Chapter Twelve: ❝ ha, ha, ha, ha, so is there really no yogurt? ❞

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Chase frowned at O'Dallas but then sighed. "Well, it's hard for me to pinpoint those small details when there's nothing for me to be wrong about."

"I'm talking about you with her," O'Dallas said with gritted teeth and leaned forward on the bench. The majority of the space was full, but she was still able to spread her elbows across the crowded lunch table.

"Hmm, you're still gonna have to be more specific. There's a lot of 'hers' that I've been with sooo..." Chase replied, tilting his head.

Annisa scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She's talking about you and Maddison Liberty you dumb fuck."

Chase bit into the corner of his BLT, lettuce hanging on for dear life at the side of the sandwich. "Yes. And what about her? Are you jealous or something?"

"Me? Jealous?!" O'Dallas started, her soft-angled brows raised to her hairline."Please. I'd sooner be envious of Elmer Fudd than that two-faced blonde bitch."

"I agree with Ally," Annisa said again as she spun her plastic spoon around in her rice. "Why are you going out with her when you know that none of us like her?"

"Because none of you like her," Chase said with a light chuckle but paused when he saw the two girls' blank expressions. "Okay, okay. Honestly, she asked me out first. And I obviously said yes one, because look at her, and two, Maddison Liberty."

"Wow, a gentleman and a scholar," O'Dallas replied. "And since you're so good at adding, can you not deduce how maybe, just maybe, she might be using you?"

Chase shook his head and wiped his greasy fingers with a questionably clean napkin. "Maddison hasn't had a real date since Kyle Matthews dumped her at Aubrey's party last spring. If anything, I should be honored to even hold her hand, walk with her to her classes, kiss her—"

"No one cares. We don't care. I don't fucking care," O'Dallas interrupted, her pointer finger tapping the table after each sentence. "She is evil. I feel it in my gut. She's using you to get to us."

"If she wanted to 'get you', she would've by now," Chase argued. "I don't know why you're so paranoid."

"And if she wanted a better boyfriend, she would've gotten one by now," Annisa retorted when she finished swallowing a scoop of her rice. "We're just trying to look out for our friends, that's all."

"Wow, I feel touched and offended at the same time. Thank you Annisa," Chase said with his left hand on his broad chest.

"If you refuse to break it off with her and one day you wind up missing, don't say I didn't tell you so," O'Dallas said and pushed herself off the table. "She has something really bad planned, I know it."

"Yeah, yeah. Now could you please pass the ketchup? My fries are dry," Chase asked with his hand out.

Instead of passing it to him, O'Dallas took her last ketchup packet, ripped it open, and squirted the red tomato sauce in the palm of his large hand. She grinned as Chase faintly hollered, immediately grabbing another questionably clean napkin on his left.

If the girls had it their way, the boys would exclusively have to sit on the floor for every lunch. Maybe even be used as a footrest while the girls ate comfortably. More than once did O'Dallas or Annisa want this idea to come into fruition, but Manny threatened to retaliate by putting fire ants in their shoes or stick fish in their backpacks. A childish retaliation, but a retaliation nonetheless.

Even if they wanted assigned seats, the feat would have been nearly impossible. For a school with close to three thousand kids, it'd be difficult to keep up with who sat where and when and why during lunch. They weren't even the largest public high school in the U.S. Brooklyn Technical had to deal with more than five thousand a day.

Yet in a way, wherever the more popular kids sat, everyone else gravitated toward their general area, making it assigned "regions." That day it was towards the center of the cafeteria, so naturally, the space surrounding their table was packed. If Manny and two others were there, all of the most popular people in school would've been present at one or more of those center tables. It was as if someone brought all the "celebrities" out of their dens and threw a large feast in their honor.

The only thing sour about it was Maddison's presence at Annisa and O'Dallas' table. She usually sat with her other popular clique at the benches across from them, but since the recent coupling of Chase and Maddison, they have been nearly inseparable. It didn't help that they sat right in their line of vision too, so every time they looked up at the couple, they were either kissing, canoodling, or spoon-feeding each other their lunches. For the past week and a half, O'Dallas had to eat her meals before and after lunch, while Annisa took little bites of what she could.

A part of the girls could have been jealous of the "new lovers" though since both of them still didn't have dates to Homecoming. Almost everyone in their friend group had someone to go with or a boyfriend or girlfriend to take them. Down along their bench, it was like every other person had a partner. Makayla had her new boyfriend, Cole. Shardae had somehow made up with her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Terrance, after their fight from yesterday. Eric was with Chasity. Daniel and Aziel just recently got together. Of course, there was Chase and Maddison.

