CHAPTER FOUR;
mediocre sex pt. 2

AMALA'S MOUTH DROPPED IN SHOCK AND SHE NEARLY BARKED OUT A LAUGH.

"I'm... Oh my god," she laughs hysterically, embarrassment flushing her brown cheeks bright red, as she addressed both boys. "I am so sorry you heard that. We were just —" she laughs again, "we were just... oh my god."

She falls into a laughing fit after that, unable to contain herself. She tries to stop so she can speak, but the curling of her stomach gets tighter and her breathing gets labored.

"Amala!" Akira grits her teeth as she emerges from the bottom of the table. "Stop laughing!"

"I can't! I'm literally — I can't. I'm just —" she cackles.

"Stop it!" Akira pleads, extending both hands to settle over her best friends shoulders. "Amala, please. I'm literally going to die and you're laughing!"

"I'm sorry," she says, chest heaving for air. "I literally can't. I'm — oh my god I can't breath." She spirals into a series of more chuckles.

Akira shuts her eyes, takes a deep breath and scoots herself to be in view of both boys — who are still staring at the pair of girls in front of them. "I am so sorry, really. We were just messing around... uhm... you guys know kiss, marry or kill, right? I mean, of course you do. Fuck." She curses. "Amala, you bitch! Stop laughing and help me out!"

Amala blinks at the brunette, eyes brimming with tears from how much she's laughing.

She nods her head, fit attack finally starting to die down. "She gave me the option between Adam Black, Tyler Miller, and you, Peter."

"Oh," Peter replies timidly. "Oh, uhm... okay."

"That still doesn't explain... this." Ned pipes up from Peter's right, hands motioning towards the entire group.

"Right! Oh yeah, well, uhm..." Akira panics.

"I chose to kill Tyler, kiss Adam and marry Peter. Akira disagrees with me on the Adam and Peter part. She thinks not marrying Adam would be a waste of a hot body. I disagree." Amala helps out and shoots Peter a soft smile.

Peter's eyes widen and his cheeks visibly darken, a soft plum settling on his cheeks, before he covers his blush with his hand.

"Because it would be!" Akira replies, panic starting to drain from her tone. "No offense, Peter. I'm sure you're awesome and everything but Adam would totally have your legs shaking."

"Yeah, and when he's done he'd ask you to rate his performance so he can self improve." Amala replies, throwing bunny ears at the last two words.

"He'd probably make you write an essay about it, to be honest." Ned says.

Amala laughs. "He so would!"

"Hey babe," Ned says in a fake fuckboy accent. "Mind writing up a paper rating my play? 'Tryna stay on my A game, you know? Can't afford to slack off."

"What the hell!" Akira giggles.

Next to her, Amala throws her head back, laughter racing back. "Come on, Aki. Admit it! He would so say this."

"I- okay. Fine, yeah. He would say this." Akira admits.

"Yes!" Amala celebrates. "Admit defeat, bitch!"

She extends a hand out towards Ned and he pauses hesitantly before high-fiving her back with a smile of his own.

As she pulls back, her forearm accidentally brushes against Peter's.

"Sorry," she says apologetically.

"Oh it's - uhm - it's fine." He tells her, though she watches him scoot away slightly, a look of distaste across his face.

Amala's smile falters slightly, ouch.

She watches Peter rub at his exposed forearm with haste and her smile momentarily falls.

Amala brushes it off in favor of talking to Ned and Akira who seem to be hitting it off really well.

So for the remainder of their break, the group exchanged fun and mindless chatter.

To be honest, both girls had never really gotten to know the pair before. Besides seeing them in their shared classes, respectively, they never spoke.

Yet, Amala came to learn that Ned and Peter are actually good company — besides the initial awkwardness with Peter. They're both kind, have a sense of humor and have a positive aura to them. They sort of remind Amala of her own friendship with Akira; lost in their own world but perfectly happy with just each other.

In all honesty, this came as quite the surprise as little was known about them. Besides always being together and being really good at analytical based subjects, nothing else was to be noted.

As they talk, she finds out that Ned and her best friend share a similar set of interests. They're both very good at chemistry, love StarWars and hate English.

Amala watches them go off into excited chatter, comparing favorite StarWars characters and movie moments.

While that happens, Amala and Peter get to know each other, too. It's not as fast paced and indulgent as the other pair but they get there slowly. Amala tries her best to coax out a couple of things Peter and her share in common (both good at Biology, love space movies and hate History).

Between silent paces in conversations that should flow and slight stammers, Amala comes to understand the extremes of Peter's shyness. From the way he avoids eye-contact and constantly rubs the back of his neck, to his timid tone and fingers drumming against the table, his words are few and far in-between. 

