Words Unspoken

~Danica~

“We’re screwed,” Declan declared as we stood outside the door to French class. We had already parted ways with Aria, Jez and Sienna about five minutes ago, after being ‘pleasantly’ greeted by Ms. Dunbar. Needless to say, we had detention after school, but that was the least of my concerns at the moment. Turns out, after checking my schedule, I had to deal with Declan for an entire period, as well as half an hour later in the day. Joy.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I snapped at him. “You know how Miss Lane feels about tardiness.”

“Ladies first,” he offered with a faux charming smile, gesturing to the door. I glared at him in response, but surprisingly for a seemingly meek guy, he stood his ground, that stupid smile still plastered on. Finally deciding that this was a waste of time, I huffed and opened the door, stepping inside to be greeted by the stares of about twenty to thirty students...and Miss Lane.

“Kind of you to finally join us,” she drawled, snapping the textbook she held shut with a practiced ease. Her piercing blue eyes never left us as we passed her our late slips and shuffled to our seats, which were oh-so-conveniently beside each other. I saw Declan stiffen in the periphery of my vision, and braced myself. Professor Barbie over there wasn’t done with us yet.

“You know,” she drawled in French, her lips twisting into that infuriating smirk of hers. “I find it awfully strange how you and Declan came to class...together.”

“What are you implying?” I said sharply.

“Ah, ah, this is a French class. You’re supposed to speak in French,” she said. “But Mademoiselle Montagna, I had no idea you were one of those girls. Insolent and insufferable, yes, but...” My dear classmates made no effort to stifle their obnoxious laughter, and I felt my face grow warm in anger and embarrassment as I caught on as well.

“It’s not like that!” I exclaimed. “Me and Declan-!”

“Enough,” Miss Lane interrupted. “I never accused you of anything. I was simply stating my suspicions, and that’s all. I really don’t want to hear the reasons why you were late to my class.”

I glanced at Declan, who was staring at me, his expression unreadable. He didn’t say a word as he quickly looked away, but I had a feeling that he was just as embarrassed as I was, even if he didn’t show it.

“Either way,” she continued. “I just finished explaining an important assignment to the class before you two arrived. Everyone else got to choose their partners, but since you were late, you have no choice but to be partners with each other.”

“What’s the assignment?” Declan asked, speaking for the first time since we entered the classroom.

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to find out yourselves,” she said, though I knew and everyone else knew that she wasn’t sorry at all. “I find it quite fair, don’t you? After all, you were-”

“Late, we know,” I snapped. “It won’t happen again, but can you please just tell us what we’re supposed to do?”

“Don’t talk back to me,” she retorted. “Do you talk to your parents in that tone, Mademoiselle Montagna?”

Actually, yes, I thought, but I bit my tongue to keep from saying that out loud.

“Whatever,” I said instead.

She returned to her desk, before addressing the rest of the class. “You have the rest of the class period to start,” she informed us. “This assignment is due on Friday, understand?”

The class nodded and murmured their affirmative, but like typical high school students, they didn’t even glance at their schoolwork. Some texted, others chattered away amongst themselves, but few of them were actually doing what they were supposed to. Miss Lane didn’t pay them any attention, however.

I groaned, burying my face in my arms. I wanted to sleep more than anything and I could’ve probably gotten away with it if that horrible blonde woman didn’t have something against me. The last thing I needed was her obtaining more ammo; this was a student-teacher war I had no intentions of losing.

Suddenly, I felt a pencil jabbing me in the arm, and again and again. I swatted it away the fourth time and growled, “I swear to God, I will make you cry if you don’t stop.” Lifting my head from my arms, I scowled at Declan, who was laughing to himself quietly. “Do you know how annoying you are?”

“The correct question here is...” he replied in a stern voice, obviously imitating Aria’s dad. “Do you know how annoying YOU are?” I couldn’t help it. My scowl vanished in that instant, replaced by a slowly widening smile. He grinned back.

“Oh god. That...was a horrible imitation.” I snickered. “You’re such a dork, you know that?”

