Undateable

Thirty-One

Cade's POV - Fifty-six days remaining

I didn't know how to feel. Hearing Kaia defend me made me feel something I'm not comfortable with. A series of questions rushes through my mind. Questions like 'how long have people been warning Kaia about me?', 'does Kaia believe them and too afraid to admit it?', 'is that why Kaia has been avoiding me for the past couple of weeks?'. There's so much about her I'm second guessing about. I thought I knew her so well but I can't tell anymore.

But then I hear Kaia saying I'm her best friend. I make her laugh and make her proud of herself. I didn't know what to think. I never had such an effect on anyone before and it turns out to be the person that I've been tricking this whole time. Lying to her face that I have feelings for her when in truth, I've been taking money from her Aunt so I can date her and make her go against her own life plan. I don't know whether I liked hearing Kaia defend me. It was different and it was strange. I'm not used to it and I don't know if I ever will.

But why do I feel like this? Why did I get so upset at Kaia when I overheard her? My mind keeps questioning myself and my feelings constantly that I feel like I'm on a repeated cycle of torture. I close my locker door, trying to forget about yesterday's event.

"Hey, Cade!" I hear. I turn to see Daphne smiling at me. I look at her friend beside her. Daphne has long hair with the lower half blonde and the upper half brunette. She has large blue eyes and freckled skin.

"Hey," I reply with disinterest.

"I heard that you got the highest results in your Math class," Daphne says.

I know what Daphne is like. She's a Junior and she always has the well thought out plan to ask the year above her for their study notes when they just completed them or a promise that they would give it to her when they no longer need it. She always scavenges Senior's and become a nuisance to her. She is known to be the irritating Junior. I would call her a leech but I don't have the need to ever call her.

"Yeah, what about it?" I ask, again with disinterest.

"I thought maybe, if you no longer need your notes, you could pass them onto me?" she suggests.

I look at her. She smiles largely, giving me her sweetest smile she can muster. "Daphne, I think you know me well enough that I don't take notes," I admit.

She laughs awkwardly, "Funny," she mutters. "But then how did you do so well in class if you don't take notes?"

I turn to face her completely, "I don't take notes. The best advice I can give you is just practice the questions in the textbook about three hundred times," I say.

"Is that what you did?" Daphne's friend asks.

I frown at her. I forgot her name. I knew her name because of something familiar but I can't put my finger on it. I examine her face to figure out whether it has something to do with her appearance. She has a long face, long black hair that is tied in a ponytail, narrow nose and flawless skin. She looks almost like a barbie but with black hair. Was that what I refer to? Barbie? Is her name Ken?

"Yeah, that's what I did," I reply.

"I don't believe you," Daphne laughs.

"Look," I say as I tighten the strap over my shoulder. "It's not my problem if you believe me or not – I told you what I did to study and that's it. If you don't like it, go find someone else to bother," I tell them. At that moment, I instantly remembered Daphne's friend's name.

Suddenly, I hear "Penguin" and then see a frustrated Kaia storming past me. I watch Kaia storming down the hallway and dodging all the people walking by.