In Biology the next day, our teacher, Mr. White, decided to make us do a project in pairs. As he came to our table to give us the worksheet, he paused for a moment. “Blake, you don’t have to do this assignment.”
I frowned up at him. “Why not?”
Mr. White looked at me in surprise. “Um, well, because of his disability, I don’t want to have to pair him up with someone.”
Annoyance lit my eyes. “You don’t have to pair him with anyone. I’m his partner.”
“Hailey, what are you doing?” Blake asked quietly.
“I don’t think it’s fair that you get exempted from doing this project, especially because I’m going to partner up with you. Besides, if you aren’t my partner, then I have to do the whole thing by myself.”
Mr. White cleared his throat. “Well, in that case, you can do the project together.” And with that, he hurried off to finish handing out the papers.
Blake was giving me an annoyed look. “Why’d you do that? Now I actually have to do something in this class.”
I grinned mischievously. “I know. It’s not fair if you get to sit around and do nothing while I slave away doing all the work.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I think he rolled his eyes at me. “I think being friends with you is going to be more effort then it’s worth.”
I gasped in mock indignation. “I resent that! I’m an awesome friend. You just need to learn to suck it up and realize that I won’t let you get away with anything.”
He grumbled under his breath, but I knew he was actually slightly amused because the corners of his mouth turned up a little. We spent the rest of the class coming up with a game plan. We decided to do any after school work at his place, as he had equipment to help him out.
When the bell rang, I stood up and gathered my books, shoving them into my bag. I turned to Blake. “So, where are we going?”
He stood up as well and slung his bag over one shoulder. “I have English next, in room 205.”
“Alright, let’s do this then.” I walked over to the other side of the table and slid my arm through his. Without waiting for his reaction, I headed out of the room, tugging him along with me. “So I have a question for you.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Don’t be so cranky. I just wanted to know why you agreed to me helping you so easily?”
He shrugged. “I don’t like being a burden to Sophie. She already has to take me too all of my other classes and help me at lunch. As you may have noticed, no one really talks to me, and therefore they don’t really talk to Sophie. This arrangement gives her a bit more freedom.”
A smile spread over my lips. “Aw, you do have a heart! But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
He shook his head. “You really are strange.”
“You won’t hear me denying it.” We walked down the hallway, with me maneuvering him around people. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought, considering people moved away and stared at us as we passed. I stretched up a little so my lips were closer to Blake’s ear. “Everyone is staring at us again. I feel like I should start waving to everyone or something.”
He snorted. “That would only succeed in causing more gossip. It’s bad enough that you’re being seen walking with me.”
“I already told you that I don’t care what other people think of me.” We made the rest of the walk in silence. When we got to the classroom, I paused at the doorway. “Which seat is yours?”
“Back right corner,” he replied.
I removed my arm from his and grabbed his hand, placing it on my shoulder so that he could follow behind me. When we reached his seat, I turned to face him. “Here you are, sir. Will you be needing my services for anything else?”
He grinned, and I was once again startled by the transformation that came over his face when he wasn’t scowling. “I think I’m good from here,” he told me. He hesitated for a moment before adding, “thanks.”
“No problem. I’ll talk to you later on. You have my number, so give me a call tonight and we’ll set up a time to work on the biology project.”
“You can be bossy sometimes, you know that?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I have to get to my class now before I’m late. Have fun in here.” I turned around and left the room, once again ignoring all the stares. The people in this school really needed to get a life.
I got to my classroom just before the bell rang and quickly took my seat next to David. I greeted him and Rachel quickly before turning my attention to the front of the room.
After class, the three of us headed to the cafeteria for lunch. We sat at what was now our usual table and I greeted everyone else. Rachel turned to me once we were settled. “So, we’re all going to the movies tonight. Do you want to come with us? You can bring Jared too, so we can meet him.”
I thought about it for a minute. “That might be fun. Let me just give him a quick call.” I pulled out my cell phone and quickly dialed Jared’s number. He picked up after three rings. “Hey Jared.”
“Hailey? Why are you calling me now? Shouldn’t you be in class?”
“No, it’s lunch time. I’m sitting with Rachel and everyone else and they invited us to go to the movies tonight. Want to go?”
“Ah, the fake boyfriend routine. I almost forgot about that. But yeah, that sounds like fun. Wait, I don’t have to kiss you or anything do I?”
I chuckled. “No, don’t worry about that. So I’ll tell them yes then?”
“Sure. It’ll be nice to go out, even if it is with a bunch of immature high school kids.”
“Hey! I’m a high school kid too!”
“I rest my case,” he replied smugly.
“Jerk,” I muttered.
“Aw, you don’t mean that. You love my.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going to eat my lunch now. I’ll see you after school.”
“Okay, talk to you later Hales.”
