This is not my best chapter, I feel like I should delete it (it's cringe-worthy and I'll probably rewrite when I know how feelings work). Try to enjoy y'all.

The thing about being friends with the opposite gender or with the gender you're attracted to is that, at a point, you'll find yourself looking at them with this knot in your stomach. Now, this might last for a week or it might develop to something popular like crush. We can't deny this sudden attraction nor can we avoid it.

Alex can't tell how it started was it at her mom's memorial, or the first time she visited his house, or was it the fact that she always cheers him up when he feels down or was it the sudden late-night chats, or was it the camp trip or the urge to roll his eyes and pout when he sees her with other guys?

"Alex, look at my crush, isn't he dreamy?" Or maybe it was that.

"Crush?" He stared at the supposed crush, he was taller than Alex sure, he was friendlier and bolder than Alex, judging from the people that surrounded him, definitely.

"What do you like about him? He's not handsome and he talks too much, he looks like he's taking a shit as- "

"First of all, he's handsome. I mean look at his cheekbones." She said staring at him dreamily.

"What are cheekbones? Never heard of it." He folded his arms as he rested on his locker and continued glancing at her and her crush.

"You don't know what cheekbones are? Are you messing with me?" She scoffed as he shook his head slowly, scratching the back of his head and hoping she believes his lie, "you know I know you're lying right?"

"Whatever, those cheekbones are just signs that he needs to eat more."

"You also have cheekbones, Don't be such a hater." She said still staring at her crush as she smiled at Alex's reaction.

"I'm going to the library." He said pulling a book from the locker and walking towards the opposite direction.

"Why are you pouting, boo?" Ray asked wearing an oversized knitted sweater.

"Stop calling me boo, it's weird. Rachel apparently has a crush, another weird thing." He muttered not looking away from his book.

"I know. God, it's like she's going crazy." Max voiced solving some physics equations.

"How do you know?"

"We were in the hallway together last week and he smiled at her, she gripped me like a three-year-old that can't let go of his mother." He shuddered at the memory.

"Totally not the point but out of curiosity, why were you in the hallway together?"

"Same reason, you're asking me that irrelevant question," Max replied with a straight face.

"You don't have to be rude about it." He rolled his pen on the table with a small frown.

"She's not my type, just putting that out there." Ray shrugged pulling a lollipop out his bag to lick it.

"Just putting this out there, you're not her type." Max scoffed gesturing at his oversized sweater.

"I'm cute, aren't I" Ray winked at Alex making him scrunch his face in disgust.

"Oh look, there's Jeremy, saving me from this weirdness," Max announced as he smiled as he waved at a wall.

"It's a signal for shut up," Ray whispered as he focused on his poems and lollipop.

~•~

"That makes two?" Nathan asked drinking his smoothie.

"Two? No, just one." Rachel shrugged after shaking her head.

"What about Alex?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, I thought you liked him..." Alice trailed off with her eyes accusing Rachel.

"No," she chuckled with her palm waving no, "Alex is a really close friend."

"The same Alex you smile weirdly when you get his text or is there a new Alex?" Piper raised her brow as she asked the question.

"He sends really funny texts." Rachel countered back with a shrug.

"So you sat here giggling and blushing yesterday when you guys were talking about food?" Nathan raised his brow as he scrolled through her phone.

"It was funny." She said snatching her phone from him.

"Food is funny? That's shocking." Alice scoffed now focusing on her drink.

Rachel turned to Piper for support with puppy eyes, "you definitely don't like him." Piper said with a tight-lipped smile.

Rachel avoided Alex for the rest of the week, neither did she reply to his texts nor did she acknowledge his existence. Some days she just wants to walk up to him and give him a hug like she usually did, some days she wants to sit him by his locker or sit beside him in the cafeteria. She could definitely not deny how lonesome the week was without him.

"Did Alex upset you?" Max settled on the stadium floor beside her.

"No, it's just..." She paused for seconds thinking of the right words, "... I don't know, I'm just trying to figure something out." She said blowing air in her cheeks.

"There's nothing wrong with having a crush on a friend." Max shook his head with an eye roll.

