Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Forty-Two

"Oh, nothing." He pretended to inspect a stray piece of lint on his denim jacket. "I just thought I should drop by and offer my congratulations to you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

He winked at me. "Snagging the school's ice prince." I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, pretending to busy myself with my locker even though everything was perfectly in order.

"It's not an achievement," I said bitterly, which was ironic considering how I even got closer with Jonah was only because of the stupid OBA, which had led to what I had always aimed to achieve; gaining Jonah's attention. But nobody else knew that. "Why, you want a piece of him too? Well, get a line then."

His face darkened, and he took my bait. "It's none of your business."

"Why are you here, then?" I nearly snapped in annoyance as I slammed my locker shut. "I threw my dignity to the floor for you, asshole, and I've left you to deal with your own shit so you wouldn't mess up mine. How many more girls are you going to use as a cover-up for your little secret? Thank god I'm the only one who's ever caught you. I don't think anyone else would've been as forgiving as I was, letting you play with me like that."

The hands on his sides fisted, and I almost wished he would just went ahead and decked me in the face. But I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't swing at me.

"Now I finally find someone who doesn't give a shit about the stupid rumor you spread about me, and you're not gonna take that away from me again."

I gave him a pointed look, trying to shoo him away as I let the anger I was feeling fade away, but he stood his ground. "I don't like you with him."

I laughed. "Too bad that we're in love with the same person, then, 'cause I'm the one who has him." I smirked. "What are you gonna do about that?"

He was silent for a while, until a mocking smirk appeared on his face once again. "He doesn't even know, does he?"

My smirk dropped and I glared at him while he laughed.

"He only actually wants you because he doesn't even know," he concluded. "He'll probably change his mind once he does."

I took a step forward to hiss lowly at him, "Why the hell do you hate me so much? Never have I done anything to ruin your perfectly-built reputation—on the contrary, I was the one trying to keep it intact! A thank you would've been nice."

We stared at each other for what felt like forever, until his gaze lifted to stare at something over my shoulder. I noticed the faint tinge of red that appeared on his cheeks as he took a step backwards. It took him about two seconds to get back to his cover-up self: a cocky and arrogant heartbreaker who slept around with girls for shits and giggles.

I turned around and found Jonah standing just about five footsteps away, his face neutral but his eyes questioning, drifting from me to Daniel and back to me again. He walked forward slowly, with Daisy in his arms.

"Everything alright?" he asked me. I let him lean down and peck me on the cheek, unintentionally getting a slight glare from Daniel. I noticed that his hands were fisted again, and I took two steps away.

"Yeah. You go ahead, I'll meet you in the car."

Jonah paused, his eyes once again looking at Daniel and me, back and forth. "Sure." This time, he kissed me on the lips before walking away, and I slightly smiled at the possibility of Jonah being jealous.

"Sure, make a big show of it," the blonde guy scoffed once Jonah was gone. "Doesn't work on me."

"Stop thinking that the world revolves around you," I said exasperatedly. "I don't even know why I should be sorry for this, but I'm actually sorry that you like him. I never even know that. I'm not doing this for revenge or whatever the hell you think I'm doing. I like him, and he actually likes me back. It has nothing to do with you so please, go away. I've had a nice life since you decided to avoid me like a plague instead of apologizing for the rumors despite my genuine efforts to protect your reputation. I haven't even thought about you in so long."