How about we just pretend the K-Mansion didn't burn down? :)
A week later
Shawn and Jason watched Philip as he paced around his room with his hands clasped behind his back. Shawn ran his hand through his hair...they arrived at Philip's so they could all go to school together. Instead, they were sitting in his room for fifteen minutes and the only words Philip had gotten out, under his breath, were:
"Uh."
"Damn Brady."
"Chloe..."
"Um..."
After a few more minutes, Jason finally stood up and glared at Philip. "Look, Phil, if your not going to say anything, I'm leaving."
Shawn laughed as he twirled a daisy in-between his fingers. He had been giving daisies to Belle everyday at school, all to lead up to his surprise. Sure, it really had nothing in common with his surprise, but he just thought it would be sweet. He smiled to himself...now that he just called himself sweet, Mr.I-Won't-Ever-Fall-in-Love knew he was whipped.
"Leave for school or for another 'class' with a certain Miss Lockhart?" he asked.
Jason grinned sheepishly as Philip sat down in relief. The pressure was off of him and onto Jason. Jason shrugged and said, "Hey, man, I'm just saying...watch Philip pace...or make out with a cute girl...what would you choose?"
"See where your comin from, man."
Philip shook his head in disbelief. "I still can't believe that Mimi bought your bull."
"What? It's not bull." Philip laughed and threw a football at Jason's head, which he easily dodged. "Dude, what the hell was that for?"
"I was hoping to knock some sense in your idiotic skull."
Shawn nodded in agreement. "I mean, kissing lessons? We all know Meems ain't the brightest crayon in the box, but she's not that slow."
Jason shifted his feet nervously. "What...the kissing lessons thing isn't believable?"
Philip shook his head. "Hell, no, man. Any girl could see through that...you just want to make out with some girl you like."
"I don't like Mimi!" Jason protested.
"Chloe saw through it," Philip continued, ignoring Jason's comment.
Jason paused. "She did?"
"Belle did, too," Shawn said.
Jason plopped down on a chair. "What did they say?"
"That you like Mimi--" Shawn started.
"And your using this lie to kiss her without having to worry about a relationship," Philip finished.
There was an uncomfortable silence until Jason sunk further into his chair. "Damn," he sighed. "They're good."
"So you do like Mimi," Philip pointed out with a triumphant grin.
"No!" Jason shouted, jumping up. Philip and Shawn exchanged a knowing glance. "I mean, what happened in Daytona, stays in Daytona, right? It's time to move on to a new, um, object of study."
Shawn and Philip rose their eyebrows at Jason, who stared back at them.
"Your not buying any of this, are you?"
"No."
"Nope."
"Dammit!" Jason yelled, as he flung himself down on the bed. "You know, I didn't like her at first...it started off as I get to pass the time by making out with some chick. But then she started, like, talking!" he complained.
Shawn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, people sometimes do that."
Jason chose to ignore him. "I mean, when Jan talked, I always felt like throwing myself out a window."
"Funny, I always feel like throwing her out a window," Philip muttered.
"But when Mimi talks," Jason continued, lost in his thoughts. "It's great. She makes me laugh, she has these great stories, she listens to me and she's...she's just so awesome."
"So ask her out," Philip sighed.
"No," Jason said immediately. "She's not into me like that. On the plane back home, after we admitted we were actually getting along, she called me her...friend."
Shawn groaned in memory of the painful word. "Hey, look. You may think its the kiss of death, but sometimes its not! Look at me and Belle."
Jason nodded thoughtfully as Philip jumped in. "Yeah, and remember how we said no girl would fall for that 'lessons' crap? Well, maybe Mimi is just playing along because she likes you."
Jason grinned hopefully. "Yeah?" Philip and Shawn shook their heads in the affirmative, and Jason smiled even wider. "All right, man! I'm going to ask her out!"
"Good," Shawn mumbled. "Cause everyone pretty much knows about your, uh, lessons at school, anyway."
"What?! How?"
"That girl Mandy overheard Belle and Mimi talking about it in Chemistry yesterday. In about five minutes, everyone in our school heard about it."
