A/N: Chapter a little shorter than most. I had originally planned it to be longer but the first version was saved onto a flash drive which I accidently put my foot on and broke (I won't be doing that again) and I just couldn't find the inspiration to re-write this chapter for some reason. This is not my best work but I needed to get it out so I can begin writing the next. This chapter was beginning to frustrate me and I'm just glad it's done. Enjoy it if you want to. I don't.

New Beginnings

Chapter Twenty-One

When the final school bell rang for the day, Taylor slowly rose to her feet, picking up her belongings from her AP Mathematics class and pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder as she made her way out into the crowed hall of students to her locker before she caught a ride home with Annie, glad to have no cheerleading practice on today. With all the homework she had been piled up with that she needed to get done for tomorrow and the week ahead, she wasn't sure when she'd find enough time to do it all. Suddenly, amongst all the noise she heard someone from behind call out her name.

Stopping in the midst of the hustle and bustle of students, she turned around and tried to make out the person who was calling her name.

Who was he? She knew it couldn't be Conner, not after their little conversation earlier. Conner wasn't interested in her. He was interested in Amy or Amber or whatever her name was.

And then it hit her when she saw Jesse coming towards her.

"Hey," he said when he stopped short in front of her.

"Hi, Jesse," she replied with a smile before she picked up the pace and continued to her locker, weaving in and around every other student making their way to and from classes and lockers in an effort to end the school day with Jesse trailing behind her. When she reached her locker, she fumbled with the combination until she opened it and began piling the books she didn't need to take home with her into her locker.

Jesse leaned up against the locker beside hers and ran a hand through his mop of hair.

"So I don't have much time before I have to get to swimming practice. We've got a swim meet this Friday and we've got a good chance of placing because we've got some incredible swimmers on the team this year."

Taylor peered out over her locker door towards Jesse. "That's...um...great, Jesse." She muttered incoherently, not knowing what else to say. "I hope the team wins."

Jesse stared down at the floor. "Yeah, me too," he said. "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime."

"With you?" Taylor asked.

"Uh, yeah, I thought that was obvious." Jesse answered simply.

Taylor must have looked like an idiot when she asked him but it honestly hadn't really come to her attention until now. She stifled a small chuckle. "Sorry," she said. "I guess it was. My mind has been elsewhere lately."

Elsewhere was correct. Lately she couldn't seem to get her mind off a certain brooding boy, his first name beginning with the letter C. Why she couldn't switch off from Conner, she had no idea but her nonsense thoughts were doing her head in so much that she couldn't think straight.

"After everything you've been through lately, maybe you'd like to have some fun with a friend. No strings attached," he explained.

Taylor saw him smile proactively. How could she say no to an offer like that? Then again, how could she say no to a guy who looked like he had just stepped off the pages of an Abercrombie and Fitch photo shoot. He was that damn desirable with his luscious chestnut hair and dreamy dark brown eyes staring her right in the face. She guessed it help to have a male friend who was extremely good looking. Apparently, all those training sessions in the swimming pool had paid off. He looked magnificent, if she did say so herself.

Annie had been right all along. Jesse did like her. However, unfortunately, the feelings he felt for her weren't mutual. It was strictly platonic. Sure, Taylor liked Jesse, but she could never think anything else of Jesse than as a friend. Taylor wasn't quite sure why he liked her, if he did like her. Okay, so they were friends who hung out in the same social clique. She was a cheerleader. He was a swimmer.

Technically they were both jocks, if you could call a cheerleader that, not that Taylor liked to be stereotyped to belonging to a typical high school clique. Stereotypes were never really her thing. Not only that but they were also juniors who shared some of the same classes together so it was only natural she would be friends with him. She was friends with almost the entire Grade Eleven class. Taylor may not have considered Jesse a close friend in which she'd talk to him constantly but every so often, they'd engage in some form of communication where it being face to face, Instant Messaging or text messages. Still, she wasn't sure why he'd like her.

"Like on a date?" she asked him, loading the books she needed to take home with her into her bag.

Again, he ran his hand through his dark mane of hair. "It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be."

"Then what would it be?" Taylor was intrigued to hear his answer to a date that wasn't a date.

"I guess you could call it a friends date," he answered simply.

She had never heard of a friends date before. It was new to her, which is why she then added, "A friends date? What's that? I've never heard it before?"

"You haven't?" He asked as if in shock and showing a more serious face which he dropped, his face broadening into a wide smirk. "I haven't either. But I guess it could be two people who are friends and just want to let loose and have fun, forgetting everything else you've got going on in your life. So what do you say, friend? Does a friend date with me intrigue you?"

Taylor closed her locker door, piecing together her combination and zipping shut her corduroy book bag. "Actually, it does intrigue me," she said, with a smile. She pulled her strap across her shoulder and looked up into his adorable eyes. And it did intrigue her. God knows, she needed some fun in her life right now, something that didn't come with an ulterior motive. And just maybe this was what she was looking for. Maybe this was what her life needed to be shaken and stirred a little.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Conner standing off to side of the hall while students made their way around him. He looked back at her in a stand-offish kind of way.

Could it be that he had been there the entire time she was talking to Jesse? Could it be that he was jealous of her and Jesse? She doubted it was possible but still, it got her thinking. What if he was? She was going to say yes to Jesse's suggestion, even if it was just to see Conner's reaction to her date that wasn't a date. Then he'd finally see what it was like to be at the other end of the jealousy pot. Let him be jealous if he wanted. She didn't care. Okay, maybe she did but it sure felt good to think that he was jealous of some other guy.

