It had been nearly 3 months since I’d left Chicago. I had 3 friends. James, his best friend Jacin, Enna, a girl I’d met in Health class. They were pretty cool. I didn’t really talk to the other girls unless I had to. They were mostly just interested in hair, makeup and how they looked (which in my opinion is really stupid and boring). The only girl that liked makeup that I would hang out with was Ava. I had Math and Science with James,  Community Circles with Jacin, I had English with both of them. And I had Health, Social Studies with Enna, and Art with all 3 of them.

A few weeks after I had met Jacin, I realized that he was kinda cute. After a while, I realized that I liked  him. 

Then, one Monday afternoon, I decided to call Ava on Skype, and I told her how I felt about Jacin. “You should tell him! Doesn’t he tease you all the time? Maybe he likes you back!” She said excitedly. “I don’t know, what if he doesn’t? What if I tell him, and we can’t be friends anymore?” I said. Ava was quiet for a moment. She had a thoughtful look on her face. “Well if he doesn’t wanna be friends anymore (if you tell him that you like him) then he’s clearly not worth it.” She said.

“Ava! Breakfast!” 

“Oh, sorry! I gotta go, my mom’s calling me. Call me later and tell me how it goes?”

“Sure. Bye!” I said waving.

“Bye.” She said, then she hung up. I closed my laptop. How should I tell him? Then, without thinking I reopened my laptop and logged back in. I opened up my contacts list and kept scrolling ‘til I found Jacin’s name and called him on Skype.“Hi, Jacin!” I said, trying to stay calm, even though on the inside I was freaking out! “Hey, Krys! Wassup?” He said.

“I uh - well I - erm, I need to tell you something.” I said, 

“Sure. What is it that you need to tell me?” He asked.

“I - I - I kinda sorta maybe, um, well -” Jacin’s video started glitching and went black.

“Hang on. Both your video and audio cut out for a sec.” His face reappeared a minute later. 

“OK, I can see you again now. Can you see me?” He asked.

“Yeah.” I said, nodding.

“Now, you kinda sorta maybe . . . what?” He asked, confused. 

“I - I - I . . .” I paused and took a deep breath. “I - I like you!” I blurted. He laughed.

“Ha. I think that your audio’s going funny again. It kinda sounded like you said that you liked me.” 

“Ha ha. No, that’s uh, that’s what I said.” I said. This was getting a bit awkward.

He started running his hands through his hair. He usually did that when he was nervous. “Are you sick?” He asked.

“No, I’m fine, really. Um, and I’m uh, not joking.” I said nervously, running my index finger across my desk. He was silent for a moment. I held my breath waiting for him to say something. After a few minutes of staring at my hands, I realized that I was avoiding the screen and looked up. He wasn’t looking at the screen either.

“Oh! Um, yeah. Sorry, but, I - I don’t know what to say. Um . . . .” He trailed off. He didn’t like me back. I felt my face go hot.

“Oh. Uh, that’s OK! It’s not really that big of a deal.” I said, forcing a smile. There was a long pause. This was so  awkward! Jacin cleared his throat. 

“So, uh, I gotta go. . .” He said. 

“Uh, OK. See you tomorrow?” I said nervously.

“Uh, yeah.” He said. He ran his hands through his hair again and muttered something under his breath. “Huh?” I said. He jumped when he realized that I hadn’t hung up yet.

“Oh, uh nothing. Bye.” He said. I could tell that he was lying, but why?

“Bye.” I said, but then realized that he had already hung up. Half an hour later, I called Ava and I told her what had happened. “Maybe he’s too shy to tell you that he likes you back.” She said. 

“I don’t know. He seemed kinda freaked out when I told him.” I said feeling uneasy.

“Maybe he never had a girl tell them that they liked him before.” She said, 

“Maybe.” I said, but I knew that wasn’t it. Jacin probably never wanted to see me again. I sighed. “Maybe.” Knock knock knock! 

“Come in!” I yelled. As soon as I said that James slammed the door open, he was wearing his glasses instead of his contacts at the moment.

“Dude! Chill! What’s with you? Did you lose a contact?” I asked. I personally understand the annoyance of losing a contact. One time I lost a contact during a test and I couldn't find it, so I had to call my dad to bring me my glasses.

“Actually yeah I did, but that was like twenty minutes ago and I found it.” He said, then he looked at my laptop. “Oh, Hi Ava.” He said, absentmindedly as he paced back and forth. I heard a squeak and I looked at Ava. She was being weird again.

“H - Hi James.” She stuttered. “Um, I’ll call you again tomorrow, OK? I g - gotta go. Bye, Krys! B - Bye James.” She said, and she hung up. I closed my laptop and looked at James. He seemed to freaked out to notice that Ava was being weird. He suddenly stopped pacing. 

“Did you know that we have a test tomorrow? Because I forgot to study.” He said, but he said it so fast I could hardly understand him.

“James, chill! You’re talking so fast that I can hardly understand what you’re saying!” I said.

“We have a science test tomorrow and I forgot- ” I cut him off. 

“We have a science test? Tomorrow?! ” I said. “But I forgot to study!” I whined.

“So did I. Like I was saying, (before you ahem, so rudely interrupted me) I forgot to study, and if I get anything below a B-, Mom’ll kill  me!” He said. “Anyways, Jacin called me and -” I cut him off again.

“J - Jacin called?! What’d he tell you?!” I said freaking out. James just looked at me weird.

“First of all, stop interrupting me. Second of all, he’s my best friend, he calls me all the time. And thirdly, are you OK?” He said. I sighed in relief. He didn’t know that I’d told Jacin that I liked him. Then again, if he did  know, he wouldn’t let it go.

“Yeah it’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine” I said quickly.

“Um, OK. Oh, and what’d you mean by ‘What’d he tell you?” He asked with a suspicious look on his face.

“Oh, that. It’s nothing.” I said with my fingers crossed behind my back. He looked at my face again.

“You sure that you’re OK? You seem kinda stressed out.” He said, looking genuinely concerned.

“Oh my gosh! How many times do I have to tell you that I’m fine?” I said.

“OK! OK! I get it. I just wanted to know if you’re feeling OK.” James said, putting his arms up in surrender. There was a long pause. James cleared his throat. “Y’know, Ava was acting a bit weird, wasn’t she?”