Chapter 46: Nothing was fair in love and war
"You have disappointed me so much tonight, Sandy, I cannot even express it in words," Gramma said in her best disappointed tone. "What you did today was terrible!"
"Gramma, I cleaned out the bugs for you!" I did my best to contain my laughter. We heard some quiet snickers on the other side of the door. Gramma gave me an amused smile before starting again.
"Sandy, that's not the behavior I expect from you. You fed our guest dead insects, and that's absolutely not accepted."
"You fed them chicken. I fed them insects. I don't see the big difference," I shrugged.
She rolled her eyes. "Stop it, Sandy!" I looked at her, confused as to what I was supposed to stop. She quickly added, "I don't appreciate you talking back to me. I also don't appreciate you proceeding with that prank of yours."
Gramma had barged in my room ten minutes after I left. She had closed the door, but we knew the rest of the people were definitely overhearing this. Gramma heard my side of the story, first, and told me it was a bad revenge to put dead stuff and peppers in cookies.
She expected a better prank from me.
Guess, I was a disappointment. She did, however, mention that Lucas had ran to clean his mouth with soap water and ate a whole pack of gum. That was hilarious.
Gramma had left him to come tell me that I wasn't a good person, but instead she joined my side.
Then, when we had heard silent creaks, Gramma began her acting. I was sitting there trying my best to burst out laughing. Everyone else outside probably thought Gramma was really mad when In reality, she was doing it for fun. At times like this, I actually was glad to have her.
"Sorry, I thought it was good, but it wasn't." I was a terrible actor, I swear.
"Never again do I want you to do this. Understood?"
I tried my best not to laugh. With a loud sigh, I said, "Yes."
"Good. Now, go apologize to Lucas."
I blinked at her. This wasn't in the plan. "What?"
"You heard me. I want you to go downstairs and apologize to Lucas Crowell for feeding him your cookies." She gave me a serious and stern look. "Don't you dare argue or the consequences won't be nice." Here I thought we were on the same team. Gramma was such a traitor! We heard some creaking and both of us figured the idiots left.
"Are you serious?" I asked for clarification.
"Yes. Now, go. Poor boy deserves an apology," she softened.
"Fine, but 'sorry' doesn't solve everything." I shrugged and walked out of my room.
"Sandy, pretend I yelled at you, at least," Gramma whispered from behind,
I rolled my eyes and put on a my-Gramma-just-yelled-at-me face. It was extremely difficult because my grandmother never really yelled at us. She believed that was our parents' job--the same parents who never bothered to do anything.
Anyhow, I walked down the steps to the living room with Gramma right on my heels. Everyone was watching the "Amazing Spiderman." What happened to Harry Potter?
Muggles, I swear.
Gramma nudged me from behind, bringing my memory back to what I was supposed to do. "Lucas, dear, Sandy wants to talk to you." Gramma said because I wasn't talking.
Lucas and everyone else looked up at us. Naturally, all them knew I was told to apologize. As if that was going to happen . . . in front of all these idiots.
"What is it?" Lucas asked. His face showed no playfulness or anything. I guess someone didn't like dessert.
"Can I talk to you alone?" I said emphasizing the "alone" part. Lucas stood up and waited for me to tell where to go.
"Go on the deck. It's lovely outside," Gramma smiled.
"It's freezing outside," David said, looking at her like she was crazy. I had a similar expression as well.
"Just go," Gramma said, pushing Lucas and I out. The deck was attached to the living room. It wasn't that big, but decent enough for my family.
Gramma closed the door and pulled the curtains after kicking us out. As David had mentioned, it was freezing outside. I looked at Lucas who was patiently waiting for me to speak.
"I was told to apologize. Here it goes: I am sorry," I said.
"You don't mean it."
"Because I don't see a reason for apologizing."
"You fed me insects."
"You fed me a terrible story this afternoon," I retorted.
"So you decided to stoop to my level?" He had downgraded himself. It made me feel a little guilty, now, as seeing how serious Lucas was about this. Maybe I had messed around with limits of a prank.
"I wasn't going to feed you or anyone else the cookies after Julian told me he wasn't gonna help. Gramma just pulled the cookies out and I..."
"Didn't say anything," Lucas finished for me. I shrugged. "So, Julian knew?"
