Chapter 31- Tell Me Something I Would Like To Know
My stomach churned and my heart pounded in my chest, this couldn't be happening... Keith and Tara? Keith... and Tara.
I couldn't believe this, their names didn't even fit together. Then, how did this happen?
Oh, I remember.
It was a usual day when suddenly Tara started crying out of the blue and told me that Keith asked her and she said yes. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what he had asked her.
I couldn't help but feel my heart breaking a little, and then the words kept repeating in my mind, making it worse.
How was I supposed to react to this without sounding hurt? I couldn't let them know that I was affected in anyway, but what should I do?
Squeal? Nah, I'll probably cause some head-trauma or something.
Laugh? Only if I want to imitate a dying Hyena.
Cry in happiness? Okay, I don't think a flood would be necessary.
Tara kept sobbing into my shoulder, muttering things that I couldn't really understand since she was telling everything to my shirt and maybe because I couldn't listen to her... I was just too... lost.
My ultimate crush was skipping off to the sunset with my best friend.
On a white horse.
Probably using the shattered pieces of my heart as breadcrumbs incase they got lost along the way.
And leaving me behind.
What could be worse than that?
Probably loosing the last Cheetos under the couch.
I sighed, and patted Tar's back. I couldn't let her know, I had to try to be happy and smile like some psychotic loony from the loony-bin. Then I would just make a run for it, I would run like I was high on steroids or something.
Usian Bolt, you hear me, man?
Eventually, Tar pulled away from me and sniffed, wiping away her tears, "You're... you're not mad at me, are you?"
This was it. The moment I've been preparing for.
I grinned widely, maybe a little too wide, "Of course not, Tar! I'm happy for you!"
She sniffed, and asked in a small voice, "You are?"
I slapped my knee, making her jump and gave out a small laugh, "Yes, silly! Why would you even bother to think otherwise?"
She looked down at her feet, "Well, I'm not sure how you feel about--"
I started to panic, but I tried not to let it show. What was she trying to ask? I think I had a slight idea of where she was going with this. I couldn't let her finish that question. Not in a million years.
I instantly stood up, cutting her off and pretended to look at my imaginary wrist watch, "Oh, look at the time! I'm going to be late for class! See you around!"
I spun on my heels, about to walk away when Tar spoke up, "But, we still have fifteen minutes left. Why do you want to leave so early?"
I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath, did she really had to check the time?
I opened my eyes and turned around to face her, "Uh, it gives me more time to stare at the wall. Bye!"
"But, Keith's--"
I pretended like I didn't hear her and quickly dashed down the steps, making my way over to the gym doors. That was a close call, I didn't know how long I could've handled it.
Deep breaths, Jess. Deep breaths, maybe Keith and you just weren't... meant to be.
That thought alone stabbed my heart, I just wanted to be with him for once, to know what it feels like. I mean, he was my ultimate crush and I've never had it that bad before.
He makes my heart pound, he makes me shy and nervous. Even a glance from him now sends a gazillion butterflies fluttering away in my stomach.
I just... I just wanted to know.
My heart clenched painfully and I gasped slightly, I wasn't on the verge of tears was I? I couldn't cry over this! I just couldn't.
Ah crud, I was going to cry.
Distraction! I needed a distraction from these thoughts. I would have to keep myself occupied until I'm over this, but who?
"Hey, Jess! Wait up!" A familiar voice called out.
That voice sounded a lot like...
I turned around and saw a familiar blonde-dude jogging up to me, panting slightly as he smiled. A football tucked under his arm.
I stared at him, dumbfounded, "You've got to be kidding me."
He wiggled his eyebrows at me, tossing the football from one hand to another, "You didn't expect me to just leave you just because you commented on my non-existent pimple, did you?"
I gave him a sarcastic look, "Of course I didn't, how could I expect that from someone with attachment issues?"
He furrowed his eyebrows at me as he stopped tossing the ball for a moment, "I don't have any attachment issues."
"Is that what your inner shrink told you?"
He smirked in amusement as he went back to his football tossing, "You seem like you're in a bad mood."
I eyed him up, "Gee, I wonder why."
He gave me a playful look, "Oh come on, I'm not that bad."
I crossed my arms, "You're right, you're worse."
He rolled his eyes at me, smiling, "Okay, I know just the thing to cheer you up."
"Are you going to move to the other side of the universe?"
