"So, are you two coming to the party this Friday?" Dan asked as we walked out of the school building.
"Of course!" Paige smiled at him and he blushed as he returned the smile.
Aww! They're so cute!
I need a ship name for them!
Oh god! How did I forget to make a ship name for them?!
How about Pan?
That sounds nice... Like Peter Pan...
Hey! Peter Pan it is!
May Peter Pan sail forever on the beautiful seas...
"What about you, Liv?" Paige turned to me.
"I have an appointment with Dr. TV. We're working on a therapy technique called 'watching movies till I forget all about the guy avoiding me like I'm the plague'." I told them. "The name of the technique is a work in progress." I added after a second.
I really need to work on that... I'll talk to Dr. TV about that...
"Liv! You know what can help you forget about him? A party!" Paige said as she held my hands in hers, raising them up in the air.
"A party at Kaylee's house? I think I'll pass." I replied with a sarcastic smile.
"Oh! Come on, Liv! Kaylee's parties are the best! It will be fun!" Dan chimed.
"If they are anything like Kaylee herself, I would love nothing more than never knowing what they are like." I rolled my eyes.
Kaylee is in the middle of all this mess...
I'm almost sure that she knew that Hunter liked her and that was why she started dating Ryan.
I wouldn't put it past her to think of something like that... She's evil!
Am I being too hard on her?
I'm so confused!
"You know what? Screw the party! Let's go to Papa Joe's on Friday." Paige suggested.
Now I feel bad for making them want to change their plans...
"You guys should go to the party. I really just want to spend some quality time with me, myself and I." I told them honestly.
All that has happened in the past few days was making my head spin.
My peanut brain couldn't handle it anymore!
And I have been running low on sugar for the past few days...
Maybe I should go candy shopping...
"You sure?" Dan asked.
"Two hundred percent sure." I smiled at my two friends who were looking at me with worry shining like that annoying sunlight in the morning in their eyes.
"Okay. But do something to have fun. Maybe go and annoy your brother in the middle of your movie marathon." Paige told me.
I giggled as I nodded my head.
That's my favourite thing to do...
"Will do, captain." I mock-saluted her. "I should go now before the busses leave." I sighed as I waved at them.
"Bye!" They chorused as I walked away.
Another day of my life... gone with the wind...
I'm watching something funny today...
That's the spirit, peanut-brain!
"Liv!" I heard Ryan's voice calling out. I sighed tiredly when I saw him running towards me.
"I'll drop you home. We are neighbours after all." He smiled at me.
"We've been neighbours for the past few years too when you completely ignored me." I reminded him.
"Oh come on, Liv! I'm trying to mend our friendship here." He sighed.
"Tell me that when you are ready to tell me what happened to our friendship in the first place and I might just believe it." I told him before walking up to the bus.
"Liv, don't be so hard on him! At least he's trying to make things right with you now!" Kaylee's voice made me stop and turn back to face Ryan.
She was now standing next to Ryan, clinging to his arm like a vine.
"You know what? You're absolutely right, Kaylee." I smiled at her. "I should be grateful that he's trying to make things right. Even if we are not talking about how he blackmailed my friend to spy on me for him, I should be glad that at least he's trying." I said, nodding my head.
"Don't be such a bi-" Kaylee started to snarl but I cut her off.
"Guys, I just wanna go home right now. I'm tired and honestly not in the mood for drama." I sighed.
"Get on if you wanna go home, kiddo." The bus driver's voice saved me from whatever Ryan opened his mouth to say.
I smiled thankfully at the driver before climbing onto the bus. I took a seat near the front, away from the others.
The driver started backing out the bus from the parking area as I looked out the window.
My eyes zeroed on a dark haired boy who was standing close to where I was talking to Ryan and Kaylee just a few moments ago. When he saw me looking, his green eyes widened before he turned around and left to go to his car.
Was Hunter eavesdropping on our conversation?
But why would he do that?
Forget about it! It's just another mystery that you wouldn't be able to solve...
I should just think happy thoughts...
Think about gummy bears... Now those are some really happy thoughts!
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"Jelly beans or gummy bears... Hmm... this is a tough decision..." I spoke to myself as I held the two packets in my hands.
Now what should I get...
Gummy bears are yummy and cute but so are jelly beans.
This is really tough... Tougher than that math test last week!
Wait...
"Why the heck am I choosing when I can have both?!" I snorted as I placed both the packets in my shopping cart. I took a couple of packets of both gummy bears and jelly beans and placed them in the cart.
"I'm gonna have an amazing Friday with you, my lovelies." I told the candies, patting the packets gently.
Candy shopping is fun!
"You really love sugar, sugar." A voice called out, making me frown. I turned around to find the guy from the party who was trying to force me to go somewhere with him before Hunter showed up.
"Who are you?" I asked him, crossing my arms trying to look intimidating.
"An admirer." He smirked at me.
"Aww! Really?" I smiled at him.
"Yeah." He smiled as he walked closer.
"Well, I'll leave you to admire whatever you were admiring then." I told him as I turned around to leave with my lovely candies.
"Hey! Wait!" He called out, gripping my elbow.
"You do know that the people here aren't drunk, right?" I asked as I turned around to face him. "They will know something's wrong if I shout 'kidnapper'." I told him.
"I'm just talking to you. I'm not kidnapping you." He raised his hands up in surrender.
Hmm... Maybe I can ask him something...
"Last time, you ran like your candy house was burning." I remembered. "Why were you so afraid of Hunter?" I frowned.
"You're not?" He snorted.
