Worth Fighting For

Chapter 14

The next day at school, when I saw Liam, I complimented his shoes. He wears the same shoes everyday, Skye, way to be obvious. "Uh, thanks," he responded. Well, it's better than nothing. "So, how's your day been?" I asked him, acting like nothing was wrong. "Fine," he said. "Well, that's good," I finished saying. Again, in seventh period, I tried talking to him again, flirting a little bit how we used to until he spoke up. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm just being friendly, and trying to be how we used to be," I said. "Whatever you think was between us, it was all in your head," he replied back to me. "That's not the truth and you know it!" I loudly said. He didn't say anything but just stared at the ground ignoring me.

"What happened to us, Liam? What did I do to you?" I asked. "You didn't do anything," he responded. "Then where did you go?" I said again. "What do you mean?" he asked, now looking up at me. He was sitting in his chair while I was standing. "The Liam that would do anything for me, who would dance with me, who would play in the rain with me, who would laugh with me, who would cry with me, where did that Liam go?" I said while my eyes watered. Liam paused for a moment but then said, "He got bored."

Later that week, I kept thinking about what Liam said to me and what he meant. Bored with what? I thought to myself. Bored with me? No, that can't possibly be true. I'm not boring. As I was deep into my train of thought about what could possibly be wrong with me, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Logan standing by my locker with flowers.

"Um, Logan, what are you doing?" I asked taking the flowers from his hand but looking around confused. "Shh, Liam is looking this way so I thought I would give him something to be jealous of." "Okay, well thank you, but why are you helping me?" "Because I've never seen my brother care so much about someone before. And he's making a pretty stupid mistake by pushing you away." "Wow, I didn't know you had a heart, let alone a soft one," I joked with him.

"I don't, but for you, I do," he smirked. "You can stop with the pretending now, Liam's gone," I said while looking over at where Liam had been standing. "Who said I was pretending?" Logan said with a smile before walking away. Logan was the biggest jerk in school but sometimes he confused me almost as much as his brother. Maybe it's just something about the Turner family that acts like this, I joked to myself.

Next week was prom and I was still going with Logan. Was it a good idea? Probably not. Am I still going to go through with it? Definitely.

I went home after a newspaper club meeting to find Liam sitting on my front porch. "What is Liam Turner doing on my porch?" I asked him in a funny tone. He quickly got up from the rocking chair that he had been sitting in. "You can't go to prom with my brother!" he said in a serious tone with a serious face. "Woah, calm down, what's it to you?" I said trying to get by. "You know how he is, Skye, if he's acting like he's into you, it's just an act," Liam replied. "Is it so hard to believe that someone out there actually wants to be with me?" "I know my brother, Skye," he said raising his voice. "Yeah, and I know you, Liam, you're the problem, not him," I said raising my voice back at him. "Are you seriously taking up for him right now?" "Yeah, because he's not the one who left me with no explanation," I said unlocking my door and walking into my house. Before Liam could say anything else, I slammed the door in his face.

Prom was approaching within days and I could tell the whole Logan thing was getting under Liam's skin. Logan was right that Liam would get irritated but I hope that it doesn't make it worse for us.

Prom was magical, more than I had ever imagined. Logan was such a gentleman, too, and I knew my inner ninth grade self would be screaming right now. Liam didn't show up but I didn't expect him to. Even though this was to just mess with Liam, I was going to enjoy myself tonight and have a good time with Logan.

"Hey, you look really pretty tonight," Logan whispered to me while we were sitting at a table. Some of Logan's friends and their dates were sitting with us. I smiled and thanked him for his comment. A few minutes later, as our entire table was talking, the DJ interrupted the current song and made an announcement. "Can I have all of you turn your attention to the screen for a special dedication to Logan Turner's date tonight, Skye Stewart! Skye, this one's for you, " the DJ said as he winked in my direction. He clicked play and the video started playing. I thought it was going to be some kind of romantic thing or nice thing that Logan had done for me. But I was very, very wrong. As I looked at what was appearing on the screen, my eyes were glued. I couldn't look away, especially at all the people now staring at me. Every possible embarrassing video of me was playing on repeat in front of the entire school. I turned my attention to Logan's friends, who were now laughing and looking over at me.

Just then, Logan stood up from his chair, and hushed everyone's roar of conversation and gossiping. "Guys, stop, that's enough, that's my brother's girl, we can't embarrass her...she already does that to herself," he said before bursting into laughter. Now the entire room was laughing at me and the room was now starting to spin. Everything I thought had changed about Logan was false. Liam was right and he even warned me. How could I be so stupid?

"You did this?" I asked Logan. "Have you met me?" he laughed. "All this time I thought you were helping me or better yet actually liking me," I said with a hurt face. "Liking you? Oh, please, I know my brother was dumb enough to fall for you but don't get too full of yourself now, " he laughed. "So all of this was just an act?" I said with a tear streaming down my face. "Yep," he responded. I took one last look around the room and saw the sea of eyes looking at me. I ran out of the room without ever looking back. I kept running as fast as I could and turned the corner before running into Asher.

"Skye? Oh my gosh, are you okay?" he asked as he saw me crying. "What happened?" he said, grabbing my shoulders. Me, trying to catch my breath answered, "It's Logan, he played this video of me trying to embarrass me in front of the school and then made fun of me for liking Liam." He let go of my shoulders and ran past me into the room full of people. I followed after him just because I was curious of what was about to go down.

Asher walked right up to Logan and punched him like there was no tomorrow. "What the heck, man," Logan said as he held his now bloody nose. "Who are you any way?" "Asher Jones and if you mess with Skye, then you mess with me," he said. "I'm not afraid of you, man," Logan scoffed. "And I'm not afraid of you," Asher finished. "Don't ever go near Skye again or you will regret it," Asher left as his final remark before walking out. After watching the whole thing from behind the door, I followed after Asher into the hallway.

"You know, why do you let people treat you that way, Skye? You're so much better than that!" Asher shouted at me. "I don't mean to, it just happens," I said back. "Well you're too trusting of people, " "I know, " I said in a sad voice. Asher gave me a hug and told me that he would always be there for me. I thanked him and asked if he could give me a ride home.

We drove up to my driveway and Asher parked the car right in front of my house. "Thanks for driving me home, and thanks for sticking up for me tonight. That was a pretty cool move you pulled tonight," I smiled. "Oh, it wasn't a big deal," he blushed. "Well, thank you again," I said while opening the car door. He quickly got out of his side of the car and offered to walk me to my porch. When we got to the porch, Asher stopped me before letting me into my house and leaned in to kiss me.

I stopped him while saying, "I'm sorry, Asher, I'm in love with Liam." His face dropped but then he said, "What if he never came back? What if it really is over between you?" "That's a chance I'm willing to take, " I answered. "Why are you so persistent with this one?" "Because I know him, and he will come back to me." "So you would rather give up on a lifetime of happiness just to wait around for some guy that doesn't even want you?" Asher asked. "Yes, I love him, and nothing will ever change that, I don't care how long I have to wait," I answered him. Before he could say anything else I told him goodnight and walked into my house.

After I closed my door, I reflected on what all had happened tonight. I can't believe I was so stupid to trust Logan. I also can't believe that Asher tried to kiss me. But what the biggest surprise of all was the fact that Logan's stunt didn't hurt me near as much as Liam did.