33. you work out or something?

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"I told you, I can't bake."

Vanessa crosses her arms, shrugging her shoulders as Madison glares at her. She holds a platter of burnt chocolate chip cookies in her hands, displaying them in front of me and Vanessa.

"I never said you had to bake from scratch, Ness!" Madison claps back. "All I told you was to bring chocolate chip cookies and Estella would bring sugar cookies. And then we would be set for the club fair."

I bite the inside of my cheek, glancing down to the table, where my two store-bought boxes of sugar cookies with purple frosting sit.

"Madison, at least she tried." I shrug, feeling Vanessa whip her head to look at me. "Either way, I think we're set with the two dozen sugar cookies on the table."

She sighs, setting the platter down as she comes around the table, which she decorated to perfection in order to fit the purple theme, and sits next to me.

I have no idea why Westwood emphasizes clubs so much. There was already a club fair at the beginning of the year, and now they are hosting another just in case more people want to join clubs of their interest.

"So we just sit here?" I ask them, looking around at all the students walking around the gym, searching for clubs that I guess they might've missed the first time around.

"Yes." Vanessa nods. "We sit and wait for people to show interest and then we make them sign up."

"We don't have to make them sign up."

Madison taps the sign-up sheet on her clipboard nervously. She reallly is passionate about being the president of this club. I appreciate how much she cares for it. Enough to ask me to help set up the booth and bring food to attract students.

"Well, this club is lame." Vanessa scoffs.

"Then why are you in it?" I ask her.

She shrugs. "Looks good on college apps."

I furrow my eyebrows, a part of me wanting to say something back. But I decide against it. I've learned that Vanessa naturally has a bad attitude, and it's best to ignore it and not give her any reaction.

"Women in STEM," Asher says as he walks up to the booth. "Tell me more."

Devin is beside him, a bored expression on her face. Behind them, Aaron stares down at his phone screen while eating chips from a mini bag of Doritos.

"Women in STEM," Vanessa replies curtly from beside Madison. "It's pretty self-explanatory, Asher."

He taps his chin, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. Then he shakes his head. "Mm, not convinced. Sorry. Estella, pitch me this club. A little better than she did, please."

He nods his head toward Vanessa, raising his eyebrows. A small smile tugs at my lips at her annoyed expression.

"Well, Women in STEM is a club that represents women's strength and intelligence," I begin. "We give lots of opportunities for women who want to go into any of the STEM fields. And through this club, members can meet others with the same interests as them and discuss those said interests."

He nods along, an amused smile on his face as I pitch Women in STEM. "Much better, thanks. I'll make sure to give it some thought."

"How about you, Devin? Do you think you'd be interested in joining?" Madison asks with hopeful eyes as she holds up her clipboard.

She shakes her head. "I'll pass. Sorry."

"She's not into anything fun." Asher shrugs, shaking his head. "She's Devin the Downer."

I shake my head, watching as Devin slaps his bicep out of annoyance. I'm caught off guard when Aaron comes around the table, resting his palms on the surface as he leans down to speak with me.

"How long do you think you guys are gonna be doing this?" He asks in a low voice.

I shrug, turning my head to face him. "It's up to Madison. Why?"

He stands up straight, taking a deep breath. "Hey guys, do you guys think you can finish this up without Estella? We kinda have plans for today."

Vanessa furrows her eyebrows. Madison sighs before responding, "Yeah, we can do it without her."

"Great." He smiles.

He nods his head, gesturing for me to stand up. Still confused by what plans he's referring to, I slowly stand up to get out of my seat and make my way around the table after grabbing my phone and backpack.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," I say to Vanessa and Madison.

"See you tomorrow." Madison smiles.

"Cool club." Asher nods, reaching for a chocolate chip cookie from the platter before turning around and walking away from the booth with Aaron, Devin, and me.

"Oh, Asher. I don't think—"

He chews on the large bite he took of the burnt cookie. "Did— did you make these?" He asks with a disgusted expression that he's trying his best to conceal. "They're so—"

"Vanessa made them."

"Disgusting," he finishes. "Holy shit, this is the worst cookie I've ever eaten."