Jason shrugged. He had been the subject of gossip before and it never bothered him. "Well. Whatever. It doesn't matter, knowing this school, they'll move onto something else soon enough."
"Like you and Chloe," Shawn said, staring pointedly at Philip.
"Or you and Belle," Philip shot back, gesturing towards the daisy.
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Oh? After years of watching you two flirt your asses off, deny, flirt, deny, flirt, only to end up together in your junior year of high school? There's nothing to talk about? Dude, please, Mandy and her crew dissect every move you two make."
Shawn hoped he wasn't blushing. He was never one for mushy public love stuff but whenever Belle was around, he couldn't help it. She mentioned on the flight home that she was worried how Shawn would act with her back in Salem. Well, obviously, Belle had no need to be concerned...Shawn was practically attached to her hip.
"Maybe just as much as they dissect every move you and Chloe make...or don't make." Jason hinted.
"Phil, what is going on? Chloe told Belle you hardly speak to her anymore. You're practically mute in class and you never show up at dotCom."
"Yeah, you're almost like one of those creepy hermit guys." Philip and Shawn gave Jason a look. "You know, that, like, live in those forests?"
Philip sighed and turned to Shawn, deciding to pretend Jason didn't ever speak. "It's just...I know I should talk to Chloe, but it's tough, man."
"Dude, what happened?" Shawn asked.
Jason began tossing the football between his hands. "Yeah, what did Brady do to her?"
Philip shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. "It...it doesn't matter. I love Chloe so freakin much--"
"We know," Jason muttered underneath his breath.
"But I've had enough of her thinking that she's the only possible person in a relationship that could get hurt. I just...I want to be with her so bad but I don't know if it'll be a healthy relationship."
"And you won't know unless you talk to Chloe," Shawn pointed out.
Before Philip could respond, Victor knocked on the door. "Philip, you and your friends will be late for school if you don't start to leave now," he called.
Philip sighed and grabbed his car keys. "Let's go."
Belle tugged the hem of her cheerleading skirt as she tried to listen to Chloe explain an opera to Mimi. The school had a rally later today, but she wasn't feeling very peppy. Ever since Heather slapped him in Florida, Brady had been acting even more like a grouch than usual. Life at home had been pretty tense with Brady being like a brat, so she spent most of her time the past week at one of the girls' or Shawn's. Belle smiled to herself as she thought of how sweet Shawn had been lately. Her thoughts were broken when a familiar hand waved in front of her face.
"Hello?" Mimi called cheerily. "Do you actually plan on taking any books out of your locker, or are you just admiring your week-old lunch you left in there?"
Belle blushed when she realized she was staring into her open locker, and closed it abruptly. "Sorry, I was just thinking about the routine we're going to do today."
"So, when is this rally?" Chloe asked...she wasn't looking forward to the pep assembly. They would be featuring the girls' and boys' basketball teams today, and she felt like she should cheer for Philip. But that would feel so normal...and things with him were definitely not normal lately.
"After fifth period," Mimi answered, as she watched a cute senior boy walked by.
"Mimi!" Belle giggled, swatting her friend on the arm. "Could you be any more obvious?"
Mimi grinned mischievously. "Well, I'm just looking for someone to practice my newfound skills on," she said, only half-kidding.
Chloe smiled back. "What about Jason?"
Mimi rolled her eyes as they waited by the lockers for the first bell to ring. "Jason? Please. He's just my friend."
"With benefits?" Belle teased, leaning against her locker.
Mimi laughed. "No, he's just like a tutor for a really cool subject. But he's definitely not having any qualities of boyfriend-ness."
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.
"Well, he's just some big dopey jock," she giggled. "Which is fine for a friend, because he's funny and nice and all. But...I need romance, sweetness...not someone who can burp the ABC's in 10.5 seconds," she said, naming Jason's greatest achievement.
After the girls chatted a little about school, a daisy popped in front of Belle's face from over her shoulder. Belle laughed and spun around to face a grinning Shawn.
"Another one?" she said, smiling as she took the flower.
"But of course," he whispered, pulling her into a hug as she thanked him. "Definitely appreciating the outfit," he said with a devilish grin, nodding at her uniform.
