Chapter Five: Like I Love You Not
Click.
Phil put his locker key back in his pocket and swung open his locker door. He pressed a button and his locker lit up. He smiled at the neon flashing 'Phil' sign. Phil loved a sense of accomplishment and his locker was proof of it. A neon sign, a drawer with coasters, glasses and…cans of drink?
Phil peered closer. He was out of cans.
Lucky I keep a few in my bag just in case.
He zipped open his black Umbro backpack and pulled out three cans of Pepsi. He looked at the bottom of each one. 'Pepsi can, 375ml.'
He shook his head. He really had labeled everything. He had sure been in a muddle last weekend. But he had a way to make up for being such a jerk to Keely. That morning he had gone to the gift shop near the burger joint that Keely loved and had bought her a small teddy bear. He had also prepared a small apology in his head and was planning to talk to her first thing that morning. He smiled as he took the teddy bear out of his bag. There was something about it that cheered him up. It's little beady eyes and small paws…
No wonder why girls like these, Phil thought to himself, although he prefer playing ultra cool laser-squash to hugging toys. He shoved the teddy back in his school bag and flipped through his organizer, checking that he had no unfinished homework.
"Hey Phil!" Seth appeared at Phil's side with his quirky grin.
"Hi Seth." Phil smiled. He was glad to see Seth. Seth had been Phil's first friend at H.G. Wells Junior Senior School. They both loved math and were A-grade students. That had made Phil an outcast at the beginning. Even when Phil agreed to tutor Keely, one of the popular kids, she was ashamed to be seen with him at the same table in a restaurant. When she pushed Phil under the table because she saw Tia and her other friends approaching, Phil crawled away, feeling deeply hurt by the gesture. Keely ended up passing her math test and made a brave decision to thank Phil and sit with him at lunch. Tia joined her, and that was how the group was formed.
"Seth, wanna peanut?" Phil asked, holding up a bowl of peanuts. Seth's grin faded and turned into a face of horror.
"I'm allergic to peanuts!" Seth yelped, eyes wide, and Phil could have sworn one was twitching.
"Right. So I guess that's a no then." Phil said, putting the bowl back in his locker, "Anyway, I don't even know how old those peanuts are."
Seth didn't say anything-he had gone sheet white.
"You really hate peanuts don't you?"
Seth nodded.
Suddenly, the boys noticed that they could hear familiar laughter coming from the other side of the hallway. Phil recognized it immediately- Keely.
Well she must be in a good mood, Phil thought to himself before nudging Seth.
"Let's go say hi."
Seth agreed. It was likely that Tia was with her, and Seth never passed up a chance to talk to her. It was bleeding obvious that Seth had a crush on her, but as Phil noted to himself, Tia hadn't really pushed him away. He suspected she liked the attention.
"Hey people." Phil greeted Keely and Tia.
"Hey Phil." Tia replied.
"Hi." Keely replied.
Phil remembered the apology.
"Uh…Keely? Can we talk?" Phil pulled Keely's arm so that they were separated from Tia and Seth, and so Seth could get to talk to Tia on his own. Seth rocked on his feet uneasily, and Phil grinned in amusement.
"Keely, I wanted to ask…why did you run away on Friday?" Phil said, as Keely rummaged through her new bag for sunglasses. She pulled them out and put them on. They ha known each other for so long that Keely was sure Phil could take one look in her eyes and see a lie. If she was wearing sunglasses to shield her eyes, maybe this wouldn't occur.
"Well Phil," She began "when you said I was your 'great-great-great-grandmother, It reminded me of Luke and Leia. They didn't know they were related for ages. Then I thought to myself, 'What movie do they find that out in?' I didn't know if it was number five or six. So I ran home to watch it."
Phil blinked.
"What?"
Keely was sure it had sounded more believable when she practiced it in front of the mirror before school.
Phil scratched his head in confusion.
Who the hell are 'Luke and Leia'?
"Really? Is that all?"
"Really Really." Keely lied. She felt her stomach sink. She felt like she was hurting him, even though he was believing every word she said.
Phil sighed in relief. His first thought:
So, she doesn't have feelings for me. Being friends is best…I think.
And then another thought came to him:
Wait a minute, what the hell am I going to do with that teddy bear? It cost me 15 bucks!
Keely took her glasses off and put them back in her bag.
No need for these now, she thought to herself before turning back to Phil.
"So, can we go back to the others?"
"…" Phil had a blank look on his face as he was still thinking. Keely waved her arms in front of his eyes.
"Huh?"
"Let's go back to Tia and Seth." She said, pulling him with her.
On the way to science that day, Seth noticed that Keely and Tia were constantly saying 'yes' or 'no'.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Choosing potential boyfriends." Tia replied, as if to say, 'duh!'.
"And how do you do that?" Phil asked, wondering if there were any special rules, like offering gum and opening doors for people.
"Yes, it has rules, if that's what you're asking."
Phil turned his head to see that Seth already had a pen and notebook ready.
