Something Ends, Another Begins

"Aliana! Jenny's here!" I heard my mother call from downstairs. I took one last look in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable and raced out of the door.

As I stepped downstairs, I saw my best friend, Jenny Garcia talking to Mom and smiling. Even though it has only been three and a half months since I've last seen her (before she left to visit Australia for the summer), I felt as if I haven't seen her in forever. I guess all of that change in one month does that to you.

"Hey, Jen," I said as cheerfully as I could while I put my binders down and shoes on.

"Hey, Ali," she said. She then opened her mouth, then closed it quickly, as if she realized something. I could tell she was about to ask me how I was feeling, then decided against it. "Are you ready for the last year of our high school lives?" she asked instead.

"I guess," I responded as I shrugged.

I felt my mom wrap her arms around me and give me a little peck on the cheek. "Okay, you kids have a great first day," she told us. "I love you so much," she said to me as she squeezed me tighter and have me another peck.

"I love you, too," I replied. During this past month, I have been saying, "I love you" a lot more to my parents than I used to.

"Thanks, Mrs. Pearson. We'll see you later," Jenny said happily as she started walking towards the front door and gestured for me to follow her. I waved one last time to Mom as I followed Jenny outside.

It was a little awkward once we were inside the car since neither of us knew how to start a conversation. The last time we saw each other, Josh was still alive and my parents were still living under the same roof.

I figured I should talk first. "So, how was Australia?"

"It was really fun. You would have loved it. Nice beaches, warm weather every day, and heaps of cute surfer guys." Wow. She's even picked up Australian slang?

"it sounds like fun." I tried to sound excited.

I heard Jenny sigh beside me as I looked out the window. "Ali, you do know I feel awful for not being at the funeral." The mood all of a sudden changed.

"It's fine. It's not your fault you were all the way around the world."

"Well, yeah, but he was our friend and I wasn't there for him."

"Jenny, don't beat yourself up about it. It's not as if you didn't want to be there and I'm sure Josh knows that."

She nodded and smiled. "You're right. You're such a great friend, Ali."

***

As Jenny and I were standing by my locker, looking at our schedules to see which classes we had together and which classes we didn't, I heard her make a tiny gasp. "What? What's going on?" I asked, confused.

"He has definitely gotten hotter since the last time I saw him," Jenny said, more to herself than to me.

I glanced around the hallway to see who she was looking at. Unfortunately, I realized her gaze was fixed on Cameron. He looked as if this past month did not even affect him. His lip ring was back, he was wearing old band t-shirts, dark skinny jeans, and dirty black converse. He was also talking/laughing with his little posse group of friends, just like he always was. Did he magically forget that his best friend for five years just died? Apparently so.

I looked back at Jenny, who was still staring at him, and immediately remembered her giant crush on him. Ever since she met him freshman year, along with me and Josh, she never fails to tell me how "delicious" looking he always looks and I never fail to cringe. Am I the only one who sees how disgusting and torturous he is? And that is exactly why I didn't bother to call him this entire month since I knew he couldn't change into Mr. Nice Guy and want to comfort his late best friend's girlfriend. I just wish Jenny would realize that.

"Why won't he just ask me out already? We've been flirting for three years." Jenny's words interrupted my thoughts.

I rolled my eyes and shot both her and Cameron a glare. "Jenny, as I've said a billion times, you could do so much better than Cameron Reeves. He's just a pretty face, you know he won't treat you right."

"How do you know that?"

"Have you seen his average number of girlfriends a month? And have you seen how hard they all cry after he dumps them? I just don't want that to be you."

"Ali, you don't have to be such a pessimist just because you and Cam tease each other a little," Jenny said as she rolled her eyes at me.

I heard myself scoff. "A little? Jenny, he told our whole class during sophomore year that I was pregnant from a drug dealer! Then, right before summer when I found out about my parents getting divorced, he told me to get over it and I should stop bitching about it even though I mentioned nothing to him about it. You can't tell me I should just let that go."