"You'll appreciate it even more at the rally," Mimi said, smiling. "The cheerleaders are doing their dance to Britney Spears." Chloe rolled her eyes at the mention of the bubblegum star and Shawn rose his eyebrows.
"I'll be sure to grab a front row seat for that," he whispered in Belle's ear. The bell rang and Belle gave Shawn a smile. No matter how hard dealing with Brady was, Shawn always made all of it go away. The couple walked to Shawn's locker as he babbled on about the winning three-pointer he made at the last basketball game. Mimi and Chloe watched them walk away at the same time Jason and Philip approached the girls.
Chloe was about to turn away when Philip grabbed her by the arm gently. "Chloe...it's time we talk." Chloe felt the butterflies in her stomach pound away and she tightly nodded. Mimi watched them walk away and she turned back to see Jason with a goofy grin on his face.
"What's up with you?" she asked.
And for some reason, at the sight of her smile, Jason was at a loss of words. What is going on with me? he thought to himself. No one ever had this effect over him. Jason drew in a breath and decided to cover his nervousness with his usual flirting. "Well, I just thought that we could sneak under the bleachers during the rally and you can show me some of your own kind of pep."
Mimi rolled her eyes. "Oh, be still my heart."
"Huh?"
Mimi repeated the action with her eyes at Jason's caveman-like grunt. "Jason, maybe it's time I give you a lesson."
Jason grinned at the memory of Mimi unbuttoning his shirt with her mouth. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. It's called Learn How to Be Romantic."
"Huh?"
"Wow, I think we'll start off with 'mastering the English language'. Jason, you are the most unromantic man on planet Earth, next to Hugh Heffner, you know that? Tonight, it's my turn. I'm going to teach you how to be sweet and be like a knight in shining armor."
"Tonight, huh?"
"Yeah, just meet me at my house at...um, seven."
"Romance lessons," Jason repeated, grinning to himself as he thought of Philip's statement earlier. Well, maybe Mimi is just playing along because she likes you. So she was going to pull this big romantic night and play it off as a lesson? Too bad she was playing his game...he knew she really just wanted to be with him, like he wanted to be with her. "Well, thanks, Meems. I could use this romance junk for my next girlfriend," Jason said, looking for a reaction.
There was none. "No problem. You helped me out, and now I'll help you. What are friends for, right?" she asked happily, punching him lightly on the shoulder. Jason frowned. The friend thing is just a cover...yeah, that's it, he decided. Before Jason could respond, he heard a familiar voice yell out, "Bitch!"
All of a sudden he saw Mimi get pulled back by the hair and be turned around. In a split second, there was a sound of a fist making contact with a face, and Mimi was on the floor, groaning. Jason stared down at Mimi in shock and looked up to see a pissed-off female face surrounded by tight jet-black curls.
Chapter 24
Philip pulled Chloe into a nearby janitor's closet as passing students giggled at the couple.
"We need to talk," he said, pulling the door shut behind them.
"Philip!" Chloe protested, yanking her arm out of Philip's grasp. "What are you doing? We're going to be late for first period," she said just as the late bell rang. She threw her hands in exasperation. "Terrific. We're late."
Philip rolled his eyes. "Chloe, we'll live. I'll just tell the teacher we had to go drop off our yearbook money. He'll buy it, all right?" he said impatiently.
Chloe nodded and sat down on a dusty cardboard box. Philip tried to hide his smile when her nose scrunched up as the dust flew up all around her. "Ew," she muttered. Chloe glanced up and thought she saw Philip looking at her the way he used to. But it was gone in a couple of seconds. "Philip, look. I'm really sorry, ok? I--"
Philip held out his hands, signaling her to stop. "Chloe, it took a lot of guts for me to finally decide to have this talk--"
"I thought we were going to have this talk once we got back in Salem."