He shrugged. “Jez tells me that a lot.”

“I think she mentioned that a couple of times...” I said dryly.

“Not surprising. She talks about me a lot, doesn’t she?” That was true. Jez and Declan had been close friends for a very long time and had practically grown up together. As a result, Declan’s name often came up in several conversations. I simply nodded in response. “Anyway, can I ask you something?”

“You already did.” He kind of rolled at eyes at me and I added, “But feel free to ask me another question.”

“Aria,” he started and my heart skipped a beat in excitement, hoping that he was about to drop a hint that he liked her. My hopes were dashed and my carefully neutral mask almost fell off when he continued, however, “Why does she act all weird around me?”

I swallowed down the lump that threatened to clog my throat and replied, “What are you talking about? She doesn’t act weird around you. She’s just a shy person and that’s all there is to it. Don’t look too deeply into things, Declan.”

“Oh...But I was...” he trailed off, then smiled awkwardly. “Never mind. Just forget it.”

Something about what Declan just said bugged me, to be honest. He seemed the type to be oblivious to romance and I’ve heard from many sources that most guys were. However, I tried to shake the uneasiness off and reason with myself that maybe he didn’t know, that he genuinely thought that Aria was acting weirdly around him and he was just puzzled by it. The nagging feeling didn’t completely leave me, though, choosing to lurk at the back of my mind.

I nodded absently and then we sort of fell into an awkward silence, me doodling on the margins of my notebook and him sneaking his iPod out of his pocket to listen to music. After producing an adorable little red panda head and a retarded looking horse on paper, I sighed and set my pencil down, now bored. Turning back to Declan, I asked, “What you listening to?”

He seemed confused for a moment, then removed his ear buds. When I repeated myself, he frowned and looked away. “I can’t tell you. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“It can’t be that bad,” I said. “Come on. I can’t guarantee that I won’t laugh...But it’s unlikely that I will.”

“Just...” He paused, probably considering whether to tell me or not. After a moment, he said, “J Pop. And Rock. Have you heard of it?”

And I laughed. Loudly. I tried to stifle it with my fist, but I couldn’t. Declan gaped at me, and Miss Lane looked up from her book to shoot daggers at me with her icy blue eyes. “S-Sorry,” I hastily apologized to him, not even acknowledging my French teacher. “I’m not laughing at you or your taste in music. I was laughing at your question. Heard of it? Japanese music is my life.”

His green eyes lit up at that. “Really?” I nodded, and he grinned. “It’s mine, too. Who do you listen to?”

For the next half an hour, we discussed our favourite Japanese singers and bands, leaving our schoolwork almost completely untouched, except for the moments when Miss Lane would look our way and we’d ease into talking about our assignment, occasionally scribbling down gibberish to look as if were working. But when she turned her attention elsewhere, we would continue where we left off. Declan and I surprisingly shared quite a bit in common as far as music tastes go and for a while, I completely forgot about my uneasy feeling. Before I knew it, the bell rang, signalling the end of the period.

“You know,” he said to me as he gathered his books. “You’re not that bad.”

We walked to the door together and just before we went off in separate directions, I told him, “Neither are you.”

~*~

Later that day, at lunch, I had just closed my locker and started heading off towards the cafeteria when I was intercepted by Jamel Hamadi, my extremely annoying flirt of a neighbour. “Hey,” he greeted, his lips twisting into a “charming” smile as he raked his fingers through his curly hair, tousling it in the process.

“Go away,” I said, disinterested. He didn’t budge however, instead wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I didn’t bother shrugging him off as I knew he was harmless enough, instead blowing my bangs out of my face in annoyance.

“You know, the least you can do is flirt back,” he said.

“I only flirt with people I like. And I don’t like you,” I told him icily.

“Ouch, that stung,” he said, frowning, though I could see traces of mirth twinkling in his grey eyes.

“Yeah, well the truth hurts. Now what do you want?”

“The truth? More like lies. After all, we’re best friends, no?” I pushed him off and scowled at him, and he held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, fine. I’ll get to the point.”

