Here is the third chapter of Those Eyes! I hope you like it!! And check out my uStream as well!!!
Luv,
Ashley!
Chapter 3~ Confessions
Too soon, the bell for fifth period rang. So I said goodbye to Sammy, Delaney, Sara, and all the guys before leaving. After his goodbyes, Cole caught up with me and walked with me to English.
Today, he made small talk and he seemed to be more tense than usual.
After discussing his friends and how much I liked them, we fell into an awkward silence. I decided not to break it. Maybe he had something important to say. I sure hoped that was the case.
“So,” he said after a long minute.
“Yeah,” I urged him, “What’s up?”
“The Fall Ball is coming up,” Cole started.
Oh. My. God! Was he going to ask me? I thought I was going to start hyperventilating.
“And I was wondering,” he continued, oblivious to my inner reactions, “If you wanted to go with me.” He concluded.
What should I say? If I said yes, how could I keep it from Sadie? No one would be able to escape my joy. But Sadie wasn’t my boss, and I could do what I want. It was at that point that I remembered Cole was waiting for my response.
“Yes,” I said in a sure voice, surprising myself, “I would love to go to the ball with you.”
Cole breathed a sigh of relief and we progressed to English. When we got there, Cole came and sat next to me, which left Gillian without a spot. After a half happy, half annoyed glare at me, she went to go sit in Cole’s spot, which was next to Logan Ealton, Gillian’s crush since fifth grade. She got out her purple rhinestone-covered iPhone; and seconds later, my phone was vibrating.
Careful to keep my Razor out of Ms. Geela’s sight, I took it out and read her text.
GILLIAN: I’d watch out. nicki’s beyond mad.
ME: wat’d she say??
GILLIAN: she said she wuz gonna get the full story out of u in French.
It was then that Carlie entered the room. Great. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about.
And what about Sadie? What did she mean ‘full story’? Every detail? What should I tell her? And why did everything have to be about Nicki? Why did everything have to go by her? I was through with it.
GILLIAN: hello??
ME: srry. Wat should I do??
GILLIAN: turn off ur cell, computer, and anything tht can give her access 2 u.
ME: kk, thnx
Right then, Ms. Geela started class, so the rest of our conversation would have to wait. English was more uptight than usual. With Carlie analyzing my every move and Cole sitting next to me, I hardly ever relaxed.
The best part was when Ms. Geela wrote our assignment on the board. Cole wrote, in his untidy, all caps scrawl:
BORING ISN’T IT?
I decided to be honest with him.
Only when we do stuff like this. Other than that, I love English. It’s my fav subject.
REALLY?!
Yeah, I love reading and writing.
Did he enjoy finding this out? Or did he think I was that much weirder?
THAT’S COOL.
Thanks.
WHAT R U DOING AFTER SKOOL?
Cheer, then Autumn’s probably gonna come over. You?
Oops! What if he wanted to hang out? Too late now, he already read my response.
BASKETBALL, THEN DRAKE AND I R GOING 2 THE PARK.
Which one?? Was he going to the one across the street from my house?
THE ONE ON CARLSON & BIRKFIELD.
Oh my God! He was going to the one across from my house! Should I tell him? My hand was writing before I’d made up my mind.
Oh! I live across the street from that park.
COOL. MAYBE WE’LL DROP BY
Before I could respond, the bell rang.
My heart dropped. I would have to face Sadie now; and that was something I just wasn’t prepared to do. Only Cole’s voice was able to break me out of my internal depression.
“So, maybe I’ll see you later,” Cole said, waiting for me to get up.
“Yeah, maybe,” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
After that, we fell into an awkward silence. I wonder what he was thinking. I was thinking about what to tell Sadie.
Cole only spoke when we got to the door.
“So,” he started. I was beginning to think that is was his catch phrase. “I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah.” Then, quickly, he gave me a hug. Immediately, Cole’s signature Black was all I could smell. I wonder if he felt the connection like I did. After four whole seconds, he released me.
“Later,” he said, and his voice was slightly shaky.
“Bye,” I responded, embarrassed that my voice was slightly shaky as well, and I was grinning like an idiot. Come on, I told myself, It was only a hug. But my heart said so much more. After a few seconds, my cell phone buzzed. It was Gillian.
GILLIAN: smooth move! Ur lucky I got sadie turned around b4 she saw anything.
ME: thnx. P.S. he pulled me in.
GILLIAN: suuuure(:
ME: haha
French was very tense. I was able to steer clear of Sadie, though. And it was easier than I expected. Madame Dusanté was in an awful mood. She shouted every time someone talked out of turn.