"We were but do you realize how hard this is for me, Chloe?" He took a deep breath and kneeled in front of her. "Every time I see you, I just want to grab you, hold you and pretend you never kissed Brady. But I can't, because you did. I want to be with you Chloe, but I can't help but think you're never going to trust me. I do know I can trust you. I thought it over a lot over the past two weeks, and I know that you are a wonderful, amazing person. You just made a big mistake, but your human and I'm willing to give you a second chance because I love you. But you haven't even given me a chance at all. The reason you kissed Brady, and you said so yourself, was because you didn't trust our love. That says a lot, Chloe. If you can't trust my love for you, or yours for me, why are you even wanting to be with me?"
Chloe looked down at Philip with tears hotly stinging in her eyes. "Philip-" she choked out. "I--What do you want me to do?"
"Answer me. Why do you want to be with me?"
"Because I love you, Philip," Chloe said softly, knowing he'd shoot something back.
"But you don't trust where that's going. If you think I'm eventually going to break your heart, what's the point? Am I just wasting your time?"
"No! Philip, please. It's just...taking a lot of time...this is all new to me. But you are definitely not a waste of my time, and we aren't a waste of time. When I said I didn't trust our love, I didn't mean I never could. I just need to figure out what I'm feeling. It's scary to get bombarded by feelings you never even dreamed about before, Philip. But it's really happening, and I don't know the first thing to do. Normal girls...like Belle...they just know. It comes easily to them...what to do when they fall in love, I mean."
"Falling in love isn't easy for anyone, Chloe."
"OK! Fine. But I didn't think it would happen to me so young. I didn't think it would happen to me at all, actually. But here it is, full force, Philip! I mean, it just happened really fast and I wasn't sure if everything was going the way it was supposed to. But I know now...it is. Not because of any set 'love must be like this' rule, but because it feels right to me. And...hopefully to you. And I know you won't ever want to hurt me...I--I trust you." Philip looked up in surprise. So...maybe I wasn't ready for us when I kissed Brady. But I am now. If...if you'll have me back."
Philip slowly walked towards Chloe with tears welling up in his eyes. "I never let you go," he whispered before pulling her into a kiss.
"FIGHT!"
A crowd gathered around the trio as Jan smirked and crossed her arms. "Fight? Please. It was more like me kicking her ASS down to the ground with one hit."
Jason helped Mimi up, who was holding the side of her face. "You bitch," she muttered.
Jan remained unphased...in fact, she seemed to get satisfaction out of the comment. "You want to name names, Meems? How about your a backstabbing, selfish, desperate, lowlife, ho-bag, worthless slut? You can throw bitch in there if you want," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. The crowd gasped at her insults.
Mimi jerked forward to rearrange that smug look on Jan's face, but Jason was holding her back. "Don't let her get to you," he said lowly, staring at Jan. "That's what she wants."
"Well no one really gives a flying crap what I want anyway...obviously," Jan spat out. "I'd like to know what you're doing skanking around with him," she said, stepping closer to Mimi.
"Giving him something you never could," Mimi growled as Jason's jaw dropped. Jan's puppy dog was suddenly breaking off her leash. Hopefully, Jan wouldn't break her neck.
"What's that, honey? A lesson on what breast implants feel like?" Jan sneered, nodding to Mimi's chest.
"All right, girls, that's enough, ok?" Jason pleaded. Normally, he wouldn't mind two girls going at it cat-fight-like...over him, no less. But not Mimi. He didn't want her to get hurt...especially by Jan.
"No, Jason, it's not enough," Jan said. "What are you doing with this pathetic loser? Please tell me it's pity. Or else you've totally become the shit on the bottom of my shoe, Jase. Because you and her? That's the saddest and most disgusting thing I've ever saw in my life."
"No, Jan. Don't forget what you see in the mirror each morning," Mimi shot back.
Jan rolled her eyes and slowly strutted her way over to Jason, who had his arm around Mimi to support her. Jan put one arm around Jason's neck and pulled his ear near her mouth. She whispered, but loudly enough so Mimi could hear, also.
"Come on, Jase. You can have me back...have some fun again. You don't need to give charity out to Salem's lower class."
Mimi sighed to herself. She should have known her and Jason's friendship wouldn't last long back in Salem. She was about to walk to the restroom to see how her eye was looking after Jan's attack, but Jason's arm remained tight around her shoulders. Jason peeled Jan's arm off of him with disgust.
"Your beneath me, Jan," Jason muttered.