I grinned and nodded. "He ate one, too."
I could see Lucas trying hard not to smile. "You took revenge on Julian and I for this afternoon?"
"We're even," I nodded.
Lucas scratched the side of his head and said, "That means you can't get mad at Julian and I anymore."
"And I don't have to apologize for what I did."
"Good. Now, you better give me what you owe," he said with a pointed look.
I scrutinized my eyes at my him. "What're you talking about?"
"You owe me that kiss for keeping my mouth shut," he smirked.
I shook my head, paling at the thought. We had made a deal about him not saying anything to Brandon about us. "Not happening."
Lucas stepped closer to me and tilted his head slightly. "I can open my mouth the next time I see him, you know."
"Don't you dare."
"Am I getting that kiss?"
"No."
"Then, I will dare," he said backing up. "You know, Sandy, I do have a lot of respect for you, but give me a chance. I don't like how you keep pushing me away when I am actually trying on my end. Stop treating me like I am David or some guy like that. I am more or less your boyfriend. But that title is all I have. I want to be treated like your boyfriend, too." He walked over to the opposite end of the deck and leaned on the wooden railing.
Well, I didn't know he felt that way. Hesitantly, I walked over to his side. What he had said wasn't false, and that made feel a little guilty. He had treated me like his girlfriend way more compared to the way I treated him.
Might as well have this talk.
"Lucas, I'm not used to all this. Truth be told, this is my first ever relationship. Being . . . romantic and all that is a new world. " I felt so awkward saying all that.
"I know that, Sandy. I know. All I'm asking for you to actually show some effort from your side. This relationship or whatever it is cannot survive alone with my tries." He sighed as he turned to face me.
I nodded. "I'll try."
"Good," he smiled and then his playful expression returned. "Now, where was I? Yes, I remember. Cassandra Evans, you still owe me that kiss."
"Lucas Crowell, I am not kissing someone who kissed bugs."
"You have no idea how many times I cleaned my mouth. I cleaned it with soap water, then mouthwash, then a whole pack of mint gum, and then another pack of gum that tastes like dessert."
"Poor you," I said trying my best not to laugh.
"Thought you said you were gonna try to treat me better?"
"I just sympathized with you. I was being considerably nice," I pointed out. He stared at me.
"Fine. Be that way," he said flatly and turned to leave.
"Lucas, stop being such a girl. Do you really want that kiss?" I asked. He slowly looked at me and nodded. With the suspicious look he was giving me, I knew he thought I was playing around. Just to prove him wrong, I stood up on my tippy toes and pecked him on the lips.
He gave me a surprised look and stared at me. "Did you just...?" I grinned and nodded, though I felt a little weird for being so blunt. I didn't go around kissing people. Then again, Lucas Crowell wasn't just another person. "That was so not a kiss."
"What?" I said in disbelief. "You never specified anything. I did my part of the deal as promised, Lucas Crowell." I knew I was just rambling. "You can't really complain. I mean--"
Lucas captured my lips in his, not giving me a chance to explain what I meant. This kiss barely lasted for three seconds as seeing other people couldn't leave us the hell alone. Lucas and I flew apart as soon as we heard the door opening. Cate leaned from the doorway with a huge smile.
"Gramma said to let you two in," Cate said. "I'm not sure whether you guys want to be in or not."
"We're coming," I told her. "Go on." My younger sister left with the door ajar.
"I hate her. Every time!" Lucas muttered in a low tone.
"Come on," I said rolling my eyes. Lucas followed me with a flat look on his face. He was genuinely not happy to have gotten interrupted. It was a pretty bad timing, in my opinion. Cate could have come earlier or at least, waited.
Everyone was waiting for us with amused looks--all except Julian. He was watching the movie intently ignoring us all. Of course, everyone was aware of what happened on the deck. No one said anything, fortunately. David and Jimmy had to leave, because they had classes tomorrow. Julian and Lucas also had to leave because it was getting late.
After all the guys had left, Gramma, Cate, and I settled in the living room. My mind was still on the partial kiss I had with Lucas. Cate wanted all the details of the deck scene. Gramma just sat quietly as I relayed some of the stuff that happened but not everything.
