Chapter Eighteen: A Thousand Steps Forward

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thank you, kyle, for the cool cover you made <3 ignore weird mistakes and updates, enjoy! 

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Chapter Eighteen: A Thousand Steps Forward


Jessica skipped out on the after school meetup in the music room today. Word was out in our small group about how I gone about admitting my feelings to Jessica, and how all the girls probably thought I was now the next Dean. Though Kyle and Charlotte rehearsed their songs for a bit, I could tell Charlotte wanted to take this opportunity to talk about what happened.


"I think that's enough for today," Kyle said and put down his guitar, looking expectantly at me as he did so.


I gestured Charlotte with my hand. "Well, go ahead. Lay it on me."


She didn't hold back. "I can't believe you admitted your feelings like that!" she cried incredulously.


"It's not how I imagined to do it, but that's not my biggest problem right now, Char. I've wanted to take it further with Jessica for a while now; it's good that she knows I like her and that I know the feeling's mutual. My problem is the fact that she's not the only one who sees Dean in me," I said, still irritated at the fact. To be honest, I feel quite insulted that many of the girls think I'm anything like Dean.


"Well, you've got to give them some credit, man," Kyle offered with a shrug.


"Yeah. You can't blame them for being a little cautious after what happened with Dean. The girls had really liked him when he was a volunteer. And," Charlotte's voice softened, "Jessica really liked him, too. It's not everyday she lets a guy get close to her like that."


I countered my jealousy of Jessica's attraction to Dean with the fact that she was sort of opening herself up to me. "Why the hell would Dean do all this if he liked Jessica? Sure, being mean to a girl is a sign that he likes you, but that's a bit overboard, don't you think?"


Charlotte replied with a shrug, but Kyle snorted, saying, "Maybe 'cause he's an asshole that doesn't know how to treat a girl right."


"But I'm not that asshole! I wasn't the friendliest person when we first met, but things have changed since then," I said.


Kyle straightened, leaning over to slap my shoulder. "Now that I think about it, dude, you've gone kinda soft lately. Sunshine's really shining through that storm of yours, isn't she?" he taunted, smirking slyly.


"Shut up," I snapped.


Charlotte sighed, almost sounding disappointed. "You should have been more romantic, like a romantic song that you could relate to. You know, woo her."


I pinned her with a scowl. "I'm not the serenading type of guy. Getting a girl has never been much of a problem in the past. I like her, she likes me, ask her on a date and see how it goes."


Kyle laughed aloud and said, "Reece serenading? Oh, god, that's priceless." He swiped a finger under his eye, as if catching a tear. Shaking my head, I picked up my backpack and stood up.

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