She holds onto his arm, clinging to him like he's everything she's ever wanted in life and more. Which, to be honest, he probably is, but that doesn't mean watching them makes me any less uncomfortable. I avert my eyes, looking down at the ground instead. The dried piece of gum stuck to the floor is so much more fascinating.
"You okay?" Peter speaks from my side, a gentle look in his brown eyes. "You don't look okay."
"I'm fine." Even as I say this, I know I'm not fooling anyone. I glance at the two standing at the locker across the hallway. Watching Samara openly flirt with Haden makes me sick to my stomach.
It's so wrong.
She shouldn't be this close to him. What if he gives in to her beauty? She'll keep him for one night and throw him away the next. I can't let him be used like that, but there's nothing I can do except watch and pray that he uses his head here; The one with the brain.
I glance at Pete, unfairly directing my annoyance at him, "I thought she was after you?"
He shrugs, his lips set in a tight line, "You and me both, bud."
Peter hasn't met Haden officially yet, only knowing him from all the hundreds of texts Isla sent on the group chat yesterday. This setting isn't ideal for a first introduction, but that couldn't be farther from my main problem right now.
It's surprising how neither of them has noticed us with our eyes shooting lasers at them. Well, Peter doesn't seem to care too much about it. Maybe he really was hanging out with Samara out of obligation after all.
"Doesn't it bother you?" I ask out of curiosity.
He tilts his head in thought, his eyes focused on them, "A little, but I know she doesn't really like me anyway."
I turn to stare at him like he'd grown two heads. Peter being perceptive of other people's feelings isn't something I've seen before. He would've noticed how Camila feels about him if he was."What?" He shrugs at my expression, "It's not hard to tell."
"You've changed, Pete," I shake my head, faking dramatics, but more so at the fact that even though he seems to be smarter than he was a year ago, he still can't read poor Cami. It just keeps getting sadder.
All I get in response is an eye roll, "I'm gonna go find Dean. Tell me how that ends, alright?" He gestures to Haden laughing at something Samara says. I don't have it in me to respond, and all I can do is stare at the scene in disbelief. I've known Samara for quite a while now, 'funny" and her do not go in the same sentence.
"Oh hey," Peter says to someone, and I look up at his words, "Magz, what's up?"
She rolls her eyes, "God, Noah needs to learn how to fucking drive," she complains about him per usual, and I feel my insides flip at the mention of his name. "I'd be here an hour early if I didn't have to wait for that guy."
Peter laughs, "Cut him some slack. It takes him a while to look half as good as you." He playfully winks at her, but all she does is stare back in blatant disgust. He laughs at her expression.
"Well, I gotta go," ruffling Maggie's hair as he passes her by, Pete only laughs harder when she bats him away. He waves back at me with a grin, letting Maggie grumble to herself, "I'll see you guys in class!"
"Why does every dude mess up my hair? This is why I always have to tie it up," she grumbles under her breath, fixing her hair with mild annoyance. She raises her head to add more but suddenly looks past me, seemingly noticing something. "Oh. It worked."
I follow her gaze, my eyes landing on the unnatural pair I'd rather not look at. "What do you mean?" I ask instead, turning back to her.
"My plan." She says simply, referring to her words from yesterday like I should've known.
"Yesterday during Math, I told her she'd have a better chance going after Haden. She's been after Pete for so long, I didn't think she'd be convinced as easily. Well, Haden's pretty hot. She probably just wants to do him first or something."
I pull my lips into my mouth, holding back any harsh comments. "You're talking about my best friend." It's meant to be just a friendly reminder, but it comes off sounding a lot more threatening than I intended.
"You said you didn't like him," she raises both of her eyebrows, looking directly at me as if to ask if I've changed my mind. I haven't.
"I just don't want to see some chick use him like this."
"Who says she's using him? He doesn't seem to mind the attention," she tilts her head towards them, and I turn mine to take a look despite not really wanting to.
Samara leans in closer, whispering something low enough for only the two of them to hear, and he laughs, all his pearly whites on show. "See?"
'No, Maggie, I can't. I'm legally blind now. This scene has scarred my vision.' I want to reply, but I keep my thoughts to myself. I have the strongest urge to go there and break them apart. I want to tell Samara to go her merry way because she's not going to get Haden, not when I can stop it.
But I can't.
Three years ago, maybe I could, but now I'm not so sure.
Just when I'm about to end this torture and walk away from the sight, Samara holds up a finger, motioning for Haden to wait a minute. She begins digging into her bag, and Haden sighs, glancing around as if he were looking for something. Then his eyes meet mine.
Looking at me like I'm his saving grace, he mouths a 'Help me', his eyes practically begging me. Samara turns back to him, finding what she had been looking for, and he immediately resumes his charming smile.
So that's how it is.
"See!" I turn my triumphant smirk to Maggie, who I'm sure saw exactly what I did.
She chews on her bubblegum for a second longer before she cares to grace me with a reply, "Whatever."
He doesn't like the attention after all.
Now that I have a good reason to break them apart, I throw Maggie a smug smile and make my way towards the two of them.
"Samara," I acknowledge her presence with a nod. She was someone we never actually invited to our circle. All she did was cling onto Pete's arm, and he was too kind to shake her off. Then suddenly, we had this new girl in our group, one none of us really liked.
She smiles at me, her eyes glowing like it's Christmas and Haden's her present, "Hey, Kyra.""Kyra," Haden nods, mocking my greeting with an amused smile.
On reflex, I almost flip him off but stop myself. Instead, I make a show of linking my arm with his. As kids, we'd always interlace our fingers, but now that we're older, it feels a lot more intimate. "I need to show Haden to class if you don't mind."
Her smile vanishes before you can say 'slut', and she nods her head slowly, her eyes turning darker, "...Sure."
"You're such a sweetheart," I give her the sweetest smile I can, but she's not dumb. She's caught onto what I'm doing. I can tell by the murderous look in her brown eyes.
It's always a war with the girls here. No one wants to be sloppy seconds, so who's gonna get her hands on the guy first?
Well, it's usually me.
"Shall we go?" I turn to Haden, and his brown eyes meet mine as he gives me an overly eager nod. I almost laugh, controlling myself in time to wave Samara a goodbye.
I hear her sigh behind us, saying, "The whore strikes again."
I almost freeze at the ice in her words, wondering if Haden heard that. It doesn't seem like he did when he continues to ask me about the school, "Where's the lab, then?"
"Upstairs," I reply, trying to sound normal. Guess his generally oblivious nature pays off sometimes. "You didn't even take Chem, though."
"But you did," he shrugs like it's self-explanatory, and I have to hide my smile.
Even if I'm going to be on edge constantly, scared he'll figure out my secrets, it's still nice to have him here. I haven't had someone who's on my side without any questions asked in so long. It's good to have a friend again.