"One." Tia began, as if she was reading from a textbook, "NEVER date a friends' ex." She smiled at Phil. "Sorry Phil, Tanner's off-limits."
"Hey, are you insinuating that I-" Phil began angrily.
"Rule number two." Tia cut in "You can't date two people in a row with the same hair colour."
"What? Come on Keel' that isn't a rule is it?"
"actually I don't know about that rule." Keely chimed, "But if so, no blondes."
"You mean you are the one looking for a boyfriend?"
"Yep." Keely said.
"and so you to are 'boy shopping?'"
Both Keely and Tia nodded.
"This is ridiculous."
Phil rolled his eyes.
It was two days before Keely found her perfect guy. She had been playing her guitar in the empty auditorium by herself, when suddenly he appeared.
"Hey, nice song."
Keely turned around to see a kid from her year, but his name escaped her for the moment.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"Hi. I'm Jake. You're Keely obviously." Jake stretched out a hand. Keely shook it. She made a note to herself that he had spiky black hair instead of blonde curly hair like Tanner.
"D'you sing?" Keely asked.
"No, I play guitar." Jake replied, holding up an acoustic guitar case as he spoke.
Wow. He's amazing, Keely thought to herself. Jake strummed his fingers in nervousness.
"Umm… this is going to sound weird but…if you're not seeing anyone…" Jake began. Keely squealed.
"Yes!" She said, accepting his invitation. Jake smiled widely.
"Awesome! So I'll call you sometime." Jake turned around and walked out of the auditorium with a skip in his step. Keely grinned to herself and began to pack up her guitar. She had a lot to write in her journal now.
Tia noticed Keely's joyful mood first. Keely was asking the lunch lady for seconds of Tuna Mornay which was a meal despised by all the students, with the exception of Seth. Keely was also humming. Actually, she did this quite often, but during lunch she had been humming boy band tunes. The last time she had been doing that was when she was dating Tanner, and she was singing N'sync songs because his name reminded her of one of the band members. Tia wasn't game enough to ask Keely why she was so happy, because she had an idea already, but Phil, who was oblivious to it, decided to speak up.
"Keel'?" Phil asked.
"Mhmm?" Keely stopped humming.
"Why are you so happy? Was your social studies test cancelled?" Phil asked, before sipping his soda. He was amazed they didn't have orange soda in the future.
"No, I think I got a B- though." Keely replied, continuing to eat her plateful of tuna mornay. Phil had poked his a couple of times with a fork to see it was moving, but that was as close as he was going to get to eating it.
"Spill Keely." Tia ordered, but Keely didn't need to answer for them to find out.
"Keely?"
Keely smiled brightly.
"Hey Jake!"
"I just realised," Jake began, "I can't call you until I have your phone number."
"Oh." Keely blushed, "How stupid of me." And started scribbling her number down. As she handed it to him, Phil gave him a dirty look. Luckily no-one saw, not even Jake, so it went unnoticed.
Something's off…Phil thought to himself. But then, maybe I'm overreacting. Phil decided to give Jake the benefit of the doubt. For Keely's sake.
"Hey, Jake, I'm Phil." Phil extended his hand to shake.
"Phil, the over-exaggerated gymnast?" Jake asked, with a mocking tone in his voice. He shook Phil's hand.
Ouch. Phil thought to himself. He didn't need reminding of that incident. Almost a year ago, Phil had used one of his new-age gadgets to excel his jumping ability, in hopes of getting on the gymnastics team to impress Keely. He had made it in, but on the first competition night, his plan backfired and he made a screaming and yelling fool of himself in front of the entire school. He had physical and emotional bruises, and due to that incident, Phil now had a mild phobia towards trampolines and playground monkey bars. Jake had obviously watched Phil's demise.
"Hey man, just kidding around."
"Heh Heh." Phil laughed, not in the slightest bit amused.
"Anyway, Keely, I gotta jet, so see ya!"
As Jake trundled off, Phil exclaimed loudly, "He's got a JET? Wow, billionaires are getting younger and younger…"
"Ha Ha. Very funny Phil." Keely said, smiling, indicating that even though she was using sarcasm, Phil's cynical comment had amused her.
"Maybe you're too old for jokes, Granny." Phil joked. Phil had severe foot in mouth disease.
"Granny?" Seth asked, missing the joke entirely.
"It's an inside joke." Keely informed him.
And it's too early for those jokes, She thought, frowning.
A week passed and Jake spent increasingly more time with the 'gang'. Phil was tired of him already. He seemed to him as even more sleazy than Tanner, which, in Phil's opinion, did say something. Phil knew how to solve a soon impending problem (that soon everyone would be attached, except him) by getting a girlfriend. There was no way he could stand another movie night if he was the only single one there again. Tia and Seth were so close now that Phil was beginning to categorize them as a couple, and Keely and Jake hugging all the time was beginning to make him nauseous. Phil was waking up to the fact that he was jealous of Jake, but he didn't know if it was because now his best friend Keely was spending less time with him and more with Jake, or that he genuinely had feelings for her. Whatever it was, Phil concluded that a girlfriend would solve the problem, and that he needed one before Thursday night's movie marathon repeat. He had no idea how to look for a girl in this century, but he had thought of one person who could help him.
