High School Mayhem

~~~66~~~

Chapter 66: Fish
~Travis~

I laid my head in the palm of my hands and rub my eyes. I gently slap my head and look at the board again. Focus, Travis.

But I can't, my words echo in my head.

~*Last Friday*~

"What about the guy who likes you?" I ramble.

"The guy who likes me? I don't even know who he is." Zerenity looks at me questionably. "Do you know who he is?"

"I-- Um... I... N-No, no, I don't." I turn away from her chickening out. I could have said yes and told her when I was ready.

"Oh..." Her voice gets softer. "Is there really anyone then?" She sounds so down about it.

"Okay! There is!" I blurt and she turns to me, excitement in her eyes. "I-It's me," I say quickly.

Her eyes widen. "Y-You? You like me?" She stares at me. "You like like me?"

My heart pounds faster as we stare at each other while she waits for my answer. And... I chicken out again. "D-Did I say me? I meant to say--" Quick, what kind of sounds the word me-- "Gene." Oh great.

"Gene? B-But he broke up with me." She sulks. "Unless he was joking?" She starts smiling and she hops off the ground. "He was joking!"

"Uh," I stare at the smile on her face, "y-yeah..."

~*Present*~

I'm so stupid.

Why couldn't I tell her? I got so far but I couldn't make it past that last confirmation. All I had to say to her question was 'yes' but I froze.

I ruined most likely my only chance.

And on top of that, I just had to say it was Gene who liked her.

Gene, the same guy who doesn't even actually like her in the first place. The same guy she was in a one-sided relationship with. It doesn't make sense why she likes him so much, he's been nothing but a jerk and I wish she could see that.

"Hey, buddy!" A hand lands on my shoulder. My eyes widen and I look over to see Dante. "You've been sighing and dazed all class period, what's up? Don't tell me it's something that has to do with Zerenity again, is it?"

"It is..." I sigh.

"Look, Travis, bud," he clears his throat, "there are tons of other hot fish in the sea. You just need to get out there and start testing the waters, sometimes you don't catch the smoking hot fish that you'd like to catch."

"You don't get it, I was so close," I say.

"Sometimes you see the fish you want swim by but you don't have the right bait to catch it, either get better bait or let the fish go." He shrugs.

I squint my eyes at him. "What's all this talk about fish?"

"My mom packed me some fish for lunch." He nods.

"Oh."

"Anyway, how close did you get?"

"She and Gene broke up and she came to me crying Friday night and I nearly confessed but I chickened out."

He snickers. "You confessed while she was crying? Travis, Travis, Travis... you have a lot to learn."

"It just led up to that point, I didn't mean to do it like that. So this is what happened..." I begin telling him everything that happened that night.

"You told her it was Gene?" Dante sighs. "She's going to try to go back to him but if he actually broke up with her this can only end badly. Either for you or for her, but it could also be good for you if they do get back together."

"Good for me? How?"

"It gives you time to practice. You obviously lack the confidence to tell her how you feel so... you need to go fishing."

"Go fishing?"

"Girl fishing. It's time for you to learn my technique, the way I became so confident. No matter how many hot fish you fish for with there will always be the ones who reject your bait to knock down your ego, though there will be some who decide to take a bite out of your bait. Then you work on reeling them in, they can find a way to jump off the hook or you can catch them. Since this isn't your main catch, you're gonna want to release the hot fish right back into the ocean. Just remember, different bait works on different fish. Then you see where it goes from there."

I blink at him for a moment. Not a single word came out his mouth that I actually understood. "What?"

"Flirt, either get rejected or don't. Go out if you don't, they can break it off with you or they can stay. After a while, you'll need to keep an eye on your main girl so you let the girl you're with go. Not all girls fall for the same things, so you'll need to switch it up." Dante breaks it down.

"Isn't that mean, to date a girl just because I'm practicing to be confident enough to ask Zerenity out?"

"Not really, don't think of it as confidence practice. Just go for it. Hey, maybe you'll actually end up finding someone and Zerenity slips your mind." He says. "For now, let's not think about this part. Right now, you should find a way to make Gene take Zerenity back, I saw her earlier and she still seemed depressed. Once she either gets jealous because you're dating someone else or you're finally able to ask her out, she can break up with him. If he doesn't end up liking her again, Gene shouldn't mind."

Did he ever like her in the first place?

"Alright..." I sigh. "Let's do this."