4.
"I can't believe this," Emerald whispered to me , "how am I supposed to compare Miranda and Fernando's love story to Romeo and Juliet's?" She asked, she sounded like she was about to cry. I can't blame her, I found this activity hard as well, we're not really the kind you can consider bookworms.
I smiled at her demise, "Ems, I'm pretty sure its Miranda and Ferdinand."
"Whatever."
Mrs. Mackenzie sent us to the library to read about Shakespeare's The Tempest and answer some questions about it. Mrs. Mackenzie, our Literature teacher is simply a European Literature fanatic; more specifically she's a Shakespeare fanatic and when scenarious like these occured, Aiden seemed to be the only one enjoying the talks about Shakespeare and Sonnet 18 and whatever.
Ethan and Aiden entered the library, both of them were in my Literature class. I waved my hand at them and Ethan beamed at me, Aiden on the other hand ignored my greeting. What's up with that moron? I was in the mood to be nicer to him after what he has done for me the other day, now he's ignoring me. What an ass.
Ethan walked towards our table, Aiden lagging behind him. Emerald rolled her eyes at me, "since when were you close with those two?" She asked.
"I dunno, they just befriended me all of a sudden," I said in reply.
She snorted and shut her book close, "I don't want to be seen around those two, so good luck to you and I'll just go over there and share a table with Dahlia Pickett," she said as she stood up.
"They're not that bad Ems, they're cool well maybe Ethan is. You should really get to know them," I replied. I wanted her to befriend them as well and maybe Aiden can share his secret with Emerald so that I won't have to carry the burden of his deepest darkest secret by myself, but who was I kidding? Emerald hated Aiden down to the bones.
Emerald gave me an apologetic smile, "maybe next time A," she said as she gathered her stuff and moved to Dahlia Pickett's table.
"Why did your friend leave you?" Ethan said as he took a seat in front of me.
"She doesn't want to be seen around you," I replied nonchalantly.
Ethan shook his head, glancing over the table where Emerald was sitting with Dahlia, " that's a pity," he said, "it would be nice to get to know her."
'That's what I said'
" Hey Aid, isn't that your latest ex-girlfriend?" Ethan asked. He snickered as he poked Aiden's side. Right, Dahlia Pickett was Aiden's last girlfriend, before we made our deal.
Aiden rubbed the side of his head. "Don't remind me," he muttered. It's so weird to be with Aiden when he's not Aiden-ish, it's like he's a totally new person.
"I'll go get a book," he said as he stood up and walked towards the Literature section of the Library.
"What's up with him?" I asked Ethan.
He shrugged his shoulders and blinked, "I dunno, but I guess something's bothering him."
"You don't say."
"Well, he was his usual self this morning, talking about stuff..."
"What stuff?"
"That's a secret."
"Mean, I thought we were friends."
"We are, it's just some guy talk A, nothing important. As I was saying, he was acting normally a while ago but when we got here in the library he just well, he became like that," Ethan replied.
How can this guy do normal things while keeping his handsome aura? I mean when I eat I feel like I look like a troll, when I talk I feel like I look like some creep like the one from a horror movie.
I nodded my head in reply. I looked over Ethan's shoulder and saw Aiden walking towards our table, the surrounding tables with females on them craned their necks to get a glimpse of Aiden Walker walking. I saw the crazy smiles on their faces, and their stupid attempts to get his attention, unfortunately Aiden just walked past them.
"Is he mad at me because I told him he couldn't date anyone?" I asked Ethan.
"I don't think so A. I believe you're doing him a favor and for that I thank you," he replied, smiling his usual pearly white smile at me.
Aiden paused beside our table, realizing that there was no chair beside Ethan. He sighed and took the seat beside mine. I forced back the urge to smell myself, was he hesitant to sit beside me because I smell bad?
Ethan opened his book and started reading, he looked awkward as he sat there, Eyeing Aiden and me. Aiden seemed not to care as he placed all his attention on the book he was reading. I just shifted my glance between them every once in a while. I wanted to answer the questions with them because apparently I wasn't able to fully grasp the story.
