Prank War

Prank War [23]

    “Ariane, please come to the front office immediately,” the usual voice said through the intercom.

    “Wow, they must really like you,” Max said, with a raised eyebrow.

    “What’s there not to like about me?” I joked as I got up. I made my way to the office, and walked in.

    “Ariane, there’s a phone call for you,” one of the administrators said, pointing to a telephone sitting on a small coffee table. I sat in the chair next to it, and picked it up.

    “Hello?” I asked into it.

    “Ariane?” I could recognize that voice from anywhere. My mom. The one who had given up on me. I realized I was holding my breath, and quickly let it out.

    “This is um, your mom,” she said. I could tell from her voice that she felt uncomfortable talking to me, “I know we haven’t had the best relationship, and I honestly feel horrible about it. I just wanted to call you to say that .. your grandma has cancer, and she’s in the hospital right now. You probably don’t care, since you two weren’t close. I just .. felt like you should know about it.

    I didn’t reply right away. True, I only spoke to grandma two or three times, but she had been the one who stopped me from running away from home. My life would have been completely different if she hadn’t been there.

    “Is she going to be ok?” I asked.

    “The doctors are trying everything they can right now,” she replied, almost sounding surprised that I cared, “But there’s the money problem … but it’s nothing you should worry about. How’s school?”

    “How much?” I asked, ignoring her attempt to bring the subject away from it.

    “How much what?”

    “Money do we need?”

    “It’s really nothing - ”

    “How much?” I asked again, firmly this time to let her know that I wasn’t a little kid anymore.

    “Almost a million dollars,” she finally replied.

    “And we don’t have that much money to spare, do we?” I asked in a softer voice.

    “No,” my mom replied truthfully, “But it’s ok. Nothing you need to worry about.”

    One million dollars. Prank War. I had to win.

    “I can get the money,” I told her confidently.

    “Really?” she asked, surprised, “It’s ok honey. Really, don’t worry about it. Just focus on your schoolwork right now.”

    “You’re telling me to work on my schoolwork?” I asked. She knew I had the whole rebel thing going. I was a rebel because of her.

    “I know you have the whole rebel thing going,” she answered, reading my mind, “But honey, think about your future. You’re jeopardizing your whole life.”

    Exactly what Caden had said.

    I shook the thought out of my head. I had other things to worry about – like wining the Prank War.

    “Tell grandma to hang in there,” I said into the phone. Then I paused, “Well, just tell her to stay alive.”

    “Will do,” she replied, “I love you Ariane. And I’m proud of you.”

    I froze. She’s never said those words to me before. Ever.

    And my first reaction? I hung up on her. It seemed like my only option at that moment.

    I glanced around and saw that there was no one around, so I sat down on the edge of the coffee table. I stared at the floor, trying to form a plan inside my head.

    I suddenly felt a lot more vulnerable, like someone could be lurking around right now, planning to get me out of the war. Now I really couldn’t afford to lose.

    The door opened, and I literally jumped up in the air. Caden walked in, and glanced around. His eyes landed on me, and he raised an eyebrow.

    “You just keep ending up in here,” he commented, “What’d you do this time?”

    “I didn’t do anything,” I replied, looking away from him. This wasn’t a good time. I still wasn’t sure how things between us where going.

    And anyways, did I like him? Did I hate his guts? A little of both.

    “Are you ok?” he asked, actually managing to sound worried about me.

    “I’m fine,” I replied, my voice cracking a little. Oh crap.

    “Ariane, tell me,” he said softly. From his voice, I could tell he was standing close to me. I turned away from him, and crossed my arms.

    “No.”

    “Why not?” he asked.

    “Cause I don’t like you.”

    Oh god, that sounded so childish. I felt like I was saying ‘I don’t like you’ because he stole my Barbie doll or something.

    “Huh,” was all he said. I could clearly imagine the smirk on his face.

    I suddenly felt like crying. Ok, that was just stupid. I didn’t cry – not anymore.

    My life was just so messed up. I wanted to be a rebel to get back at my mom. But I was jeopardizing my whole life. And then there was Caden. I hated those stupid love stories where the girl couldn’t decided whether she likes the guy or not.

    Except that’s how I kind of feel right now. No, that’s not right. As much as I didn’t like to admit it, I did like Caden. And hated him for making me like him.  

    Oh geez. This was not going the way I planned. What had been my plan anyways? Oh right, get kicked out of this school within a week. That wasn’t an option anymore.

    “Ariane,” I heard Caden’s voice say. I was so lost in thought and getting used to the silence that I almost had a heart attack.

    “Are you trying to kill me?” I demanded to know as I turned around to face him. I hadn’t realized how close he had been standing, and almost bumped into him.

    But one of the basic rules I lived by – never back down. So there I was, standing pretty much only a few inches away from him. Maybe I should make exceptions to that rule.

    He didn’t back away either, and smirked at me, “What makes you think that?”

    “You’ve scared me to death two times in the past, what, ten minutes?”

    “Hey, you’re not dead right now,” he joked, “If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead.”

    “And I’ve killed you two times already. In my head.”

    “I’m glad you’re back to your old self,” he said. “Now tell me what’s wrong.”

    “No,” I replied again. I couldn’t help but smile a little.

    “I can help you,” Caden insisted, giving me his full attention.

    “So now you’re a therapist?”

    “So you’re saying you need a therapist?”

    “Notice how therapist also spells ‘the rapist’. No thanks, I don’t need a rapist.”

    “Cute,” he murmured. Then he did something that caught me by surprise.

    He hugged me. And unlike the other times I’ve received a hug, I didn’t kick his shin and pull away.