Jenny was about to say something but was cut off by the son of Satan himself. "Hey, Jen," Cameron said as he looked her up and down slowly. Typical.

"Oh, hey, Cam," she said softly as she absentmindedly played with a piece of her hair. Again, typical.

"How was your summer?" he asked in his flirty, husky voice that (for some reason) Jenny, along with the rest of the girl population at school, found attractive.

"It was okay. How was yours?" Was she serious?

"It was alright. Not the best, though, I guess," he said with a slight shrug, but I saw his smile disappear a little. Wait, he guessed it wasn't the best? His best friend died more or less than a month ago and he says that his summer just wasn't the best? I swear, I'll never know what goes on in that brain of his. That is, if he has one. Jenny just nodded and stared at him as if he were the most precious thing that ever walked this planet. About thirty seconds passed by awkwardly before the first bell rang for first period.

"Well, I'll see you around Jen." Cameron's flirty smile came back as he stepped back and winked at Jenny and walked away. Neither of them acknowledged my existence this whole time. Figures.

"Ugh, Ali, he is so fine!" Jenny exclaimed as she just watched him walk to the next hallway.

"Okay, Jenny, I've heard you say that a million times already. Why don't you just ask him out so the world can go on in peace?" I immediately wished I could take that back, but I snapped.

But, apparently, I didn't sound as angry as I thought since Jenny went on to say, "Really? You think I should? He doesn't look like he'd mind the girl making the first move, right?"

I tried to calm myself. "Yes, Jenny, do whatever you want with him. We have to go now before we're late."

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, I'll see you during third period," she said, giddy. She gave me a little wave goodbye before practically skipping down the hallway. I guess I'll never know what goes on in her brain, either and why she likes him so much. People say that he's only mean to me because I tease him a lot, as well, which isn't completely true. Yeah, I say some stuff about him, but not as bad as he's talked about me. And the worst part was, Josh wouldn't say anything to him about it. He would just say we were acting like kids and we both needed to stop. I mean, you would think a boyfriend would want no one teasing their girlfriend even if the teaser is his best friend. Maybe that's just what girlfriends think.

***

When I walked into AP English, I took a random seat that wasn't too far in the back and that wasn't too close to the front. As I waited for the last bell to ring, I realized I felt alone. As if I was in a place where I knew no one. I noticed that most of the people that were in this class have been in my classes since elementary school but I never really knew them. To them, Josh was a great friend and a well-known guy while I was just Josh's best friends and girlfriend that people would say hi to just to be polite. They never were as close to me as I thought. The only person that's been close to me, besides Josh, was Jenny.

"Is this seat taken?" I heard someone ask beside me. I quickly looked up and saw Christie White looking down at me and pointing to the seat next to me.

"No, go ahead," I replied, flatly. Who knew Christie White would be in my AP class. We've had classes together before, but they've mainly been classes like Art, Health, or Driver's Ed. Christie was a member of the dance team and was well-known not just by the Senior class but basically by the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, as well. We weren't exactly the best of friends but we did use to say hi to each other and occasionally make small talk, mostly when she was dating Cameron. That's right, she used to be Cameron's girlfriend for about four months sophomore year. That shouldn't be a surprise. Other than that, Christie is a pretty nice girl. I never had a problem with her.

The bell rang, but the teacher wasn't in sight yet. Good. More free time. "Ali?" I heard Christie call out beside me.

"Yeah?" I looked at her, curiously, suspecting she wanted to borrow a pencil or something.

"I, um, just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about Josh. I know how much you two loved each other."

"Oh," I said, caught off guard, "Thank you." I didn't know what else to say.

Christie smiled and nodded before digging through her binder for something. Then, I heard the opening of the classroom door and Mrs. Morris appeared and looked out of breath. "Sorry I'm late," she said quickly before dumping her bag and everything else on her desk before taking roll call.