His Best Friend's Sister

Chapter 17

Spring

By April, Alexander had accepted the offer from Saint Mikes, and Ricky had accepted Oakley. Oakley was an Ivey League Business school only two hours from us. He would play hockey on the side, but upon graduation, his goal was law school. Alexander, on the other hand, planned to continue playing hockey dominantly, and eventually be drafted. Both boys were given paid scholarships, an impressive accomplishment.

People at school were starting to talk. It was obvious that there was a rift between Alexander and Ricky, and the fact that they didn't accept the same school sent whispers around as well. Ricky had not been to our house in almost a month; the longest record in history. Alexander had grown even closer with Heather and he was spending nearly all of his time with her. Whereas Ricky and Rex were hanging out mostly with each other. Rex hadn't been offered any scholarships but had accepted Brownstone University; a school well known for its party life over its academics. Ricky and I agreed it was the perfect fit for him.

Robin had been spending a lot of time with seniors she had met recently. She wasn't eating lunch with me, Jonathan, Brad, Bianca, or Zoey anymore. When the group had inquired what happened between us, I brushed it off as a mild spat. The longer the weeks went on without reconciliation, though, had me worried that it was more than that. Bianca and Zoey told me one day at lunch that they had Face Timed with Robin the night before.

"That's nice," I said casually taking a sip of my chocolate milk.

"Apparently Rex Spicer asked her out twice and she rejected him," Bianca said, sounding astonished. "I gotta give it to her, I wouldn't be able to say no to him..."

Brad began to choke on his soda and spluttered, "Went down...wrong hole." Jonathan patted his back forcefully to help him cough it out.

"Do you know if he asked her out a third time?" I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me. I wanted to know if he had taken my advice yet.

"Only twice, as far as I know," Bianca informed.

"I think she misses you," Zoey then said to me.

I just shrugged. "She knows where I live."

*

After lunch, I was speeding to get to class when a familiar strong build and a head of dark brown hair caught my eyes. Ricky was at his locker, while three senior girls stood around him. He looked amazing, as he usually does at school. He was wearing a black oversized hoodie and khaki pants. He was grabbing books from the shelf and placing them into his knapsack while one of the girls, who I recognized as Cassandra Ferguson, yapped away with her hand placed firmly on his upper arm. I knew that girls had always surrounded Ricky like honey on flies. I also knew, as much as I didn't care to think about it, that Ricky had probably been with girls before dating me. But the thought of Ricky still having moments with these girls made me sick to my stomach. 

I started to walk slowly as I approached, side-eyeing the scene and taking care not to be noticeable. I caught wind of part of what Cassandra had been saying to him.

"That's why the prom after-party will be at my house!"

My stomach somersaulted at the reminder of prom in two months from now. I had not even once thought about prom. Alexander was surely going to go with Heather, but who on Earth would Ricky go with? He couldn't go with me, everybody would know something was up, and Alexander definitely did not want me at his senior prom. As I watched Cassandra squeeze his arm, while flipping her golden hair, the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. If he hadn't already, he was going to ask her. She clearly would give anything to go with him. Considering how forward she was, I was surprised she hadn't already 'promposed' to him herself.