"Ew, Asher!" Devin exclaims, her eyes switching focus between his mouth and trail of chewed-up cookie crumbs that fall from his mouth and onto the concrete outside of the gym. "You're so gross."

Aaron and I laugh. He puts his arm around my shoulder, bringing me closer to him as we make our way to the parking lot to get to Asher's car.

"What are we doing, anyway?" I ask.

"Robbing a bank," Asher replies.

"Asher."

"What?"

"I'm being serious."

"So am I." He shrugs innocently. "The ski masks are in my car."

I look at him with wide eyes before turning my head to face Aaron. He peers down at me with a small smile on his face.

"He's kidding, Estella."

I force a laugh. "Yeah, I knew that."

We arrive at Asher's car. He and Devin take their seats in the front while Aaron and I sit in the back. Aaron holds the door for me as I scoot into the middle seat.

"Oh, Estella," Asher says from the front seat as he turns around and taps the tip of my nose. "So gullible."

"I wouldn't put it past you," Devin says as she taps the screen to connect her phone to the bluetooth system. "Robbing a bank seems like something you'd do for shits 'n' giggles."

"Hell yeah he would," Aaron agrees.

Asher holds up a middle finger in their general direction as he starts the car and backs out of the parking space.

"We're going to the movies," Aaron says to me once we're out of the school's parking lot. "Probably gonna see a horror one if there's any."

"Unless they're shitty," Devin adds. "Most are nowadays."

"Estella wouldn't know," Asher comments with a grin as he nears the parking lot of the mall. "She only watches romance movies."

"I don't only watch romance moves," I counter, leaning forward over to the center console. "I watch horror movies, too. In fact, I've watched all of the Chucky movies. And Freddy Krueger movies, too. I like them."

He gives me a quick raise of his eyebrows in the rear view mirror, as if saying, yeah, sure you do.

A few minutes later, we're inside the mall, making our way to the movie theater. A sudden guilt takes over me once I think about how I left Madison and Vanessa to work the booth for the club. Then again, the club fair wasn't mandatory for seniors, and Madison didn't seem angry when Aaron told her we had plans for the day. I can't say the same for Vanessa.

"What are you thinking about?" Aaron asks as we grab our movie tickets from the machine we paid at.

"Nothing," I lie. "Just excited to watch the movie."

I give him a small smile, which he returns with one of his own. After receiving our tickets, the four of us make our way up the escalator to get to the theater.

"Are you scared, Estella?" Asher asks me as Aaron and Devin order their snacks for the movie.

"No." I laugh, still having the feeling like he doesn't believe me. "I'm not scared. Thank you for your concern though, Asher."

But that's the truth. I'm not afraid of scary movies. Sure, I'm scared of a lot of things— confrontation, ordering at fast food restaurants, getting in trouble, walking alone at night— but horror movies typically don't scare me.

"If you do get scared, you can hide your face in my shoulder," he suggests with a shrug. "You know, like in the romance movies."

I narrow my eyes as I shove at his shoulder.

"Strong," he comments as he dramatically takes a few steps back. "You work out or something?"

"Shut up."

"And feisty." His eyebrows furrow. "That's hot."

My eyes widen and my face flushes at his comment and at the way he said so casually. After all, that's who Asher is. A casual dude who doesn't have a care in the world. Before I can respond to him, Devin and Aaron arrive with the snacks they bought for the movie.

"You guys bought the whole ass menu or what?" Asher asks with a teasing smile, completely disregarding his previous remark toward me.

"We literally only took five minutes."

Devin rolls her eyes as she pulls out a red licorice from the small box she bought. Aaron shrugs, sipping from his large cup of Coke he ordered.

-

"That movie was ass," Asher says as we walk out of the theater. He blows a raspberry loudly and holds a thumb out, pointing it in the direction of the ground.

"It was— no, yeah. It was ass." Devin agrees with a shrug.

"Estella fell asleep," Aaron adds. "Halfway through— she was knocked the fuck out."

"Okay, it was only for a couple of minutes."

