Chapter 13: Just Good Friends

Wednesday Afternoon- Tamia

12:38 P.M.

Jason followed Vie and Caiden to get some lunch. I can't believe that he caught me right in the middle of biting into my sandwich! I was super embarrassed. But then, suddenly, Morrissa slid over into the seat next to me.

"Girl," she started, "you will not believe who is back, and get this: I caught her trying to sink her claws into Jason!"

"Who?" I asked. Why did I sound like a jealous girlfriend?

"Lanna," said Morrissa.

Oh no. Not her. Not Lanna Jonas.

Here's the story behind Lanna. She used to go to Roosevelt Academy with us. While she was here, she made it her mission to get with Larry— while we were together! Larry and I did break up for a little while, but then we got back together. I'm not sure if he and Lanna ever hooked up, but I'm almost positive they did. Lanna transferred to another school junior year... and now she's back. Great. Now I have to worry about her and Starr.

"D-do you think he likes her?" I asked nervously.

"No," she said with a smile. "I did walk up on them getting cozy, but as I got closer I saw that Lanna was the only one getting cozy. I waited a little bit to see if Jason acted interested, but his face looked like he was pleading for help. Like 'someone get this girl off of me!'."

We both blurted out laughing. This caused Lanna, who was two tables over to give us an evil look. The look slowly turned into a smile, and she got up from her table. Oh no. I think she's coming over. And she did. She glared at Morrissa and then turned her gaze to me.

"So..." she started, "Did Jason tell you that he was taking me out this weekend?"

"Stop lying, Lanna," Morrissa said, rolling her eyes. "I was right there with y'all. He wanted to get away from you and find Tamia."

"But you don't know what we were talking about before you showed up," she retorted.

My heart sank. She was right. Morrissa wasn't there for the whole conversation.

Morrissa started to say something else, but suddenly Larry came running over to our table.

"Lanna!" he called breathlessly.

"Could you be more obvious?" my sister muttered under her breath. She's also not a fan of Larry.

Lanna turned around. "Larry, oh my gosh, it's been too long."

I almost couldn't believe what I was witnessing. Larry came running from Starr's side to Lanna's! Enough was enough, and I knew that I had to say something. Morrissa noticed what had just happened too, and was waiting on me to speak up. I was furious. Just as I was about to say something, Vie, Jason, Caiden, and all came back to the table.

"Hi again," Jason says sweetly as he sits down next to me. Morrissa had quickly slid over again when she saw him. "What's wrong?" he asked me, noticing the look on my face.

"Jason, please tell Tamia that you are NOT taking Lanna out this weekend!" said Morrissa.

"What? No!" Jason said, sounding confused. "Why would I do that?"

"Yeah, Morrissa we just met today in the hallway," Lanna said.

This girl is delusional.

"Besides, I'm sure Larry wants to take me out this weekend, so we can... catch up," she continued.

"Yeah sure, I don't have any plans," Larry said without hesitation. I'm not even sure if he noticed that I was sitting three feet away from where he was standing.

I decided that this was my chance. "Actually Larry and I had a date planned this weekend," I lied.
Larry and I did not have a date planned, and he looked over at me confused. But I knew what I was doing.

"But that's okay Lanna," I continued, "You know, you two should catch up. That way I can hang out with Jason this weekend."

The confused look on Jason's face turned into a smile. I knew he probably didn't know how Lanna and Larry knew each other, but he just smiled and said, "Sure, that sounds great."

"Actually, Lanna and I can catch up some other time," Larry said smugly. "We shouldn't cancel our plans."

"You're right Larry," said Lanna. "We can hang out anytime. You and your girl go on your date, and maybe Jason can take me out this weekend." She winked at Jason, and I can tell that Larry was irritated.

"Sorry, I have plans," said Jason.

Morrissa, Vie, and Tiera giggled, but I tried to hold my laughter in.

"So you can hang with Tamia, but you're too busy for me?" Lanna asked, aggravated. "You know, you're just like the rest of them!" she said, then stormed off.

"The rest of who?" Jason asked.

"Celebrities," Morrissa whispered to him. "She sort of has a reputation."

Just then, we were interrupted by Larry pulling up another chair. He deliberately squeezed in between Jason and me.

"You don't mind if I sit next to my girlfriend?" he said with a sly grin.

"No, not at all," Jason said, glaring at him with a slick grin on his face.

What was happening? Larry never ever sits with me at lunch. At times, I think that he doesn't want to be seen with me. Yet, here he was, sitting next to me at our table. And then there was Jason, staring Larry down with this wicked look. I've never seen him like this. And then there was Lanna. Out the corner of my eye, I could see her glaring at me.

I looked at everyone sitting at my table. Vie had the look of shock on her face. Morrissa was giving Larry the same evil glare that Jason was. My sister looked confused, and Caiden seemed to be oblivious as to what was happening. But what was happening?



Wednesday Afternoon- Jason

2:55 P.M

The day's events kept replaying in my head. Larry kissing Tamia this morning and him forcing himself in between us at lunch. Now I don't know him that well, but I definitely sensed that this was the first time that he's displayed this sort of behavior. Call me jealous, but I knew Tamia deserved better.