"Sandy, you and Lucas are pretty well off. Out of curiosity, are you still on good terms with Julian?" asked Gramma. Cate had gone upstairs to grab herself a blanket as she watched Andrew Garfield.
"Not really," I answered. "He's been really moody, lately. He gets mad at me at every single little thing! He was fine before that camping trip and everything, but now, it's like he doesn't even wanna be near me."
"What did you do?"
I glared at her. "Nothing."
"Sandy, Julian is the kind of a friend you or anyone else for that matter wouldn't want to lose." She sat up straighter. "Do you treat him the way he treats you?" I slowly shook my head. I had told him that I hated him. "I have nothing else to say. You have to figure this on your own."
She stood up and left after giving me an assuring smile.
Oh great. First, Lucas wanted me to try to treat him better.
Second, Gramma had indirectly told me to treat Julian better.
What was this world coming to?
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"Sandy!"
"Piper."
"I hate you."
"Thanks."
The rest of the lunch crew looked between us. Megan, Julian, and Cheryl sat across from Lucas and I. Piper had come in late with cardboard lunch. I didn't know what her problem was when she told me she hated me. I hadn't even done anything.
"Why do you hate her, Piper?" Lucas asked for me.
Piper plopped down next to me and said, "Because I told her to save my seat and she didn't."
"I told Julian it was your seat but he said you would understand," I shrugged.
Julian didn't look at me rather directly at Piper. "Sorry," he said.
"It's okay. I'm just gonna pretend that you hate Sandy and didn't wanna sit next to her," Piper said waving it off. Well, she didn't need to pretend. She was most probably right. With the cold niceness Julian showed towards me, it wasn't that difficult to realize that he hated me.
All because I said I hated him.
Just great.
Cheryl burst out laughing at Piper's statement. Lucas rolled his eyes. "Sandy's actually on her I-am-gonna-try-being-nicer phase right now," said the idiot next to me.
"She tried that Sophomore year, too," Piper said not seeming impressed.
"What happened to that?" Megan asked.
"She punched some Freshmen who tried to make a move on her. Then, she put dead cicatas in some girls' lockers," Piper replied. I gave her a glare and told her to drop it.
"Where did you get the dead cicatas?" Lucas asked.
I grinned slowly and pulled my backpack up. I opened the front pocket and pulled out my dead bugs jar. Cheryl visibly flinched upon seeing the dead bugs. I put the jar in front of my lunch bag for everyone to see. "I collect dead bugs. It's a hobby." Julian fully ignored it. Well, damn. No need to be so rude.
Why was he even ignoring me?
His pizza was definitely more interesting to him.
"Can you just put that back in your bag?" Lucas asked looking disgusted. "I don't even wanna know why you carry that around."
"Why wouldn't I carry it around?" I put the jar back to where it had been.
"You never fail to surprise," Cheryl stated across from me. She didn't look like she was impressed rather depressed by what I did. Oh well. I couldn't care less about her.
"That's Sandy for ya," Lucas grinned, and then his expression turned a little more serious. "Just remembered! Tomorrow is the soccer game against Smithson. Everyone is coming, correct?"
"To watch us lose? Definitely," I said flatly. Megan and Piper nodded in agreement. Our school's varsity soccer team always lost to Smithson school. It was just a tradition going on for the past seven years.
"That kind of talk is probably the cause of the loses," Julian said looking at his lunch. Everyone looked at him but he shrugged.
"Yeah, Sandy. You're on our side not Smithson's," agreed Lucas.
"I would like to change my side," Megan said. "Their players are such nice people off field." That was really true. While Smithson team was high and mighty, they still had the best sportsmanship.
"They were. Oh my god, I can't wait to see Devin!" Piper squealed. I grinned and so did Megan. Lucas scoffed next to me. Julian and Cheryl were completely bewildered.
"I will admit that I want to see Devin as well," I said feeling slightly guilty.
"Stay away from him," warned Lucas.
"Who is Devin?" Cheryl asked confused.
"The mascot of the other team. Stop making friends with the enemy, Megan, Piper, and Sandy," Lucas said firmly.
"Ha!" Megan said. "Sandy is the only one who has to listen to you. Piper and I can chill out with him."
"Why is he so popular?" asked Julian.