"Okay," she said. "My answer is yes. So, friend, where do you want to take me?" she asked coyly while determined to fix her eyes purely on Jesse.

"I don't know. I was thinking we could go bowling. It's been a while since I've been but I always had fun when I did go bowling. It is the great American Past time."

"Funny, I thought baseball was the great American past time."

Jesse shook his head. "Minor detail we don't need to talk about. I bet more people go bowling than they do playing baseball," he explained seriously. "Is bowling a good choice of venue?"

Taylor shrugged. "I guess so. But might I say, I will beat you. I'm an unbeatable champion if I do say so myself."

"Or you could be praising yourself up because you suck," he scoffed.

"I don't think so," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "But you'll get to see for yourself tonight, anyway."

"You want to go out tonight?"

"Yep." Taylor nodded her head. "When better to beat you than tonight? I don't have any other plans. Besides, we really can't put it off now that you've asked me to hang out with you."

"I guess not," he told her, unsure as to whether he should have suggested hanging out with Taylor or not. "So I'll meet you at the alley about Six O'clock. Is that okay?"

"Sure."

Taylor was glad he hadn't suggested he pick her up at her house. She wasn't entire certain she wanted to run into her father and have him interrogate Jesse in an unsuspecting way. Her father had always been protective of her but ever since he and her mother had discovered that Josh had cheated on her, they, her father especially, had become extremely wary of whom their daughter went out with. In her dad's eyes, she was always going to be his little girl, not that there was anything wrong with being daddy's little girl but sometimes it became irritating when it came to going out with boys.

"Great, so I better get to practice or I'll be late." He glanced down at the watch he was wearing on his wrist. "I can't afford to be late so I'll see you tonight, yeah?"

"Yep," she assured him and before she knew it, he was halfway down the hall when he screeched out goodbye.

Taylor began on her way to meet Annie so that she could take her home, cursing the day when her father finally decided to take her out for a driving lesson.

"He likes you," Conner said gruffly when he appeared at Taylor's side as she walked toward the exit doors.

Taylor grinned sheepishly, fixing her eyes ahead of her rather than to the person on the right of her. "I should think so. We're going out tonight," she said, trying to sound as proud as she possibly could.

"Really?" Conner asked.

"Really." Taylor nodded her head. "Why is it so hard to believe that I would have a date? People do find me pretty, you know."

"I'm sure they do," he responded, not allowing himself to add on to what he would have wanted to say. Of course people found her pretty. It was definitely not hard to believe. He was one of those people who did think she was pretty, but more gorgeous than pretty.

"How do you know what I'm thinking?" he asked her.

Taylor shrugged. "I don't. It's just a hunch and usually my hunches are correct because I am always right, you know."

"And who has chips on herself now?" Conner asked.

Taylor shook her head. "I don't wear chips. I'm just always right. Really, I am. Ask anyone."

"Anyway," Conner started, changing the subject. He was going to stand there arguing something pointless with her. "Considering you have a date tonight, I don't suppose you'll be up for what I was here to ask you."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "What were you going to ask me?" she asked. Curiosity got the better of her.

"It doesn't matter now."

"No, tell me. I want to know," Taylor insisted.

"We're all going to the beach this evening for a bonfire and I was just wondering if you'd like to come too."

"Who's we?" she asked with curiosity. Was he asking her out and just using the word we as a cover?

"Tia, Andy, Evan, Maria, Ken…I think…and Elizabeth, but you've got a date."

Okay then. So it wasn't a date. He wasn't asking her out personally.

Pushing open the big red exit door to exit the school, Taylor spotted Annie waiting at the bottom of the school steps. She waved to her friend who looked her way and smiled cheekily when she saw Conner walking next to her.

Taylor rolled her eyes and turned back to Conner. "Well, yeah, I've got a date but maybe I'll come by the beach afterwards," she stated. She started off down the steps towards Annie. "But you should invite Amber. I'm sure she'll go with you. Bye."

Annie nudged her friend in the side when Taylor reached the bottom of the steps. "You and Conner—friends, huh?" she laughed.

Walking in stride with each other, Annie looked behind her and noticed Conner's eyes falling on her as he treaded down the steps towards the parking lot. "How's that working out for you?"

"Well, I have a date," Taylor said.

"With Conner? I knew the friend's thing wouldn't last long."

Taylor shook her head. "It's not Conner. It's Jesse."

She paused before muttering, "Believe me, Conner and I really are just friends."

"Jesse? See? I told you he liked you," Annie told her. "I mean, I am always right when it comes to who likes who. Wanna know who's crushing on Rachel?"

Taylor chuckled. "Not really." She didn't need to know who liked her friend. Maybe she would later but right now, she really didn't care.

"Whatever. What's the deal with you and Conner then?" Annie asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling.

Taylor stopped at Annie's white Toyota Corolla and looked at her friend over the top of the roof of the car with piercing eyes.

Annie shrugged aimlessly, narrowing her eyes. "What? Like I said, I'm living vigorously through you."

She stuck out her tongue, opening the car door and climbed in.

"So?" she asked Taylor when she climbed in beside her.

Taylor looked at her confused. "What?"

"What's the deal with you and Conner?"

"Yeah, well, two can play his game."

Annie put the key into the ignition and started the car, pulling the seat belt around her. "Ooh, you're sneaky."

Taylor buckled her seat belt and looked out the window as Annie reversed out of the spot. "Yeah, I know," she proclaimed.

And as Annie turned onto the road, Taylor muttered to herself, "But I don't care. I just want to get what I want."

And as per usual, Taylor wasn't getting what she wanted. Being friends wasn't so fun after all. In simple terms, it totally sucked.