"I thought you liked it like that," Jan breathed, as she moved closer to him again.
"I mean," he said tensely. "I deserve better than you. Your nothing but a whiny brat who has permanent PMS." Jan's mouth opened in surprise and Jason continued. "Maybe Mimi's not my girlfriend, but she's my friend. And if your going to talk to her like that, you've got to get through me first." Mimi looked up at Jason as his arm tightened even more around her protectively. She smiled to herself as she realized Jason really was a great friend.
"I don't believe this," Jan fumed.
"Believe it, bitch," Mimi said tightly.
Jan exhaled in frustration. "Jason might say your just friends, but I know the truth. I know something's going on. And when I get proof you two are fooling around, you'll be sorry, Mimi."
"I already know all your plans. I know how you work, Jan. If you try anything against me, I'll let the principal know all about your schemes back from day one."
"Sorry, hon. If I go down, you'd be bringing your new best friend with me," Jan growled, pointing at Jason.
Jason shrugged. "It would be worth it to see you go down, Jan."
"You can't be serious."
"You won't have to find out if you leave her alone," he shot back.
Jan stared at Jason and Mimi in shock and then shook her head. "This isn't over," she muttered underneath her breath. Jan turned on her heel, and shoved a nearby student out of her way. "Move it, geek!" she shouted as she stormed down the hallway.
"Ding dong, the bitch is gone." Mimi said.
Jason looked down at her eye, which was beginning to swell. "Hey, um, are you all right?"
Mimi watched Jan's retreat down the hall and remembered standing up to her just seconds before.
"I've never felt better in my life."
Chapter 25
Shawn wrapped the towel around his waist after his shower and walked to his bedroom. He sighed, staring at the outfit he had put on the bed. It's just a shirt, he chanted in his head. Shawn took a deep breath and grabbed the outfit, remembering it was all for his surprise. "Here goes nothing," he muttered.
Belle stared at the invitation in her hand.
"Hey, sis, what's that?" Brady said, as he worked his way to the fridge.
"It's an invitation to a cheerleading banquet tonight."
"Tonight? Why such short notice?"
"I have no idea," Belle said, as she walked to the phone. She quickly dialed seven digits and waited patiently for the captain of the squad to answer.
"Hello?"
"Christina? It's me, Belle."
"Oh, hey. What's up?"
"Um...what's going on about this banquet?"
"Banquet?" Christina repeated.
"Yeah, I just got this invitation. It's for some award for our coach."
Christina paused. "Oh! Oh, yeah! The banquet. Well, it's a surprise award for Coach Smith, since we did so well at conference last season."
"Why such short notice?"
Christina continued so Belle guessed she didn't hear her. "Oh, and, um, Smith took care of transportation, too. She's sending taxi's for everyone."
"What?! Are you serious?"
"Hells yeah. Unbelievable, right? I guess she's on some super-nice kick or something. Probably will last for five minutes, so we might as well take advantage of it."
"Yeah, I guess so. Are you gonna go?"
Christina cleared her throat. "Um...yeah."
"All right, I guess I'll make an appearance, too," Belle sighed, staring at the invitation. It was on plain white paper and it was typed. Kind of dull for a banquet...Belle guessed the banquet itself would be boring since it would be held at the high school, according to the card. But she knew she should be there for Coach Smith.
"Okay. Don't forget to dress all cute and stuff," Christina added. "Bye, girl!" Christina hung up the phone and smirked to herself.
"So I'm really sorry that we can't go out tonight," Belle said as she adjusted her shoe. She was wearing a baby blue, sleeveless knee-length dress. Belle decided to do a simple French twist with a few curls hovering around her face.
"Hey, it's all right," Shawn said, with disappointment evident in his voice. "I'll just see you tomorrow night."
"Are you sure this is ok? I know you had something planned for us."
"No, Belle, it's fine. We can just do it some other time. Call me when you get back, ok?"
"Will do."
"Love you. Have fun tonight," Shawn said with a sigh.
"Thanks. Love you too." Belle hung up and looked out the window to see her taxi pull up. Just as she made her way to the door, the phone rang. Belle grabbed it as she put on her coat and took a deep breath when she heard the voice on the other line.