"You'll see when you meet him," I told him. I was making an effort to talk to him. However, Julian didn't bother replying to me.
Everyone else noticed and said nothing about it.
Great.
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"Hey, Julian, wait up! Can I talk to you?" School had ended, and I was fortunate enough to have found Julian going over to his car. The parking lot was pretty deserted. Julian stopped and waited for me. I quickly caught up.
"Hurry. I have things to do," he said coldly.
"Okay. Well, I just wanted to- er, I was wondering," I awkwardly ran a hand through my hair and decided not to beat around the bush, "Julian, I'm gonna be straightforward and ask you why you're being this way."
"What way?" he asked.
"Julian, you've ignoring me since Sunday."
"Thank you for noticing," he said flatly.
"Is it because I said I hated you?" I asked feeling a little uncomfortable. Julian met my eyes, not saying anything. Swallowing my pride, I said, "I didn't mean it."
"Then, why did you say it? All I had told you was that I wasn't going to be helping you in your prank," he said, his eyes not leaving mine.
"You should know me by now. I didn't mean it seriously."
"You don't mean anything seriously. How do I know you're serious, now?" he challenged. "Cassie, I don't know what the problem is, but it's quite disheartening to see you treating me the way you have been treating me."
"Julian, I- "
"No, I don't want to talk about this."
"Wait, I- "
"Cassie, please leave it. I can't put up with your immature behavior any more," he said in frustation.
I stared at him in disbelief. "Immature behavior? Excuse me?"
"Yes, immature behavior. You definitely don't behave like a rational, seventeen year old girl," he said.
"You're calling me irrational and immature because I said I hate you?" I said trying to make sense of things.
"Not only that. Even now, Cassie you're stuck on that one thing. Why can't you at least attempt to make an effort to treat me the way I have treated you since I met you?" he asked. "I'm only another human being."
"Give me a chance." He looked at me and pursed his lips. "I said I'll try." Like I told Lucas. They weren't realizing how much effort this took from me.
"No."
"What?" What was going on with him?
"Cassie, please just- just keep your distance from me. It will be the best for both of us," he said quietly. "This friendship needs to just...have some distance."
"Julian- "
"I'm sorry."
What was this? A breakup? A friendship breakup?
Julian left me with a grave look on his face. He ran a hand through his hair before going to his car. Upset, I walked over to my own car and sat inside for a while.
For some reason, I felt that I had lost a good friend.
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"Welcome! Ladies and ugly men- I mean gentlemen. I welcome you to today's game. Smithson versus Rexle! Game's gonna be on fleek!" Devin yelled in his microphone. He wore his school's mascot costume which was a . . . calculator. It was depressing that he had to wear that, but he chose to. He was trying to do "the jerk" when Piper, Megan, and I walked over to him. He brightened upon seeing us three and stopped the terrible backwards shuffling. People were still filling up the seats and the players were still getting ready to come on field. "Holy sh- nap, I am about to pass out," he dramatically said in the mic. "This calculator just got its batteries."
Megan and Piper smacked him. "Idiot," I said, shaking my head.
"Sorry, got carried away," he said as he turned the mic off. "So happy to see you three. I must say that all of you look sexier than the last time I saw you." Piper smacked him for the three of us. "Geez, I swear you girls love hitting me."
"That's the only reason why I come here," I told him.
The chocolate brown haired guy with the hazel eyes grinned at me. "You remembered me, Ms. Evans?"
I punched his arm this time. "Mr. Ahoy, don't be such a brat. You are the one who went to a different high school. Kindergarten through eighth you stay in my school and then come high school, you are gone. You ditched tigers for calculators, huh?"
He grinned. "I have been regretting it ever since." It was true that Devin and I went to the same school all throughout our younger life. His family had moved, so he ended up going to a different high school. He was the only other friend I had back in middle school days aside from Brandon.
"Too late now, Sherlock. Our tiger is gonna take you down," Megan smiled evilly as she pointed to our mascot. A really buff senior guy was the mascot for our team. He would taken down five foot ten inch Devin any day.
"I know," Devin said, his face dropping. "Too bad my team is gonna take yours down." That earned him another series of hits. "Truth hurts. Now, behave and sit next to me. This calculator is gonna show off to the tiger. I have the hot girls and he has other hot things." Devin burst out laughing.