"No way."
"Please Alice?"
"I'm not helping you Phil. Ever since that…dinner, if you can even call it that, I promised myself never to talk to you again. That includes getting you a girlfriend who you'll probably end up humiliating anyway."
"But you know everyone in school right?"
"yes."
"So you must know who likes me…"
"I'm not helping you. I said that before. Beat it, Neanderthal."
"Okay, thanks for your time anyway," Phil sighed and grumbled at Alice under his breath. He decided he might as well go to the library and read. Keely and Jake were playing their guitars in the auditorium again, so he assumed they wouldn't notice he was gone.
As he browsed through the bookshelves, Phil heard a grumbling coming from the other side of the 'Wildlife' section.
"stupid book…"
At this comment, Phil decided to investigate. He pulled out a book from the bookshelf so he could see right through to the other side.
"D'you need help?" Phil asked. Suddenly a face appeared where the hole was. It was a girl with long hair and bright blue eyes.
"Yeah, if you can come over here and reach it."
Phil walked around to where the girl was. He looked at the book she was pointing at. 'The world in 100 years-think of the possibilities' , which was on the very top shelf, way out of Phil's reach.
"Do you really need that book?" Phil asked, unable to think how they could reach it.
"Wait a minute…" Phil mumbled to himself. Maybe he could use the DNA scrambler to stretch his legs long enough to reach the book.
"Let me give you a boost." The girl said.
"Okay." Phil replied, even though he knew he couldn't possibly reach it. The girl let him stand on her hands and pushed him up. Phil pulled his DNA scrambler out of his pocket. He needed a distraction so she wouldn't see him use it.
"Hey look!" Phil yelled, pointing to a tree outside the window. "Is that…" Phil searched for a name, "…Justin Timberlake?"
The girl turned to look in surprise as Phil pressed a few buttons on his DNA scrambler. His legs began to grow, until he was able to touch the book…
SNAP
Uh Oh. That didn't sound too good. Phil looked down to see his DNA scrambler had fallen and had smashed on the ground.
Oh No! Am I going to have freakishly long legs forever? Phil asked himself frantically. Immediately, to Phil's relief, his legs began to shrink. But because he was holding on to the bookshelf and his legs were getting shorter, the girl couldn't hold him any longer. She turned back towards the bookshelf to see Phil half hanging off it.
"Hey, how are you going to get down?" She called.
"Don't know, but I think I am about to find out."
The bookshelf, along with Phil's weight causing it to lean a particular direction, began to fall.
"Arghh!" Phil half yelled, half screamed. All the students in the area turned see Phil and the bookshelf fall…
Wait! That bookshelf will crush Phil!
At the last possible second, the girl pulled Phil from the bookshelf before it hit the ground.
Phil lay on the carpet of the library, eyes wide open, not saying anything for a few minutes.
"I saw my life flash before my eyes…like a really bad montage. I, I realised…My parents scammed me out of most of my tooth money!"
"Phil, are you delirious? Phil, are you okay?" The girl offered him her hand. He took it and she helped to pull him up.
"Er…thanks." Phil said.
"That's fine, thanks for helping me get that book I needed. I'm so sorry…I nearly killed you…"
"It's okay, because I got to meet you."
That was lame. I'm sounding more sleazy than 'Jakie'.
The girl blushed.
"My name's-"
"Phil Diffy." The girl finished. "My name's April. You were the one that the mayor accidentally unveiled a statue of. A rumor was spread that you were the mayor's illegitimate son."
"Oh yeah, that." Phil said, groaning. Another embarrassing incident. "hey, for saving me, why don't I treat you to a 'mega movie night' this Thursday?"
"That sounds good." April smiled, "Hey, when school's over, let's go to that awesome burger joint next to Te-Ed-Eddies. If you want…"
"Sure. It's a date." Phil replied, really liking this 'April'. "See you later then, meet me at my locker after school?"
"The one with the flashing sign?"
"That's the place. See you." Phil said before leaving the library to go to English. Wow. He had used a future gadget and ended up with a girlfriend. This century never ceased to amaze him.
To be continued...
Sorry for the long break! I wrote this entire chapter in a notebook the week that I didn't use the computer, then had to type up all this from the notebook onto the computer. I hope you like the chapter. Please Review, because it makes me happy. And helps me become a better writer. Can't forget that. I don't know how long it will be until I update. I just got my first job. (at mc donalds) and now most of my spare time will have to go into studying and homework. But i'll try my best to update as soon as possible. In the meantime, read the stories by bigbiznizz, they are really funny and so much like the show it's scary. Also, if you're into the O.C., read some stories by meezardra. I like them a lot. meezardra is my younger sister. again, I'll like to ask you to review.
next chapter, Phil makes an error in judgement...ohhhhh...