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Chapter Ten

Skye

Everything sucks. Everything is terrible at the moment. A summer that started out as a happy occasion has turned into the worst summer of my life. And I'm such an idiot! I try rid the thoughts of Daddy and Iantha from my mind. They at least tried their hardest. Right now, I have to worry about the huge mess that I made. Well, I guess it's not a huge mess yet, more of a minor spill. But still, it will be. Pearson won't just forget about it, he's gonna try to me to "break up" with Jeffrey in some way, even though we aren't even dating! Jeez, I cannot believe I have love problems. This was something that I thought I would spend my whole life avoiding! But now I'm stuck with them, so I might as well solve them. I decided to treat it like a math word problem.

Step One: Assess the problem.

I accidently told Pearson that I was dating Jeffrey, just to get him off my back. But that was a lie, and is certainly going to have repercussions.

2. Step Two: Write down the formulas that you know apply to the problem.

Ummm...well I guess I have to tell Jeffrey. That's the only way that he won't be caught off guard if Pearson comes up to him and confronts him about it. Oh, but I really don't want to! I have to. And I guess that I should tell Pearson that I lied. I want to do that even less. Well, we'll save that for later. First, I need to deal with telling Jeffrey.

3. Step Three: Make those formulas into a plan.

I have to go tell Jeffrey. We should talk about it, and come up with a solution. I'll get to Pearson only when I have to.

4. Step Four: Use your plan

I sighed, walked over to Jeffrey's room, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" he said from inside. I came in. "Oh hi Skye," he said, without his usual enthusiasm. I know that he was just trying to be sensitive about the unemployment issue, but honestly, it just made it worse. I want things to go back to normal, even though at this point it's probably impossible. "Skye, you look terrible."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. Jeffrey realised his mistake.

"No no no!" he said. "I meant sad!" I laughed for the first time since the news.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I do have something I need to tell you about." He looked concerned.

"What is it?"

"A couple days ago, I made a mistake. I big mistake. Nothing illegal, but still a big mistake. And the worst part about it was that it was so dumb!"

"Skye, I honestly don't care if it was dumb or legal, just tell me what happened!"

"Right, sorry. Anyways, do you remember when I took a walk a couple days ago? Well I ran into Pearson. And he was pressuring me to go out with him. I said no, obviously, but he wanted me to give him a reason. And apparently, none of the ones I was giving him were valid. You know, I want to live in a world where women can just say 'no', and that is accepted."

"Skye, I agree with you,, but get to your point!"

"Right, again, sorry. So anyway, I was getting really mad and frustrated, so I sort of just spit out the first thing that I thought would convince him. I told him that I had a boyfriend." Jeffrey looked shocked.

"Do you?!"

"No, of course not! Anyway, he asked me who it was, and I sort of said you." We both paused.

"Well," he said. "That's...that's not great. Giving Pearson's track record, I doubt that he'll be leaving either of us alone. I think that we need to keep up the lie, so he might get discouraged. If you tell him the truth you'll have to go out with him as a courtesy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's the last thing you want to do." I nodded. "Anyway, we need to be convincing. He can't see find any holes in the lie, or he'll see right through us."

"Are you saying what I think we're saying? We have to pretend to date?" The words tasted bad on my tongue. Jeffrey was my best friend, not my boyfriend.

"I think so. I know it's weird, but I think that it's the only way." I sighed.

"Fine. Just not around my family, please. They will not ever let it go. Especially Jane and Rosy. Jane will try to put it in a book, and Rosalind will try to make us date for real. Just around Pearson?"

"Just around Pearson. I promise."

5. Step Five: Check your answer.

I go over our plan in my head as I leave Jeffrey's room. It really is not a bad idea. We just have to make sure not to make any mistakes. Otherwise, we would be in for trouble.

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