Everything was going fine; that is, until Sadie caught up with me after cheer. And boy was she mad.
“What were you dong with him?” she demanded. I didn’t know how to respond. Where was Gillian?
“Well?” she waited.
“Ummm….” Was my brilliant response.
“Ummm…” She mimicked me, “Is that all you can say? Cole and I broke up, and by honoring girl code, as you are my friend, you are not allowed to date him!”
Somewhere in the middle of all that, I found my voice.
“Sadie,” I started, and I sounded a lot calmer than I actually felt, “you have no right to judge me before you have all the details!” I was amazed I could make an excuse like that right on the spot.
It worked; she was confused. So now I had time to think up a really good, believable excuse.
“Huh?” she questioned. Seconds later, Carlie, Gillian, and Lexie approached. Hopefully Gillian was still on my side.
“Yeah,” I continued, “How could you judge me like that? Don’t you know that I was just trying to get closer to him to be able to… find a plan to get back at him?”
“Oh,” Sadie murmured, clearly she was embarrassed. But she was still able to snoot at me. “Well, you should’ve told us. I would’ve had Carlie or someone else do it.”
This made me upset. Gillian and I exchanged angered glances; hopefully hers was intended to be toward Sadie’s behavior as well. “Why shouldn’t it be me? I mean, Cole knows we aren’t like best friends, so I was the best one for the job.”
“Well-“ Sadie started. How could she find a way out of that? My logic was airtight. I used Sadie’s confusion to make my escape.
“I gotta go. See you later.” Then Gillian and I went to walk home. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was better than fighting with Sadie.
“What was that?!” Gillian exclaimed, “Now we need to think of a plan!”
“First, let’s go to my house and dance for an hour.” I suggested. Gillian and I were part of the Dancing 4 Life Dance Studio dance team. Ms. Aimee didn’t want us to dance on the school team. She said that team was for weak dancers who can’t make a real dance team. Gillian and I had decided not to tell Sadie about our dance team. She was captain of the school team.
“Fine,” she agreed reluctantly. “So what happened with you and Cole?” Are you going out?”
This was the question I didn’t want to have to answer, mostly because it would involve a lot of explanation.
“I guess we are, but I’m not entirely certain.” I hoped my vague explanation wouldn’t set her over the edge.
“Oh my God!” Gillian squealed, gripping my arm so hard it felt like was going to fall off, “What did he say to you?”
“Okay!” I said, shaking her arm off. Then I whispered, “He asked me to the Fall Ball.”
“AHHHHH!!!!!!!!” Gillian screamed, unable to keep her cool, “Oh my god! When? Where? Why didn’t you tell me?” she was gripping my arm again.
“Ow, ow, ow!” I exclaimed, pulling her arm off me again. “He asked me on the way to English.”
We reached the house, and Gillian knew her curiosity would have to wait. Of course she couldn’t talk about this in front of my mother.
“Hey mom.” I yelled when I got inside.
“Hi Mrs. Brown.” Autumn yelled after me.
“Hi girls,” my mom responded, “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah,” Gillian and I said at the same time. We made our way into the kitchen where we could smell fresh baked cookies.
After we finished eating our cookies, Gillian and I made our way up to the dance studio. Actually, it was a loft, but Gillian and I used it as our dance studio because no one else ever went in there. The loft faced the front of the house. One of the walls was made entirely of glass. At night, it looked like a mirror so we could watch our dancing, but during the day, it was just a really big window. Which would be perfect, seeing as I wanted to see whether Cole was really coming or not.
I pressed play on my sound system and “Rock star” by Prima J started playing. Gillian made a face. She hated this kind of pop music; she was more into metal or rock. But it was good for dancing. The music started, and we started dancing.
After a solid hour of dancing, Cole still hadn’t shown up. Gillian could sense my depression, so she suggested we go to the park and practice some gymnastics.
Our park was like a gymnastics stadium. The grass was perfectly level and there were regulation-size uneven bars. This was our favorite place to come whenever we had nothing to do.
Gillian put my iHome down on the bench and pressed play to my favorite song, “According to You” by Orianthi. Right away, we got into our routines. At the end of every song, we’d switch. First, I went on the bars and she did her floor routine. After the song finished, we’d switch.
After a minute or so, I heard some people talking, coming up the sidewalk. I kept going on with my routine, but after a second, I saw Gillian leave her routine and go to put on her sweats. I released the bar and surprisingly stuck my landing. What was going on?