And here were O'Dallas and Annisa. Two of the most attractive, well-liked people in their school, and have been available from the start of sophomore year.

If they also had it their way, they would just wave a magic wand and build their ultimate boyfriends.

But speaking of boyfriends, Maddison just returned to hers, strutting back to their table. She unnecessarily announced that she was going to get some more napkins, and unknown to the group spoke with Lily in the process. When she was about to leave, Chase of course whined and gushed and planted more kisses on her cheek. Which disgusted Annisa and annoyed O'Dallas. But when she came back, he seemed to gush and mush and kiss her even more, acting like she'd been gone for fifty years than five and a half minutes.

Annisa heaved a deep sigh once the bubbly blonde sat next to Chase, throwing down a handful of the fresh white square cloths. Makayla shared the same annoyed and unsavory look O'Dallas and Annisa had on their faces. Those five minutes without Maddison there felt relieving, and gave them a chance to talk about her when she wasn't present. So once the couple started the canoodling, it took them a lot of self-control not to groan in aggravation.

"Welp, it was good while it lasted," Annisa muttered, making O'Dallas and Makayla snicker.

"I'm sorry? What'd I miss?" Maddison asked as she settled into the bench.

Kit, one of Chase's friends who sat right beside him, started to giggle as well. He also happened to overhear their conversation about Maddison while she was gone, so he began to say, "Oh nothing Maddie, we just happened to be talking about y—"

"—yogurt!" O'Dallas yelled, giving Kit a brief glare. "We were talking about... the state of yogurt and its impact on Americans..."

"Yes, that's right. We stan... yogurt," Annisa said with a forced smile and shoved a spoonful of her mother's Nasi goreng into her mouth.

"Oooh, y'all got yogurt?" Shardae asked, finally interested in her friends' conversation after play-fighting with her boyfriend.

"Anyways," Annisa said, trying to keep the conversation from spiraling out of control. "I absolutely adore your shoes Maddison, where did you get them?"

Maddison blinked rapidly but still grinned. "Thanks, they're Steve Madden. My mom got them for me, but I'm not sure which exact store."

"Well either way, so cute," Annisa lied. Even though the heels themselves were cute, — a bubblegum pink that complimented her baby blue, high-waisted jeans, and simple white tank top — she hated them on her.

"Yes, so cute. Just like the gorgeous, amazing, and non-evil date you are," Chase said, grinning widely at his friends with a coldness in his eyes, then side-hugging Maddison.

"Ha, ha, to you..." O'Dallas said in a sing-song tone laced with irritation.

"Ha, ha, don't be rude," Chase said with the same voice, glowering at her.

"Ha, ha, I'm not," O'Dallas spat back.

"Ha, ha, yes you are," he replied.

"Ha, ha, you're an idiot," she said.

"Ha, ha, no I'm not..."

"Ha, ha, yes you are..."

"Ha, ha, ha, this is fucking stupid," Annisa butt in.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, so is there really no yogurt?" Shardae asked, still lost about the conversation.

Maddison slowly batted her eyelashes and shook her head. "Um, are you guys okay...?"

Before O'Dallas could say anything, Annisa jumped in and said, "Perfect. But you know what, I do need to use the bathroom. Ally, you wanna come with?"

"Fine." O'Dallas sighed and pushed aside her half-eaten tray of food. "We'll be right back..."

Maddison smiled again, but more so out of confusion, while Chase was just relieved to have them gone. The girls shuffled out of their spots as quickly as they could, Shardae also getting up to see if the cafeteria was serving any yogurt for the day, and headed toward the restrooms. They were a lot nicer than they sounded, at least for the girl's bathroom, and it gave O'Dallas a chance not to "accidentally" slap Chase.

As Annisa was gently pushing O'Dallas in front of her, her hand poking her lower back, they twisted and turned around every other table like a labyrinth. Along the way, they were greeted with waves and "hellos", looks of awe and endearment, and got high-fives from one of the special needs kids.

The bathroom was relatively large for it accommodating both the boy's and girl's restrooms, tucked into one corner of the cafeteria. There were two entrances for people on the outside and inside to come through, and a large enough "waiting space" before you went inside, that way it wasn't so cramped.

Since it was the beginning of lunch, there weren't many people in the bathroom that day, so the girls went in without squeezing their way through.

