Conflicted Emotions

Chapter 34: New kid on the block ;)

Finally something interesting happens....onwards!!

{~Steph POV~}

At first I didn't believe Jared when he told me that Spencer likes Jess. It didn't make sense, because for the last few years Spencer had always been a man-whore and a pervert, and for the last year he'd been sleeping with as many girls as possible.

But as I thought about it a bit more, I realized it did kind of explain things - like his recent different behaviour, and Jess' infatuation. If he liked Jess, then obviously he had been trying to get her to like him back, and it seemed to be working.

I refused to tell Jess was Jared had said, and although he frowned he seemed OK with it. We took a walk around the school for about ten minutes, mostly in silence, enjoying each other's company. Then I went back into our dorm, and Jess was apparently in the bathroom, so I quickly told Nina in a whisper what had occurred.

She looked surprised for a moment, before I explained the conclusion I had come to, and she agreed that it did make sense. We resolved to interrogate Spencer later on it. Jess came back in and we started talking about something completely unrelated - homework. Jess suspected nothing. Good.

**After dinner**

{~Spencer POV~}

I was just sitting in my room after dinner, digesting my casserole, when there was a knock on the door. Jared wasn't there, so I got it. To my surprise, Jess's friends Steph and Nina stood there, looking quite at ease. Argh, I try to forget about her and now her friends pop up...

"If you want Jared, he's not here," I said.

"No, actually, we want to talk to you." Nina contested. I frowned, not understanding fully.

"OK...." I said, and opened the door further to let them in. They went in and I closed the door behind me before turning to face them. Ordinarily, I would have been checking them out, my eyes scanning their bodies...but now my gut told me it would be a betrayal, even though I was trying to convince myself not to like Jess.

"Earlier, Jared told me that you liked Jess," said Steph, frowning, her hands on her hips. I froze, my stomach clenching, and forced myself to lie. It was one baby step further to finally going back to not liking her. And they couldn't know anyway, they might tell Jess...

"What? No..." I said, my words coming out surprisingly steadily. Steph continued to frown, and I suddenly realized that she would blame Jared for lying. It would only put a small hole in their relationship...or so I hoped. "Me? Like Jess? You have to be kidding me,"

"But Jared said that you admitted it," she probed, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. I felt bad for lying to her, mostly because she was Jared's girlfriend, but I had to deny my feelings for Jess.

"No." I said. "Maybe he had some sort of dream or something and thought it was reality, because he was hoping I would like someone,"

"Do people seriously do that?" asked Nina. "It would explain your weird behaviour if you did like her. You haven't been acting...manwhore-ish since Easter." I swore internally - I hadn't realized I had been acting much different, or different enough for people to notice, anyway.

"Jared's done it before. And I wasn't aware I was acting any differently," I said, frowning. I decided to play it up a little bit, reverting to my old self in a bid to convince them. "Why? Would you like me to act manwhore-ish?" I asked with a smirk, ignoring my gut feeling.

"Eww! No," Nina said with a shiver. "C'mon, Steph, let's go," Steph was still frowning at me, but the girls took their leave, although I could tell they were unconvinced.