I thought back to the day I went looking through Larry's various social media pages. Okay, snooping. He barely had any pictures of him and Tamia, but had tons of him and (who I assume) his brother and him and his group of friends—which included Starr and from a few years ago, Lanna.

Lanna. Now she's a whole other story. Tamia later texted me and explained everything about both Lanna and Starr. I remembered that this morning before Larry came over and nearly grabbed Tamia away from, he left another girl's side... Starr. And before Starr, there was Lanna. Man, Tamia deserves so much better than Larry. She deserves someone like... me? No, we're just friends. I have to keep telling myself that.

Finally, three o'clock was here and it was time to go. Unfortunately, I didn't have any classes with Tamia, but we saw each other often, passing by between classes. I'll take that over not seeing her at all. Our last classes of the day were on opposite sides of the hall, directly facing each other, so we ended up walking out of class at the same time. I couldn't help but smile, and I noticed that her face lit up when she saw me.

"So how was your first day?" she asked me.

"Um, interesting," I said. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect, but I never expected any of this! "Classes aren't so bad, it's just... some of the students."

She laughed. "You're telling me! This is why I choose to ignore most of them. Well, I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she started to walk away.

I wasn't ready for us to part ways, so I said, "Um, is it okay if I give you a ride?" She stopped in her tracks and turned around. I continued, "and maybe we could work on some homework together?"

She smiled at me again and my heart melted. "I would love that, but I can't just leave my sister and plus, my brother's in the lower school. They'll be expecting me at the bus stop."

"Oh, I'm sure my driver won't mind giving you all a ride," I said, and then immediately realizing how privileged that sounded. "I mean— I didn't mean for it to sound like that," I stuttered.

"No it's fine," she replied. "That's actually a cool idea. I'll just call them and ask—" she was suddenly cut off by Caiden walking up.

"Hey bro, I'm sure you don't mind, but I told my girlfriend that she could ride home with us today!" he said excitedly.

I looked at Tamia and both our mouths hit the floor. "Girlfriend?" we asked in unison. The girlfriend in question was Vie, and she was beaming.

"Yep," said Caiden. "I asked her out! And she said yes!" It was at that moment I could tell that Caiden genuinely liked Vie. Usually girls ask him out. But he asked her. And he had so much joy in his eyes when he announced that she said yes. It was almost like he didn't expect her to... like he wasn't good enough for her, even though he's her celebrity crush. It warmed my heart to see this side of Caiden.

"Hey, what about us?" asked Tania's sister Tiera. I also noticed that there was a guy standing with her, who I assumed was their brother, Jase.

"I'd never leave Tamia's brother and sister out. The more the merrier," I said, winking at Tamia. Wait, did she just blush?

"Morrissa has to ride with us too!" Vie exclaimed. "We can't leave her out!"

"Okay so that's seven people," said Caiden. "Perfect!"


Tamia

3:51 P.M.

I couldn't believe it. Me, my girls, and two of my siblings were riding in the private car that carries Jason and Caiden to and from school. I'm not sure how, but somehow, Caiden convinced their driver to drive all of us. Tiera and Jase are like me (not super impressed by celebrities— although Jason is my friend), so we dropped them off at home.

As we pulled up to the Draper home, I expected Morrissa to be more excited because she was finally going to meet Raymond., but she remained as calm and composed as ever.

Walking into the house, Caiden yelled out, "Hey Ray! We're home. And we brought some friends!"

A few seconds later, Raymond came down the stairs wearing pajama pants and a white T-shirt. I could tell he started to say, "What's up?" but he stopped. His eyes went directly to Morrissa and his eyes widened. He was speechless.

"I guess Morrissa's celebrity crush likes her back," Jason whispered to me. "I've never seen him this quiet."

"Wow, if I would have known we were going to have such beautiful ladies joining us today, I would've worn something more presentable," Raymond finally said.

"Oh, no. I like this look on you," Morrissa said smoothly. Jason and I looked at each other with wide eyes. "I'm Morrissa by the way," she said, holding out her hand, "and it's very nice to meet you, Raymond."

"The pleasure is all mine," Raymond replied, taking her hand and kissing it lightly. (At this time, Morrissa and Raymond are both 18 years old.)

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. Both my girls, standing in the same room as their crushes. Man, I wish I wasn't in a relationship with Larry right now— wait, did I really just think that? I know Larry's behavior was weird today, but did I really not want to be with him anymore? Was Jason now my celebrity crush now? No, it's not fair to Larry that I think of Jason like that— no matter how he acts. Morrissa and Vie didn't have boyfriends, so it was okay for them to have crushes. But I was in a relationship. Larry showed me that he did love me today, and whether or not it was out of jealousy, he still did it, and he didn't have to. If he wanted to be with Lanna or Starr, he could've broken up with me and moved on. So I couldn't do that to him. Jason and I could only remain friends. Just good friends.