Song for this chapter: Queen

- Shawn Mendes

It's finally lunchtime, and I've never been more excited to eat in my whole seventeen years of existence. I'm starving.

I just got out of math class, and when I say I wanted to cry, I wanted to drown in a puddle of my own tears. Math would be the death of me. I hated every single minute of that lesson. Don't get me wrong, I was good at it, but that didn't lessen the burning hatred I felt and the overwhelming feeling of dread that appeared every time I thought about it. Whoever liked math was a psychopath, it's scientifically proven, by me.

I march over to Lydia's locker, expecting her to already be stood and waiting, but she isn't. Leaning against her locker, I closed my eyes briefly, not liking the painful stinging that reminded me of how tired I was.

I hear her before I see her.

"I'm fuming. I'm absolutely fucking fuming." She screeches, and I quickly open my eyes to see her storming towards me angrily. "Reece and the devil's advocate were flirting! FLIRTING! Right in front of my face. Right there, in front of me! Can you believe it?" She rants, her eyes flickering with an angry fire.

"Are you sure they were flirting-"

"No. In all honesty I'm not sure. But I don't give a flying fuck! She's a bitch and he shouldn't be talking to her, or letting her touch him with those perfectly manicured nails, or even letting her look at him with her beautiful eyes-" her face screws up in distaste, "why does she have to be so pretty?" She groans and then rests her forehead on my shoulder, grumbling some colourful words under her breath.

"Yes she's pretty, but so are you. And unlike her, you have the pretty personality to match." I tell her, but the frown remains on her face. I lightly tap her on the cheek, and watches as her face turns horrified.

"Abuse! Abuse!" She screeches and then hits me back, way harder.

"What the hell?" I spit but she just smiled at me.

"Payback for pushing me into that bush this morning." She grins, then takes my hand and pulls me into the cafeteria. "Hmm, smells nice. What do you want?" She asks me and I take time to subtly sniff the air. She's right, it does smell nice.

"Burgers, I think."

"Hmm, I think so too." She says and then marches up to the line, grabbing us two trays and the cutlery to go with. "What about dessert?" She asks, I'm surprised drool isn't dripping down both of our mouths.

"Vanilla cheesecake, for sure." I reply and she nods her head.

"Good choice, madam." She mimics a posh accent. "What about your drink?"

"Chocolate milkshake." I say to her.

"You just had to go and ruin it! Vanilla milkshake to match the vanilla cheesecake! You should know the rules!" She exclaims with a roll of her eyes.

We make it to the front of the line and I smile widely at the cooks, who return the friendly smile and pass us our plates.
"Thank you." We both say in sync and then continue, making our way to the dessert.

"There's only one vanilla cheesecake left!" Lydia freaks out, out comes the drama queen.

"You can have it." I say simply and reach for the Apple crumble, her hand slaps mine down in an instant.

"Excuse me?" She asks the cooks, "do you have any more vanilla cheesecakes? We're both allergic to apple and there's only one cheesecake left." She's a devil.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, yes there's more in the fridge, I'll just go serve them up." She says and Lydia smiles like a maniac.

"Score!" She grins and then picks up the cheesecake. It isn't long until she brings out the other cheesecake and when it comes, my eyes widen at the size of it.

"What!" Lydia gasps, "switch with me now."

"No." I say and start walking over to the milkshake machines.

"Yes."

"Nah. Soz." I say.

"I asked for it."

"Yeah but you picked that one." I laugh and she goes still, when I turn around she's looking at me with puppy eyes. "Piss off." I say, then fill up my cup for chocolate milkshake.

"Fucking joke." She murmurs, then pours her own drink, "are we sitting inside or outside today?"

"Inside." I say and she agrees, walking off to go and sit at a table.

"Layla!" A voice calls and we both stop and turn around to see Amber waving at us to come and sit with her. There's only one chair though.

"Go." Lydia whispers, excitedly. "I'll be fine by myself." She tells me but I shake my head. I know she won't be fine by herself, and I don't want to eat lunch without her either.

"Nah, you're my bestie. I eat lunch with you, always." I say and then take her hand and drag her to the corner, where there's a 6 seater table. "Yummy." I mutter as soon as I've sat down and start munching my food straight away. This burger wasn't just good, it was the best burger I've ever tasted in my life.