"Woah, I never said I had a crush on him."

"Neither did I."

"Smooth, anyway, I don't know," she took a deep breath before saying, "I don't think I have a crush on him, he's cute yes, but I think the only reason I think I like him is because people keep saying I like him.'

"So you don't like him?"

"I don't know!" She shrieked getting up to pace, "I don't know, that's why I'm avoiding him."

"And how is that going?"

"Bad?" she shrugged making Max raise his brow in question, "really bad." She said quietly before sitting beside him.

"I think you should talk to him, you know before you lose your friend," he said smiling, "I have to go now, I have a life. Bye." He stood up abruptly and left not before telling her to make sure she texts him.

She unlocked her phone and went through the texts he left her, he stopped trying the day before yesterday after leaving the text bye. She took a deep breath and texted him, hey.

//Group chat members: Nathan, Piper, Alice, and Rachel.//

Nathan:
Hey Rachel, my younger brother is going to be attending our school in a year or two. So can you please take care of him? He's in the same grade as you guys, so you'll take similar classes.
~ yesterday 6:25 pm

Nathan:
Your boyfriend has nothing to worry about, he's not interested in the opposite gender, he's also annoying.

Rachel:
Well, nice to meet him I guess. Even though I don't know his name.

Nathan:
His name is Mike. You might not love him but take care of him he's an idiot.

Rachel:
Yes sir.

Rachel:
I think he's ignoring me😭
~8:56 pm

Nathan:
You ignored him for days. Do you think he's a pet that runs to you anytime you feel like?

Alice:
Oh, that's super nice of you, Nathan.

Piper:
I think you should talk to him in person, you can't just ignore someone and strut back into their lives like nothing happened.

Rachel:
I just didn't want things to be weird between us, I don't know if I like him that way yet, and since everybody thinks I like him, I think I'm forcing myself to like him.

Alice:
We totally understand your point, you might be too friendly or that's just the way you are, but the way you acted this week spelt something totally different.

Piper:
You kept on wondering if he was going to speak to you and you were always watching him.

Nathan:
Some would call it stalking.

Piper:
We'll handle this, thanks Melon.

Alice:
Ignore Nathan, you are just a little bit protective of him and he clearly is too.

Piper:
I get that you guys are best friends but still.

Piper:
You told him about your crush, didn't you?

Rachel:
Yes, I did.

Alice:
How did he react to the news?

Rachel:
He was shocked, I guess.

Nathan:
Then you ignored him the next day.
Have you thought about what's going on in his head right now? I mean he might think you're ignoring him because he was not supportive.

Alice:
I doubt he'll think that.

Rachel:

@Nathan Am I a bad person?

Nathan:
Your actions are good to you, but you're not putting yourself in other people's shoes.
How would you feel if he suddenly ignores you for no reason?

Piper:
She already feels bad enough don't paint her as a bad person.

Nathan:
I'm not painting her as anything, you guys keep buttering things up. You basically telling her it's ok to ignore people for no reasonable reason.

Alice:
She was trying to figure her feelings out. There is nothing wrong with that Rachel.

Nathan:
Let's ignore her 'feelings' for a while they're friends, she can't just ignore him whenever she feels like.

Piper:
You can't just ignore your feelings, if she's trying to figure things out then it's normal.

Nathan:
Can she explain why she ignored him? If no then it's not tangible.

Alice:
She's explaining right now, isn't she?

Nathan:
@Piper You're the mutual one here, do you think she's right or wrong.

Alice:
Yes Piper, go ahead.

Rachel:
@Piper please?

Piper:

Uhmm... Ok, I don't know. I think she was wrong for ignoring her friend from someone who had no idea why she did it perspective. But as her friend, I totally understand why she did it. It's okay to want to figure things out in order to avoid awkward conversations and all. Then again how would you feel, if he ignored you for no apparent reason?

Rachel:
I don't fully understand what you typed but I would feel terrible if he avoided or ignored me.

