A Perfect Circle

05 | disaster

Ren poked me again. "Be my partner, Ella."

"Stop poking me."

"There's no law that states you can't be partners with a person who rejected your friend."

"Maybe I don't want to be your partner."

Except for I totally did. I glanced around the room and had talked to a few of these kids, but I really didn't like the idea of working so closely with someone I hardly knew. Was working with my best friend's crush better?

Ren grinned. "If that's true, I'll back off, but..."

I shot him a glare over my shoulder. "Fine."

* * *

At the end of the week, I stood at my locker and piled my textbooks into my backpack. It was a tight fit, but I had loads to read this weekend. On top of that, I worked both Saturday and Sunday, so I was in for a treat.

Weren't weekends supposed to be breaks?

Well, at least I had tonight – Friday – off. Jenny, Luisa and I were going to the movies. As I stuffed another binder in my backpack, Ren popped into my head, and my heart sank.

Two days ago, he'd started acting weird. He'd stopped sitting next to me in Graphic Design and he'd actually ignored my Facebook message the other night. We didn't talk much online, but I'd been anxious that I'd somehow done something to upset him.

It was stupid. I was supposed to be happy that he was backing off, wasn't I? But his words from last week – when he'd said he wouldn't stop trying – had made my heart thump in a way it never had before. Even if there was no way I could date him, Ren made me feel special, and now, something had changed.

What did I do? Maybe he was sick of me being paranoid that Jenny would find out we were kind of friends. That must've been pretty annoying. He hadn't said much to me at work, either. Though it had only been a couple of days since he'd asked me to be his partner, I wasn't sure if it was still on.

Well, come Monday, I guess I was gonna find out, because that was when we needed to start.

I closed my locker with a heavy sigh. My heart nearly jumped right out of my skin at the person standing on the other side.

"Max?" I asked, bewildered.

He grinned, showing the dimple on the right side of his face. "Oops, did I scare you?"

I hugged myself and averted my eyes. "Well, no. What's up?"

Max and I talked online and in class, but he'd never come up to me in the hall before.

There was a pink tinge to his pale cheeks. "Are you up to anything tonight? 'Cause I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out."

My eyes widened and my stomach flopped. Did I hear him right?

"Sorry, what?" I asked, though felt like a total idiot right after.

"Did you wanna hang out?" Max asked again, his blue eyes twinkling in the light of the hall.

"I, uh—" Heat crawled up to my cheeks. Max was asking me to hang out. And I had no idea if I actually wanted that.

Excuse – I need an excuse!

"I'm going to the movies with Jenny and Luisa."

It was true. But then Jenny and Luisa themselves popped up behind me. Luisa firmly put her hands on my shoulders.

"Oh, Ella! I have to cancel," she said.

"Me too." Jenny grinned. "So if you wanted to hang out with Max, that's totally cool."

My heart dropped.

Fuck.

Max shifted his weight and avoided Jenny's eyes. He probably still liked her, so why was he asking me out? It wasn't explicitly a date, but...

I was cornered. I'd never been good at standing up for myself, and though the thought of hanging out with Max frayed my nerves, I nodded.

"Sure, Max."

"Okay, great." His movie-star smile widened. "I'll text you later, ' kay?"

Max walked away. I faced Jenny and Luisa with a panicked scowl.

"Um, guys?"

"Why aren't you happy?" Luisa asked. "I can't believe Max just asked you out!"

My eyes fell on Jenny. "He likes you."

"Well, he must be trying to get over it." Jenny propped a hand on her hip. "Which is good, 'cause I'm just not interested."

I truly didn't understand why. Max was a star athlete, incredibly good looking, charming, the list went on. Why wouldn't Jenny like him?

My jaw tightened. Probably for the same reason I wasn't sure I liked him.

Ren.

"I gotta go," I said.

"Text me!" Luisa shouted.

I darted around the corner and took a deep breath. It didn't make sense that Max would suddenly show interest in me after getting rejected by Jenny. I didn't trust it.

Where was Ren's locker? I think I'd seen him on the second floor before. I raced to the stairwell, dodging kids as I pushed through the door to the upper level. Ren was right there, cramming a camera bag into his backpack. I stopped in my tracks and stared. He took a double take of me before standing up and raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, what's up, weirdo?"

I took a deep breath and walked up to him, leaning against the locker and hugging myself. "Why did Max just ask me to hang out?"

Ren looked back into his locker, a peeved expression colouring his face. "How should I know?"

"You're his best friend."

He averted his stare as he slammed his locker shut. "It's none of my business what Max does."

Ren stormed away. With my pulse in my throat, I chased him.

"Is he using me as a rebound or something?"

Is this why you've been acting weird?

He scoffed. "Look, Ella, I don't know why you're coming to me with this. You said yourself that we can't be friends."

But you said that you wouldn't stop trying.

My chest hurt. I wanted Ren to care – to show me that he liked me – but he didn't. And that sent waves of frustration through me. He'd gone through the trouble of pestering me pretty much every day since the night we'd kissed, and now he didn't give a shit about me?

"Fine," I said. "Don't tell me. I'll just go out with him and find out."

Ren said nothing, just kept walking, and that was like a slap to the face. With a huff, I turned around and went back downstairs.

So, I guess I'm going out with Max tonight.

Why did this feel like a recipe for disaster?