"Way to go at keeping it subtle Ally," Annisa said jokingly. "Bet she doesn't suspect anything of us now."

"Chase started it when he decided to bring her to our table. No matter what angle I sit at, she's still there," O'Dallas said, walking up to the wide mirror. "I haven't been able to keep down my food for at least a week."

"Don't worry, they're only going to be together for Homecoming and then we can go back to hating her more freely," Annisa replied and set her phone down on the counter. "Now, watch my phone."

O'Dallas laughed while slightly frowning. "Why?"

"Oh, because I actually had to use the bathroom and I didn't want to come alone," Annisa replied in a know-it-all fashion. She gave her best friend a cheeky smile before skipping off into an empty, and the most disinfected, stall.

Wiping off the droplets of water that got on the pink shark designs of the case, O'Dallas tucked Annisa's iPhone into the back pocket of her black jean shorts for safekeeping. While waiting, she took the time to tidy up the loose strands of hair from her puffy bun.

Everything from her edges up to the hair tie was laid and smoothed down, while the rest of her curly-kinky afro was a giant ball of thick, black hair that sat securely in the middle of her head. She then turned her attention to her small, silver necklaces that got caught underneath her top and bra strap.

Most of everyone in the friend group loved to color coordinate on Thursdays or Fridays, with the colors that Thursday being black, white, and red. It was a tradition they've had since eighth grade, the idea originating from O'Dallas after she critiqued the boys' tasteless style. Of course, egos and feelings were hurt, so it turned from a petty competition of who had "the best fits", to a weekly custom.

For her outfit, she wore a crimson red and porcelain white striped Adidas sneakers, her black shorts that stopped at her upper thighs and hugged the lower part of her waist, a graphic crop-top with mismatched patterns of black and white imagery that was snug around her chest, a faux leather zip-up jacket, and silver hoop earrings large enough to fit a mini basketball through.

As soon as she fixed up her jewelry, her own phone started vibrating in her back pocket. She plucked it out and turned it over to see it was a number she didn't recognize, but in the area. So out of curiosity, she shrugged and answered anyway.

"Hello?" she asked, turning her back to the mirror and leaning against the counter.

"Hi, bitch!"

O'Dallas' eyes nearly popped out its sockets and her brows jumped off her face. She stood up a little straighter and pressed the phone closer to her ear."Manny?! Wh— is that you?!"

"No, it's fucking Ronald McDonald," Manny said in a mocking voice.

O'Dallas jutted out her jaw slightly. "I thought you got your phone taken away?! How did—"

"Borrowing from a... friend of mine," Manny said. There was some faint yelling in the background from another male voice she didn't recognize, but Manny hushed them down and continued talking. "Anyways, I need you to do me a favor and save this number I'm calling you on."

"W-why? I thought you were in ISS? When did—"

"Would you stop it with the questioning woman!? Just save the damn number," he demanded. There was some muffling and shouting in the background, but Manny quieted it down once more.

Hurriedly, O'Dallas switched from the current phone keypad to add the number to her contacts, but paused when trying to put in the name. "What's the name of the person's phone you're using?"

There was about twenty seconds of more shuffling, a vague honk of a car horn, and more indistinct chatter before Manny said, "Hakeem. It's spelled H-A—"

"I know how to spell dumbass," she said into the phone. She rapidly typed it in and saved the number. "Now where are you?! Who's 'Hakeem' and why—"

"Ugh, I gotta go. But I'll explain later, promise," he said, this time in more of a rush. "Oh, and don't tell anyone I'm not at school. Really, really important."

"But—"

"Bye, kiss, kiss!" Manny said and hung up the phone before she could interrogate him further.

O'Dallas stood with her mouth partly agape as the bathroom doors swung open and closed, and Annisa finally emerged from the stall. As she made her way over to the sink to wash her hands, she glanced at her dumbfounded and highly bewildered best friend.

"Hey, what's wrong? I wasn't in there for that long, but I just really had to go," Annisa said while pumping the sticky soap dispenser with the front of her wrist.

"Umm, you'll never believe who just called me..."

So now that y'all are familiarized and comfortable with the six main characters — Hakeem, Rashaad, Manny, O'Dallas, Annisa, and Lily — who's been your favorite so far and why? Least favorite and why? At this point, I love all of them so it's hard for me to choose.

And is anybody shipping any of the characters together at this point? I know it's pretty early on, but I am curious.

Be sure to vote and comment before you swipe up!

Appreciate ya.

~ Robin ~