He gave me an incredulous look and stopped tossing the ball, "What? No, I--"
"Are you going to go jump off a cliff?"
"Huh? What are you--"
"Sink to the bottom of the ocean?"
He threw his arms up in frustration, accidently throwing the ball over his shoulder, "Why do you hate me so much?"
I shrugged, "I just find you more annoying than--"
"Hey! Winston, what's with the head-shots?" I heard Keith call out.
Oh, Keith's here.
Wait...
Keith's here!
I looked over to see Keith walking up to us, a slightly annoyed look on his face as he looked from 'Winston' to me. His eyes never left mine as he walked over and my heart pounded in my chest as nervousness began to settle in.
But what made me confused was... why was he annoyed? It made me feel a bit worried. I've never seen him annoyed before, ever.
Hm, it just might be because 'Winston' accidently threw the ball at his head. Haha, I wished I would've seen that.
"Sorry, Daniel. It kind of... slipped." Winston admitted, sheepishly.
"Yeah well, go hit the showers," Keith shoved the ball into his hands, "And stop chucking footballs at the team."
Winston rolled his eyes at him, "Got it," Then he looked over at me and winked, "I'll see you around, Beautiful."
Shooting Keith a smirk, he turned around and started to walk away. I wrinkled my nose at his retreating figure, he did not just call me 'Beautiful'. The weirdo.
"What were you doing with him?" Keith snapped.
My head shot to him in surprise, did he just snap at me? Whoa, this day was full of surprises.
Gee, I couldn't wait for more.
I felt uncomfortable all of a sudden, I had no idea why. Maybe it was because Keith was here and he was demanding to know something that usually a guy that would like me would do.
Whoa, hold up those horses, Jess. He was just asking, not making a marriage proposal.
I held my right elbow with my left hand, "We were just talking..."
"Do you like him?" He demanded.
My eyebrows shot up in surprise, and I released my elbow from my grip, "Whoa there, we were just talking. I did not develop my undying love for him just from a two minute conversation." I rolled my eyes at him, "Gee, give me some credit, will you?"
His fist clenched at his side, "Just don't talk to him anymore."
I furrowed my eyebrows at him, "What's wrong with you, Keith? You're acting weird."
He was acting really weird, he acted like he was jealous. But he was dating Tar now, he couldn't do this. It was... it was probably illegal or something.
Seriously, why was he acting like this? Like he... cared about me, in a non-friendly way.
Darn it, Jess! Stop over-thinking about these little things! It ain't a marriage proposal!
Right, got it.
He clenched his jaw and ran a hand through his hair, "Nothing, just..." He let out a breath, "I'm going to go catch up with Addie, see you around."
When he turned around and walked away, he left me shattered... again. Why does he always has to bring up Addie in our conversation?
I remember when we were talking at his house, and when things got a little personal, he brought up Addie. Why? I mean, couldn't I just talk to him without having other girls skipping into our conversation.
My first ultimate crush, and this is what I get for it.
No wonder I haven't had any before.
I stared for a while as Keith walked up to Addie and pulled her into a hug. Sadness washed over me, he hasn't ever hugged me before.
I dragged my eyes away from them and started walking towards the gym doors, pushing them open. This day wasn't being nice to me, I had to distract myself and quick.
A smirk formed on my face as a thought occurred to me.
Time to pay an 'old' friend a little visit.
---
I tiptoed closer, trying to hold in a snigger as I quietly snuck up behind him and screeched, "Jan-Dan! How's my favorite--"
"Gah!" He spun around and smacked me in the face with his mop. He practically shoved the thing into my mouth, giving me a good taste of his cleaning supplies.
Man, the taste is nasty, I feel like my tongue's burning. I just hope this mop hasn't been in the bathroom.
Thankfully, I closed my eyes just in time. But just for the nick of fun...
I screamed, "Ah, it's in my eye!" I squeezed my eyes shut and slapped my hand over them, pretending to be in pain.
Jan-Dan gasped, "Quick, shove your head in the bucket!" He grabbed the back of my head, pulling me closer to the bucket and my eyes shot open as I resisted.
"Wait, stop! I'm fine!" He released his hold on me in surprise and I breathed a sigh in relief, "Gosh, for an old man you're pretty strong. What do you eat? Broccoli?"
His look of surprise turned into a scowl, "I eat my vegetables, but what are you doing here?"
I beamed at him, "I wanted to see my favorite senior citizen of all time!"