I have a habit of falling asleep through movies when I watch them at theaters. I'm not sure why, but I've done it multiple times. When Jackson, Brooke, and I went to see live action 'The Lion King', I took a ten minute nap.

"We could see another one," Devin suggests, examining each of the digital signs by the theater rooms. "Maybe a comedy."

I furrow my eyebrows. "What do you mean? Buy more tickets?"

"No." She shakes her head. "We just walk into another one right now."

"I'm down." Aaron shrugs.

"I'm not," Asher says from beside Devin, scratching the back of his neck. "Another two hours of sitting down watching a movie? No, thanks."

I nod my head, agreeing with Asher. Half because I truly do agree with him, and half because I don't want to risk getting into trouble for watching a movie we didn't pay to watch. I have a feeling it's something they do often by the way Aaron and Asher replied so casually to Devin's suggestion.

"Fine." Devin murmurs. "Lame ass."

"The fuck did you just call me?"

"She called you her very likable best friend," Aaron interferes before their argument can escalate, which I'm grateful for. Asher and Devin making scene in the middle of the mall is not something I want to be involved in.

Devin leads us to Brandy Melville, and we follow her inside absentmindedly. She begins looking around, heading for the jeans in the back.

"Likable?" She laughs as she searches through a neat stack of black carpenter jeans. "I beg to differ." 

"Excuse me?" Asher replies, raising his eyebrows as he follows behind me. "I'm likable. As fuck."

She finally pulls a pair from the stack. I look around the store, pinpointing items I like in my head, but knowing myself, would probably never actually wear.

"Mhm." She nods, examining a different pair of jeans. "That's why your longest relationship lasted two months."

Aaron snickers, pressing his lips together to stifle the laugh threatening to escape.

I watch Asher's reaction to her comment. A flash of emotion crosses his face before the neutral expression returns.

"And that's why you've been pining after Josh for two fucking years," he spits out.

I suck in a quiet breath, watching as he turns to look at me before realization takes over his features. Devin stops her browsing to stare at him, her eyes having a sad look to them.

"What?" She asks, her voice breaking with the single word.

Aaron steps in, the way he always does when things get too far. "Asher, why don't we wait outside for them to finish up?"

I stand still as Aaron and Asher leave the small store, quiet— having no words after the Devin-Asher argument. I never really do when they occur. Their hurtful words, especially Asher's, never fail to leave me speechless and frozen in my tracks.

"Are you okay?" I ask Devin once they're both gone and out of earshot.

"Yeah." She nods. "I'm fine."

I frown. "That was mean— what he said."

It amazes me, the way Devin can forgive Asher every time he tells her something that visibly hurts her feelings. I'm not sure I could be that strong, nor do I think I could be as forgiving as she is.

"Yeah," she agrees, looking through racks of small shirts. "That's just the way he is, though." She shrugs as she pulls out a light blue crop top and then puts it back. "He says things without thinking about them first."

"So you're not mad at him?" I ask.

"A little, I guess."

My eyebrows raise slightly as I hum in response. I'm not sure I'll ever completely understand Asher and Devin's friendship. There are so many layers to it that are practically impossible to peel away and examine. I wonder if Aaron feels the same as I do, or if he's known them long enough to understand their dynamic.

"What he said about Josh—"

"Oh, I'm not talking about that," she cuts me off, shaking her head. "Not right now. And not with you."

I nod slowly, biting the inside of my cheek as I walk away from her to look around the store. My eyes set on a collection of skirts hung up against the back wall of the store.

I reach for a baby blue plaid skirt with a small slit on the right thigh, trying to imagine myself wearing something that shows so much more skin than I'm used to showing. I turn around to face the mirror near me, holding the skirt against my front to visualize it.

"You should get it."

I whip my head around to find Devin standing by the checkout area, holding a couple pairs of different colored jeans. She nods, encouraging me to buy the skirt.

"I don't know." I shrug. "I can't see myself wearing it."

"So? If you like it, you should buy it."

I take one more look at the skirt in my hands. Even if I never wear it, at least I'll always have the option to.

Nodding, I walk over to stand behind her in line, taking the skirt with me. "You're right."

She smiles. "I know."

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