[IC] Boarding School

[firestar64]

Derek came over with some clothes that would fit her perfectly. They were in style too, so she would look good in them. If she really needed to, she could use some of his clothes. He held up the clothes presenting them to her. "What do you think?" He asked. What would they do after this? Go back to the room? He didn't want to, he wanted to keep going out around the small town they had and have fun with her. "What do you want to do after this? Go get something to eat?" Derek asked hoping she would say yes so they could keep hanging out.

[sweetserenity]

Diana turned to him and looked over the clothes he was holding. "Hmm.. yes. I like them," she announced with a smile and took them from him. Now that she had all the clothes she needed, she strolled over to the checkout and paid for them with her debit card. Walking back to Derek, she was still in shock from the cost of all the clothes. Totaled up, they were $150. The things I do to keep my identity a secret...

The bag with all the clothes was heavy. It caused her to walk leaning to the side she was holding the bag. Once she approached Derek again, she asked, "Hey, um... do you mind carrying this for me? My rippling biceps are failing me right now." She laughed softly. "Oh, and about your earlier question, I'm down for food. Wanna hit up the food court, or go find somewhere else in town to eat?"

[firestar64]

Derek just grabbed all of her bags and carried them with no problem. "It's fine. I don't mind carrying them all. Yeah let's go to cafe rio." He said smiling at down at her. His phone began to ring again. "Sorry but you can grab that out of my back pocket?" Derek asked wondering who it could be again.

[sweetserenity]

Diana's eyes widened and she grinned. "Ooh, they have a Cafe Rio here? I love their guacamole." She was relieved Derek was kind enough to carry her bags on her behalf. However, that feeling of bliss disappeared when he asked her to grab his phone from his back pocket. "Getting a little up close and personal now, are we?" She inquired with a little smirk and laugh. "I guess this is what I get for making you carry my bags."

She stepped behind him and quickly reached into his back pocket, grabbing his phone. It was ringing like crazy. "Mission accomplished!" She handed it to him then leaned back against the wall. "You can answer it now, if you want. We have time." She gave an encouraging nod.

[firestar64]

Derek just smiled at her then pressed answer on his phone. "Hello?" He asked hearing Harry's voice. "Okay well, what did the couch say about the positions?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "Oh shit. Can we talk about this later? I'm kind of busy..." he trailed off when Harry was telling him how Cadence was calling him. "Oh my god. Okay just ignore her. We can talk later." He said grabbing his phone and looked at Diana. "Let's go."

[sweetserenity]

She started walking out of the store and towards the food court. She had to take longer strides to match with Derek. Looking up at him, she asked, "So who was that? What did they want?" She wasn't trying to be pushy; just curious. Diana slid her hands into her back pockets and kept walking. Do guys do this? ...well, they do now. Overhead, music was being played quietly through the speakers. It reminded her of elevator music, which caused her to chuckle. They walked past a candle store which Diana was immediately allured by. She slowed her pace and looked at longingly before snapping back into reality and catching up with Derek.

[firestar64]

"It was Harry. He was just telling me about the positions for everyone that our couch picked. He loves his position it's right under mine." Harry said smiling at that thought that he'd be working with his best friend at their favorite sport together. "Anyway, where.." he trailed off when he saw her stop and looked back. "Want to go in there?" Harry asked looking up at the shop then headed over.

[sweetserenity]

She quickly yet gently grabbed his wrist, pulling him away from the shop. "You can't tell me to not cross my legs then allow me to wander into a freakin' candle shop," Diana pointed out with a little laugh. "It's all about consistency. Come on now, I'm starving." She let go of his wrist. A part of her wished he had grabbed his hand instead, merely for the sake of, well, holding his hand.

But she knew she couldn't do that. Not here. Not as long as everything between them had to remain platonic.

She resumed the walk to Cafe Rio. Soon they could see it in the near distance.

[firestar64]

(Sorry Ive been busy! We should be good now (: )

Derek felt a little jump in his chest when she grabbed his wrist. "Well, I don't know the candle shop is kind of nice." He said liking how she pulled him until she let go. He wasn't going to say anything but he liked that. More than he should at least. "Well okay, I'm starving too. What did you want to get?" Derek asked wondering what it would be like with them holding hands.

[sweetserenity]

(Woo! Alright(: )

"I know it is," Diana agreed with a little smile. "After all, what's not to like about scented wax?" Chuckling, she ran her fingers through her hair and looked around. This mall was certainly a lot bigger and fancier than the one back in Hagsbe. In fact, rumor has it that about 20 years ago that mall had a terrible rat infestation. They managed to get rid of the rats, but never cleaned up their puddles of urine, thus creating a health hazard and making the whole place smell wretched even after it dried up.

Diana scruched up her nose at the disgusting memory. Thankfully her family tended to go to malls out of town, so they rarely had to go inside that place.

She and Derek approached Cafe Rio. "I'm thinking about getting a tostada," she told him in response to the earlier question, happy to get away from the memory of Hagsbe Mall. They got in line. The place was busy, but not overflowingly crowded. Diana looked up at Derek. "Seems like we weren't the only people who decided to come here today, huh?" She laughed.

