Captured.

~Chapter Thirteen~

“Jenny!” Caleb whines, trailing after me. “I said I was sorry!” He cries for the thousandth time.

“Sorry isn’t good enough this time, Caleb!” I snap, looking back at him over my shoulder.

After his ridiculous attitude yesterday, I had sent James on his way with my sincerest apologies. Caleb seemed to calm down a good deal after that, but I had still refused to talk to him for the rest of the day. 

And then that morning when we arrived at school. . . things quickly just went down hill from there.  

James had decided to transfer in! And once again, I found myself to be the center of attention with yet another association with the new new kid. The hot new kid. The hot new kid with the British accent that’s always by my side with my shadow grumbling from behind!

I’m exhausted. I must’ve aged like twenty years in the last few hours! The whole day has just become a blur as all my classes just mash together into a big gooey glob of FML.

Trying to keep your overprotective mate in line while trying to protect his secret from a certain nosey best friend is hard work! Completely exhausting! And Caleb really wasn’t helping the case! Seriously! Why do I even bother?! I should just leave him there to sink or swim! Except dogs can swim, so he’d be safe while I’d be the captain going down with my ship.

Well, at least Rory, unlike a certain someone, seems to like James well enough. In fact, they get a long great! Just like I had initially thought. Same sense of humor. Same need to refer to my deep hatred for bananas. It was great! Only problem was she was trying to get just a little too cozy with him, if you know what I mean.

. . . If only she knew. 

“I can’t help it!” He exclaims as he suddenly jumps in front of me.

I just glare at him and try to go around him, but he just mimics my steps. Aggravated, I give up and just stand there giving him a pointed look.

“Caleb, for the love of all things holy, James is just a friend!” I stress. 

He looks me straight in the eyes trying to see if I’m lying or hiding some kind of secret. Finally he seems to calm a bit, but his form is still tense. 

Still, he was being ridiculous, and when would I ever get a chance like this again? What can I say? I just couldn’t resist teasing him.

“But I did have this huge crush on him when we first met.” I say, laughing to myself a bit.

Caleb expression seems almost seems pained.

“That’s not funny.”

“Relax,” I tell him, even though it was technically true. I did have a pretty big crush on James when I had first met him. “He’s gay.”

Then I narrow my eyes at him and wait for him to say something stupid about this new revelation.

He just continues to look down at me with a bewildered expression.

“Jenny,” he finally says. “There is no way that guy is gay.”

I scream in aggravation and start marching away again. 

“You’re impossible!” I snap, too frustrated to even look at him.

“You can’t trust him!” He cries, catching up with me and blocking my way again.

“I can’t trust you right now!” I exclaim, as I whip him around and capture him under accusatory gaze. “Caleb, he’s been my best friend for years. Meanwhile, you just pop into my life out of nowhere and now you’re keeping secrets! Normally, I really wouldn’t care! But the fact that whatever you little issue is seems to involve my best friend and influences every single person in your household! Really, I think the real problem here is very clear!”