A/N: Hai my readers! I, GallaudetLurker, is back, and with a new chapter! I suppose there are a couple of chapters or so left for 'Do She Like Me'? Hope you like this chapter, I suppose Robbie and Jade will kis-well, you all will find out, heh.
Also, I'm considering writing another Rade story, but I'm running a bit short with ideas (it's a wonder that I'm still able to chug along with this story, lol). So, PM me about any ideas you might have. :)
Without further ado, enjoy!
Chapter Nine: Only a matter of time
"Ready to snatch your goth lady's heart, eh?" Rex smirked.
"Rex! That's not right!"
"Oh, you're right. I was not polite. I apologize for my shameful actions." Rex said, unconvincingly.
Robbie rolled his eyes as he walked into the cafeteria. Grabbing a tray, Robbie got his food and weaved around the crowded lunch tables, looking for the table he usually hung out with his friends.
As he did so, Robbie thought back about how he had followed Rex's advice and decided to figure out Jade's feelings - but not in too obvious a way - and to try to capture Jade West's heart.
However, Robbie found out several thoughts that had crossed his minds a few times before while he was thinking of Jade resurfaced. While such thoughts were not frequent, and while he was able to brush them aside, they nevertheless gave him pangs of doubt that had caused him to put some thoughts about his feelings for Jade.
A few times, Robbie had wondered if he was falling into love too fast. He had never gotten a girlfriend before, much less get one who was interested in him, so he had this...penchant for falling into love for any girl who shown even the slightest 'interest' in him. That happened with Trina and Cat, and look how that turned out.
Did he really want a repeat of Trina? Knowing Jade, whatever embarrassment or humiliation she would dish out would certainly be far worse than what Trina could do. And did he mention that Jade was still dating Beck?
He had wondered to himself several times if he was good enough for Jade. She was a fairly popular girl, high on the school's social ladder. He was a nerd and a geek; why would she be attracted to him? Furthermore, he had known her for two years, and that she had been dating Beck for that long, so he had to admit that for her to suddenly fall in love with him would be a far-fetched proposition.
Perhaps more important, what if he was falling for the wrong girl...again? His conscience didn't exactly say Jade was his promised girl or something like that; it merely told him that he would "find love...with an unexpected person, a person [he] didn't think [he] were going to be with." And that was ambiguous enough.
However, as these doubting thoughts were threatening to flood him, they were driven back by positive thoughts. Such thoughts went as follows:
'If Jade really didn't like you, she wouldn't have cared to actually give you advice. She would've simply ignored you and continued on, and yet she didn't.'
'If she wasn't interested in you, she wouldn't have tried to kiss you like that in class. She would have easily chose another action.'
Along with the usual 'girls love nerds even if they don't admit' thingy, Robbie got this feeling that he should listen to his heart, that he would know.
Sometimes he felt like there was an angel and devil standing on his shoulders, where the angel was encouraging him to pursue Jade, that it would be worth the risk, and the devil was claiming Jade would laugh in his face, that untold humiliation would await him if he pursued Jade.
Robbie always felt inclined to take the angel's side - although he had to admit that the devil's words gave him some pause. He increasingly got a feeling in his heart that he should pursue Jade - but perhaps he should try to take it slowly, one step at a time.
Mentally shaking his head, Robbie looked for his friends in the crowded cafeteria - and found them at last. He felt his heart lurch at the sight of Jade, who looked pretty as usual. However, the sight of Beck sitting next to her reminded him that Jade was taken.
Sighing, Robbie greeted his friends with a smile, and was greeted in return, while Rex greeted with a cocky "what's up babes?" Cat grabbed him and yanked him into the seat next to her, nearly causing him to drop his tray and Rex.
"Whoa! Kitty, you nearly made Robbie drop me! I shatter easily!" Rex protested, making Cat pout.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn'-"
"Rex! Behave yourself! Don't listen to him. It's not your fault." Robbie reassured Cat, who was instantly happy, clapping her hands excitedly. Had Robbie looked over at Jade, he would have noticed her jealous scowl; a glance at Beck would have indicated a spark of jealousy in his eyes, although his expression was relaxed as usual.