“That would be greatly appreciated.” I continued walking toward the cafeteria and he followed, matching my stride with ease.

What Jamel said wasn’t too far from the truth. We did used to be close friends back in elementary school, but after transitioning into middle school, a metaphorical rift started to form between us. There was no real reason for it; it just happened naturally over the course of a few years as we made new friends and grew up. Even now, I was still fond of him, but I covered it up with my usual grumpiness; the last thing I needed was for people to think I was soft or that we were dating or something.

“You never introduced me to your hot friend,” he suddenly piped up, snapping me out of my thoughts. I raised an eyebrow at him and he added, “Dark brown hair, hazel eyes...Cute figure too. I ran into her this morning.”

“Oh, you mean Aria,” I said, smirking. “She’s off limits, Jamel.” He opened to mouth to reply, his expression puzzled, but before he could say anything, we heard someone call my name and turned around in unison to see Aria running towards us. She almost tripped in the process, but regained her balance and managed to skid to a halt in front of us.

She beamed at me and grabbed my arm. “I need to tell you something about De-” It was at that moment that she noticed a shocked Jamel. Immediately, she stopped smiling, and cast him an expressionless look. Obviously, her first impression of him hadn’t been too great.

“I need to tell you something, too,” I said hastily, shooting Jamel a glare. He ignored my warning, however, the surprise vanishing from his face in an instant and his cocky, suave smirk making its return.

“Nice to see you again, babe.”

Aria pursed her lips tightly before she said quietly, “Oh, it’s you again.” She looked at me and I suppressed a sigh, knowing I had some explaining to do.

I plastered on the biggest, cheeriest smile I could manage and chirped, “Formal introduction time!” Aria rolled her eyes and Jamel snickered, but neither said a word, so I took this as my cue to continue. “Aria, this is Jamel, my neighbour. He may be an annoying dumbass but he’s still a pretty cool kid. Jamel, this is Aria, my best friend. She’s an annoying nerd with perfectionism issues, but she’s also pretty cool.”

“Flattering descriptions,” Aria said sarcastically.

“At least I’m not an annoying, bratty midget,” Jamel quipped. I stuck out my tongue at him in response and he laughed, turning to Aria. “Nice to meet you.” His voice was warm and friendly, now devoid of the usually playful edge, which seemed to surprise her, as she was gaping at him.

“...Nice to meet you too,” she finally managed to say, forcing a smile.

“Now that introductions are over,” I said, suddenly turning serious again. “Me and Aria need to talk. See you later, Jamel.” And with that, she dragged away in the direction of the girls’ washrooms.

~*~
“Declan said hi to me in the halls today,” Aria said as she stood in front of the mirror, primping herself. I leaned against the wall, trying not to breathe too much; the washrooms always stunk, but we usually hung out here anyway as Aria always felt it was necessary to re-apply her makeup and fix her hair. Plus, it was a decent place to talk in private, as most girls steered clear due to the stench, at least during lunch when they hung out with their friends.

“That’s cool,” I said. A simple hello didn’t really mean much, but I didn’t want to rain down on her parade. Although, what I’m about to tell her probably will, I thought, inwardly cringing.

“And then-”

“Listen, Aria,” I suddenly interrupted, wanting to get this over with. “Declan is starting to suspect something.”

Aria remained quiet for a moment, then asked, “It’s pretty obvious what you mean. But how do you know that? Did he tell you or...?”

“He asked me why you acted weirdly around him,” I said. I didn’t want to tell her about the vibes I was getting from all this; after all, I found it quite silly and irrational myself, and she would probably dismiss it anyway.

She smiled, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah, I can see why,” she agreed. “Remember what I said this morning?”

“’With Declan’?” I mimicked, forcing a smile onto my face as well. “Seriously, though, Ari. Don’t worry about it. It was a mistake anyone could have made. Just be more careful from now on, okay?”

“I guess you’re right, Dani.” We didn’t say anything as she finished up her makeup. Then a few moments later, she straightened herself and turned to me. “Well? Let’s go. I heard your stomach growling earlier. Don’t want you to starve.” She was obviously trying to change the subject, so I simply went along with it.

