"Soooo, how did it go?!" Gina excitedly sits down beside me, shoving her tray to the side so she can lean closer to me.

I swallow my fruit loops then grin widely, "It was amazing, I loved it so much!"

She squeals and bounces in her seat, "I'm so happy that you're happy!" She bouncing over to me and wraps her arms around me tightly, almost knocking us both off the bench.

"Woah! I can't tell if you two are overly excited or about to fight." Keagen blinks down at us, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips. I grin up at him happily, leaning forward to grip the edge of the table so we literally don't fall over.

"Nope, just overly excited." Gina and I say at the same time, surprising both of us. Keagen laughs loudly and takes his seat across from us, slowly picking at his sandwich.

His eyes flicker back and forth between us, his smile spreading across his cheeks. "What's the special occasion then?"

I blush brightly and open my mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Gina's loud squeal. "Her and Zander went on the big first date!" She claps her hands excitedly, a little too excitedly matter of fact, people are starting to stare . . .

I reach over and wrap my hands around hers to stop her loud clapping, my eyes flickering around the room to the prying eyes. Awwwkwaarrddd. Gina looks at me questioningly then looks around the cafeteria as well, her lips forming a silent 'oh' while she puts her hands in her lap. I look back over to Keagen to see that he's frowning down at his sandwich.

I gently rest my hand on his arm, causing him to jump and his muscles to tense. I take my hand back in surprise, my cheeks instantly flushing brightly again. "S-Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you're okay." I look down at my forgotten fruit loops, quickly taking a few bites of the sugary goodness before willing myself to look back up. It's only awkward if you make it awkward . . . Or if he makes it awkward? Okay, now it's awkward.

He clears his throat and shakes his head, his mouth now curling down into a frown as well. He seriously looks like he just heard that chocolate is no longer available. Well no, that'd be more tears than anger right? I mean like if it were me I'd be on the floor bawling my eyes out and wouldn't -

Gina rams her elbow into my side, effectively cutting off my train of thought. More like she stood in front of the train and just threw it off the track. Goodbye thoughts, ideas, and a few brain cells! So long and adios! You will be dearly missed. I look over at her with wide eyes, oblivious to what I did wrong. She gestures to Keagen with her eyes, silently telling me he spoke to me but I guess my lovely train of thoughts was blowing it's horn too loud in my brain.

I look back over to him with a sheepish smile, my hands fidgeting in my lap. He looks at me expectantly, obviously waiting for my reply. I awkwardly lick my suddenly dry lips, plastering on a wide smile. "Sorry, what?"

His frown turns into a huge grin, going all the way up to his eyes. "You're such a goof." He reaches out his finger, only centimeters away from bopping my nose when a hand comes out of no where and stop him mid-way.

"That's reserved for someone else." Zander pushes Keagen's hand away, taking a seat beside me and putting his arm around my shoulders almost protectively. I blush again, forcing myself to roll my eyes and shrug his arm off, throwing Keagen a small apologetic smile.

"That wasn't very nice." I state seriously, earning a surprised look from Zander. His eyes dart behind me to Gina, then back at me. I shake my head in mock disappointment, but can't help the grin from spreading across my face. "Now I definitely know Fruit loop suits you."

He raises an eyebrow, a smirk plastering across his cheeks. "Oh yeah? And why is that, Cupcake?" He leans closer teasingly, obviously trying to throw me off but I stand my ground, my grin bigger than ever. Before I speak though, I catch Keagen in the corner of my eye making gagging motions, causing me to almost lose my cool. Dang it, Keagen, I'm trying to focus here!

I lean forward teasingly too, our faces merely inches apart. His eyes search mine, his lips slightly parting in anticipation. I grin up at him evilly, "Because your attitude is always different colors. Tell me, Zander, are you bipolar? Or is your mom just a box of fruit loops?" Gina snorts back a laugh behind me and Keagen chokes on his sandwich. Zander gapes at me, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to figure out a come back.

All eyes turn towards a still choking Keagen who is now banging his fist on the table. Gina quickly jumps up and runs over to his side, "Good grief, woman! Don't die!" She pats on his back roughly, dislodging the stuck piece of meat.

Keagen coughs a few more times, downs a few gulps of water, then wipes his mouth with his jacket sleeve. He stares at his food for a few seconds before looking up at Gina in unbelief.