"Oh, you shatter easily? Could I test that?" Jade spoke up, smirking. Rex gasped.
"You're not gonna let that witch take me-aren't you?" Rex turned to Robbie.
Glancing at Jade, Robbie smiled a little. "Hm, I might consider doing that. I thought you were popular with girls?" He joked. The group chuckled; Jade, in particular, covered up her giggle.
"So," Andre opened his mouth to speak. "Who's going to the dance?" He looked around the table. A close scrutiny would indicate that Andre's gaze lingered on Tori a bit.
"You mean the Hollywood Arts Danceathon?" Beck inquired.
Tori looked confused. "What's that?" Jade smirked at that.
"Aw, does Miss Vega not know? My, what will we do?" Jade mocked in a 1940s accent. Tori glared. "How many times do I have to say it, I do not speak like that!"
"The Hollywood Arts Danceathon is sorta like a Sadie Hawkins dance and prom combined together It is held once every year, similar to the Full Moon Jam." Beck spoke up before Jade could retort. Andre continued where Beck left off, "It's sorta a prom where boys and girls go together and stuff like that. It's a Sadie Hawkins because the girl has to ask the boy out first - and the boy has to accept."
Robbie raised his eyebrows, while Tori looked like she wanted to ask questions.
"The girl has to ask the boy out first? Aw, here goes your chance, Rob. No girl is gonna ask you." Rex taunted him. Jade glared at the puppet, while Robbie groaned. "Do you have to say that?"
"Well, I nee-" Rex was cut off when Jade interjected.
"Look who's speaking. You're some wooden puppet with no life of itself. Yeah, girls are gonna be swarming all over you." Jade taunted. Rex placed a hand over his heart.
"Ouch, that...hurt, it actually hurt." Rex said as he looked at Robbie. "No wonder you like them mean, vicious girl-" Robbie immediately covered Rex's mouth with a slight blush. "Don't listen to him. He says weird things sometimes." He passed it off with a shrug.
Beck and Andre looked at them with a 'what the' expression on their faces before Tori asked the question: "So...supposedly the girl asks out the boy, the boy has to accept, no questions asked?"
"No question asked." Andre confirmed, nodding. Tori then smiled.
"I wonder who will ask me this year?" Cat voiced her thoughts aloud.
Jade didn't like the expression and smile on Tori's face one bit. It looked like Tori was up to something...again.
'She better not ask Robbie out...' She scowled. 'If she does, I swear I will-'
"You ok? You look like something's bothering you." Beck's voice called out.
Jade blinked as she snapped out of his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking of something. It's nothing, anyways." She brushed it off. Feeling Robbie's eyes on her, Jade fought off a blush.
Beck nodded.
'That was a close call.' Jade thought to herself as her mind shifted to her feelings for Robbie. So far, she was able to conceal her secret feelings, but it was increasingly becoming harder over time. Her friends were beginning to notice her strange behavior, even Beck.
In short, it was only a matter of time before her crush on Robbie was revealed, and Jade was afraid of that.
Jade remembered that moment earlier today, after her first class finished.
FLASHBACK
As she walked out of her Science class, she was grumbling mentally to herself of how boring that class was. However, she felt herself begin to smile as she thought about him.
He looked so cute today.
His 'afro' hair was as curly as ever, and she wondered what it would feel like to run her hands through his hair. His glasses were cute in a geeky way (in a good way!), and his lips had never looked so...kissable (she noticed that she had been thinking about his lips lately, about what it would feel like to kiss him). While Robbie, admittedly, didn't have a perfect figure like Beck's, he nevertheless looked good. His clothes fit Robbie's lanky body rather well, and she noticed he was developing something of biceps (must be from lifting that...perverted dummy around).
