Chapter 2

At School

Nikki texted me that she had 1st period and advisory with Dakota. I replied, that's great for you, I still don't have any with him.

I sat listening to Ms. Rydeski's boring lesson about sexuality. I couldn't get the conversation from last night out of my head.

Ms. Rydeski noticed I wasn't paying attention and she slapped my desk with a ruler.

"PARKER! PAY ATTENTION!" Ms. Rydeski yelled at me in an annoyed tone.

"Huh what!" I accidently yelled, and yes, my real last name is Parker. Rydeski always uses our last names. Our REAL last names, some are really embarrassing though.

"Pay attention or I'll give you detention!" she yelled.

"Sorry Ms." I said nervously.

Ms. Rydeski gave me a warning glare and returned to the front of the class. As she started to talk again, Emi tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "You better quit your daydreaming or Rydeski will probably slit your throat!"

"Yeah yeah, I got it I got it" I whispered back to her.

During passing period I accidently bumped into Dakota and dropped my books.

"Oh sorry Ari" Dakota said helping me pick up my books.

"Uh, yeah it's f-fine" I stuttered picking up my books as well.

"Do you have a stuttering problem? You never stuttered when you were younger. You should probably get that checked out" Dakota said walking away.

That was shitty. He thinks I have a freak problem, just because I stutter when I feel insecure or nervous. I'm not a freak.

Lunch

"Nikki, Dakota thinks I have some freaky stuttering problem!" I whined sitting by her.

"Ari, if he thinks less of you because you stutter when you're nervous, he's a dip thong." Nikki answered eating a cookie.

"Yeah Ari, besides, Dakota seems like an ass anyway." Emi added.

"Why so, he's nice to me?" Nikki asked.

"Well he likes you duh! But he was being an ass to Yank-" I cut Emi off.

"EVERYONE IS MEAN TO YANKTON!" I snapped.

The cafeteria fell silent, everyone was looking at us.

"Damn Ari, you got some pipes." Nikki said staring at me.

"Fuck…" I mumbled, putting my head down on the table.

After we finished our lunch we went outside. We where talking when Dakota came up and said, "Hey Nikki! Whatchya girls talking about?"

"Oh nothing, just a Spoof we were gonna do." Nikki answered.

"Cool! Yah know, I did a few Spoofs of my own." Dakota said trying to impress Nikki.

"Ugh…" I whispered to myself while rolling my eyes.

Nikki smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Oh what? We do them on Ghost Adventures. What're yours, Justin Bieber?" Dakota laughed.

My eyes brightened at the thought of Ghost Adventures, I loved them. Nikki smirked and punched Dakota friendly.

"Ari loves GAC." She squeaked, jumping up.

"Ha, clearly I do. Who is your favorite one Ari?" Dakota flashed his braced smile to me.

I got lost in his smile, so perfect.

"Uh, Zak." I said plainly.

He stood there awkwardly, looking back at Nikki smiling.

"Hey uh, Nikki. Can I talk to you alone?" He asked her smiling.

"Um, sure. Lets go over here." She smiled back, walking with him to the benches.

They were talking about something. Nikki's cheerful face turned into something different, insult. She snapped at him and he stepped back. He said something and she slapped him, stomping back to us.

"He's a D-BAG!" She growled.

"What did he say?" Emi asked.

"He wanted to act like we were going out so he could make someone jealous!" She hissed.

"Who?" I asked.

"I don't know, he said someone I know." Nikki shrugged.

I got a surprised look on my face when she said that. "Dude, ya don't think, he means, me do you?" I asked Nikki.

Nikki gasped, "I think he is! Ooo, what do I do? Should I say sorry then yes? Or ask him who it is to confirm our suspicion? Emi what do I do?"

"I think you should go confirm it okay! But don't say we thought it was Ari, ok?" Emi answered.

"Okay!" Nikki said back excitedly. "Dakota, wait!" she yelled running after him.

I saw them talking again. My guess would probably be Dakota is getting a bit embarrassed, I saw a tint of pink in his cheeks. YES! Oh wow, this is so awesome! I thought to myself.

This was going great! But suddenly, something happened. Nikki didn't skip back happily like she usually does, she just walked back.

"Nikki, what happened? Didn't Dakota confirm who he was talking about?" Emi asked excitedly.

"Um, that's the thing. Okay, so this is how it went. I asked him if this person was a very good friend of mine, he said yes then started to blush. I was almost certain he was talking about you! I asked who it was and then he said…" Nikki didn't finish.

"He saaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiid?" I asked.

"Uh, he said Kenzie" Nikki answered nervously. "Sorry Ari."

I was speechless. I stood starring back at Nikki.

"K-K-Kenzie?" I said stuttering worse than before.

We all just stood there starring at each other. "Ari-" Emi began but I started to run away. Emi and Nikki yelled something towards me as I was running, but I didn't listen. Tears started to run down my face. I tried to ignore them but it felt like someone just stabbed me in the chest.

I got to go home early cus I was crying too much. When I arrived home I went strait to my bed, I buried my face in my pillow to try to drown out my crying. I just wished for the day to be over with already.