"What are you talking about?" Piper asked.
"I fed him the extreme spicy pepper in his nachos. Someone has the hots. Literally." He pointed to our tiger who was roaring around, clutching his stomach. "Payback for the spicy tacos from last year."
"Devin, grow up," I said shaking my head.
"You try being a commentator when your number two is about to fall!" That earned him grossed out looks and pleads of shutting up. "No, seriously, I lost number two last year." He pointed to his costume which was indeed missing the space for the two.
We spent a couple of more minutes chatting until my name was constantly called. It was Lucas standing with his arms crossed.
Oh boy.
He had told me to stay away from the opposite team. Devin gave a confused look as I left to go see Lucas. Megan and Piper shot me sympathetic looks. I took my time walking over to the irritated looking boy. He pulled me along, towards the back. Under the bleachers stood the rest of my school's team.
"Shouldn't you be with your people, Captain?" I asked.
"Yes. But right now, I want you staying away from the enemy," he said solemn.
"Lucas, it's Devin. You've known him since . . . forever," I told him.
"I don't want you near him, Sandy," he said frustrated.
"You can't stop me." He let go of my arm that had faced his tight grasp. Pursing his lips, Lucas turned to go. "Lucas, what's the problem?" I asked quietly.
"You like him."
"Devin's an old friend."
"So?"
I slowly grinned. "Lucas, are you jealous?"
"No. Slightly, maybe. I just don't want you near him. You are the girlfriend of the captain, Sandy." His voice suddenly lowered and he pulled us away from people. "Listen. If I go and mess up or do anything wrong, people will blame you."
"What? That's stupid."
"I know, but it happens. Last year, I was dating Cheyenne. She talked to one of the guys from the other team during half time. All she said was that the other team was doing well, but people . . ."
"Said that she was a traitor. Friends with the enemy when her boyfriend was the team captain," I concluded for him. I saw where he was going. People just needed to find a scapegoat for whatever went wrong.
"Please just don't go to talk to Devin until after the game is over," he told me.
"But- "
"Please, Sandy."
"Fine," I said, though a little pissed off. Lucas leaned down and gave me a quick kiss, taking me by surprise.
"Thanks. Will see you at half-time!"
He ran off just like that to see the rest of the team. I didn't know whether I should hate him or not. Still, since I was trying to be nicer, I yelled, "Good luck" behind the idiot.
Lucas stopped running halfway and turned to look at me. I repeated what I had yelled.
Lucas nodded with a huge smile on his face and ran off.
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》》》Julian's POV《《《
I tried not to take everything to heart as I walked. Cassie was happy with Lucas, of course. I rubbed the side of my head and pretended to be invisible. That distance between Cassie and I simply hurt . . . a lot. Slowly, I walked in the football uniform, ready for the game.
"Julian!" I stopped and looked over my shoulder. Cassie stood at a distance. She quickly caught up to my side. I had nothing to say to her. "Good luck."
"Thank you." I didn't meet her eyes and walked again, my mood still down.
"You did something to your hair," I heard her say. I shrugged. I hadn't added gel to it, today. Who was I supposed to be impressing with it? "I like it." I turned to look at her, now. She couldn't be serious.
She claimed not to lie. Her genuine smile made it even worse for me.
Brilliant.
"Thanks," I said slowly as the rest of the team came out chattering.
"Yeah. So, good luck." She gave me an awkward thumbs up and drifted away to let the team get together.
I hated the distance between me and her, but it was necessary. I had to make her think of me as something other than just her "friend."
Nothing was fair in love and war.
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Author's Note. (Chapter unedited. What else can you expect?)
Whatya think of the chapter? Did you like the calculator?
Cassie and Julian had a fight :'( Friendship is on break. Can Cassie think of him more than just a friend?
Lucas and Cassie's relationship is weird.
Lemme know your thoughts! Also, thank you so much for the awesome advice. I did try most of what you said. (Btw, ice cream DOES NOT help. As much as I love it, it doesn't help in writing). I hope everyone is doing swell. I hope all of you who have/had exams are doing/did well! Whoever lost her 100 point essay--I hope ya found it.
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