Prank War

Prank War [18]

    I looked away, pretending I didn’t notice him. Cameron muffled a laugh, and I glared at him, meeting Caden’s eyes in the process.

    Great.

    “Ari,” he said, just loud enough so that he wouldn’t get into trouble.

    “Don’t call me that,” I told him, remembering Max saying something about nicknames. The last thing I needed was for him to think something was going on. Ha. Yeah right.

    “Guess what you got, Ari,” Caden said, ignoring my request. He was standing in front of the edge of the table, and waved a half-folded piece of paper in front of my face.

    “A llama?” I asked sarcastically. Having a llama would be cool. Then I could tell my llama to spit in annoying people’s faces without getting into trouble. I hope.

    “Your test score,” he said, a little impatiently this time.

    “How did you know I took a test?” I asked suspiciously.

    “I asked that you take it,” Caden replied as a-matter-of-factly.

    “Ah ha. So you admit you’re the one who made me go through that torture.”

    “It wasn’t torture. You got to miss class without getting detention,” he pointed out. Crap. He had a point.

    But I wasn’t going to admit that. I wasn’t going to admit anything! You can’t make me!

    And yeah ..

    “So? What did I get?” I asked, making sure I sounded careless. Inside, I was jumping around nervously. Please let me pass. Then I wouldn’t be stuck here all day tomorrow.

    I didn’t have much hope though.

    “You got the same score as me,” he smiled.

    “You failed?” I asked, confused. I didn’t think failing was an option in Caden’s little world.

    “Of course not. I got a hundred percent.”

    “But you said we got the same score.”

    This whole conversation wasn’t really making sense to me. Why couldn’t he just flat out tell me what my score was?

    “Exactly,” he replied simply.

    “I don’t get it,” I answered with a sigh. My brain was working too hard today, “Could you say it in simple English, please?”

    “You got a perfect score. It’s really not that hard to comprehend,” Caden said.

    “Who uses the word ‘comprehend’?” I asked, burying my face in my arms to hide my smirk.

    “The point is, you, me, and this other nerd were the only ones in the state to get a hundred percent.”

    “Wait, are you putting me into the nerd category?” I asked, looking up at him. I could totally see the ‘I told you so’ in his expression.

    “Yup.”

    “No no, I refuse to be called a nerd.”

    Caden walked over and sat down in the chair next to mine, “Well I just called you a nerd, nerd. What are you going to do about it?”

    I hesitated. I hadn’t thought the plan that far.

    “I’ll poke you,” I said, giving him a half-hearted poke in the chest. He laughed.

    “Do I get to say, ‘I told you so’, or are you going to throw a tantrum if I do?”

    “I don’t throw tantrums,” I protested, “And I don’t believe you. Show me the score.”

    Caden handed me the paper, “Fine. See for yourself.”

    I unfolded the paper to find my name on the top, followed by a one-zero-zero percent.

    “I don’t believe this. You did something to it,” I accused Caden.

    “No I didn’t,” he said calmly, “You got what you got. Which also means that you’ll be eligible to go to the city tomorrow, and move to the advanced classes.”

    “Do I have to?” I half-whined.

    “Have to what? Go to the city or move to the advanced classes?”

    “Move to the advanced classes.”

    “Yes.”

    “Awww,” I said.

    “It’s not that bad. I checked your schedule, and we have all the classes together, except for eighth period.”

    “Great, I can copy off your homework then,” I joked.

    “Dream on,” Caden smirked, “You passed this test, proving that you’re smart. Why don’t you stop rebelling?”

    Rebelling. I suddenly remembered that I shouldn’t be so nice to Caden. My stomach flipped, and I blocked the thought away.

    “Because that’s who I am,” I said coldly, turning away from him.

    “Aren’t you worried about your future?” he asked, in a softer, more gentle voice. I could almost feel his breaths on my neck.

    “My future is already dead,” I told him grimly, “And why do you care? Why are you suddenly trying to be so nice to me?”

    “I’ve always been nice to you,” he protested.

    Suddenly, I heard Cameron fake cough uncomfortably. I had completely forgotten that he was still there.

    “And this is where I exit,” Cameron said, quickly packing his things and walked away.

    “Look, you haven’t been exactly clear after you kissed me,” I was surprised at how confident my voice sounded. It better be some of that girl power, “Why don’t you say it to my face – that you don’t like me? I would greatly appreciate it, so that it clears where we stand.”

    He didn’t reply.

    Did that mean he didn’t not like me? That was confusing. Did that mean he liked me? Well, maybe just as a friend.

    “I should go,” he said quickly, and stood up to walk away.

    “No,” I said, louder than I had intended to. I stood up, and grabbed his arm so that he couldn’t escape, “Can you please just say it? Look, if you’re worried about offending me, it won’t. I honestly don’t care. But I just want you to say it so .. it clears everything up. Officially.”

    “So you want me to say that I don’t like you?” he turned around to face me. His face was expressionless.

    “Yeah.”

    “I don’t like you,” Caden said slowly, then turned to walk away again. And this time, I let him.

    All the years of lying and pretending I didn’t care were just practices.

    This one – I had to use all my will to convince myself I didn’t care.

    I also noticed that he took my test score with him.

    Jerk. He should have brought me a llama instead. Then we wouldn’t be in this mess.