Part Eight:
A Little Confusion
Naturally, my attempt at sneaking back through my house on Saturday morning had been a failure. My mother had been waiting for my arrival at the dining room table, a firm look written across her face as I stood still as a statue, covered head-to-toe in Trevor's clothes with my own scrunched in a pile and shoved under my arm.
She had scolded me for three things:
- Going to a party without her permission
- Not letting her know that I was safe, and,
- Sleeping over at a boys house
I tried to play it off as though I hadn't spent the night in Trevor's bed, but my mother wasn't having it. She could see right through my lies, and when she asked if we'd done anything beyond kissing, well, my cheeks flared bright red and gave me away.
No amount of convincing had worked, and my mother came to the conclusion that I was unfortunately, banging the boy next door.
She had then proceeded to sit me down for 'The Talk' before grounding me for the rest of my existence and sending me to my bedroom with no breakfast and a stern warning not to exit my bedroom for the duration of the weekend.
And so, I spent the entire weekend gaining disapproving looks from my mother, eating copious amounts of instant noodles and lying in my bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking entirely about Trevor. I'll be the first to admit that my thoughts were less than wholesome, and that no matter the amount of smacking myself square in the forehead, I simply couldn't shake him from my mind. Or, more accurately, the sound of him groaning lowly in my ear from my mind.
I still don't remember a single thing past playing beer pong with the hockey team, but maybe playing drinking games was where I went wrong. Somehow, though, I knew that the dark blond haired boy had moaned blissfully in my ear at least once that night, or else I wouldn't have it on replay in my head. Torturing me relentlessly as I tried to sleep my weekend of grounding away.
By Monday morning, Trevor had gone back to being his chirpy and annoying self, and I wondered deeply why I was even thinking about him at all. By Friday the very same week, things had gone back to normal, and my relationship with the third year was as platonic as ever.
Sigh. What a relief.
Finally, two whole weeks had passed, and things were completely the same as they were the day we began tutoring each other. Trevor gave me tips on how to be more desirable for Jack, and made sure I gave him progress on the way the dark haired boy treated me. Which, by the way, was not going well at all. If I thought Jack didn't like me before, he certainly couldn't stand me now. And I, gave Trevor tips on how to actually pass his classes.
So, here we are now, on the very last Friday of August, two whole months since I had begun tutoring Trevor, and I was glad to say that one, I was not pregnant with future mini Trevor, which means we had not done the deed, and B, things were going better then ever.
So what, if progress between Jack and I had dwindled to nothing? Trevor and I had come up with plan E-2.0, simply because we had exhausted all of the others. I was to forget about Jack, who paid me no mind, and focus my attention on more . . . attainable candidates.
Trevor had become progressively smarter as the months flew by, and I was pleasantly surprised that his overall grade had risen to a C plus. We had been studying at least three days a week after school, and more often than not I would attend his hockey practices and watch from the side lines. Sure, there were rumours going around that Trevor and I were more than friends, but whatever! It didn't matter to us. We knew what we were, and we couldn't for the life of us understand why anyone would question our relationship as anything other then what it so clearly was.
"Milly," Trevor shouted, gaining my attention in the busy hallway. I turned my attention to him instantly, finding him with an ear-to-ear grin on his lips as he pushed his way out of his biology classroom, a cap backward on his head.
My eyes lit up at the piece of paper in his hands, and I jumped up and down a few times too many, not bothering to hide how excited I was to know his grade.
"So?" I pushed, nudging my shoulder with his. He smirked up at me through his lashes. "What? C'mon, Z, show me what you got!"
He turned the paper towards me, showing a large letter A, circled in bright red marker on the top left-hand side of his assignment. "Piece of cake, baby doll!"
"Oh my goodness!" I squealed, possibly getting a little too worked up over his achievement. I couldn't help it as a proud smile settled over my lips, choosing to ignore the pet name that had slipped past his lips. My gaze flickering to him as I admired how far he had come in such a short amount of time. "See? I knew you had it in you!"
"No, you didn't," chuckled brightly, slinging an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his chest. I peered up at him with wide doe-like eyes, my heart hammering in my chest as it so often did in the presence of the boy.
But that was a normal reaction to hugging your friends, right?
I sucked in a deep breath, smiling sweetly at the boy. "I'm proud of you."
Trevor raised an eyebrow, flashing his teeth for a moment before hooking his arm that was previously around my shoulders, on the small of my back and holding tightly onto my waist. He yanked me closer, lifting my feet from the ground with only one arm, surprising me enough to let out a little screech.
I swear I only lost focus for a second, but in that time, Trevor had managed to lift me up and throw me effortlessly over his shoulder, holding me firmly against him by the back of my thighs and evidently, holding my skirt down. I prayed I wasn't giving the rest of the school a show as he spun me around playfully, laughing at my expense.
"Trevor!" I shouted, gripping at the fabric of his collar and kicking my legs. "Put me down, idiot!"
"Nope," he sang, sounding smug as ever as he popped the P. "Not until you admit that you were wrong about me, and that I am smart."
"I never said you weren't smart!"
He let a bubbling laugh slip through his lips. "But you thought it!"
"I did not!" I defended, trying my luck at wriggling out of his grip. "Trevor!"