“Yeah, I’m hungry,” I fake whined. “You take too long with your makeup, you know that, right?”Before she could reply, I grabbed her arm and started dragging her along, much like she had done earlier.

She was laughing all the way.
~*~

When Aria and I walked into detention, Jez and Sienna and a few other kids were already there and Declan was nowhere in sight. We passed Ms. Dunbar our detention slips and took our seats. Aria had a firm scowl souring her face and didn’t say a word as she pulled out her extra credit homework and started working on it. Walking into a room she thought she’d never have to enter, as well as other crap that took place during afternoon classes, had tainted her once good mood.

I sighed and started doodling in my notebook again, bored out of my skull. My homework was complete, for the most part; all the remaining assignments weren’t even due the next day and I wasn’t thinking straight, nor was I in the mood to finish everything else.

I felt my phone vibrating and took it out of my pocket, making sure to keep it out of Miss Dunbar’s view. A text from Jezebel: hey, im bored. sup?

I smiled and typed out my reply. Nothing much, just, y’know, detention. God, I can’t believe we have to endure an hour of this torture. After checking it over for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I pressed “send”, at the exact moment that the door was opened and Declan stepped in. I was surprised to see that Jamel was flanking him.

They’re friends?

I glanced at Aria, whose eyes brightened upon seeing Declan...but then narrowed when they fell on Jamel. Jamel, noticing this, winked at her and took the closest available seat to her. “Hey, babe,” he greeted her, and I had to fake cough into my fist to keep from laughing. “Didn’t know you’d be here.”

I made a mental note to remind him again that she was off-limits.

Aria’s eyes flicked back to Declan, who was gazing out the window, earbuds on, most likely lost in his Japanese music. Then she turned back to her textbooks, choosing simply to try and ignore Jamel, though I could tell that she was tempted to scowl at him.

“Mr. Hamadi,” Ms. Dunbar snapped. “You know the rules. No talking.”

“Sorry, Ms. Dunbar,” Jamel said, flashing his charming smile at her.

“Just don’t do it again,” she muttered under her breath, and went back to poring over her paperwork. I saw Aria glance at him, and noticing this, he winked at her again, before leaning back in his chair and interlocking his fingers behind his head. Poor Aria.

My phone vibrated again. Another text from Jez. I glanced at her to see that she was grinning broadly at me and I knew from that look that an idea was brewing in her head. I checked the text and found out that my suspicions were correct.

i have an idea!!!

What? I texted back.

ok so you no how aria has a crush on dec?

I internally cringed at the horrid grammar and spelling, but made no mention of it in my reply: Yeah, and?

and then theres jamel ;)

It was at that moment that the funny feeling returned. I had absolutely no idea why; all I knew was that the winking emoticon unsettled me. I already had a faint clue where this was going, and I didn’t like it. But I played along and typed: Get to the frikking point! Lol

two words: operation jealousy ;)

I saw that coming, but the feeling intensified nonetheless upon reading the suggestion. The meaning of Operation Jealousy was pretty obvious enough: one person using another to make their crush or ex jealous. Jezebel wanted to use Jamel to make Declan jealous. But it didn’t always go as well as it did in TV or in books; hilarity and only hilarity rarely, if ever, ensued. Feelings always ended up getting hurt, followed up by hostility, broken friendships and all sorts of drama.

No way. We’re NOT using Jamel, Jez. :O Several moments passed without a reply and I glanced at her again to see that she was still typing it out. Then:

i no jamel’s ur friend but listen, dani, NO ones feelings are gonna get hurt, especially since dec is involved. :) k? trust me on this one. i wud ask dec straight up if he likes ari, but then he wud suspect something and that wud ruin everything.

I didn’t want to tell her that he already did. I simply nodded mutely at her, and she beamed back.

Okay...I trust you. But it’s Aria’s decision.

i no :) i’ll ask her later.

