Page 59 of Withered

“You kissed Jake Henderson. Oh, my gawd. Do you know who he is? He is Jakefreaking Henderson. Girls at our school worship him.”

She abruptly gets up and starts walking back and forth, continuing, “Do you know how many girls he has fucked?” I cringe at it.

“How many girls are dying to have him?” I roll my eyes.

“And he kissed you. He took you out. Oh my! How was the kiss? Tell me about every detail. Is he that good?”

Typical Kristy.I put my head in my hands and sigh. “He was okay. Can you please stop now?” I say this in haste to dodge the topic.

“Okay? Just okay? Let me rephrase, how was he like?” Kristy smirks, knowing very well she won’t stop until I tell her every goddamn detail.

I give in, knowing there is no way out.

“He was great, alright. Awesome. Other than that, he is cocky, a stupid jerk, egoistic, and rude. Please stop now. This is so embarrassing.”

She hugs me. “I can’t believe you had your first kiss. My baby is finally growing.”

“Now tell me, what do I do? Do you think I overreacted? I mean, I kind of did; that boy honestly confuses me,” I ask her, genuinely confused.

“Tell me why you care,” she questions.

I furrow my eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Do you like him?” She asks.

“No,” I blurt out way too fast for my liking. Kristy smirks, so I continue, “I mean, he likes himself way too much for that.”

“So, then just ignore. I don’t see why you are so confused about this. You said he is rude, yet you are always helping him. If it were me, I would have slapped him,” she speaks, then adds, “I don’t think I would have slapped him. He is a freaking god; what if I get a curse on me?”

I chuckle.Only Kristy.

I can’t help but think that Kristy is right. When all Jake does is be rude to me, well, sometimes I should ignore him. But then why is the other part of me not ready for it?

I try to change the topic and turn the spotlight from me to Kristy. “So, what’s up with you and Tyler?”

“We are just friends,” she states.Ha, you are not getting away.

“Just friends? I was expecting more,” I say it with a smirk of my own.

“Tyler wants to take it slow, and I don’t mind,” she speaks. I am glad she isn’t rushing into anything.

Suddenly, she turns her whole body towards me, an unknown shine in her eyes that I never saw until now.

“He is really sweet, Rose. I just like to be with him.”

I just like to be with you.Jake also said the same thing to me.

Kristy goes on praising Tyler, but I barely listen to any of it. My mind drifts back to the night when he asked me to stay. Ugh, I need to stop thinking about him.Ignore.

Nancy wakes me up by knocking on the door. I freshen up, brush my teeth, and silently approach the sleeping beauty and scream in her ear.

Kristy falls off the edge of the bed, and I roll around on the top of the bed laughing.

“Why, Rose?” She says it in a drowsy tone.

Her hair is sticking up in all directions, and drool has dried on the corner of her mouth. That makes me laugh even more.

“Rise and shine. Time for breakfast,” I say it in a sing-song voice.

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