Bella and Miles walked into the cafeteria together talking as usual. It was lunch period and the school was almost empty as half of the school were in the cafeteria having lunch.
" I'll go grab our lunch, you go ahead", Miles suggested and she just nodded along with him. He knew her so well that she wouldn't be able to wait in line for that long, besides, the lunch lady knew him and she wouldn't be bothered if he had two trays. The lunch lady used to think they were dating and still goes on about how they make a great pair.
She headed over to their usual table where all her and Miles's friends had always sat. It was a rectangular table and there were more than twenty small rectangular tables in the hall, each occupied by eating and gossiping students.
" Hey Bella, how's it going?", a student greeted her from their table and she smiled and waved at her. " Fine Bridget, how's your hand now?", Bella asked making a little stop at the girl's table to observe the girl's hand as the girl's friends giggled happily because Bella was at their table. The effects of being too popular.
" Fine, I saw our family doctor and she told me not to put pressure on it but I am fine now", Bridget answered honestly marveling at the fact that Bella remembered even though she wasn't the one who got her hurt.
" I'm still apologizing though, if it weren't for Duke's tantrum that day, you wouldn't have gotten hurt", Bella said remembering how Duke had gotten in a fight with some student just last week and had mistakenly injured Bridget in the process.
" I'm okay Bella, besides I think we all know that Duke can be a handful sometimes", Bridget said and her friends nodded, they all knew Duke, everyone knew Duke, he was also one of the popular news in high school.
" He surely can be", Bella replied with a sigh before she excused herself and headed towards her table, Miles was already sitting down when she arrived.
They seemed to be so engrossed in a conversation but before she could ask what was going on, she heard Duke crackle up in laughter and he couldn't stop.
" Duke?", Miles called him warningly and he sighed as if bored. " I don't laugh if it isn't funny and to me it is, can't you hear what she's saying, I literally told her not to date that jerk", Duke said taking a bite out of his burger.
Bella tossed a fry in her mouth and stared inquisitively at her friends, that was when she noticed her side girlfriend Jennifer, had puffy eyes.
Jennifer was an average height, Sandy blonde haired beauty with light brown eyes and pale skin. She was always cheerful and you barely saw her sad, but right now her eyes looked like they were about to water and she had a bit of make up on.
" Jennifer what's wrong?", Bella asked immediately and Jennifer just stared at her, tears welling up at the corner of her eyes. " Duke is saying mean things to me Bella", Jennifer said sniffing and Duke immediately gasped like a dramatic person, his hazel eyes staring back at Jennifer at her wild accusation.
Bella stared at Duke knowing fully well he was capable of that, he didn't stare at her as he spoke specifically to Jennifer.
" Out with the truth Darling Jennifer you know very well that's not what made your eyes puffy", he said quietly and turned to stare at Bella and Miles who seemed busy with eating from Bella's tray.
" She looks like this because that jerk Tony called it off, she couldn't handle their breakup", he said smugly, almost going dramatic. His hazel eyes narrowing at Jennifer to hear how she was going to respond.
" We were never really dating", Jennifer quickly defended herself because Duke never kept shut, she knew throwing him under the bus was unfair but he was all she thought of at that moment.
By now, the entire hall was crowded and filled with teenagers having one conversation or the other as they sat to eat. The noise was so loud, it covered the discussion Bella and her friends were having but at least they could hear each other.
" Well, that wasn't what you always said", Duke said almost immediately causing Jennifer to groan inwardly. " You were always like, we would get married one day and the whole school would be there, we would have kids and they will look like him, he will be my superstar", Duke said trying to imitate Jennifer's dreamy voice which he was very terrible at.
Miles chewed the fry in his mouth quickly and shook his head in disagreement. " No, not now, Duke you are just exaggerating, Jennifer never said anything like that", Miles said as Bella rubbed Jennifer's back to give comfort, Jennifer and her sat almost next to each other with Duke opposite her, Miles on her right and Jennifer at the head of the table.
" Well she was always acting like that. I told her, I warned her, as a friend that Tony wasn't good for her, guys know guys better than girls do, but she didn't listen, she actually shoved five fingers in my face and said I couldn't stand true love, dude, true love? As if that exists in our generation anymore", Duke concluded as he took a larger bite of burger in frustration remembering Jennifer's words that day.
" Ok Duke I get you, I was wrong and you were right for once in your life, so please just quit it, I'm trying to handle this here", Jennifer said already tired of Duke's nagging, she just couldn't answer him today.
Duke frowned and was about to say something else but Bella signalled him with her eyes to stop and he just frowned more, sipping his orange juice from his juice box.
" What's up guys?", Sasha asked in a cool way as she sat down with her friends, not surprising she was part of their group. She failed to notice that while she spoke, there was red lipstick on her mouth, evidence of her messing around.
" You've got lipstick on your mouth", Miles said softly to her. Sasha frowned realizing she forgot to clean up after her time with Gwen.
" Mind your business Milezy, I was doing important stuff", she replied easily, grabbing a napkin from Duke's tray and wiping the lipstick off.
Miles scoffed at her causing him to earn a huge glare from her side and he raised both his hands up in surrender. He dropped his hands down wanting to eat once again from Bella's tray but just immediately, Bella dragged her tray to herself and glared at him as well. He only smiled his usual funny smile at her and started eating from his tray.
" Are you seriously crying?", Sasha asked Jennifer as she started to eat from Duke's tray. The Dude got two burgers and he didn't seem to mind only caring about the question she had asked.
" Tony ended things with her", he said out loud causing Jennifer to throw her spoon at him.
" At this point, the entire school will know I'm no longer in a relationship with Tony, douchebag", Jennifer yelled softly at him as he only smirked and Sasha smiled.
" Oh relax Jennifer, rumours spread faster than you think in this school, I already knew so Duke didn't have to say anything", Sasha responded quite honestly, she was the honest one in all of them.
They continued on with their rambling with Duke getting beaten by Jennifer most of the times using her hands, cutleries or fries.
Bella was the only one who was no longer paying attention to the conversation as she observed Justin who sat at a far end in the cafeteria, alone in his table.
Frequently tossing fries in his mouth while he seriously jotted down on his journal, the air pod on his ear making him look rare and reserved as he busied himself.
Why does he seat alone? She mumbled to herself watching how he sat there so comfortably not minding that he was alone till some girl came to join him and he raised his head up.
Her attention was drawn back to her table when she realized her friends were now laughing and no longer mourning or taunting.
She tossed a piece of fry in her mouth and asked calmly what they were laughing about and they told her about the party that Jennifer suggested.
She had almost rolled her eyes at the mention of the word party but because Jennifer was staring intently at her, she couldn't decline.
" So when's the party?", Bella asked agreeing in her head that this was only because Jennifer was heartbroken and the girl always thought a party was the answer to every problem.
" Straight Friday night, please do come Bella, please", Jennifer said in a hurry as it was pretty rare for Bella to be around for parties. Bella was a part time babysitter and sometimes her schedules was always tight, she was like a celebrity that was completely booked and could only be seen once in a while.
" Friday night it is", Bella cheered and they all went woo-hoo as Jennifer screamed in joy drawing attention to their table but she didn't seem to mind, as always.
******
Authors Note:
Once again, thank you all for taking time to read the book The Boy I Love, I hope you enjoy each chapter as the day goes by. I hope dearly that you support this book by voting with power stones and leaving good comments and reviews. That will surely keep me going, thanks and byeee.