~•~

Nothing hurts more than being ignored by someone you consider a close friend. Does she know he likes her or did he scare her away with his feelings? Did she notice his heart beating loudly when she hugged him or did she notice he finds himself staring at her for too long? These thoughts bothered him for days as he texted her repeatedly asking what he did wrong and if she was okay.

After the series of text messages didn't work, he knew she was only avoiding him because anytime he tried talking to her he caught her talking to her other friends that includes Max and Ray.

"Hey!" Rachel smiled at him holding a chocolate box as stood on her tiptoe. His lips were folded as he nodded at her as a sign of acknowledgment.

"How is everything?" She tried again her bright smile dimming.

"Cool." He said flatly slamming his locker shut before looking at her, silently asking her if he could leave. Her head was down as she nodded slowly.

Alex walked away from her slowly, he was not the kind of person that walks out of people's lives because they ignored him or because of little fights. His conscience was certainly eating him up, a part of him wanted her to ignore and show her what it feels like to be ignored but the bigger part was more mature.

"Is that chocolate for me?" He stood in front of her as her head snapped with tears brimming in her eyes. She gave him the box with a small smile on her face.

"Do you want to talk?" He asked collecting the chocolate with a smile.

"I don't know where to start from?" She scratched her head as she lowered her body to the floor, Alex copied the motion and sat on the floor beside her.

"I like you." He said suddenly, leaving them staring at each other for seconds until Alex cleared his throat and averted his gaze.

"That's why you ignored me right?" He raised his brows as he shoved a chocolate in his mouth.

"No," she shook her head, "I had no idea."

"Is it a bad thing that I wish I could take it back now?" He chuckled quietly.

"Yes. It's nice knowing..." She smiled using hair to hide her flushed face. Alex fought the urge to smile as he stared at the lockers opposite them.

"So why did you ignore me? I'm just curious, you can't just wake up and decide to stop talking to me. Can you? I don't know but I know something is definitely wrong..." He paused for a second, "... Is this about your crush? I was joking about the cheekbo--" Rachel slammed her palm on his mouth to stop his rambling.

"I didn't ignore you because of my crush, " she said air quoting the word crush, "I ignored because I think I like you." She said quickly.

"Wait, you ignored me because you thought you liked me?" He asked slowly as if he was trying to comprehend her words to which she shrugged as a reply.

"So what if I told you I didn't like you again?"

"Why would you say that?" She faced him abruptly.

"I'm not willing to lose a friend to a silly crush." He scoffed rolling his eyes.

"A silly crush?" She whispered, "I don't think it's a silly crush."

"So if I liked you back is it still considered a silly crush?"

"But you don't."

"What if I did?" She pressed on.

"I don't think you do but if you force yourself to like me because I like you it will end up hurting us and probably the people around us." He shrugged with a thin smile.

At that moment, Rachel was sure he was always when she down, when she couldn't sleep when she felt like ranting. He supported with her volunteers, her face was flushed as she smiled at him.

"I think I like you," she paused shaking her head, "no I do like you but you're right we have a beautiful friendship and last thing we want to do to ruin." Alex swallowed his spit nervously as he waited for the next words.

"So let's make a promise that no matter what happens, any argument we have whether it's big or small, we should always talk about it."

"Pinky promise." He held his finger up as they smiled and cuffed their fingers. Everything appeared perfect as they were lost in their own worlds.

Awww, lol no.
I literally have no idea how to write lovey-dovey scenes🍺. I asked a friend(guy) what makes them fall in love with their friends and he said it's the attention.

So Dear Ladies,
Give your crush lots of attention{but not too much so you won't look desperate}and he might end up falling in love with you and be nice too💚.

Do you guys like the chapter? Was it cringe-worthy, did you feel anything going on with Alex and Rachel? Or was it ok?

So I can't write a kissing scene, so you won't be experiencing Alex and Rachel's first kisses because apparently Wattpad won't accept any intimacy between 15-year-olds (not like I was going to fit it in this weird chapter🙂)

Anyhoo, this is the end of our younger couple love story 🍨. The upcoming chapters are going to be focused on their present.

Don't forget to vote and comment 🧡❤
Constructive criticism is badly needed for this chapter.

PS: What's your zodiac sign? ♌