Bull Session

The lightning crackling outside our biology classroom window matched the electricity in my stomach. I was about to do it—finally tell Sasha how I felt about her. We'd been best friends since seventh grade, but lately everything had changed. She'd started wearing that vanilla lotion I couldn't stop thinking about, and she'd look at me with those eyes that made my brain turn to mush.

"You're staring again," she whispered, passing me a note. My face burned hotter than a stolen car stereo.

Then I heard it—Marcus behind us, cracking some joke about how I was following Sasha around like a lost puppy. I'd put up with his garbage all year because I didn't want to make waves, but something snapped. That bolt of lightning outside must've hit my nerve endings.

"That's such bull, Marcus," I said, loud enough that even Mr. Harrison looked up from his lesson on cellular mitosis. "For real, nobody thinks you're funny. You're just mean."

The room went dead silent. Sasha grabbed my hand under the lab table—first time ever, and my heart basically exploded. Marcus's face turned the color of spoiled tomato soup.

"Whatever," he mumbled, and never cracked another joke at my expense.

After class, Sasha didn't let go of my hand. "That was literally the most badass thing I've ever seen you do," she said, and the way she looked at me wasn't like a friend at all. The lightning storm had passed, but something electric was just beginning.

Maybe standing up for myself was exactly what I needed to do to become who I was supposed to be. And maybe, just maybe, the friend zone was about to become something more.