I should’ve told her that, no, it was a bad idea and that she should’ve just forgotten about it. But if anyone was more stubborn than myself or my parents, it was Jezebel. I wasn’t as close to her as I was with Aria, but she was still like a sister to me. She was a sweet girl and always meant well.

So I trusted her.

~*~

The rest of detention progressed slowly and was so incredibly boring that I could barely keep myself awake. So when we were dismissed, I was the first to jump up and run out the door, Aria calling after me to slow down. We lingered in the halls for a bit after that with Jezebel and Sienna, before Aria left us, saying something about having lots of homework.

“Do you two wanna grab a bus and like hang out at the mall?” Sienna asked, without looking up from her texting.

“Sure, why not?” said Jez, shrugging. “Danica?” I simply nodded in response, as I had nothing better to do for the rest of the day. “Alright, I’ll text Declan to meet us at the bus stop. He’s coming with us whether he likes it or not.”She plucked out her phone to do so, her fingers flying over the keys at a speed that rivalled Sienna’s.

I wish Aria would come with us, I thought. She’d love to spend time with Declan.

“Jamel, too?” Sienna said, her tone saturated with hopefulness.

“He has plans tonight,” I informed her. “It’s his older sister’s birthday, I think...”

She wilted at that and Jez smiled as she slipped her phone back in her pocket. “Don’t worry, we’ll run into a lot of hot guys at the mall,” she said reassuringly. “Anyway, we should really get going. I don’t want us to miss the bus.”

Ten minutes after leaving the school, we arrived at the bus stop. Declan was already waiting for us there, spinning his basketball on his finger, probably out of boredom. When he noticed us, he tucked it under his arm and waved us over. “You guys are late,” he said.

“No, we’re not,” Jez replied with a roll of her eyes. “The bus hasn’t even arrived yet.”

“Ugh, how much longer do we have to wait?” Sienna complained, flopping onto a nearby bench.

“We just got here, Sienna,” I said dryly. My eyes flicked down to my watch. 4:40. “The bus should be here in about five minutes.”

“I don’t know why I have to go,” Declan remarked. “Guys and shopping don’t mix. It’s seriously uncool.”

“And unmanly, right?” I quipped. He nodded, a grin forming on his face, which was promptly erased when I continued, “Wrong. A truly manly man will go to the mall with his female friends without being embarrassed or ashamed; a truly manly man is also not afraid to show his feminine side. You’re going to have to deal with this in like twenty years anyway when you take your future daughter shopping.”

Sienna laughed and slapped fives with me.

“I hate you all so much,” he muttered. “Especially you, Danica.”

“Aww, thank you, Dec-Dec,” I sang. “I love you, too.”

“Do you really?” Jez piped up. I glanced at her to see that she was smiling sweetly, but a strange glint was in her dark eyes.

“No. It’s called sarcasm,” I said nonchalantly, but I shot her a “Don’t even go there” look, which was only met with laughter and a raised eyebrow from Declan.

“The bus is coming, guys,” Sienna announced. We watched as the big red bus drew closer, until it finally screeched to a halt at the curb. Declan and Sienna filed in, along with a slew of other people, but just before I myself could board, Jez grabbed my sleeve. She had an odd look on her face, her normally pleasant smile gone.

“What’s the deal?” I hissed at her.

“I’m getting strange vibes from you, Dani,” she said calmly. “And I have to know. Do you or do you not like Declan?”

“What are you talking about? We’re just friends,” I insisted. She stared at me, uncertainty and something else I didn’t quite recognize behind her gaze. “Trust me, Jez. If I did, I’d tell you. Declan’s not my type anyway.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, as if she was unsure whether to believe me or not, then nodded. “Good. Things would be very bad if you did. That would be breaking girl code, you know.”

I knew all too well what she was talking about. Aria had feelings for Declan; according to the unwritten law of teenage girls, you weren’t allowed to fall for the same guy as your best friend.

Mutely, I got onto the bus and Jez tailed behind me. And so did the words she’d said, echoing strangely in my mind and refusing to leave me alone.