Then I realized the voices I heard were Cole and his friends. I ran to the bench, too. We hit pause, and raced into our sweats. I wouldn’t want Cole to see me in my short-shorts and tank top.
Gillian tried to pack everything up as fast as we could, her ponytail flying all over the place, but they caught up with us too quickly.
“Hi Dana,” I heard Cole say, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Ummm…” I didn’t know what to say. And since Gillian was still packing up everything, I was on my own. What should I say? No one knew we did gymnastics, and we had tried to keep it a secret. “We’re just walking around,” I said lamely.
They didn’t buy it. I could tell by their expressions. But they pretended anyway. Seconds later, my ring tone played. I checked to see who texted me. It was Sadie. Uh oh. I looked over at Gillian. She was checking her phone with an upset expression. I flipped my phone open. Right after, I wished I hadn’t.
SADIE: revenge is imminent.
What did that mean? Was she watching us? I looked over at Gillian again, and she was looking at me.
After an awkward minute, Gillian spoke up.
“Look guys, it’s great to see you, really; but we’re in a rush. So,” she paused, looking at me again, “Later.”
“Yeah, bye,” I muttered, and then Gillian and I sprinted back to my house. When we were safely inside, we broke down in hysterics.
“Oh my god!” she said breathless, “that was close.” She started laughing again.
I laughed too. “Dance?” I asked.
“Sure”
So we went back upstairs and put on “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha. It wasn’t a favorite of Gillian, or myself, but it had a certain edge to it that just made it fun to dance to.
When we finished, it got really hot, so we opened the window. That’s when we heard the guys walking down the street.
A minute later, we heard the doorbell ring. Being as naïve as I was, I hadn’t suspected who it would be. Of course it was the guys.
“Hey,” Drake said, being the brave soul of the group.
“Who is it, Dana?” I heard my mom ask from her sewing room. I ran over to the stairs and grabbed a sweater and put it on as quickly as I could.
“Just some guys from school.” I yelled back. Please don’t embarrass me. Please don’t embarrass me. Please don’t embarrass me.
“Boys?” she asked, sounding as if she hadn’t heard correctly. Here we go, I thought.
When I looked back over, I realized Cole wasn’t there. Where was he?
My mom came out of the sewing room. Thank goodness she was wearing her cute juicy sweatpants and not the raggedy clothes she usually wore. “Oh,” she analyzed all the guys with her eyes; she seemed to approve. “Well, welcome to this house. I’m Mrs. Brown, just call if you need anything.” Then, before she left, she gave me a look as if to say ‘be careful’.
“Dude, who is it?” Gillian asked from upstairs, sounding impatient.
“It’s the guys.” I yelled back. Then I turned to them. “Do you want to come upstairs?” I asked, uncertain, “We can, um, hang out, if you want...”
“Sure,” Drake answered, “uh, thanks.”
While they looked around, I fired a quick text to Gillian.
ME: change fast, the boys r coming up.
My phone buzzed half a second later.
GILLIAN: kk
While we walked up the stairs, I pointed out the different rooms.
“Uh, that’s my room, my mom’s room, my brother’s room, the sewing room,” I trailed off once we got to the loft. Gillian wasn’t there, but I heard drawers closing in my room. Seconds later, she came out. She’s fixed her ponytail to perfection, and put on her royal purple Juicy Couture sweat suit. It wasn’t much, but she still looked amazing. I caught myself envying her. I looked around the group again. Oh, Logan was there. No wonder Gillian got all dressed up without getting dressed up. It was a weird compromise, but it worked for her.
“Hi everyone,” she said confidently, “what are you guys doing here?”
I went up to her and whispered in her ear, “you have this under control, I’m going to go get dressed.”
This wiped the grin off her face. Whether she was a flirt or not, and she definitely was, Gillian couldn’t be left alone with four hot jocks. But it wasn’t like her to admit it.
“Okay, hurry up, though.” She said, slightly panicky.
When I got to my room, I went straight to my favorite pair of sweats. They were lime green limited edition Juicy Couture sweats. Gillian got them for me last Christmas. They were my favorite color, which was, of course, lime green. I put those on, and my white t-shirt. I wouldn’t look as good as Gillian, but who could?
I came back out and Gillian was just standing there talking to the guys. She was visibly tense. I went to her side as quickly as I could.
“I’m back,” I announced, though it was obvious. Gillian relaxed at my side, “Where’s Cole?” I wondered aloud.
“Cole had to go home after we left the park. He didn’t say anything. I wonder what was up with him.” Drake answered.
So for the next few minutes, we were all just conversing, I turned on the Wii, so the guys who felt awkward here could just play Mario Kart.
