Chapter Four - Nada. Zilch. Impossible.
"Hurry up, Matt!" I shouted out, my head sticking out of the window while honking the horn. He rushed outside, slammed the door, and ran to my red Mazda 3.
"Took you long enough," I mumbled under my breath as I backed out of his driveway and sped down the road. He chuckled beside me and shook his head.
"Hi Matt," popped out Mercedes from the back seat. He jumped in his seat and she giggled.
"I scared ya, didn't I?" she said, between fits of laughter. I just smiled and shook my head while Matt was looking at her with an are-you-crazy look. Then, in a blink of an eye, Dee's demeanour changed.
"You better watch you back Matt. After all, you don't want to jump to conclusions again, do you?" she hissed in a venomous voice. Matt glanced at me, sorrow and regret lacing his features.
"N-no." he stuttered, no daring to look at Dee. I kept my eyes on the road for the rest of the drive, being the driver, obviously, and because I didn't want to look at Matt's sorry face.
"We're here," I stated as I pulled into a parking spot and turned of the engine. I got out of the car as quickly as I could and Dee handed me my bag.
"Let's go," I said, wanting to get away from Matt as soon as I could.
"Hey, wait up!" I heard him yell. I mentally cursed him and closed my eyes, turning around.
"Yes, Matty?" I teased, with all too much sugar in my voice.
"You're supposed to show me around, remember?" he said, not meeting my eyes. I smiled triumphantly, knowing I had the upper hand.
"I'm busy. Why not let Dee show you around? I'm sure she wouldn't mind, would you?" I turned to her. She reflected my smile, catching on to my plan and shook her head.
"No, I wouldn't mind. Let's go, Matty!" she piped up as she grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him away. I sighed in relief and made my way to the computer room, to make posters for The Speed Plan.
"Hey, what are you doing?" asked Ashton as he leaned over my shoulder to get a glimpse of my work. I nearly jumped in my seat. I guess I was too concentrated on my work to hear him come in.
"Well, Mercedes and I decided to start a speed dating event called The Speed Plan. It's for like, singles who can meet new people. Sort of like a dating site, but in real life." I tried to explain to him. He nodded, taking a seat beside me, overlooking my posters for the event.
"Do you need help? I could help you with the advertising?" he volunteered. I was shocked.
"Shouldn't you be advertising yourself for King of Hearts?" I asked. He gave me a half smile.
"Nah, I have people who do that," he joked and I smiled.
"Okay, well, you can help with the posters if you like, and maybe have your people put those up also?" I asked teasingly. He smiled and nodded.
"Okay, well, I'll have my people call your people," I said flirtatiously. God, was I flirting with him already? He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and I felt heat rush up to my cheeks. He reached out his hand and patted me on my burning cheeks.
"It's all right," he smiled. "I love it when you blush. You look so adorable," I couldn't help but smile and think the same thing, but of course I would have said it out loud, at least, not yet.
"Hey! Hands of my girl!" Matt barged in at the worst possible time. His face was all red with anger.
"Hey, hold up, man. I mean, I didn't know she was with you," said Ashton, a look of hurt flashed across his face but the quickly disappeared. He raised both hands up in the surrender position and pushed his chair farther away from me. I balled my hands into fists in my side and stood up abruptly.
"Matt, I am not your girl! Didn't we settle this before? I don't want you jumping to conclusions again! Besides, I'm not dating you so that means I am free to be with any guy I want! What, are you going to jump to conclusions again and say I cheated on you? Gosh Matt, just chill! See? That's the problem with you! Why can't you just believe me for once? You know, a lasting relationship is built on trust. No wonder we didn't last long." I whispered the last sentence feeling a big, wet, salty tear drop down my flustered face. Both Matt and Ashton stood there shocked at my sudden outburst. I looked at Matt and then shook my head slowly, finally realizing the weight of the situation I had just created, and ran out of the room.
