CHAPTER 37

'Would it really be a one time thing though?' Rachel thought. Veronica was staring at her friend suspiciously, she hoped she was wrong about Rachel starting to like Mark.

'It can't be possible right? Shit! My reputation in school.' At the moment, she was thinking about what people would think. She started to imagine them together, meeting almost everytime, so much PDA.

'No Rachel wouldn't get in a relationship before me right? We were supposed to stay single together.' Veronica thought again.

In the room, both friends were thinking about different things under that topic. Veronica was most affected.

'Rachel and I wouldn't be so close anymore. She wouldn't have my time. No! I won't let that happen. I can't let them be in a relationship.'

"What are you thinking?"

Rachel had come out of thoughts and looked at Veronica who was making faces, more like having different expressions on her pretty face.

Scratching out her thoughts, she looked at her friend.

"Nothing. Was Mark the reason you were held back. Was he what had kept you waiting?" Veronica asked after putting 2 and 2 together.

Rachel didn't answer immediately, Veronica was staring at her intently. She noticed how her friend's cheeks had flushed blood red thinking about something.

"I must have been right after all." Veronica murmured but it hadn't escaped Rachel's ears.

"Just what did he do to you that's making you blush like a little child." Veronica asked knowingly but she didn't get a reply from Rachel.

Rachel just made her way to Veronica's bed again and laid down flat on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"I can't seem to explain...it was kinda... embarrassing." Rachel kept on pausing in between her speech, which seem funny to Veronica and worrying.

'There's nothing that can convince me, I am so sure Rachel is starting to like Mark.'

Rachel relented and decided to narrate all that happened with Mark, starting from his visit in the morning. Rachel also talked about how Oliver didn't show up in school today and Veronica told her won't be in school till next week.

"So he'll pick you up by 11 on Saturday?" Veronica places her hand on her chin.

"Yup."

"So he's planning to spend the whole day with you?" Veronica kept on asking questions.

"I don't know."

"Can I come with?" Rachel gave Veronica a hard glare.

"What exactly is wrong with you?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing. He didn't exactly call it a date, it's just an outing right? Meaning I can come with." Veronica explained her 'reasoning'

"No! You can't. He asked ME, made it clear that likes ME, so definitely he would want to spend time with ONLY ME!" To Rachel it felt like Veronica was trying to intrude and ruin things for her.

"Okay! Okay! Chill..."

"What was the emphasis for, i got the message already."

The two then kept quiet for a while, they were obviously not pleased with the disagreement between each other, so they decided to drop the topic. Veronica was the one to bring up a new topic which caused Rachel to laugh at her. When Rachel heard that Veronica won't be getting her keys for sometime, she laughed hard and made fun of her.

They spent the rest of the evening joking about things, making fun of people lesser than them, gossiping about social media influencers they dislike.

Eventually Bianca has returned from wherever she was making Rachel want to leave so Bianca won't suspect that she was the one who had left Veronica at the gate.

The night ended with Oliver being excited to go out with Alice on Saturday, Alice asking her mother for permission which she approved, Rachel rolling in her bed not understanding how she could feel this way despite not interacting with Mark much, in the end she just looked forward to meeting Mark on Saturday, Veronica feeling a lot of things, Oliver's warming and his obvious care for Alice, Rachel who was going on a date when she hadn't gotten her Oliver yet, what people would think when they find out Rachel had a boyfriend and she didn't and Mark, just wished time could go faster cause of the plans he had for Rachel.

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There wasn't much to tell about Friday. Friday was unusually calm, no fights, no drama.

Each of them had what they were thinking about. Alice was the only one who spent more time studying like a book worm. Not wanting Veronica to target her or come to throw hateful comments at her, she would go to a very secluded place in the geographical area and continue studying at every free period.

Veronica hadn't planned to bother her, Oliver's warning still rang in her mind.

'He looked so cold and serious. I just wish...wish i was the one he cared for that way.'

Her mind also traced to Rachel who was quite bright all day and not the usual partially cold and partially warm nature, she seemed excited, and Veronica knew why. She was super jealous of her friend and kept on wishing that Oliver had asked her out the same way.

At one point she saw Mark going to Rachel again, after having an internal banter with herself, she decided to eavesdrop.

"Hey!" She didn't want Mark to say anything to tease her so she quickly spoke up.

"You looked flushed, still thinking about yesterday?" He teased. Rachel blushed harder which confirmed Mark's suspicion and further built his confidence.

Initially, Rachel's wasn't flushed, he just wanted to tease her, but he figured that what he did might have had quite the effect on her.

"Umm..." Rachel was speechless, she couldn't retort. What could she have said anyways.

Noticing that she was really embarrassed and didn't have anything to say, he wanted to try and make her comfortable.

"Anyways, scratch that. How's your friend?Veronica? Is she in school today?" He asked not quite interested but for her own good it was better that way.

"She's okay, thanks for asking and she's e in school." She replied awkwardly.

They talked about random things a bit more and later he decided to leave her and head back to his class. He really enjoyed his little progress, he just hoped everything would go well, since he was taking initiative.

Leo and Alex, who had secretly followed their friend because they wanted see how he was doing and how much effect the girl was having on him. To their utmost surprise, he was quite cool and composed.

When they had decided to leave and head back to their floors, they noticed someone eavesdropping.

"Isn't that Veronica?" After looking closely and intently, Alex asked.

"What do we have here?" Leo was about making his way to her smiling but he was immediately pulled back by Alex.

"What do you think you are doing?" Alex berated him.

"What's your problem? I am just gonna head over there and ENCOURAGE her to keep on doing a good job." He cheekily explained.

"No! Why would you do that? Just leave her, who knows? Maybe she probably likes Mark too."

"What?!! No, she doesn't." Leo interjected. Looking at the ways she was even standing over there, it looked like she didn't want to, she was reluctant yet she still eavesdropped.

"How would you know?"

"Isn't it obvious. Everyone knows she's after Oliver. So it doesn't make sense for her to start liking Mark. I am sure she must be eavesdropping for another reason..."

"Which we shouldn't care about. Now let's go." Alex didn't let Leo finish and dragged him along with him.

After eavesdropping on the two for a long time and seeing that they were ending the conversation, Veronica decided to leave. She wouldn't want Rachel finding out she had eavesdropped, or even anyone...little did she know.

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Oliver was home all day, but he wasn't doing nothing, he kept on booking different games at the Arcade, so they won't have to wait in line for too long. He was happy doing all these things just thinking about the joy that would give her. He was spending a lot of money just to put things together but he didn't even care. He didn't realize when he had started to give so much attention to her happiness, but he decided he couldn't change anything anyways...