Wednesday|

As school ended, I rushed out of the compound as soon as I could. Escaping home to school and school to home as I did was a daily routine, with the occasional bumping into Alistair the sweetest moments. How I wish I'd see him.

As I crossed the road leading towards the street I lived on, a group of students from Connor Sanders dashed passed me.

"Come on guys! I really want my ice-cream!" A radiant girl with golden, silky curls called out to her friends as she sprinted excitedly across the road. Seeing how far behind her pack was, she ran back, grabbing one of her friends and pulling him along with her. They all burst out laughing, speeding up towards their friends.

Wait, isn't that-

As if on cue, the guy little miss sunshine had dragged with her spun around, meeting my eye. His eyes lit up when he saw me, then flitted over to his hand in hers, an indiscernable look of shock and something else washing over him.

"Hey, Kylar!"

Alistair rearranged his features into a grin, waving me over. I managed a small smile, quickening my pace to catch up with him.

"Hey Alistair," I couldn't help but grin at how happy he was. He must be, having fit in so easily in his new school. Little miss sunshine hugged his arm closer towards her, while flashing me an innocuous smile. My eyes widened, and Alistair seemed to catch onto that.

"This is Sophie, a friend from Chemistry and Literature." I heaved an inward sigh of relief, glad that she was just a friend. "Sophie, this is Kylar, my..someone I met in church."

Wait what?

Sophie continued with her pretty little smile, but not before giving me a quick flash of disgust. I stood there, smiling back politely and calmly, my insides completely startled.

"Nice to meet you," she said sweetly, her voice almost as sweet as that artificial sweetener they use at coffee shops, and equally genuine.

"Nice to meet you too," I replied, confused and shocked.

Alistair tried to remove himself from Sophie's hold, but she seemed to cling onto him as if he were a lifebuoy. Was their relationship more than a simple friendship? But Alistair said-

Before I could complete my thought, Alistair broke the silence by introducing me to his other friends. "This over here is Jason, one of my first friends I made at Connor Sanders along with Sophie. This is..." As he continued, my thoughts shifted back to him and Sophie, who were still standing extremely close together. A feeling of unease started at the pit of my stomach, as I realised I had thought too much of my friendship with Alistair. All this time, I thought I had found something..someone special, when it was all just a one-sided affection.

"...and guys this is Kylar," Alistair beamed as he finished with his introductions.

"It's been nice meeting all of you, but I need to go now," my voice warbled as I spoke, and I mentally rolled my eyes for sounding so weak and broken. I plastered on a smile as I waved Alistair and his friends goodbye, hurriedly making my way home.

I heard footsteps growing louder from behind me, but refused to slow down my pace. Why was I reacting this way? Alistair is free to like whoever he wants to, and stay friends with whoever else he wishes to. He gets this choice, of course, because he is just so splendid. Debonair, warm, really, really cute..everyone loves him. Meanwhile I'm just a pathetic broken loner. Of course he'd choose little miss sunshine over me.

Biting my lower lip to keep from bursting into tears, I ran yet faster, only to be stopped short by a strong tug on my arm. Momentarily losing my balance, Alistair caught me with his free hand, his face nearly crashing into mine.

"Kylar, what's wrong?" Alistair's eyes searched mine worriedly as I made some space between us and released his hand.

"I..I'm fine," I lied, forcing my lips to curl upwards.

"No, no you're not. Tell me, Kylar, what is it?" His voice was so full of concern, it felt as though maybe I wasn't just a foolish dreamer. Then I remembered how close he was to Sophie, and how he probably treated her this way too.

"Don't act like you know me so well! After all, I'm just someone you met in church, aren't I?" My words came out spiteful, and I instantly felt ashamed of how bitterly I spoke.

Alistair's eyes grew round in surprise, then something that looked a lot like guilt and sadness played on his face. "I..you..we," he fumbled with his words, unable to piece together anything coherent.

"It's okay Alistair. You're a great person, so don't bother with my stupidity. I'm just overreacting, what was I thinking? I am someone you met in church, there's nothing wrong with that."

Alistair opened his mouth to speak again, but I couldn't bear to hear those words uttered again.

"I..I feel the same way about you too, just acquaintances from church!" I chirped, failing miserably at lying.

It broke my heart to see Alistair that way, the Alistair full of conviction and earnest sincerity despite everything thrown his way reduced to guilt because of me. 

Just as I was about to turn around and head home for the second time, Alistair pulled me into a tight embrace in a suddeness that knocked my breath out of me, my face pressed against his warm chest.

"Kylar, you're my favourite person. My absolute favourite person in the world," he whispered into my ear, brushing the hair out of my face delicately. "I'm sorry if I hurt you, in the spur of the moment it just seemed odd if I were to tell my new friends you were my favourite person, so that came out instead. I'm really sorry. If you want I'll go back and explain-"

"Alistair, it's okay. All that matters is what you think," I said, looking up to meet his gaze. My heart warmed against his, and I never wanted this to end. Of course, hugging on a street for longer than 30 seconds was going to make things awkward for the poor passers-by who happened to glance our way, so I released my arms from around his waist gently, brushing his floppy fringe out of his eye. A look of surprise flitted across his face, as though this felt familiar. His mom probably did this for him before..It happened.

Just then, I realised his friends were still waiting for him further back on the street, looking uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. Little miss sunshine seemed to be holding in a rage, her knuckles tense as she held her hands together in front of her.

"Um..Alistair? I think your friends are still waiting for you.." I felt my cheeks flush in secondhand embarrassment for him, although he didn't seem perturbed by the awkwardness of the whole situation.

"Guys, I think I'll have to give icecream a miss. Needa help my favourite person in the world with homework," he hollered over his shoulder.

I felt my blush deepen, and fiddled with my hair embarrassedly. I never expected him to think of me as his favourite person, although that was the way I felt about him. After all, he was so stunningly beautiful; everything about him was goodness.

Had he just called me a close friend, I would have accepted it all the same.