A few minutes later Aiden closed his book and look at me, "why aren't you answering the questions?" Aiden asked me. Wow, finally he spoke to me.
"I was waiting for you to finish, I don't want to answer it alone." I replied shyly, I was always embarrassed to admit that I never really liked reading or appreciated literature.
Aiden smirked, "fine I'll help you. Thank God I could read."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" I replied my voice louder than I expected. The frail old librarian named Mrs. Pickett (yes, Dahlia's grandmother) shushed me.
Ethan was doing pretty well by himself, as he started scribbling answers on his paper, good for him.
"Okay so which question are you on?" Aiden asked.
"Uhm Compare Miranda and Ferdinand's love with Romeo and Juliet's; how are they different? How are they alike?" I replied.
Aiden smiled, "that's probably the easiest, "he started," that is if you remembered Romeo and Juliet's love story."
"Nope I don't remember, just get to the answer already," I said as I positioned my pen on the paper, my eyes still glued to his Blue ones.
"Well, hmm based from what I remembered they are alike in a sense that they practically fell in love at first sight and if you noticed in the story Prospero and Alonso, their fathers, hated each other just like how Juliet and Romeo's fathers resented each other. Do you get that?"
"Yes," I answered him.
There was more to Aiden Walker than just good looks I guess. He was smart and is probably the only popular guy I knew, aside from Claude, who appreciates and is actually interested in stories and other forms of literature. Aiden wasn't a bad boy, no not really. He's just into girls and the girls just happened to dig him as well, maybe it's just a way to cover up his true identity I suppose. What the hell am I thinking; I should focus on this stupid question.
"So how are they different?" I asked him.
Aiden's eyes met mine once more, "they differ in a sense that Miranda never knew what love was and wasn't able to recognize the feeling when and until she met Ferdinand."
Ethan made a coughing noise from the opposite side of the table. I looked at him as he looked Aiden in a weird way, something in between a teasing look and an evil look. I shifted my gaze towards Aiden and saw him roll his eyes. Was that how he felt about Ethan? Did he not know love until he felt it for him?
"Okay, so I guess we're done here," Aiden said as he stood up and grab his stuff.
"Wait!" I shouted once again. Mrs. Pickett glared at me and placed her index finger on her lips. I mouthed the word sorry at her direction and stood to Aiden's level.
"When can I get my car back?" I asked him.
"Thursday most probably."
I stood in the parking lot, waiting for dad to come pick me up. I guess I'm not used to waiting at the parking lot like this. I scanned the area out of boredom, the chilly wind brushing against my bare cheeks because it's early in Autumn and it's chilly.
"Waiting for your ride?" Ethan's low raspy voice spoke. The butterflies were back in my stomach once again.
"Yep, I didn't know you're waiting here as well," I replied, turning around to look at him. His sandy hair sticking out in one direction, it looked cute but it reminded me sourly of Jimmy Neutron.
"I'm not, I just saw you standing and I figured I wanna come say hi."
' Damn those perfect teeth.'
"Oh hello then," I said. I wasn't really sure what I'm supposed to say to him. Ethan Gray was one of the hot guys, if Claude was swooned over for his boy-next-door persona, Aiden for his charms and brains, Ethan was loved for his adorable smile and his athletic background. Not that I'm into jocks or something.
"If you're uh- ride's taking long. I can give you a ride, if you want," he said awkwardly, I can see his fingers working on something from inside his jacket pockets.
I checked my watch, my dad's coming in about thirty minutes. Wow, that's way too long. I took my phone and texted my father that I'm getting a ride from a friend instead because I didn't want to disturb him at work.
I looked at Ethan and smiled at him. Hopefully I didn't look like a mountain troll, " Sure. I'd uh appreciate that."
"Sweet," Ethan replied, "and if you're not in much of a hurry can I take you to get some ice cream while we're on the way?"
"Marcy's" I replied with a huge grin. Marcy's ice cream parlor was the closest to my house and not to mention the home of the best strawberry parfait.
OH YEAH SEE THAT COVER OVER THERE--> it's made by the awesome fortify_