And then...here he was. Jade felt a jolt as she saw Robbie off in the distance. He seemed to be arguing with his dummy, Rex or something. Time seemed to slow down as she watched Robbie with a smile, until...
"Hey, who you looking at? Ohh, I see Robbie!" A cheerful voice came out of nowhere, scaring Jade. "Hi Robbie!" Cat called out, waving her hand wildly in the air. Robbie didn't notice or hear her, however.
"C-cat! You scared me! Don't do that again!" Jade whirled around, grabbing her hand and putting it down, fixing her with a glare. Cat tilted her head and looked a bit sad.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to come over and say hi." Jade sighed softly as she let go of Cat's hand.
"Sorry, it's just that I have quite a bit on my mind." Jade muttered. Cat seemed to perk up a bit. "Ohh, what is it about? You can tell me!"
Jade raised an eyebrow. If Cat thought she was going to tell her about what was occupying her mind - alas, her secret crush on Robbie - then she had another thing coming.
"Just stuff." Jade shrugged it off. She, however, was unprepared for what came next.
"Do you like Robbie?"
It was an innocent question, but it made Jade almost choke on her spit and she coughed a couple of times before gaping at her incredulously. Trying to contain the blood that were flooding to her face, and ignoring the feeling of adrenaline through her body, Jade pasted on a disgusted scowl on her face.
"What, you think I like Robbie? As in like-like that nerd?" She spat out while her mind were screaming, 'yes! yes, you do!' "No, I don't like him! If you forgot something, I'm dating Beck."
Cat fidgeted a bit as she played with the ends of her magenta hair. "Oh. It's just that you were staring at him, and I noticed that. That's all."
Jade stared at Cat blankly. If Cat Valentine - the girl who had the shortest attention span - noticed that something was up, that she was staring at Robbie, then...
Did the others notice that? Even...Robbie himself? She hoped not, but she wondered if her facade was wearing off. If anything else, she now found herself in a difficult situation.
Hiding her feelings from her friends and secret crush wasn't the only difficult thing Jade has had to do as of lately. It was equally as difficult to insult him and feeling bad about it afterwards. She hated to do this, to see the crestfallen look on his face whenever she said something insulting at him.
But she had to. It was part of her character; it was what she was supposed to do. That was what she had been doing for over two years, and she had to continue doing that - no matter how much she wanted on the contrary. That was sometimes why she lashed out at him at times, because it was so...frustrating, to have to put him down and not smother him with kisses like she really wanted.
"No, I wasn't staring at him or anything." She lied to cover up her shock. "Say, you looking forward that Cat Show in the auditorium?" She subtly changed the topic to distract Cat.
It worked.
"Ooooh, yeah! I'm so excited! You see, it has so many of my favorite things in it, like a cat-hey, it's like they named the show after me! You see, my na-"
Brilliantly.
FLASHBACK END
Jade sighed softly as she blinked out of her flashback. The others were still chatting away, oblivious to her spacing out. Feeling a set of eyes on her, she turned to catch Robbie looking at him with a...thoughtful look on his face. Looking like he was caught, Robbie smiled and mouthed 'are you okay?'
Feeling the corner of her lips curl up, Jade nodded.
Glancing at Beck, Jade sighed once again as she figured out what she was going to have to do. Break up with Beck...and...
Tell Robbie, and hope he felt the same way.
A/N: Heh, it's fun to write Cat. She's so sweet and innocent, lol. Anyways, here's chapter 9. Hope you liked.
And yeah, I made this 'Hollywood Arts Danceathon' thingy up. I have lousy imagination, lol.
Also, can you identify any of the three pairings that will be in this story? If you get all correct, you shall receive an update as soon as I can. Get it incorrect...well, I won't update until I get at least 40 reviews AND after ZenNoMai updates his story, 'Perfect to me'. *smirks evilly*
Hint: read the story, and review! And review! Oh, did I mention review? Yeah, review. Do that, yeah.
