Part Two: Chapter Two: Popsicle

Five days later, I met Lia to walk to school, as usual. But this morning she was even more excited that usual. “Guess what?” she asked excitedly.
“What?” I sighed. We had this conversation every morning.
“Pilot’s test tomorrow!”
“Awesome,” I said, though I thought “Yeah, I know.”

When we arrived at school, Ashton was there to meet us. “You look cold,” he said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Lia raised her eyebrows at me where Ashton couldn’t see. I grinned and looked down. When we reached my locker, he let go of me and walked away with a wave and a smile.

When I turned back to my locker, there was a girl standing there. I recognized her as the cheerleading star. Why was she waiting to talk to me, of all people? She had blonde hair down to her waist and bright blue eyes - your typical popular high school girl. I knew her dad owned that factory downtown that was always spouting clouds of smog - he bought her anything she wanted.

“I’m Tiffany,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Tiffany Moore” I stared at her silently for a second, wondering what she wanted.
“Nicole Cameron.” My voice tilted upward, as if it were a question.
“Listen,” she whispered, pulling me closer. “I understand you’ve been seeing a lot of a certain Ashton Johnson,” she said, spite in her voice. “Yes?” she asked rhetorically. “Well, back off. Do you really think you stand any chance with him?” I stared at her, caught off guard by this sudden confrontation. “Compared to me and the rest of the cheer squad, you’re nothing. Nothing.” She flipped her hair and walked off.
“What was that all about?” Ashton had come up behind me as the girl walked off. His glowing green eyes caught mine. I felt as though he knew exactly what had just happened.
“Oh - nothing,” I responded, my voice shaking. As he walked away, I called his name. “Ashton?”
He turned around. “Yeah?”
“Why do you pay more attention to me than to the cheerleaders and the popular girls? I mean, I’m a nobody.”
He flashed his bright white smile and caught me with those green eyes again. “Curiosity.”

I could have sworn he winked at me as he walked away.

* * *

As I lay in bed that night, scenes kept replaying in my head. The feel of Ashton’s arm around me. The scathing look on that girl’s face. As I relived that confusing conversation, I jumped as my phone buzzed on the night-table. I saw it was Lia, and picked up. Why was she calling me at midnight?
“Nicole,” she said urgently. “Nicole!”
“Yeah?” I grunted. I was tired.
“Can you take me to the airport tomorrow? Dad suddenly has to work in Urgent Care all night and he’ll have the car.”
“Sure,” I said, somewhat reluctantly.
“Thanks,” she said. I heard a *click* as she hung up.

I woke up the next morning to my phone buzzing again. I rolled over to grab it, somewhat annoyed. That is, until I saw the name on the text.

“Want to hang out this evening?” it read, from Ashton. I responded with a reluctant,

“Taking Lia to the airport. Pilot’s test. Sorry.”

“Oh ok. Cya later then.” I didn’t reply. I wasn’t quite sure what interest Ashton had in me - the cheerleader really did have a point. I wasn’t quite expecting it after being confronted yesterday, but Ashton met me again on my walk to school. But this time, Lia wasn’t with me - she was getting a ride, since it was so cold. Ashton walked with me nearly the whole way, his arm around me the entire time. I would never admit it, but every day I fell for him a bit more.

* * *

Sometimes you just have one of those days. Where it starts out perfectly, but it all goes downhill from there, and by the end of the day, life just kinda sucks. Well, that day was one of those days. Nothing big happened that was bad, just the little things all added up, and I was pretty touchy. When I got home, I was pretty bummed, but I thought it would get better from there, since I was taking Lia to get her pilot’s license.

Popsicles.

Those had always made everything better when I was little. Luckily, we had some - we

even had my favorite flavor, orange.

The popsicle didn’t help. Chocolate didn’t help. Even texting Ashton didn’t work, since he was at basketball practice.

“Well,” I said to myself, “Time to go get Lia.”