A/N: If you don't know which characters I don't own please slap yourself repeatedly. xx Ella
P.S. I'd like to specially thank all of my reviewers for leaving amazing comments. Thank you to wintertwist87, SinisterShadows, Arinna Black, not-so-average-07, TragicCure, Leave your hat on, Kermitfries, SleepWalks, Neith4Weiss, Hayley Jean, lovelylinds, and Kris Death!
Chapter 6
"Well, here I am." I mentally noted, right then and there, that I laugh too much. It wasn't an awkward high pitched girly laugh, or an even more awkward low pitched manly laugh, but it was uncomfortable and lasted way too long. Even though I knew I shouldn't be laughing, it just came out, and sadly for me, Matt seemed to notice as well.
"You okay?" He asked me with what seemed like genuine concern in his voice. He was standing at my dorm room door, staring at me as if I was a rabid animal set loose. The expression on his face was a cross between pure fear and authentic confusion.
"Of course I'm okay," I started laughing again, "Why wouldn't I be?" I threw my purse down and locked eyes with Matt. This was it. This was my chance, the moment of seduction. If I was going to get anywhere with Justine and Reid, I had to make my move, now.
I squinted my eyes so I could barely make out the figure in my doorframe and threw my hair over my shoulder with a toss of the head. That's how women seduce men in movies, right? They give them a sexy-eyed look and a gentle breeze starts to pick up, even if they're not outside, and their hair starts to flow freely and beautifully, making the men they're trying to seduce weak in the knees. Matt's face contorted as I tripped lightly while walking unsteadily, closer towards him. He looked taken aback as if I were ill with some sort of infectious disease.
"Your eyes are twitching and I think I just heard your neck pop." He backed away from the doorframe and into the hallway. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'll be even better if you come inside." I spoke in my sexy voice. It was a cross between Scarlett Johanssen and Julia Stiles. Who am I kidding? I sounded like a man! I motioned to him with one finger. "Come on, I won't bite." I grinned widely. "Too hard." I stopped walking when I was a few inches from his face and laughed, again.
Either my seduction freaked him out or he was feeling pretty guilty, because the second I leaned forward for just a quick peck on his lips, he bolted. Fast. He was insanely fast too. One second he was standing in front of me, his head tilted and his eyebrows raised with confusion, and the next he was gone.
I stood there, kissing the air for a few seconds before I realized that people were passing by… and staring. So it's safe to say my first plan didn't work. But I was off to start Plan B (and no, I'm not referring to the morning after pill).
The only problem is that I had no idea what my Plan B was going to be. So instead, I slammed the door shut and rummaged around my dresser drawer looking for my hot pink iPod. Alanis Morresette, here I come!
"One, two, three… I'm only counting to twenty not infinity this time… four, five…" Tyler's voice trailed off from across the lawn.
"Hurry, before he finds us." I whispered. "Not there, he always looks there first." Reid pointed to the space underneath the patio table. "Plus, that's where he was hiding when we found him." Reid did have a point. Creativity was not my friend.
"Then where?" I threw my hands up in protest.
"Shh, he can hear you. Follow me." Reid turned on his heel and started running towards the front of the house. "Hurry up slow poke!" He yelled over his shoulder.
"Shut up! I'm running as fast as I can." It was true, I was running as fast as I could. Running in Barbie's plastic dress up heels was not as easy as it sounds. I threw the pink feather boa over my shoulder like I would to a scarf, picked up the hems of my frilly Barbie dress, and started running even faster. My plastic heels were clicking on the pavement as I charged after Reid.
He looked both ways before running across the street, and I did the same. I was catching up to him, my heels still clicking against the concrete, as I inched closer towards him. I could hear Tyler calling after us in the background but that didn't matter. We were no longer playing 'Hide and Seek' and instead were sprinting across the street, racing each other towards the other side. My heel caught on a piece of loose gravel, sending my body flying across the road, and I landed on my hands and knees. I looked up with tears in my eyes. I wasn't just embarrassed. I was in pain too. My ankle was twisted and my knees were scraped up.
xx
"You scraped those knees up pretty bad and your ankle is broken in two different places." Dr. Morgan spoke to me as if I were an adult. I liked him. He also gave me a lollipop, but that's not the reason why I liked him.