Lydia remains completely still, immobile - not even blinking. She just stares at me, and I know why. She's not used to people picking her. From what I've heard, Amber and her group are liked by everyone, and they wanted me to sit with them - but I chose Lydia and she didn't expect that. I hate that people have made her feel so worthless, made her feel like she's not enough. She doesn't deserve how she's been treated.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask her, despite already knowing why she's shocked.

"Why didn't you sit with them?" She asks and I raise my eyebrows in question.

"You think you aren't worth it, but you are. You're my best friend, Lyds. I don't want to sit with anyone other than you." I say and then pick my burger back up and carry on eating. Scrumptious.

This time, Lydia picks up her burger too and starts eating, seemingly happier than she was five minutes ago when she seemed to think that I would pick anyone and everyone over her. I never would, she needs to understand that. I hear footsteps right next to our table and I sit up straight, ready and alert as soon as I see  Reece make his way to our table. Oh shit.

"If that's who I think it is, I swear to god..." Lydia trails off when she turns around and sees who exactly is walking our way. Her face is scrunched up in distaste as she turns back around to continue eating her food, however the burger freezes mid-air and a mischievous smirk stretches across her lips. Oh no.

All of a sudden, she throws the burger behind her, with a quick glance behind her to check whereabouts he is beforehand. It hits him in the centre of his face. He looks completely bewildered, not understanding why someone would just throw a burger right at his face; when he looks at me, however, he knows exactly who threw it. Shit, he thinks I threw it!

"Lydia!" I whisper yell, "he thinks it was me!"

I watch as her bright blue eyes roll, her lips still moulded into that cheeky smirk.

"He doesn't." She says to me, but I see Reece's eyes harden into a squint and his face disfigure into a smirk.

"Yes he does!" I squeal, and then furiously point to Lydia, "It was her! I swear it was her." I yelp.

"You little rat" Lydia exclaims from across me, then picks up one of her fries and launches it at my face. It hits my nose. I gently rub my nose, as I slightly wince because a trace of ketchup has been left behind and created a sticky mess on the bridge of my nose. Disgusting, who even likes ketchup nowadays? My nose scrunches up, and I hastily grab a napkin and wipe the remaining ketchup away from my nose.

"Why did you throw your burger at me Lyds? Is this a new way to flirt, because I'll happily return the gesture?" He smirks at her, as she gets increasingly flustered.

"She caught you red-handed talking to Maddie and got annoyed about it." I expose her, and immediately I feel her kick me ruthlessly from under the table. I let out a sharp grunt and lift my foot to rest it on my chair as I cradle it. Reece sits down next to her and wraps his arm around her shoulders, but she angrily pushes it off.

"Don't be mad, Lyds. You know you're the one for me." He flirts, over-the-top batting his eyelashes, in attempt to get her attention. They look rather cute all flirty and happy.

"Fuck you." She mumbles, aggressively biting the top of her fry. He grins mischievously. Even I know his next move and his reply is either going to be one of the following: 'Ok', 'when?', 'happily.' Blah, blah, blah.

"When?" He replies and I roll my eyes; I called it. Lydia, however, blushes a bright shade of red and I bite my lip to stop myself from cooing at her.

"Shut up." She spits, glaring daggers at him. But it doesn't affect him at all, he remains unfazed, with a huge grin of his face as he watches her. True love.

Another body sits at the table.

Grayson.

"What's up guys?" He asks.

Lydia slides her tray to Reece and then picks up her bag and leaves.

"And... lunch is ruined." I say, getting up too and sliding my tray to Grayson, before following my friend. Grayson looks down and I immediately feel bad. It's obvious he didn't mean to hurt Lydia, and I knew he didn't mean the words he spoke, because he definitely has a soft spot for Lyds; everyone does.

I wanted them to be friends again, because honestly, I could tell that it was causing a slight rift in the group as the boys didn't know who to side with; having loyalties with each person, each on the opposite side of the 'argument.'

I just need to make a plan.

And involve a certain two annoying boys, who always want the best for both Lydia and Grayson.

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