Stuttering

Chapter Eight

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Colton's POV

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He had his arms around her the whole time.  She still looked stunned and he can't blame her.  It was her first time to be in the bottom 3 and on her first time she almost got eliminated.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she answered without looking at me.

I nodded.  She doesn't look like she's okay, and I understand.

"I want some ice-cream..." she told me absent-mindedly.

I laughed.

"Ice cream eh?  Tell you what, you pay for the ice-cream, I'll pay for the pizza.  It's past dinner so we might as well eat." 

"That sounds nice, mind if I tag along?' it was Phillip speaking from behind us.  My mood darkened a little.  I wanted her to myself tonight.

"Hey PP.  Sure, that'll be fun." she answered him.  

There wasn't anything I can do without sounding like I resented him joining us.

"I wanna go too!" It was Hollie this time.

"Oh no, you're not going with them.  You're going with us."  It was Elise.  I saw her winked at Phillip and Phillip winked at her back.  Hollie looked put off but smiled after seeing Joshua was with her.

I pretended not to notice and took Jessica's hands.  

"Okay, that's settled then.  P, you still going with us? I asked.

"You betcha.!" he smiled and took Jessica's free hand.

"Okay, now you're going to pay for the ice-cream." it was Jessica talking to Phillip.

"I was just joking, Jess, I'll pay for both." I told her tryng to get her attention.

"No, it's cool, I'll pay for both the ice-cream and the pizza." he shot me a smug look.

"Wow! I should be in danger of getting eliminated all the time, I get free food!" jessica gleefully said, her mood lightening now.

I smiled and shot a challenging look at Phillip.

He caught my glare but said nothing.

"Let's go now.  I'm famished." Jessica shaked off both our hands and ran outside ahead of us where the car was waiting for us.

We raced each other trying to get to her first.

Continued in Chapter 9