I don't own anything.
I woke up the next morning with a major headache and a queasy stomach. It was Thursday, which meant tomorrow was my date with Chase. I didn't know if I could handle going on the date. I wanted to so badly, just to stop feeling guilty, but Harper's words kept ringing through my ears. 'You'll hurt him worse if you go on the date.' Was it true? Would I really only hurt him worse if I continued with the date? My head said yes, but my heart hesitated. And weren't people always saying to follow your heart? Well I was going to follow mine and continue with the date with Chase. Mason doesn't need to know, and I can tell Harper I cancelled. Everyone will be happy, right? I could only hope.
After twenty minutes of just laying around in my room, waiting for the rest of me to wake up, my head hurt too much-I needed an aspirin. I slowly made my way to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, pushing various vitamins, pills, and liquids aside until I found what I needed. I took the aspirin and went back to my room to get ready for school. Maybe today would be a better day- there was only one way to find out.
The first half of my day went normally-Mason texted me saying he wanted to walk me to school, we walked to school together, and only grudgingly left each other's side for class. Biology was boring, since we were just reviewing. P.E. was sweaty and frustrating, since we were in our Soccer unit, and I still had no idea what was going on half of the time. Finally, when lunch came around my day was starting to get more interesting. Mason surprised me with Chipotle for lunch-my favorite, and Harper gave me a dress as an apology. She's done that before, but the difference in this dress being it was the foil one she had been working on, so I actually liked it. It was finished and it looked amazing. She said it would look perfect on me, better than it would on her, and at that I blushed, thanking her for the dress and letting her know I'd "cancelled" my date with Chase tomorrow. She seemed deeply relieved and told me I'd made the right choice. Max also came by to tell me he was going to move to Alaska to teach cavemen how to hula dance. I laughed and told him I'd help pay for tickets. He looked shocked but happily walked away, imagining his Alaskan cavemen hula dancing.
Art was right after lunch, and today had us painting our own interpretations of a sculpture he bought of a cowboy holding a basket of kittens-combining all of his favorite things. My cowboy resembled , and my kittens resembled different people I knew. The colors were more. . .Bright than I usually did. actually told me mine was the best in the class. Normally I wouldn't be surprised if he said that, but today it was special because I never did well on interpreting sculptures of these kinds of things. Usually they end up looking like deformed clowns with little mutant people in it.
When I got home I sat at the counter in the sub shop, telling my mom all about my day. She seemed just as happy about how well my day went as I did, and even surprised me by telling me she hoped I'd win the wizard competition because she wanted me and Mason to get married. I gave her a "i'm-too-young-so-don't-expect-anything-soon" look and she just shrugged.
I ended up in my room, doing my homework before dinner-something that almost never happens. I wanted to be done so I could spend time with Mason tonight, not having to think about Chase and how tomorrow could possibly turn out. I just hoped that the date didn't lead to any more unwanted feelings. I don't think I can handle any more sappy romance in my life. Besides, It was only to get rid of the guilt. Then I could go back to only thinking of how much I love Mason, and no one else. I thought about how wonderful that would be; worry free and madly in love with one person.
I was so lost in thought I hadn't noticed Justin walk into my room. I jumped when he asked how my homework was coming along.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized, helping me pick up the books I'd knocked over.
"It's okay, you didn't know." I replied, closing my biology textbook, and turning to face him. "So what's up?"
"I'm just curious about something. . ."
"Yeah. . .?"
"Are you okay? You've been very distant lately, and now you're doing your homework before dinner. I didn't know if maybe something happened between you and Mason."
"Oh. . . No, nothing happened, I just wanted to get it over with. And I got into a fight with Harper yesterday, that's why I was upset. But it's okay, we're good now." I smiled. Did he know about my date with Chase tomorrow?
"Okay, well. . . if anything does happen, let me know okay? I don't want him hurting you. . .again."
"It wasn't on purpose last time! I just. . .overreacted?"
"No, it was all his fault. I'm glad you guys are okay now, though. I like Mason. But I'll be there to protect you if anything goes wrong, okay?"
I chuckled a little at the thought of Justin actually fighting someone, since he wasn't necessarily the strongest person I knew, but he's done it before and I know he means well. "Thanks Justin." He nodded and got up to leave. When he closed the door behind him I turned over so I was laying on my back, looking up at my ceiling. Maybe I shouldn't do tomorrow. I have so many people offering to protect me if Mason hurts me. But what if I hurt him? Would everyone flip sides? I didn't know, and I didn't want to find out, but I didn't want to feel guilty about thinking about Chase all the time, so I decided (again) that the date was going to be a one-time thing. It would mean nothing, and it would just be to get this stupid guilt off of my shoulders. Then everything could be perfect again-the way it's supposed to be.
Hey everyone! thanks for all of the Story Alerts and favorites! I honestly had no idea that so many people would even bother to read this. It's awesome seeing so many people enjoying what i'm writing! Thanks for all of the reviews, too! I really appreciate any kind of constructive criticism or comments anyone has on the story-it helps me stay on track with what i'm doing. I'm hoping i can stick to this long enough to get to where i want to be with this, and i'm hoping i can make this semi-long, but i'm prone to suddenly not liking a story and stopping writing it completely, so let's hope that doesn't happen! Hahaha, once again, thanks everyone! :)