[firestar64]

"I can't blame anyone." Derek said glancing around and looked down at her. "It's good food. Okay, I'll pay for us if you want." He offered again. He looked down all of the food as they approached the people getting their food. He picked out his food smiling at what he got in the end. He just got a chicken burrito that looked so amazing to him.

[sweetserenity]

She didn't like feeling like she was piggy-backing on him, but she did just spend $150, so she felt like her bank account had suffered enough. "That would be awesome, thank you," Diana said. She went down the line right after him and got her food. Of course she got guacamole with it, it was what she had been looking forward to the most. It had been too long since she last went to a Cafe Rio. She looked over at him as he appeared to be making google eyes at his burrito. "Careful, you look like you might drool all over your food." Laughing, she waited for him to pay before walking off with her tostada in search of a table.

It didn't take long for her to spot a table and walk over to it. When she sat, her legs were filled with relief. She had been so preoccupied with looking for clothes, thinking about candles, and thinking about the mall back home that she didn't realize how tired her legs were getting. She started to eat her food, eager to finally fill her stomach and relax a bit.

[firestar64]

Derek nodded, not hesitating to pay for both of them. The girl behind the counter was making eyes at him, checking him out and flirty with him. "12.62 is your total." She said as she wrote down her number on the back of some paper. "Text me when you can." She smirked.

Derek just smiled at her and grabbed Diana's hand pulling her away from the Cafe Rio. "Let's just go eat." He said sighing.

[sweetserenity]

Diana had noticed the girls flirtiness, and also took note of how pretty she was. She couldn't help but glance over her shoulder and give her a quick glare as she and Derek walked to their table. As they sat and began eating, Diana asked, "She seemed into you. Are you... are you going to text her?" She inquired this in a casual tone, not wanting to come across as jealous.

Wait... am I jealous? Diana gave a mental sigh. No, of course not! Just curious, that's all. She found that her tostada didn't taste as good when she was thinking about this. It tasted bland.

Bland.

That's what Diana was compared to the pretty cashier.

Simply bland.

Why won't my mind shut up!? I am NOT jealous! In fact, I'd LOVE it if Derek took Miss Pretty Cashier on a date! Suddenly Diana looked up, and before Derek even had the time to begin to answer her previous question, she added: "you should ask her on a date."

[firestar64]

Derek looked back at the cashier who gave him a small wave. He just waved to her back then looked at Diana. "I don't know.." he shrugged starting to eat his food. "Maybe." He shrugged. It would get Cadence off his back he knew that for sure if he was just showing off this girl. He would rather take Diana out but he couldn't, it was too risky.

"What.. are you okay?" Derek asked seeing that Diana came off weird a bit. "Are you mad at me for taking her number?"

[sweetserenity]

She looked up at Derek and quickly shook her head. "No, I'm not mad. I was just... simply suggesting you ask her out on a date. That's all. I mean.. she was into you, no doubt. She was also nice, beautiful, flirty..." her voice trailed off. She paused to take another bite of her food. Continuing, she added, "Definitely worth giving her a shot, don't you think?"

What am I saying?? Ugh, right now I hate having pretend to be a guy. If this situation was different, maybe I wouldn't be saying these things. If only I went to another school as Diana and just met Derek by chance. My hair would be long, I could wear flattering clothes, and I would never have to think about speaking in a lower voice. Diana glanced over in the girl's direction, and sure enough, she was looking over at Derek.

[firestar64]

Derek looked back at her for a moment then back over to Diana, who was acting strange to him and he was wondering why. Maybe he was wrong. But he couldn't help but notice that she was acting different. Maybe because it's annoying to be dealing with a guy who got girls numbers randomly. He didn't mean to brag, but he just thought that since he does get a lot of girls numbers it bothers people he's hanging out with, like Harry . It bothered his best friend for a while. That's why she was acting strange and he felt bad for that.

"Sorry I didn't mean to get her number.. I think I'll text her but that's not important right now. What is, is eating this food." Derek said starting to dig into his food.

[sweetserenity]

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why are you apologizing? There's no need to be sorry for getting a girl's number. As I said, she seems nice." Diana sighed, suddenly not feeling as hungry as she was a few minutes ago. For some reason, it hurt her to advertise another girl to Derek. I need to get my head in the game. I can't not be into Derek yet still get jealous, she thought to herself. Emotions suck. Please tell me I'm just being hormonal because my period is right around the corner or something.

"I think I'm done. Do you want the rest of my food?" Diana offered after a few moments of silence.

[firestar64]

Derek looked up at her plate of food then up at her. "Why are you not hungry? I thought you were starving. No I don't want to eat it I'm stuffed from eating all of my food." He said picking up their plates and going to throw them away. "Let's just go back to the school. I think I need to go rest." Derek said after coming back to the table.

[sweetserenity]

She shrugged. "I guess I just lost my appetite." She stood up as he went to throw away their plates and grabbed her bag of clothes he had set down, handing it to him once he returned. "Yeah, let's go back to the school. It's been a long day and we have class tomorrow." They started walking out of the mall. "Say, I never got around to asking you this but... what grade are you in? You're definitely not a freshman," she inquired with a little smile.