He turned around and dipped his mob into the bucket, "Well, get lost. I got work to do." He started mopping the floor.
I pouted, sniffing, "I never got the chance to know my grandparents..."
He stopped for a moment and turned around skeptically, "Really?"
I snorted, "Nah, I'm just messing with you. They're just half-way across the globe."
He scowled at me and resumed his mopping, muttering something under his breath. "You're lucky that I'm just the janitor,"
I had the sudden urge to pinch his cheek, and so I did he looked up at me in bewilderment, "Aw, Jan-Dan, you're more than just the janitor."
Still staring at me in shock, he raised his hand to rub his cheek and muttered, "What's that...?"
I smiled widely, "You're a janitor in a uniform..."
Just like that, his scowl returned and he raised his mop, "That's it, I'm not mopping this floor until you're back in class." I snickered as he picked up his bucket and stormed off, "Don't you try and follow me!"
I grinned widely and called out, "You know you love my company, Jan-Dan!"
"And don't call me that name!" He called back before turning a into corner at the end of the hall.
I smiled in amusement as I turned around and almost bumped into... darkness? Whoa, what's with the black-hole in our school.
I stepped back and so did the person, as I looked up I grinned widely when I saw who it was.
"Biker-dude!" I chirped, spreading out my arms for a bear-hug.
He stepped away and glared at me, "Jess."
I shook my head, "Aw, no hugs?"
He crossed his arms, still glaring, "Not in the mood."
I dropped my arms to my sides, eyeing his black shirt and black jacket, then snorted, "Yeah, you're right. I might fall into a black-hole."
He scowled, picking up on my implication, "I told you, I'm not in the mood today."
I gave him a look of mock sympathy and patted his shoulder, "How's the rain cloud up there?"
He smacked my hand away, "Not in the mood, Jess." Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of class. He brushed past me, and grumbled, "We're meeting up after school, I'll see you then."
I watched him walking away for a moment, so... biker-dude was having a bad day too? I wonder what caused him to be this broody. I should do something about this.
A smirk formed on my face. Yes, I should definitely do something about this.
---
I had successfully managed to avoid Keith and Tar at school today, I couldn't face them just yet, so I avoided them and distracted myself with other things.
But I couldn't avoid them for long, 'cause we were going to meet up at the pizzeria for dinner. Some cool place Addie knows about. Man, she was coming along and so was Greg.
The day kept getting better, in good ways and bad ways. But for now, I was having fun distracting myself.
Annoying the heck out of biker-dude in particular.
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, diddley-dee, ones that I've never had before. Big ones, small ones, one as big as your head! Boom." I snickered.
Biker-dude clenched his fists, he looked like he could be a one-man army and then tell the world that he was the military's newest most deadliest weapon.
Can't say, new but deadly for sure. I mean, he was a human black-hole.
"Jess, will you just quit it?" He bit out.
I ignored him, "I'm a little teapot short and sweet, this is my--"
He slapped his hand over my mouth, and glared at me, "At this point, I don't care that you're a girl."
I rolled my eyes at him and pulled his hand away from my mouth, "Anger Management would love to have you,"
His glare hardened, "I mean it, Jess."
I waved a dismissive hand at him, "Yeah, yeah sure."
We walked in silence for a moment until we finally reached the pizzeria. I couldn't believe that biker-dude wasn't using his motorbike. I'm sure he still had it, but why he wasn't using it was beyond me.
No, he wanted to walk instead! Ugh, I want my flying car now.
My eyes landed on the group in front of the pizzeria and I froze, unmoving, unblinking. I couldn't believe this, what was going on with me today? What was happening?
I was officially dreaming. That's it, I'm sure I've dreamt the whole day.
There was just no way.
"Come on, Jess. Keep up, will you?" Biker-dude said, annoyed.
But I wasn't paying attention to him, my eyes were trained on Keith.
With his arm around Addie.
Laughing.
While Tar was standing aside, talking to France.
What in the fish's name was going on here?
Biker-dude realized that I was in a complete frozen state and he grabbed my arm, muttering under his breath about 'babies' and 'doing all the work' as he dragged me all the way over to the gang.
My breath caught in my throat as Keith looked over at me and grinned, "Oh, great you guys are finally here. I wanted you to meet, Addie." He squeezed her shoulder and she smiled up at him, "My girlfriend."
My heart left on a vacation and my brain started screaming at me.
Wow, this wasn't bad at all.
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Okay, happy chapter, woo!
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