Bella

I was just finishing up my math homework when my ringtone went off.

Picking up my phone to check the number, I felt the corners of my lips turn up into a smile.

'It was Cass!' I thought to myself. I hadn't gotten to see her all day with my track and field meet and we didn't get any classes together this year which was sad so we only really only got to talk before Mathinators and at lunch.

I swiped right to pick the call and let the line connect.

Our conversation went on like usual, I started off with a cute hey, there was some small talk then I went right in on what I wanted to know.

"Here to fill me in on the latest tea?" I asked  lightheartedly in a very playful tone.

Cass's life had become so interesting and romantic, first with Andrew and her hanging out more and more and then all those notes in her locker, I kind of envied her and secretly wished my life was just as dramatic but it wasn't so I went with the next best thing and that was having her fill me in on every little detail.

I was living through her if you ask me.

"You got it," she said back with the same enthusiasm in her voice.

'Yay!' I cheered in my head but somehow, managed to keep my cool. "'Kay go."

she went on at first about how she found the note in her locker without a gift to go along with it and on how on the note it said that they thought that now would finally be a good time to let Cass figure out who they were.

I tried to contain my excitement at first, I really did but I just had to interrupt when she reached the part about finally seeing her secret admirer face to face.

"Anyway like he says, I meet him behind the school and you won't believe who's waiting for me there." she started before I casually said, a little bit louder than expected, "WAS IT ANDREW????"

I always thought Andrew and Cassandra would make a cute couple, even before she opened up to me about liking him.

the only downside: he has a girlfriend. A super snobby one to be exact.

Nobody really likes Victoria, in fact, everyone's just scared of her bad side so they act super sweet and nice to stay on her good graces.

I don't know how she managed to score a nice guy like Andrew but somehow, she did and now she's in the way of a budding relationship.

If I were in Cassie's shoes, I would totally steal Andrew from Victoria. She really doesn't deserve him anyway.

I was surprised when Cass responded with " Nope."

I kind of felt bad for her at that moment. It could've been the boy of her dreams but it wasn't.

I would be way disappointed if that was me.

"I was sure it was him though," I said as my voice started to trail off.

"Me too! It wasn't though," she cried, but her voice sounded far away and distant because my head was getting consumed by 1 single thought.

'If it wasn't Andrew, who could this secret admirer be?'

"Keep guessing," she ushered to me, sucking me out of whatever daze I was in.

"Hmm," I hummed out loud in thought.

Then a wretched idea popped into my head.

"Was it Victoria playing a trick on you? I swear if it was I'm gonna..." I felt myself starting to ball my fists, ready to punch something, anything if it would help avenge my friend.

"Whoa, hold your horses B, it wasn't Victoria," Cass said, probably sensing I was upset on her behalf and was trying to calm me.

Now I was really stumped. "Seriously?? Well, who was it then?"

Even before she said anything else, I felt a shift in the atmosphere, like an intuitive 6th sense that knew that something was about to go terribly wrong.

"You ready for this?"

'Was I ready? What type of question was that; of course I was ready, just spit it out already!'

"Yes, I will die of suspense if you don't tell me!"

"Ok, it was... James." The mixed emotions she had about him were evident in her voice.

I could feel the colour draining out of my face.

'I don't think I heard that right, James? JAMES???'

The same James who went to Mathinators with us?

The same James who I had a big blowup with not too long ago?

The same James who... who I had feelings for?

My head started to spin and the room began to get fuzzy.

How could James like Cassandra? I hadn't noticed any signs at all before.

'Well,' I thought hopefully. 'Maybe he's just good at hiding his feelings.' The idea only briefly crossed my mind before I shot it down.

'Oh shut up!' I scolded myself. 'Nobody's that good at hiding there feelings. You're just too ignorant to notice anything.' I winced at the harshness of my own words. The small part of my brain that leaned more to the hopeful side piped up as I began to argue with myself.

'You shut up! You can't decide who you fall in love with anyways!' My evil brain quickly responded back. Did I ever mention how much I really hate the evil side of my brain?

'Obviously, if she decided to fall in love with an idiot like James, she's stupid.' I cringed. How could I be so mean?

'He's not an idiot! He's kind, and sweet and smart and so not like other guys. PERFECT boyfriend material.' I told myself. But another thought came up.

'If he's so perfect,' I asked myself, 'why isn't he yours?'

That one hurt but I knew it was the truth. If he were perfect then we would've been dating already.

I guess I was quiet for too long because Cass eventually asked in a questioning tone, "Bella you still the-"

I interrupted her with a dull and cold "what happened next." The last thing I wanted to hear was her voice right now. Or at least not until I pieced everything together.

"Um..." she started uncertainly. I could tell my sudden change from bubbly and happy-go-lucky to borderline insane with rage was making her uncomfortable.

'Good.' I thought to myself. 'She deserves it anyway.'

"Well, he put roses on the ground and stuff and started being stuck up at first but then he sat me down and told me he liked me. Then he asked me to be his girlfriend."

'This is the last straw' I thought to myself; ready to start screaming and telling her off, I opened my mouth but a part of me yelled for me to stop so I shut my mouth before I said something I would regret later.

A thought formed in my mind. I needed to test Cass. To prove how much of a true friend she really was. Because she was failing so far. A small part of me said that Cassandra didn't need to prove anything, that none of this was her fault, but I silenced it. I needed to know if she was true or not.

I tried my hardest to keep the emotionless persona but I slipped when my voice started to shake as I asked, "what did you say back?"

"Bella..." she started slowly, making sure I heard every syllable

"I said yes."

Time froze around me and I shut my eyes tight. Maybe if I hoped hard enough this would all be some very bad, twisted dream that I would wake up from any second.

The good part of my brain shrivelled up into a crisp, all hope extinguished. Tears leaked out of the corners of my squeezed and glued shut eyes. The bad part of me celebrated and told me that Cassandra had never been a good friend. I was too drained to fight off the negative thoughts away, so I let them sink and drown me while I fell victim to myself and gave up.

Every bad word I told myself about Cass, no, Cassandra, became true. How dare she do this to me? It was all her fault. I ignored the pit of guilt in my stomach until it went away, reassuring myself that she was in the wrong and not I.

My subconscious was right.

Cassandra was never my friend.

That thing was a future boyfriend stealer.

I forgot she was still on the line so I was surprised when I heard "You still there?" From her end of the call.

I felt all my anger take over and I immediately hung up on her.

Then I threw my phone as hard as could at the wall in front of me.

It made a cracking sound as it fell to the floor with a small thump.

I glared at the dent it made in the wall for a few seconds before the boiling rage inside of me melted away and I started to drown in my own sadness.

It started off with a couple of tears, then some silent sobs and got to a point where I was wailing with all of my being.

I guess that I was crying really loud because my stepbrother came out of his room next door to ask if I was ok.

I yelled at him to go away and heard him go "whatever" while he walked away.

The last thing I remembered was crawling underneath my bedsheets and crying myself to sleep.

There was only 1 word that could describe how I was feeling right now.

It was Jealous.