popped the cap of his yogurt.

"Hey Quinn," he said, smiling as he dug his spoon inside his snack and began mixing up the nuts with the fruit.

This time I really did smile. "Hey Andrew. Skipping class?"

"You wish," he replied, taking a bite of his parfait. "I didn't eat breakfast this morning, so my pre-calc teacher let me go to the caf and grab something." His eyebrows wrinkled together as he studied me. "Everything okay? You look flustered."

I forced my smile to widen as I chirped, overly cheerfully, "I'm fine! I've got free period right now and I was trying to do homework outside, but it's too hot out. I was just heading in to the library."

This was a total lie. And now that I came to think of it, I sort of was hungry, and I did sort of want food, which only complicated my predicament.

"I actually think I'm going to go grab breakfast, too," I said, skirting around him and heading towards the door. Memories of my fight with Cody flooded through me--I hoped Cody wouldn't relay the fact that I'd told him Andrew and I were dating. "Have fun in pre-calc."

Andrew waved and I hurried down the pathway towards the cafeteria, eager to get out of his sight before I did something else to embarrass myself.

After I loaded up my cafeteria tray with an early lunch, I headed into the library just so I didn't feel like a total liar. Balancing my tray in one hand, I went back up to my locker to grab some textbooks, then tentatively stuck my head into the library. It smelled weird--like books and ink.

There were cubicles all around the room as well as some round tables for studying, so I grabbed a cubicle two down from Andrew's friend Joshua (not the one right beside him, of course, because that would be obvious), and settled down to work. I figured I might as well start getting to know Andrew's friends, after all, if we were going to start dating.

It felt really strange to be in the library, which I hadn't stepped foot in except during student orientation and to get my envelope for Andrew's letter, and I was just marveling over the way there were electrical outlets at every cubicle to charge computers when someone tapped me on my shoulder.

"Yes what is it?" I said all in one breath, spinning around in my chair and once again expecting to see Joshua--or even better, Andrew. I was sort of thankful it was only the librarian, Mr. Reese, though, because at that exact moment I realized I had a mouthful of spaghetti. Swallowing quickly, I asked again, "Yes?"

"Are you aware of the library rules?" he asked, drawing the attention of Joshua, who peered from around his cubicle to watch the spectacle amusedly.

Feeling like the extremely dumb sophomore Joshua probably thought I was, I asked, "What rules?" Weren't libraries supposed to be free places to study? Did we have to reserve cubicles or something? "I can move. I'm really sorry if I took someone's spot."

I could just faintly hear a chuckle from two cubicles down. At least I was making him laugh--that was the only good thing in this extremely embarrassing situation.

I reached for my fork to get another bite of spaghetti, but Mr. Reese yanked my tray away. "There's no eating in the library," he said, pointing to a sheet of paper taped on the wall just a few feet away that said Please keep our library clean and enjoy your lunch in the cafeteria.

My gaze unknowingly flicked to Joshua, who was watching me, his eyes filled with mirth. I noticed he hadn't brought any food into this sacred hall of studying.

Libraries were so overrated. I stood and swung my backpack over my shoulder, then grabbed my tray and began to head back out to the door. It seemed like I wouldn't ever find a place to settle down and spend my free period. And if this was what being Andrew's girlfriend (correction: almost girlfriend) was like, I was definitely in for trouble.

A/N: Oh, Quinn. ;) Remember to vote and comment!