"Did you just call me woman?"

Gina blushes immediately, causing all of us to laugh. She scampers back over to her seat and sits down, lightly poking at her food with her fork. "I can't help what I say in high stress situations! Besides, I'm not the one who almost killed you with a joke!" Her eyes fly towards me accusingly, but her grin showing that she's not mad at all but proud of me.

Keagen snorts again and gives me a grin as well, my cheeks instantly heating up at all the attention. "Yeah, thanks for that." His eyes linger on me for a second before sliding over to Zander, his grin turning into a half smile. "No comeback from you?"

I turn back to Zander and smile up at him, "Yeah, you never said anything!" Zander rolls his eyes at Keagen and looks back over to me, a small smirk planted on his lips.

He leans in and softly whispers in my ear, "I was hoping he'd choke on his sandwich for trying to touch my girl." He leans back and chuckles to himself softly at my surprised expression. Earning himself a small hit to the shoulder as I shake my head in disbelief but still laugh. Gina lightly taps my shoulder, gaining my attention towards where she's staring off dreamily.

"Doesn't he just look so . . . handsome?!" She sighs happily and leans her head against my shoulder. My eyes roam the cafeteria looking for a certain boy, instantly finding him at his usual table with his friends. Kyle Cunningham. Football player and total high school sweetheart, and Gina's number one crush ever since I met her.

"You should talk to him!" I nudge her encouragingly, a grin breaking out on my face as I watch her cheeks heat up.

"No way! He'd never talk to me!"

"I bet he would if you were to go over there and talk to him." I give a brief nod towards his table, "He doesn't look busy, you could go now!"

She instantly freezes up in her seat then shakes her head 'no' quickly, "I - I can't no way. I'm okay with just gazing from a distance." She sighs softly in disappointment, her shoulders slumping forward sadly. "Besides, it's not like he's gonna profess his undying love to me like I'm hoping so what's the use?"

I gently rub her back reassuringly, my heart aching for her. She always does so much for everyone else, she deserves to have a love life of her own! "Some day, G. You'll find someone to do just that, I promise."

She looks up at me and gives me a half smile, her usual cheeriness coming back. "Yeah, you're right. Someday." She sits up straight again and digs in her back pack, pulling out a piece of her favorite gum and popping it into her mouth. She looks back over to me and blows a bubble then pops it again, "Until then, I'll just keep blowing bubbles!"

I grin widely and pat her cheek, "That's my best friend."

The bell rings loudly, cutting off everyone's conversations. Students hurry towards the door, basically running each other over to get out first. Wild animals I tell you!

Keagen gets up first and slings his bag over his shoulder. He steps out of the bench and grabs his dirty tray, "See you guys later!" He nods to Gina and Zander then his eyes drop down to me, "There's a football game this weekend, see you - uh see you all there?"

I smile up at him and nod, "Yeah sure, We'll be there!"

He nods and walks away grinning. Zander snorts from beside me and gets up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and also taking mine in his hand. I get up as well, linking my arm with his while smiling up at him widely.

"Ready for our next class?" His stone cold expression leaves Keagen's disappearing figure to look down at me, his eyes softening and a smile reappearing on his face.

"Yup, I'm ready for my nap."

I roll my eyes and elbow his side playfully, getting ready to chide him only to be cut off by Gina's arm linking with mine.

She grins over at us evilly, "I'm ready for my nap too, let's go!" Zander lets out a loud laugh and gives her a high five over my head. I groan loudly in dismay and start dragging them to class while they laugh at me. I can't help but think,

I really do have some great people in my life.

~•~

Another chapter, another long night! It's kinda short but necessary. Wanted to add some more friend action in there, but don't worry next chapter will be filled with more Zarah moments 😉

Gina's got a crush oooooohhh *hint hint hint*

Keagen is a lil' salty as you can tell 😂 Oh well, he'll get over it. ZARAH FOR LIFE. Also, I still haven't gotten my own fruit loops yet #sad. Oh well! Tomorrow is Friday which finally means the weekend is here! I'm so ready to sleep in!

So sorry for such the long wait for this chapter, I had lot to do and a lot on my mind so it took a while to finally start writing this. Hopefully will have the next chapter much sooner than this!

Stay salty!
~Molly