On the way out, I bumped into Dee, who looked flustered for the first time ever.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, but I temporarily misplaced Matt," she said, biting her lower lip. I was looking at the ground because I didn't want Dee to see my emotional breakdown, but unfortunately, being the best friend that she is, put both her hands on my shoulders and took a step back, evaluating my body language. Then, she took a step back and rolled up her lime green sleeves and took her dangly silver earrings off.
"Okay, who do I have to kill this time? I have a shovel in my trunk so I got us covered." She said matter-of-factly. I shook my head furiously while wiping my tears with the back of my hand.
"Uh, don't worry, it's not Matt's fault. It's just, I guess the past finally caught up to me, I mean. Maybe this is just some kind of closure that I need to kick Matt out of the back of my head. Besides, I have Ashton now, right?" I said to her in a weak voice. She gave me a sympathetic look and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
"All right honey; let's go freshen up, 'kay? We would hate to have the Season's and the Petit's catch us in this moment, now wouldn't we?" I choked out a laugh and smiled. I loved how Mercedes always knew just how to take my mind of things, and although some may view it as shallow, I view it as true friendship and a person who really cared about you. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on our side because we ran into the weather girls. As quick as you could say chocolate nail polish, Dee pulled off her scarf and wrapped it around my head, covering my make-up ruined face.
The Season's walked up to us and Autumn gave me a nasty smile that Summer and Winter tried to duplicate, without much success.
"What's the matter Cerelia? Trying to hide that pathetic excuse you call a face?" she sneered. Dee stepped in front of me and laughed.
"Nope. She's trying to shield her eyes from looking at the world's human Barbie," she responded, flipping her sunglasses from her head down to cover her eyes. She smiled and then dramatically swiped her arm across her forehead.
"Phew! For a second there, I really thought I was going to pass out from looking at all this..." she waved a finger around Autumn and the Wannabe's.
"Fakeness." She concluded. Autumn took a step back and her mouth formed and 'o' shaped as she gasped.
"What, practising for the sports team," she gestured towards her mouth. "Because I think you're old enough to know that you don't get pregnant from your mouth. But I guess you either just make plenty of mistakes, or you're as dumb as a post. Oh wait; even a post must have more brain cells than you!" Dee finished off, and I could help but back her up by laughing. Never has anyone stood up to Autumn like that and it was time she got a taste of her own medicine.
"Well I never," Autumn began, but she didn't get a chance to finish because she just noticed the crowd that had formed in the middle of Dee's rant. Flustered and embarrassed, the Season's made a speedy exit, followed by a trio of huffing freshman girls.
The crowd cheered as I gave Dee a high-five and she ushered me into the bathroom to fix my make-up. I smiled at her on the way there. I was so happy at that moment I could have died and died a content woman.
After a couple minutes of Dee trying to cover my face in make-up, I felt refreshed and I was ready to face the ex-boyfriend and the maybe-soon-to-be-boyfriend. But as soon as I walked through the doors, my hopes dropped and so did my heart, all the way to the seventh layer of Hell. Standing before me, was Ashton, asking Spring, to the Valentine's Dance. Oh, did I forget to mention Spring? She used to be one of the Season's, the nice one, until Autumn heard that her dad got laid off from work, and they wouldn't hang out with a 'poor' girl.
Spring spread a wide grin across her face and nodded and Ashton smiled, and leaned in to lock lips right in front of me. I stood there for God knows how long, shocked, unable to tear my eyes off of the scene before me, until I snapped back into reality by someone shoving past me into the bathroom. I bit my tongue and walked up to Ashton and said right in his face, "So I guess the date's off, right? She must be the girl you've had your eyes on for some time?" I said venomously, quoting Ashton's exact words. Not even giving him a second to respond, I spun on my heel and stalked off into the school parking lot. By then, Dee's make-up job was useless considering the amount of water overflowing from my eyes and blurring my vision. I had really hoped that I would at least have one good relationship and that I wasn't going to be a loner for life, but it looks like that dream got on the same boat as me and Autumn ever becoming friends.
Nada. Zilch. Impossible.