Prank War

Prank War [24]

    A few minutes of silence passed by. I closed my eyes and just let him hug me. Then, Caden had to break the moment with the stupidest comment.

    “I think I’m going to be late to English class.”

    I pulled away from him. “You totally ruined the moment.”

    “Sorry,” he gave me a small smile, “Unlike you, I care about being on time to class.”

    “But you’ll be late for me, right?” I asked, half-jokingly.

    “Well …” he hesitated, looking at the clock, “Only if you tell me what happened.”

    “You just have to be Mr. Know-it-all, don’t you?” I rolled my eyes. I walked to the couch they had set up in the office for visitors, and sat down. Seriously, why weren’t any of the administrators here?

    “That,” he agreed, “And because I care.”

    “And when did you start caring?” I raised an eyebrow.

    “After I kissed you,” he said simply.

    Well this just became awkward. I shifted uncomfortably as he sat down on the couch next to me. What was I supposed to say now?

    “Then why did you run away from me?” I decided to answer him with that. He didn’t reply right away, staring at the clock. Probably calculating how late he was going to be if he kept on talking to me.

    It suddenly felt like one of those times when you send a risky text, and you’re just there, nervously checking your phone every few seconds to see if they’ve replied.

    I cleared my throat, reminding him I was still waiting for an answer.

    “Because I didn’t want to like you,” he searched for the right words to say.

    “Why not? I’m so lovable. Well, not to teachers,” I joked. Trying to add humor to an awkward conversation made it less awkward. Except I was sort of failing at it.

    Caden smiled.

    “That’s why I like you, Ariane. You’re so carefree and … just lovable,” he decided to settle for my word.

    “So what’s the problem?” I wanted to know.

    “You know what happened with Kristen right?”

     I nodded. He used to go out with Kristen, the popular girl who’s dad was endorsing the Prank War. She seemed nice so far, but I didn’t let that fool me. Every nice girl had a nasty side.

    Then Kristen cheated on him with I-forgot-who and Caden pretty much just decided to focus on school and being a nerd. 

    “That’s why,” he answered.

    “But I’m not like Kristen,” I complained. Heck, I've never even had a boyfriend. 

    “I know but … I don’t know,” Caden admitted, looking like he was trying to solve the square root of pi.

    Oh my god, I just made a math reference. Caden really was contagious.

    I decided to keep quiet, and just let him figure it out. Anyways, the longer it takes for him to decide, the longer it keeps him away from class. So I’m pretty sure he’ll come up with an answer soon.

    “Even if we did have a relationship,” he finally said, “We’ll only be together for one more year.”

    “What are you talking about?”