Strings Attached

Chapter Six

I did not like it at all. I hated the fact that Theodore knew more about me than I did about him. I hated him for knowing my story, for knowing my pain. The last thing I needed was for Theodore to feel pity for me.

"Oh, that's cool," I said, trying to hide how I truly felt.

I felt exposed, as though there was nothing left for me to reveal. I felt naked. I felt as though my mom had placed a giant sticker on my forehead that said, 'This girl was abandoned by her own dad!'

Theodore was about to say something, but I interrupted him. "How about a race?" I asked.

"What?" He raised his eyebrows, confused.

"Yeah." I got up and pointed at a house at the end of the street. "Whoever touches the house's garage and gets here first wins."

Theodore smiled and got up. "Why, are you sure you feel like losing today?"

I rolled my eyes. "Get over yourself."

Theodore grinned. "I'm too fast for you," he said, winking.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "If you win, I'll give you my lunch for a week, and if I win, you'll give me yours. Deal?"

Theodore grinned once more. "Yum! Food! This just got a bazillion times more interesting!"

"Deal?" I repeated.

"Deal." Theodore and I shook hands, and soon we were both getting ready.

"On your mark...!" Theodore exclaimed.

I felt a little rock in my shoe and took it off to remove the rock, but Theodore did not notice my attempts to clean up my shoe.

"... Get set...!"

"Wait!" I exclaimed, trying to put my shoe back on.

"...Go!" Theodore exclaimed, ignoring me. He started running like crazy, while I struggled to get my foot inside my shoe.

"You..." I finally was able to put my foot my shoe and started running behind him, but he was already very ahead of me. "... Fucking cheater!" I finished as I sprinted at full speed.

By the time I got to the house, Theodore was already making his way back, so I frowned, touched the house's garage and made my way back.

Unfortunately, once I arrived, Theodore was already doing the victory dance.

I was quite tired. I gasped for air as Theodore jumped and danced, celebrating his victory.

"Yes! I did it! I am the champion, my friends!" he sang as he jumped around.

"You are a cheater!" I exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him. "That's what you are!"

Theodore shrugged. "You cannot accuse me of anything you cannot prove," he said simply.

I frowned. "You are an asshole!" I exclaimed. "I hate you!"

"Hate the game, not the player," he said, smirking.

"This is not a game," I said, grunting.

"Oh, please, Chris. Don't be a sore loser," he said.

My frown deepened. "You suck," I said.

"I know," Theodore said, winking. "But I still won."

"You didn't," I said. "There's no way I'm giving you my food!"

Theodore gasped. "You promised! We shook on it!"

"But you didn't win fair and square!" I snapped.

"You never said there were any rules," he said, shrugging.

Very clever, Theodore, I thought angrily.

That boy could really be a pain in the ass when he wanted to.

***

We arrived at the house with an incredible urge to sleep. We were quite tired.

You could not really blame us, considering the fact that we had ran another five races after the first one.

Theodore had won four times, and this time he had done it fair and square. This made me quite pathetic, I know, but at least I had managed to win the last race. Sure, I had won because Theodore had stopped halfway to pick up his wallet, which had fallen from his pocket, but I still had won, and that was what mattered.

Theodore really enjoyed seeing me lose. I had always been a sore loser, but that somehow did not bother Theodore at all. He simply accepted every time I asked him for another race, especially because he knew for a fact that he was going to beat me.

I really hated that he was better than me at everything. Seriously, that guy could beat me at anything without even trying. Depressing, I know, but do not forget that I won that last race, even if it was not precisely in a fair manner.

"I had fun," Theodore said as we entered the house.

I faked a smile. His beating me up at everything was very painful. It should not have to be a very big deal, but every time someone beat me at something, I would simply become moody and insecure. It made me feel like, no matter how many times I tried, I would never be good enough at anything.

I did not say anything as Theodore talked about how fun the picnic had been and how he could understand my fear for abandoned houses because they were certainly creepy. He also said that he knew what it felt like to be abandoned, but then he simply stopped talking, probably thinking that he had already said too much.

That, of course, made me grow curious, but I could not let him know that. I did not want him to think that I cared about his background.

"I think I'd better go to sleep," I finally said. "I'm very tired."

Theodore grinned. "Sure, you go ahead. Your diet makes you sleep early, after all," he told me, letting me know that he had not bought it yesterday.

I gave him a wry smile and nodded, heading upstairs. "Good night," I yelled as I entered Brianna's room.

"Sleep well, Chris!" he exclaimed from downstairs.

I rolled my eyes. "It's Christina!" I corrected, annoyed.

I could have sworn Theodore grinned at that. "If you say so!" he yelled, amused.

I rolled my eyes once more and closed Brianna's door. I turned off the lights and grabbed a pillow, wondering what Theodore was hiding that made him look so hurt all the time, wondering who had hurt him so much to make him wear that sad expression permanently, but also wondering if I should really care or not.

Perhaps I should have not cared about Theodore's past that much, but I did, and I really detested myself for it.