I ended the call and turned to Rachel. “He’s all for it. I apologize in advance though, because he can be a bit of a moron sometimes.”
Rachel giggled. “Trust me, I know what that’s like.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” David asked with a pout.
I laughed and sat back to watch them joke around. I was kind of glad that I’d made some friends here. I still missed some of my friends from back home, but I wasn’t planning on facing any of them anytime soon.
That evening, Jared and I arrived at the movie theater twenty minutes before the movie was starting. I found Rachel and everyone else immediately, so I waved to them as Jared and I got out of the car.
Jared came around to my side and put his arm around my shoulders. “I’m assuming that the one practically bouncing on her feet is Rachel?”
I chuckled. “Yeah that’s her.” We reached my friends and I smiled at everyone. “Guys, this is Jared. Jared, this is Rachel, David, Chloe, Allie, Brad and Matt.”
“Hey, nice to meet you all,” Jared said politely before turning to me. “Want me to get us some popcorn?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
He chuckled. “I suppose not. I’ll be right back,” he said. He pressed a kiss to my temple and then moved to stand in line for the concession.
“He is so cute!” Rachel exclaimed. “How long have you been together?”
I turned to examine Jared. I guess with his light brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes, he would be considered good looking. I just never saw him like that because he was like my brother. “We’ve been together for about six months now,” I replied.
“But you’ve known him for longer, right?” David asked
“Yeah, I’ve known him since I was little. I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know him.”
“How’d you meet him?” Rachel inquired.
I froze momentarily. Crap, what do I say to that? I didn’t want them knowing I had a brother. “Um, family friends, I guess.” That was close to the truth, anyways.
They seemed to accept this, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Jared joined us again shortly and we all got our tickets and headed into the theater.
The movie turned out to be pretty good and we had a lot of fun. It had been quite some time since I’d been able to just hang out with friends and I realized that I had missed it a lot. After the movie, we all said good-bye and parted ways. Jared and I were heading home while the other six were getting pizza. They had invited us to go as well, but I was getting tired, so we declined.
As Jared was driving us home, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it anyways. “Hello?”
“Hailey?”
“Blake?”
“Yeah. You said to call you later, so that’s what I’m doing.”
“Gee, I’m so flattered,” I replied sarcastically.
“Ooh, that’s Blake on the phone?” Jared asked. “Let me talk to him.”
I gave him an odd look. “How about no?” I said.
“Aww, come on Hales! Some one needs to look out for you, and I need to make sure he’s good enough for you.” Jared said, giving me a puppy dog look.
I stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “What are you talking about? Since when do you have to talk to all of my friends?”
“Hailey? You still there?” Blake asked.
“Yeah sorry- Hey!” I screeched as Jared tried to steal my phone. I smacked his hand away and pointed out the windshield. “Watch the damn road you idiot!”
“What the hell is going on? Who are you talking to?” Blake demanded.
“A pain in my ass, that’s who,” I grumbled. “Sorry about that, I had to deal with a pest,” I said as I glared at Jared, who just gave me an innocent look.
“Whatever. Look, I only called because we’re supposed to get together to start on that stupid project that you roped me into.”
“Right. Well, tomorrow’s Saturday, but I don’t have any plans yet, so do you want to get together? Or do you have plans already?”
“No, that’ll work. I’ll text you directions later. You must not live far from me because we both walked to that park the other day.”
“Sounds like a plan. Okay if I bring Tonto with? He can play with Abby.”
“Yeah, bring him if you want. He’s not as annoying as you are anyways.”
“You’ll warm up to me eventually,” I promised.
He snorted. “Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The line went dead before I could say anything else and I huffed out a breath. “That guy is so damn rude sometimes,” I complained.
“Stick it out, Hales. You never know, he might surprise you one day.” Jared said.
I rolled my eyes at him. “You suck at being all wise, you know that? And what the hell was that all about, trying to steal my phone?”
“Well, since Jake isn’t around, I figure it’s my job to check out any potential boys from now on.”
I sighed. “I guess. But you know I’m not interested in guys for anything more then friends right now. Not after what happened with the accident.”
He reached over to rub my knee soothingly. “I know. But still, I’m going to play the part of the overprotective big brother when needed.”
I gave him a small smile. “Thanks Jared. You’re a pain in the ass, but I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Right back at you, kid.”
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Hey guys, sorry that this is a little short and possibly not up to my usual standards. This illness is kicking my butt, but I think I'm finally starting to get better, so hopefully I can start updating regularly again soon.
Anyways, I'm glad everyone is liking this story so far! I wanted to do a happy dance when I saw that it was on the main page of Wattpad yesterday, but that required too much energy in my weakened state lol.
I know a lot of you are wondering what Sophie meant by asking Blake why he didn't just "see" for himself, but it will be explained eventually. Next chapter will hopefully be up in a few days. Don't forget to leave comments for me, I loooove reading them!