Challenge | Adam Banks

EIGHTEEN

Julie shook her head sadly. "I don't think he had any idea, Lanie," she murmured. "Those varsity guys treat him like he's nothing. You should've seen the way he was looking at Jett when they started leaving. Total deer in headlights."

A soft huff left Delanie's lips as her shoulders slumped. She flopped back onto her bed with a grumpy expression. "This is so unfair," she complained, pulling one of her pillows into her arms. "You guys shouldn't have to go through this crap. Like, come on. You're good. You earned your spot here, and they're still giving you crap!" She let out a sad sigh, "and I was the worst of them."

"Hey, that's not true," Julie argued, sitting down on her own bed. She crossed her legs under her, watching her moping friend intently. "Lanie, sure, you weren't the friendliest at first, but I mean, you grew up with Chris. I can't blame you for having some reservations." That comment made Delanie chuckle dryly for a few seconds before quieting once more, a pout on her face. Julie shook her head, "the whole feud between the teams is stupid, and it's only getting worse. I mean, they even managed to suck you into it."

"That's what happens when your brother is Jett freaking Park," Delanie groaned, smacking herself with her pillow. Though she and Jett's relationship had improved by leaps and bounds over the past few days, there was no denying the misfortunes that came from their shared last name. Having Chris and Nigel bothering her was just a small part of it. The looks from teachers, the expectations, the affiliation. It all wore her down. She just wanted to be herself.

Julie laughed quietly before her tone became teasing. "Well, it'll be even worse when you're Adam Banks's girlfriend," she joked, a smirk appearing on her lips. "You're just setting yourself up with that one, Lanie."

Delanie pulled her pillow away from her face to glare at the girl sitting across from her. After a moment, she shook her head sadly. "Not gonna happen," she mumbled, fixating her gaze on the ceiling above her.

Julie's forehead creased. "Why not? I thought you liked him," she questioned, her voice low. A tinge of nervousness wormed its way into her stomach as she impatiently waited for Delanie to gather her thoughts.

"I do, Jules," she said quietly, her gaze unmoving. She let out a heavy breath, "God, I really do. But something tells me I'm the last thing on his mind with all of this crap going on."

Julie hummed thoughtfully, tapping her fingers against her bedspread. "I think you'd be surprised," she mused, causing Delanie to turn to her, a hopeful gleam in her eyes. When she was asked to elaborate, she did. "He and Jett were best buddies last night. They were talking the entire time. Any time Jett mentioned your name, his face lit up. You may not want to fully accept it, but that boy's got it bad, Lanie. I think he always has."

Delanie laughed at that, shaking her head feverishly. "No way. I was so mean to him. He'd have to be actually crazy to have liked me when we met," she insisted. She cringed at the thought of how she treated him -- all of them, really -- before she knew them. She felt so juvenile. Her and her silly grudges. What an embarrassment.

"Well, jury's out," Julie quipped, a hint of laughter behind her words. After a moment, her voice evened out, "Seriously though. He's always thought you were pretty. He told Charlie all about it." She smiled when she noticed Delanie's cheeks flush. She continued, "Also, come on. His incessant attempts at making you like him? Constantly going out of his way to annoy you? That boy loves your attention. Always has."

Delanie hid her face sheepishly, causing Julie to erupt into laughter. The blonde girl laughed for a while as her friend squirmed awkwardly, her mind racing. It all made sense, but Delanie was having a hard time letting herself believe it. She still felt so bad for treating him the way that she did. Granted, he wasn't extremely nice to her by any means, but she was definitely the instigator. If anyone had let her, she would've spent her entire life apologizing to him. Luckily for everyone involved, her friends had more common sense than she did.

"One thing's for sure," Julie suddenly began, her tone growing a little bit more serious. She eyed Delanie threateningly for a minute before busting out into a grin. "If you don't make something happen by the end of school on Monday, I'm not letting you back into this dorm."

Delanie groaned at that, chucking a pillow in her friend's direction. A fit of giggles escaped from the blonde as she caught the projectile easily, tossing it lightly back onto the other girl's bed. Delanie let out an exasperated huff, "How the hell am I supposed to make a move on that boy, Julie? I apparently don't know how to talk to him without being sarcastic!"

Julie laughed, shaking her head exasperatedly. "Delanie, I genuinely, and I mean this in the most affectionate way, cannot stand you sometimes," she said lovingly, causing her friend to glare furiously at her. Julie held her hands up defensively, "Okay, okay, don't kill me. I don't know what you want me to tell you. Didn't Jett give you advice?"

Delanie shivered at the memory of his advice. "All he told me to do was to..." she sighed, "flirt with him."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah. That's pretty much it," she agreed, a confused look on her face. She narrowed her eyes, "why do I feel like you're about to give me eight-hundred reasons why that's not going to work for you?"

"Because that's exactly what I was planning on doing!" Delanie yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. She let out an infuriated groan. "I don't know how to talk to boys! There's a reason why most of my friends are girls," she lamented, "besides, it's an entire different ballpark when I want to be more than friends with him. What am I supposed to say? 'Hey Adam, I know I was the actual devil to you when we first met, but I can't stop thinking about how much I want to kiss you. Is that cool?' Like, come on!"

Julie used every single muscle in her body to hold back her laughter. She genuinely thought that Delanie would kill her if she laughed at her one more time. She took a deep breath, doing her best to compose herself before speaking. "Lanie, you're thinking too much. Just be like 'hey, I like you' and move on. Easy as that," she mused.

"Oh yeah? So how's that gonna work out for you when you're talking to Scooter?" Delanie shot back, her eyes narrowed angrily.

Julie's face reddened. She sent her friend a glare. "I don't like him! And we aren't talking about me here!"

Delanie scoffed before burying her face into her pillow again. She wanted to scream. She knew high school was going to be difficult, but she wasn't expecting it to be like this. She thought she'd have hard classes and heaps of homework, maybe have to do some bullying prevention here and there. Never in a million years did she plan for Adam Banks. She felt like she was losing her mind. She was crazy about him. In the most literal of ways.

And it terrified her.

-

(a/n)
i'm sorry for this one. not my fave chapter. i feel like it wasn't written all that well, but it's fine.

i have two little notes that hopefully you take the time to read:

a) i will be wrapping this book up shortly. i've planned for about 23 chapters.

b) i am at war over who my next fic (after charlie) will be about. call me crazy for planning so far ahead, but not having a character focus is throwing me off my outline. please leave who you'd be interested in reading a story about in the comments!

te quiero,
riley