"Nope." I replied simply. The creepy guy rolled his eyes at me.
"That guy has major anger issues. He doesn't feel anything when he gets angry. He just sees red." The creepy guy shuddered as if remembering something.
"And he's angry alright." Someone spoke in an eerily calm voice making us turn to find Hunter standing a few feet away with his fists clenched.
"I-I... I w-was..." The creepy guy started stuttering as Hunter walked closer.
"I don't want to see you anywhere near her ever again." Hunter calmly told the creepy guy.
"S-sure... Y-yes..." The guy was still stuttering.
"Scram." Hunter whispered when he was close enough.
The creep didn't wait for another second as he ran away as if his candy house was being robbed.
Candy...
I was here just to gather my lovelies for Friday night. I have them. I should leave.
Yes... It's not like Hunter will talk to you even if you tried to start a conversation...
I sighed heavily as I looked at Hunter who was still glaring behind the creepy guy.
He won't reply to you, Liv. It's not worth trying...
I rolled my eyes, shaking my head before walking past Hunter to the check-out counter.
I was low on sugar and I was in no mood to try to annoy him into becoming my friend again. I'll start trying again when I have enough sugar in my system.
"What the hell are you doing here all alone?" Hunter hissed from behind me. I frowned as I turned around to face him.
What is his problem?
Maybe he's low on sugar too...
I can share my jelly beans with him... That might make him feel better...
Wait...
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
He was silent and I could practically see his struggle in his eyes as he tried to come up with an excuse.
"Grocery shopping." He finally replied.
"Where's your cart?" I raised an eyebrow in question. "And the grocery list?" I added, crossing my arms.
"I was just starting. And I have the list on my phone." He responded.
Aha! Gotcha!
If he really was here for some reason, he wouldn't be telling me about it. He was a smug, I'm-better-than-everyone-else kinda guy.
If he really was here for grocery shopping, well, he would have just waved my question off.
See! I'm the female version of Sherlock Holmes!
Only if Paige was here to see my detective skills... She would have been so proud of me!
But she would have been mad at the amount of candy I had in my cart at the moment...
"You were following me." I stated the obvious.
"I was not! I was here grocery shopping!" Hunter grumbled, looking away.
"Sure you were." I smirked at him as I picked up a few chocolates from the shelf and placed them in my cart. "You should get back to your grocery shopping." I told him as I looked at the shelves to see if I wanted anything else from here.
Nope! All done!
"You didn't answer my question." Hunter sighed as he followed me to the checkout line.
"I'm here to buy my Friday night buddies." I told him, showing him a packet of gummy bears.
"You're not going to the party at Kaylee's house?" He frowned as he looked at the packet in my hand.
Maybe I was right... Maybe he is just low on sugar like me...
"To do what? To stare at the girl who has been bullying me for years and is now breaking my old best friend's heart partying all night? No thanks!" I rolled my eyes.
"Wait... What?" Hunter looked at me with a confused look on his face.
Oops!
I think that I shouldn't have said that...
You think?!
I wonder if he'll just storm out like always if I told him that I knew his little secret...
Will he try to deny it?
Well, what do I have to lose?! Let's just see what happens...
"I know that you have a crush on Kaylee." I told him. He looked at me with a blank look, just blinking his eyes.
"WHAT?!" He exclaimed so suddenly that it made me jump.
"Dear lord of sugar! You almost gave me a heart attack!" I shook my head at Hunter.
"What the hell did you say about me having a crush on Kaylee?" He questioned.
"Umm... That's exactly what I said. That you have a crush on her." I replied unsurely.
"I don't have a crush on her." He told me.
Denial... That's classic...
"I understand." I nodded at him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I really don't!" He insisted.
"Sure, bud. Whatever you say." I nodded along with him.
He was about to say something else but it was now my turn to get my items scanned and to pay so he didn't say anything.
"I'll drop you home." He mumbled under his breath as he took out his wallet to pay.
"No! I'm paying for my candy." I told him as I hurriedly handed the money to the cashier. "And I don't need you to drop me home." I grumbled as I picked up my bag of goodies and the bill.
"How? You came here by the school bus!" Hunter reminded me.
"I'll walk... Or call Austin." I huffed.
I was in no mood to deal with him right now...
He was so damn moody! I had the right to act like that too!
"What if I tell you that I'll take you for a late night burger tomorrow night?" Hunter sighed.
Wait...
That's progress!
"And ice cream?" I asked.
"Sure." He huffed.
"I'll think about it. But I'm still walking home." I told him before I started walking back home.
I have to burn off the calories that I'll earn on Friday night somehow... And walking is nice...
"Okay, fine! But I'm coming with you." Hunter grumbled as he started walking next to me.
I smiled up at him as I started skipping.
I can't give up just yet... I will get my old friend back!
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Me: Happy Birthday, @10disha !
Olivia: We love birthdays!
Me: And I told you that I'll update on yours... I never go back on my words! So happy birthday!
Hunter: The next update will be up on 23rd October 2021.
Me: Which is Saturday... But I'm not giving my word for this one...
Olivia: The whole thing with someone copying her story has put the author on edge...
Me: I haven't been able to write anything in the past week because... Well, people don't respect hard work... They just copy the stuff and paste it elsewhere as their own... It's wrong!
Kaylee: That's something not even I will do!
Me: Anyways, I'll still try my best to update on the 23rd...
Dan: Until then, stay safe!
Me and Olivia: And eat gummy bears!
Curtains close as the author and the characters turn into frogs and hop away...