After things finally started to get comfortable, I heard “Got Dynamite”, my ring tone, playing. It was muffled, so I knew it was under something. I went to go look for it. I found it in between the couch cushions. It was Sadie.
SADIE: meeting @ the park in 10. get ready 4 revenge!
GILLIAN: kk, c u in 10.
AMBER: I’ll be there.
LEXIE: c ya in 10.
CARLIE: just finished volleyball, mite b late
I hesitated before sending my message.
SADIE: dana??
ME: sure c u in 10.
SADIE: good
I closed my Razor and Gillian made her announcement. “Sorry guys, we need to go, that means you do, too.”
“Why?” Drake asked.
“Sorry, but I need to have dinner, and I have a science test tomorrow. Thanks for coming though.” I responded hurriedly, herding them downstairs.
I lead them to the door. As soon as they were out of sight, Gillian and I sprinted back to the park. We were doing a lot of exercise today. When we got there, we weren’t the only ones who were breathless. Carlie was still in her volleyball gear. She looked like she tuck and rolled out of the car, which, she probably did.
“What took you guys so long?” Sadie demanded as soon as we were all in earshot.
Gillian looked like she was about to slap her. “What took us so long?” she weezed, “You texted us with an S.O.S when we’re all doing other stuff and you ask us what took us so long? Sorry we can’t be your perfect little servants who just come at your every will!”
I looked at her in awe. Amber and Lexie seemed at a loss for words, but I think they looked proud of her, too. Carlie and Sadie both looked like they wanted to slap her.
“Oh I’m sorry,” Sadie started putting extra emphasis on her words to make them sound even more sarcastic, “I’m so sorry that I just experienced the worst break-up ever, and I just wanted a little support from-“
“A ‘little’ support is fine,” Gillian interrupted, “just don’t yell at us for coming to help you and not being able to come in an instant, because we aren’t your servants.”
“Whatever,” Sadie dismissed the comment with a bad comeback, “well, I thought of the perfect revenge plot.”
Whatever expression was already on face locked there. Why did she want to get revenge? I wouldn’t be a part of it.
“Um, revenge?” I managed to stammer.
“Yeah,” Sadie said, major amounts of ‘duh’ saturating her voice, “and I’m gonna need all your help, especially you, Dana. You’ll be the brains of this operation.”
I couldn’t respond to that.
“Why are you looking so awful?” Carlie asked, “What? You don’t want to help us, isn’t that why you’re always with Cole?”
Uh oh. I forgot about my lie. “Yeah,” I said, trying to sound powerful, “But why get revenge? I mean, it would be so childish. Are we in one of those lame T.V. shows where the girl always has to get back at the guy who dumped her? Really guys, come on!”
Only Lexie would be so oblivious to the tension, “Um, Dana? What are you talking about? Isn’t middle school all about taking things off bad sitcoms?”
Sadie looked at Lexie, “Dude, we don’t have time for your quote unquote ‘blonde’ moments, okay? Right now I’m trying to find out what Dana’s hiding.”
This brought my attention back to Sadie. “What?” I asked, wide eyed.
“Oh, you heard me. Don’t pretend you don’t know. You have that glassy stare you always have when you’re thinking about something else. Now what is it?” she demanded.
Uh oh. I couldn’t find my voice. She knew I was hiding something, and she knew it was big. I hadn’t known she even paid that much attention to me.
“Well?” she pressed.
“She doesn’t have to tell you anything, Sadie,” Gillian defended me.
“I’m sorry, Gillian, but did you change your name to Dana in the past two hours? No,” Sadie scoffed, “Let her try and have a spine.”
That got to me, “You do know that I’m standing right here, right?”
Sadie just dismissed that, “Whatever. I have the perfect revenge plan. Final operation will take place during the Fall Ball” she added with a devilish grin.
My eyes widened. “Um, does it have to be the Fall Ball?” I stammered.
“Why not?” Sadie demanded, “The best part is that any tramp that goes to the ball with Cole be all embarrassed, too. So, unless you continue to sit with Cole at lunch, you can help us with the plan, okay?” Her eyes narrowed as if she dared me to tell her that I was Cole’s “tramp”. I just focused on trying to keep my poker face. After a while, it just became too much. Without thinking, I started running home, ignoring the shouts coming after me. But of course Gillian would follow. I heard her running after me. Oh well, I thought. The only person who could beat me was Carlie, and it wasn’t like she was going to try. I ran harder, until the following footsteps faded away...
No comments:
Post a Comment