"Yeah, he's here. Hold on a second, Heather."
Belle yawned and drifted off in the back-seat of the cab. The driver told her he knew where the school was so she doubted he would mind. After a while, Belle didn't know how long, the cab jerked to a stop and she woke up. Disoriented, Belle tried to hand the driver money until he reminded her that Coach Smith had taken care of it. Belle yawned, nodded and stumbled out of the taxi.
"Hey--" The taxi sped off before Belle could tell the driver that this definitely wasn't the school. It was a beach that she went to nearly everyday in the summer.
Belle slapped her hand against her forehead when she realized she had forgotten her cell phone in another purse. Luckily, she remembered there was a payphone by the jet ski rental building and she started making her way down the beach to call her mom.
"Freak. What the hell was he thinking dropping me off here?" Belle muttered as she stomped through the sand. She found the payphone on the side of the small building and her mouth dropped open in delighted shock. There was a daisy taped to the phone cord with a note.
Shawn.
Belle stared at the daisy and shook her head as she slowly realized what was going on. She couldn't believe Shawn went through all this--sending her the invitation, putting Christina and maybe the rest of the squad, just in case, up to lying about a banquet, hiring a taxi driver...Belle couldn't help laughing out loud with giddiness. She opened the note and on it was a simple sentence: "Call my cell phone."
Belle grinned and starting dialing his number from the payphone. He picked up on the second ring.
"Hey, beautiful."
"Shawn--"
"Gotcha." Belle could almost see his sexy grin over the phone.
"Yeah, you sure did. I--I can't believe you did all this."
"It's not over yet."
"Where are you?" Belle said, looking around. She saw a small dot of a person from far away. The dot waved its dot-hand over its dot-head and starting jumping up and down.
"See me?"
Belle giggled. "Yeah, I see you."
"Well, come and get me, then."
And with that, Shawn hung up the phone. Belle shook her head with a silly grin plastered on her face. She grabbed the daisy and began running towards Shawn. When she got nearer, she saw a blanket and a few candles. God, he really went all out, Belle thought to herself. She slowed down her pace and finally got near enough to see the whole picture.
Shawn was standing on the center of a large blanket which was surrounded by a circle of candles. A couple of them were blown out by the sea breeze. There was a picnic basket laying near Shawn's feet and two plates were lying ontop of it. There was a small stereo near the basket. Shawn himself was holding a dozen daisies in one hand and...Belle's breath caught in her throat. He was wearing gray pants and a tight forest-green turtleneck that showed off every muscle possible. To complete the package, Shawn had the most adorable nervous smile on his face.
Belle thought she was going to faint.
"Shawn," she whispered as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Do--Are you surprised?" Shawn asked hopefully, tugging the neck of his shirt as he gulped.
"Yes...of course I am! This...this is amazing," Belle said, staring into Shawn's eyes. "You are amazing."
Shawn ducked his head in embarrassment and held out the bouquet. "Th--these are for you," he said, almost inaudibly.
Belle slowly approached him and gently took the daises out of his hand. "Thank you." She found his lips with hers, and Shawn's nervousness quickly disappeared.
"Why...why did you do all of this for me?" Belle asked.
"Well, we had nothing else to do this weekend," Shawn teased. Belle swatted him on the arm and Shawn grabbed her hand. "I love you, Belle. And...and I know you think I'm this big tough guy who said I'd never fall in love."
"You did say that," Belle pointed out, smiling.
"Well, now I'm proving myself wrong. And I wanted to prove to you that I'm just not some leather jacket-wearing macho guy," Shawn stammered.
"You don't need to prove that to me," Belle said, shaking her head. "I've known that all along."
Shawn grinned and kissed Belle lightly. "In honor of our first kiss...will you dance with me, Isabella Black?"
Belle smiled back and looked around. The beach, the moonlight...it was exactly like their first kiss back on spring break. "Hm...well, I guess," Belle teased.
Shawn turned on the stereo, which began to play Wonderful Tonight and took Belle's hand in his.
"I promise you...this will be a night you won't forget," he whispered.