My first day back at school turned out to be my worst first day in my history of first days. I ended up sitting behind Quinn in homeroom while Eliza sat next to him. The rows of desk weren’t far apart, so she was sitting closer to him than I liked. 

I knew it was wrong for me to feel jealous.

By the time the school day was over, my brain was fried and I just wanted to go home and prepare for real classes tomorrow. All we went over today were the syllabi for each subject. It was quite tedious. 

Homeroom didn’t meet for the last class period of the day. That was saved for the extracurricular classes. I arrived first at my locker and had no intentions of waiting for Quinn to show up. 

He had been flirting non-stop with Eliza and I was tired of seeing his all too rare grin flashing her way every time he caught her eye. 

After gathering my things, I slammed my locker shut and headed toward the front doors. Since both my parents worked late, I had to walk home from school. It was only a thirty-minute walk and I didn’t mind. I would have taken the bus except none of the bus routes came close to my house. 

I would still have to walk the same amount of distance in order to get home even if I rode one. When my father threw a fit, he demanded to look at the bus routes. It turns out we weren’t lied to. None of the routes went that way because none of the other students lived in that section of town…except for one other student. And that student had to go and find a club to participate in after school. 

We wouldn’t be walking home together anyway, no matter how I looked at the situation. The club of whateveritwas met every day after school. So as not to get my hopes up, I decided to make the walk home alone today. 

Besides, I wasn’t in the mood for company. 

The argument my father had with the school administration was fresh in my mind. The school refused to add a new stop and my father was determined to sue. Thankfully, my mom stepped in and they came to an agreement.

That agreement was not in favor of my father, a point he made whenever he needed to come to my school for parent-teacher conferences.

A few people I met earlier called out greetings. My friend group was growing. Though it wasn’t enough to distract me from my thoughts.

I would just have to accept the fact my ‘first love’ was crushed before it even began. 

I was so pathetic. 

I had just reached the corner of the street when I heard someone shout. 

“Z! I said wait up!” Quinn jogged down the sidewalk. People were staring at him. “You shouldn’t walk home alone.”  

I scowled. We both crossed the street. “It’s going to be like this every day. My mom can’t change her hours this year to come pick me up and we don’t have another way of getting me home since everyone they know works late jobs like them.”

Quinn let out a loud and obnoxious sigh, bopping me on the head with his fist. “I’ll walk home with you.” 

“What about your club?” I demanded, swatting his hand away. 

“Oh. Well, I guess I can see about meeting in the mornings instead.” Quinn voiced as we crossed yet another street. 

“You don’t have to go to such lengths for me.”  

“Then I wouldn’t be your best friend. Simple as that. I’m changing the meeting time and that’s that. We’ll walk home from school together every day. I promise.” 

I glared at Quinn, deciding to hide my feelings from him. “You’re making an awful lot of promises today.” 

“I intend to keep them, Zenna.” 

“Of course, Quinn.” 

I honestly had no idea where this was going. 

Our walk home was uneventful. We didn’t say much more after our little spat. Quinn ended up holding my hand and when I complained, he said it was normal since we always did it. 

I tried to explain how it would come across differently to other people, but he laughed it off and reminded me of the promise I made that morning.  

Quinn ended up walking me all the way to my front door before remembering he promised I could come over and see Princess.  

“Can we do a raincheck, Z?” 

I met his dark blue eyes and felt my heart squeeze in that odd way it did every time I met his gaze. “Yeah. It’s no big deal. There’s always next time.” 

His smile was shocking as he turned the full force of it on me. It was at that precise moment I decided I wouldn’t let a girl stand in the way of our friendship. I would lock away my feelings for Quinn and treat him as I normally would. He would be my best friend. 

Anything more was impossible. 

I gave him a punch in the arm and his smile turned softer. “I’m glad to see you’ve returned back to your normal, weird self.” 

I forced out a laugh I didn’t truly feel, but it seemed to mollify him. “Back at you, Q.” 

He ruffled my hair then headed home. 

Since my parents worked late, I would be fending for dinner myself. That was the first time I ever curled into a ball and cried. There was no one to hold me and tell me everything was going to be all right. I locked away my feelings and vowed to never cry over a boy again. It wasn’t worth it.