Amala knew he was shy from the way he stuttered when multiple eyes were on him or by the fact that he had one friend and spoke to virtually no one else. But she didn't expect it was this bad. 

And while she tried her best to not put it against him, (she understands this is something he can't control and even then, no one is perfect) it was a little disheartening. No matter how much Amala initiated topics from school curriculum to video games and other media, Peter barely spoke anything beyond a couple sentences. He looked nervous the whole time, if not paranoid, and she couldn't understand why.

Maybe he just doesn't like me, was one of Amala's thoughts. Why though? I haven't done anything to him.

At some point, Amala finally gave up and opted to sitting in silence. Akira and Ned quickly picked up the signs and roped them into their conversation. From there, things pick again — at least, between Amala and the pair. Peter remains quiet through it all, saying simple words here and there.

Akira and Amala share a glance amidst of all this. A silent conversation takes place between their eyes, a mutual understanding between the two: what's wrong? Don't know. Talk later? Yes.

Their break period ends shortly after in a rowdy cacophony of footsteps and school bags. They make their way out of the cafeteria, conversations halting. Akira asks for Ned and Peter's numbers so they can text and mess around (her words) and promises to send them to Amala, too.

The bell breaks off their final strings of chatter and the group wave each other off as they go to their final classes of the day.

Amala watches the boys disappear into the crowd of students in the hallway. An interesting feeling settles into her stomach: hope and curiosity. They had been nothing but strangers just hours ago.

Amala and Akira turn to each other and grin softly, happy to have made what could be new friends.

But when her best friend digs her head into her locker to grab a book, Amala's smile falters.

ෆ

iMESSAGE
AMALA & AKIRA
3:21 p.m.

AKIRA
bitch

what the hell happened
today

AMALA
well

we went to school and
lost many braincells during
math and history but made
them back in eng and spanish

then you yelled in front of
everyone ab having sex w
peter parker

then you almost died of
embarrassment

but then it was fine bc ned
and peter are actually cool
and we made friends i think

so yeah

a lot happened

AKIRA
wow

i'm gonna need a nap
after this one

AMALA
i need starbucks

AKIRA
same

anyways

what on earth was going on
w u and peter ??

AMALA
idk :/

i don't think he wanted to
talk to me lol

AKIRA
???? wtf

why

AMALA
idk

he just wouldn't give me
good replies yk? i would talk to
him and he would say "yeah"
"haha" "same"

and i'm like bro 🕴🏼

AKIRA
maybe he's shy ?

tbf we did not have the best
first impression on him soo

AMALA
that's true!!

but idk

ned was cool w us right ?

AKIRA
yeah :/

AMALA
maybe he just doesn't like me

AKIRA
shut up

AMALA
what i'm j saying

he doesn't HAVE to like me

AKIRA
bitch ur too humble for
ur own good

everyone likes u

AMALA
💀💀💀

AKIRA
maybe it takes a while for him
to warm up to ppl ?

that could be the case

AMALA
yeah maybe

idk i'm not like mad or anything
i'm j a bit bummed out bc he was
defo not in the mood to talk to me

which is fine like i said but it's just
a little ://

AKIRA
yeah i get u

dw ab it i'm sure he's just shy or
sum

i mean cmon now

when was the last time u think
ned n peter spoke to girls ??

AMALA
AKI

💀💀💀💀

AKIRA
what ???

u can't tell me i'm lying

AMALA
😭😭😭😭

i mean

you make a valid point tbh

AKIRA
mhm

ir's bc i'm a genius lol 😌

AMALA
TRUE 😋

esp when you screamed sex
in front of the whole cafeteria 🤩

AKIRA
STOP

AMALA
I STILL CANT
BELIEHE YOU ACCRUALLT
SCEEAMED THAT

💀😭😭😭😭

AKIRA
FUCK OFIFOFOFOD

😔😔😔😔

it was an accident i was legit
gonna die i was so embarrassed

AMALA
L

AKIRA
yk what.

maybe ur right

peter doesn't like u bc u suck and
neither do i

AMALA
nooooooo

aki pls 🥺🥺🥺

AKIRA
no die

AMALA
aki-noodle pls

i crave your affection

i will do anything 🥺🥺
🥺🥺🥺

AKIRA
do my math hw 🌈

AMALA
fuck no

AKIRA
traitor

AMALA
you love me

AKIRA
i don't

AMALA
liar liar pants on fire🤥

AKIRA
shut up

AMALA
😘😘😘
read

— END OF CHAPTER 4 —

[ NOTE ]
another chap down!

as always, thank you for
reading, lmk ab any typos /
grammar mistakes i should fix
and please like / comment as it
motivates me a lot !!

expect some action to start
happening soon ;)

have a great day everyone :)

pearl <3