three whole years

                                    

                                          
"we're still on to hangout later, right?" cameron asked scarlett, getting up from the lunch table. scarlett pursed her lips together as she watched his weird friends get up and walk away. she didn't mind cameron—she really didn't, but when it comes to his sloppy friends she just couldn't do it. 
she doesn't even know how a boy like him picked up friends like that. her and her friends managed to deal with them 45 minutes a day for cameron's sake.
"yep." she smiled and turned back to look at him. 
"alright, see ya." he grinned before walking off to his next class with his friends.
"that sounds exciting." morgan raised her eyebrows while turning to scarlett. anna and abbie looked to each other with a smile. scarlett sighed, knowing they listened to their whole conversation.
"about as exciting as going to sit down and do ten pages of notes next period," scarlett rolled her eyes sarcastically. "besides, we're just going to the lacrosse game," she scoffed when they raised their eyebrows, "his friends are gonna be there and he invited you guys too."
"y'know who plays lacrosse.." morgan started to talk but stopped when the secretary's voice came over the loud speaker.
"adam banks to the main office." the speaker cut out and scarlett scrunched her eyebrows. aspen scoffed before going back to her conversation with abbie.
"speak of the devil." anna raised her eyebrows. scarlett wasn't listening. she watched orion head in the direction of the office and stood up quickly.
"tell mrs. thomas i got sick and went back to the dorms." scarlett mumbled while picking up all her books. her friends stared at her—confused, and gave each other looks.
"i need an excuse for class, scar!" aspens voice got louder as she got further away. 
"use an old one." scarlett said before speed walking to the office.
she was following a safe distance behind adam. he walked into the office smiling at the front desk lady—mrs. clarke, before being let into the back room by the dean. 
scarlett moved closer to listen but stopped when mrs. clarke cleared her throat. "um, hi." scarlett smiled shyly. "i'm just—waiting." she pointed to the door. "i need to uh..um, talk to the dean so.." she nodded slowly.
"mhm." mrs. clarke raised her eyebrows and went off to the copy machine across the hall. scarlett moved closer to the door and listened.
"so, adam, i was wondering if you'd be willing to get the tea.."
scarlett couldn't. if anybody on the team would listen to orion, it'd be adam. he'd be too easy to convince. scarlett knew his dad wanted him playing hockey again—even if adam didn't want to, and he'd do anything to please his dad. but scarlett couldn't have the team back together again. everything will just repeat itself and she's trying to do everyone the favor.
scarlett opened the door and took a deep breath when the dean, orion, and adam turned to look at her. "miss. anderson, how may i help you?" 
"i need adam. well, mrs. brown does. says it's urgent." she straightened her posture nervously as orion eyed her suspiciously. before anyone got the chance to speak again she spoke up, "now. uh, please."
"okay...we can continue this tomorrow if you feel as needed, ted." dean said to orion, then nodded at adam as permission to leave so he stood slowly.
"i will be coming back later, i do actually have a problem of my own. my schedule has seemed to change and i haven't suggested a change since sophomore year." she smiled challengingly at orion before nodding to the dean and shutting the door behind her.
the two started walking in complete silence. it was awkward, kinda unsettling.
"i guess..i'm gonna..i'm gonna go see what mrs.brown needs." adam stuttered before walking the opposite way. scarlett rolled her eyes at his obliviousness.
"adam, she doesn't need you for anything. i just.." she stopped when she couldn't think of anything. she should've thought this through a bit more. he gave her a confused looks and she just blurted out a random on excuse. "wanted to see how you were doing?" 
god, she should've just let this go. maybe adam would've said no. he probably would've been somewhat against getting the team back together.  she didn't plan on talking to him anytime soon, and she knew he felt the same. 
"you wanted to see how i was doing?" adam raised his eyebrows at the girl. "it's been..what? three whole years? and you wanted to see how i was doing?" he tilted his head with a look of disbelief on his face. 
"yes.." she said, trying to convince herself more than him. he nodded, clear by the look on his face that he didn't believe her. "yeah. some people actually care." 
"scarlett. you do remember what happened right?" he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. scarlett rolled her eyes and leaned on the opposite wall. "like..why we stopped talking?" 
"clear as day." she mumbled, picking at the skin around her nails. adam sighed loudly and scarlett wanted to roll her eyes. because why was he sighing? clearly, she was the one who should be sighing. "you completely fucked things up. how could i forget?" she laughed, annoyed at the memory. 
"why did you barge in there?" he asked after a minute of silence. they both looked up at each other. scarlett was thinking about if she should lie to him, tell him some bullshit excuse she comes up with within a matter of seconds. or tell him why, what orion wanted and why she did it.
"just..felt like it." she shrugged, looking back down at her hands.
"just because we haven't talked in a while doesn't mean i can't tell when your lying. i know you better than anyone, scarlett. you know that." adam took a step of the wall, toward scarlett. scarlett shook her head at him. 
she was getting angrier by the minute and she remembered why she hated his stupid face in the first place. "you knew me, adam. past tense. it's been three years. you don't know shit about me. you ruined everything, adam." she pushed him away from her gently and he rolled his eyes.
"whatever, i've got a game to get ready for." he huffed. "i don't know why you just did what you did. but just stay away." 
scarlett was absolutely shocked at what she was hearing. because he's telling her to stay away? it should most definitely be the opposite. yeah she obviously just barged in on whatever that was. but she hasn't talked, or even made eye contact with him in three years. 
she couldn't form a sentence for a good minute and managed to spit out a bunch of rambled nonsense. "you're the one who just started asking a bunch of questions, saying how much you know me. it's been three whole years, i don't need you in my life." 
that could be a lie. she did need him. but she can't really figure out if she does. technically, she doesn't need him. but she'd be lying if she said he didn't make her who she is today. but that was forever ago, they were just kids. 
they both need to move on eventually, right? that's what they've been trying to do for the past couple years. it's just taking a bit longer than it should. 
adam started to walk away while shaking his head. scarlett narrowed her eyes as he walked towards the dorms and since she obviously couldn't walk the same way she just leaned against the wall and waited for him to be out of sight.
fuck this.