"Say it, Milly!"
"Fine!" I shouted, admitting defeat. "I admit. You're smarter than I thought."
"And . . .?"
Huffing dramatically, I rolled my eyes. "And, I was wrong about you."
Placing me back on my feet, the much taller boy kept his grip on my waist with one arm, the assignment he held pressed flat against my back. Using his free hand, he began flattening out my hair with his fingertips, making sure to fix my freshly cut bangs with a tiny grin plastered on his baby pink lips.
I caught my breath with a giggle, leaning my body weight into him as I blocked out the world around me. It seemed that whenever I was with Trevor, I was oblivious to the rumours that formed around us and on this occasion, the crowd of hockey boys on the opposite side of the hall. They watched intently as Trevor treated me like a diamond in the rough, appearing to be more attentive to me then anything else in the world, something he had never done to the other girls he'd shown interest in before.
Little did I know, Jack stood on the opposite side of the hall, silently fuming at the sight of his best friend with his arms around my hips. He vowed to keep himself in check, not wanting to make a scene in front of the entire upperclassmen of Iona, and sure as hell not wanting to start anything unnecessary between he and Trevor, the boy seemingly in his way.
How was it that he could go an entire lifetime knowing a girl, only to find that he had feelings for her when someone else showed signs of interest?
His chest burned with jealously, only annoying him further as he registered that these were feelings he'd never had to deal with before. Sure, he'd hardly spoken a word to the girl in his life, but that didn't make his feelings any less valid.
***
I pushed myself away from the dirty blond haired boy, biting my lip softly as I blinked up at him through my lashes. His attention was solely focused on me, something I noticed he did often, only fuelling the strangely obsessive relationship that was forming without either of us really knowing at all. I placed both hands flat against his chest, sighing at him.
"I gotta get to class," I whispered, willing myself not to blush as he placed a fallen strand of hair behind my ear, letting his fingers linger there a moment longer then what was considered normal.
He frowned playfully. "You coming to practice tonight?"
Showing Trevor a frown of my own, a shook my head. "I can't tonight, but maybe we can meet up after?"
"Right," he nodded, taking a step away from me, though reached out to flick my forehead in a teasing manner anyway. "See you later, nerd."
I scowled at him. "I still hate that."
He smirked. "No you don't."
Rolling my eyes, I chose to ignore him, and instead turned on my heels and skipped off in the direction of my history classroom, feeling Trevor's eyes on me as they burned into my retreating figure as I went. Being one of the first to arrive, I placed myself in my usual spot at the back, trying desperately to think of anything other than the hockey captain or the way his touch left a lingering feeling of butterflies in my chest, every single time.
It's platonic, I reminded myself. Completely platonic. I feel nothing but friendship for him.
Off in my own world, I hardly noticed when a much larger, dark haired boy placed himself directly beside me. He slouched in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that accentuated the muscles in his arms.
My gaze flickered towards him, my cheeks instantly turning from their normal tone to a bright cherry red.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fucky fuck?
"U-um, J-Jack?" I stuttered, scrunching my lips to the left as I tried to puzzle out exactly why the boy I'd had a crush on for two years was choosing now to sit next to me. It's not like the other seats were taken, there was plenty available, and a lot of them were far away enough that he wouldn't even have to see me in his peripheral vision, if he didn't want to.
He turned to face me, his features as stoic as ever as his bright blue eyes burned a hole in my chest. I prayed to God that I didn't have a nervous break down and suddenly poop myself. Was this seriously happening? What did he want? Why was he here? Surely, aliens had invaded and forced him to sit by me, or maybe he was possessed?
I pinched the skin of my thigh under the table, just to be sure that I wasn't dreaming.
"Hey, Jones," he spoke, nodding his head towards me like cute boys do. My heart somersaulted in my chest as my hands began to shake. "How's your day?"
I physically couldn't stop my mouth from falling open as I gaped at the dark haired boy in utter confusion. He raised a single eyebrow in my direction, gifting me with the most beautiful smirk that I had ever been graced with experiencing. All thoughts of Jack's best friend went flying out the second story window of the classroom as I shook my head, composing myself and trying my very best to hold back the blush that threatened to spread over my cheeks.
"I . . . I . . ." I cocked my head to the side, squinting at the boy. "Me?"
Jack tipped his head back, chuckling low and unbelievably sexy. "Yes, you."
"O-oh, I'm--"
"Damn, you're cute," Jack mumbled, interrupting me as he turned his attention back towards the front of the room. "Guess that dumbass was right."
I frowned deeply, not being able to contain the offence I was feeling at his words. I recoiled slightly in my seat, trying--and failing--to bite my tongue. "Don't call him that. He isn't in any way stupid."
Jack raised an eyebrow in my direction, rubbing the back of his neck as he gazed at me apologetically. "Right, sorry. Didn't mean to offend your boyfriend, or anything."
"What?" I snapped. "Trevor is not my boyfriend."
We were both silent for the space of several moments before I added, "Gross."
Jack laughed cheekily, smirking in my direction. "Good," he winked. "Means there's nothing holding me back."
I giggled like the infatuated little girl I was before registering his words.
"Wait, what?"