Chapter 20
I was sitting next to Paige in the movie theater and as I was watching the movie I could hear her giggling with Ethan. She was actually such a flirt, I thought. It was kind of funny. I doubt she even noticed what she was doing. They seemed like they were really hitting it off. I was happy for her.
I tried to watch the movie and enjoy it but it was hard when all I could think about was that girl that Jared was talking to after the game. I doubt that girl wrote for the school newspaper. I decided to do some investigating of my own.
I leaned over to Wesley who sat to my right. "Does our school have a school newspaper?" I asked him.
He gave me a weird look. "Uh, no. Why do you ask?"
I sighed angrily. "No reason," I said through gritted teeth. He was cheating on me, I thought. It was official, I sucked at relationships. I decided right then and there that I was not going to let Jared play me like that. I refused. He was cheating on me and it was clear. Getting a text from a Taylor and being with a girl by the locker room after his game.
I angrily sighed out loud and didn't even notice. Everyone around me turned to look at me. Paige gave me a very questioning look trying to figure out what was going on. She looked really confused.
I sunk back in my seat. That was embarrassing. I didn't even realize that I had done that.
The movie ended and we walked out of the theater. Paige pulled me to the bathroom while the boys were standing outside waiting for us. When we got inside she looked at me like she was terrified.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"What's going on?" she said sarcastically copying me. "During that movie when I jumped I kind of leaned on Ethan. When the bad guy popped out I hid my face in her shoulder."
I started laughing. "Wow you really like him. You can't keep your hands off of him." I laughed at her some more and she started pouting.
"He's going to know I like him now. What if he thinks I'm a freak and he hates me?" She started breathing heavily and her hand went up to her chest.
"Calm down," I said looking at her. "I'm sure it'll all be fine. I told you already that he thinks you're pretty cool, so you have nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, but that was all before I jumped on him," she protested.
"Look, we have to go back out there and it didn't seem like he was mad or hated you or anything so calm down." I turned her around and pushed her towards the door. I told her to take a deep breath and then I pushed her through the door.
We came out to Chase and Ethan talking to some more girls and Wesley and Keaton fighting again. I sighed heavily and followed the Keaton and Wesley to the car.
Ethan saw us walking away and he ran up to us. "Hey, Paige wait up," he said. I turned around and Chase was still talking to those girls. I turned back around and kept walking. Paige waited for Ethan and they walked together.
I walked in the middle of Keaton and Wesley and put my arms around their shoulders and walked with them. The only two chill guys around at the moment. They were still arguing about the movie though.
I got in the backseat of the car with Paige and Ethan got in the front. He drove over to Chase's car where the Wesley and Keaton waited for Chase to get back. "I'll meet you guys at home," he said to them and then drove off.
When we pulled into Paige's driveway, we all said bye and then she got out of the car. I moved to the front seat to sit next to Ethan. Before he started to drive away I asked, "So, what do you think about her?"
He smiled and laughed. "She's really nice, and cool." He paused. "And funny." He couldn't stop smiling.
"Well she's single so she's all yours if you're interested, but don't hurt her. She's really sweet so she deserves someone nice, like you." I said smiling at him.
"You deserve someone nice too," he said slowly with a look of pity on his face. "Not Jared," he said strongly.
I sighed. "About him." Ethan looked over at me concerningly. "I think he's cheating on me," I said.
"What? What makes you think that?" he asked.
"Well earlier today I was at the coffee shop down the street with him and he got a phone call from someone named Taylor and he left me there to talk to whoever it was. I thought that maybe it was just a friend at first. Taylor can also be a boys name." I paused to catch my breath. "But then I saw him talking to this girl after the football game. They were standing really close and she had her hands on him. He saw me and came to talk to me. He said she wrote for the school newspaper and was just asking him questions about football."
"We don't have a school newspaper," Ethan said, connecting the dots.
"I know, Wesley told me. So that's why I think he's cheating on me." I let my head hang low. I can't believe this was happening again.
Ethan started to rub my back. "I'm so sorry, Ellie. I wish I could do something about. I swear when I see him, me and Chase are both going to beat the shit out of him." I stopped him.
"No, please don't. I don't want you to get in trouble and I don't want anyone else to find out. I don't want people knowing about it," I said. It was so embarrassing. The guys were right.
"You should tell the guys when we get home," he said. "We can all help you through this. The guys will be very understanding, trust me."
I thought about it. I mean he was probably right and Chase did say that it helped to talk about things. I was just worried that they would say something to Jared. "I'll tell them only if you get them to promise not to say anything to Jared. I don't want him to find out that I know. I want to play him."
Ethan smiled wide. "The guys will definitely want to help with that," he said. We both laughed and Ethan starts the car. We drove down the road and Ethan was eager to start operation cheat the cheater. That's what he called it.
When we got home I walked through the door with Ethan and we went upstairs to my room. I sat on my bed and Ethan went to get the rest of the guys. Chase came in first followed by Keaton and Wesley, then Ethan. Ethan sat across from me on the bed and told me that Drew would be in, in a little bit.
I took a deep breath and looked at the guys. "So what is this about?" Keaton asked.
"Uh, well before I tell you guys, you have to promise me that you won't say anything to Jared or hurt him or anything like that." I could see Chase tense up. "You can't let anyone know you know or I know."
"Okay, I promise," Wesley said first.
I looked at the other guys they nodded. Well almost all of them nodded. Chase didn't. He looked angry.
I looked at him. I needed him to promise. If not then he couldn't be in the room to hear about it. He looked down and then looked back up. I could see in his eyes that he wouldn't say anything. But I could also see fear.
"Okay, well the other day I was with him and we were at the coffee shop." I told the guys the story of how he left to talk to Taylor and then I began the story of how I saw him talking to that girl. I sighed at the end. "But, I don't care that he cheated. I am going to play him back. I just don't know what to do and I need your help." I looked around the room. They were all silent. I could tell what they were thinking. I told you so. It was pretty embarrassing. They had told me this would happen.
Then Chase spoke. "Well, he played you so let's play him back."
"Oh hell yes," Keaton said. "What are we gonna do to mess with him?"
The guy were all silent. I could see them all thinking of things to do. Ethan was right. It was nice to have the guys help me out with this.
"We could set you up with another guy to cheat on him," Wesley said.
"I don't want to cheat though," I said. "It's happened to me too many times. I don't want to be that person."
"Well, you could embarrass him in front of people," Chase suggested. We all looked at him. It wasn't a bad idea. "Towards the end at least or something. You could tell everyone that you know and publicly humiliate him."
"You can tease him when he tries to do stuff with you and keep him from what he wants and then at the end you can tell him what you've been doing and tell everyone that he cheated on you."
That's not a bad idea either. "I think that'll work."
"Kids, dinner," Lydia called from downstairs. We all started laughing at the plan and then got up to go downstairs.
As Ethan and I were walking out I thanked him. "Thank you for helping me with this. The other guys really helped too." I gave him a hug and he hugged me back.
He smiled down at me. "Whenever you have a problem, just come to us. We can help."
We walked out of my room and standing in the hallway watching us was Chase. He made eye contact with me and we all walked downstairs. He looked hurt an empty. It's so hard to figure him out. I need to find out more about him. I need him to open up to me.
Song if the chapter: That's What You Get by Paramore