"Does that mean I'm getting a cast?" My teeth had turned blue, thanks to the sugar-free candy.
"For 6 weeks." He looked down at the chart in his hands and then looked back up at me. "That means you can have all your friends sign it."
I stared at him blankly. Was I supposed to be excited?
"Thank you Dr. Morgan." My mother spoke for me. She was sitting down in the chair opposite him. "Eliza will be extra careful, won't you dear?" She looked over at me, with her red curly hair lightly blowing in the air conditioned room.
"Sure." I shrugged my shoulders. All I cared about was my blue lollipop.
xx
"It itches so bad!" Reid couldn't possibly understand the uncomfortable position I was in. My cast was up to my mid-calf and I hadn't been able to wash my foot for an entire three weeks. It smelled funny and it itched so bad that I had accidentally broke a plastic ruler trying to satisfy my itch a few days ago.
"Stop moving!" He demanded, using the green marker to make some sort of design.
"I can't help it." I stated matter of factly. "What are you drawing?"
"You'll see once I'm finished." He bit on his lower lip as he continued the slow process of drawing on my cast. I wiggled my toes, hoping it would help ease the itching. It didn't. Instead Reid complained until I stopped. Apparently Van Gough was working on his masterpiece and he couldn't work when I moved around.
A few minutes passed by until Reid proudly exclaimed that he was finished. I turned my body so that I could see my leg.
"Prepared of Reid?" I couldn't quite make out the letters, because I was reading them upside down. Underneath the statement were two stick figures, one drawn in pink, the other in green, holding hands.
"Property." Reid corrected. He had spelled 'property' with a 'd' instead of a 't.' We were only in the second grade, spelling wasn't a big concern for us. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were.
"Property of Reid? I don't get it. Is that supposed to be the Pink power ranger or just a pink dot." Even at the age of eight, my sense of humor had fully matured.
He looked at me with a serious expression on his face. "You're my girlfriend."
"Eww that's gross!" I snorted and pulled my leg away from him. "I'm just a girl that happens to be your friend." I corrected him.
"Yeah and that makes you my girlfriend." He looked at me with an expression that seemed to be saying 'duh!'
"I can not believe you punched Justine!" Cee was giddy with excitement. It was as if Christmas had come early. "She's such a bitch. Did you know that she made Norah cry the other day because Norah wouldn't do her art project for her? She also told Dave that Norah likes him and Norah swore to me that she thinks Dave is a nerd."
"Dave is kind of cute though." Naveed cut in. She was sitting next to me, going though the new Vogue magazine. I looked over at her and raised my eyebrow. "In a nerdy way." She looked at Cee and I sheepishly.
"He's captain of the Dungeons and Dragons team. He knows how to play chess. And in his free time, he studies. How nerdy can he be?" Cee laughed as she spoke. She did have a point.
"Do you remember, a few years ago, he performed his one man band thing for the talent show?" Cee started laughing harder. I could barely contain my composure as I remembered little Davey Michaels standing alone on the dimly lit stage, performing to The Thong Song, with a flue in one hand and a bazooka in the other.
"He's really nice!" Naveed whined while Cee and I exchanged looks.
"Ooooo, someone has a crush!" I teased her. Naveed's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she tried to cover her face with my magazine.
"Shut up! He's nice okay!" The magazine was still covering her face as she spoke.
"Davey and Naveed, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Cee and I sang along.
"You guys!" Naveed whined. "Please, please, please shut up!"
Cee and I only laughed harder.
"Do you guys want to go grab some coffee?" Naveed was desperately trying to change the subject.
Cee and I exchanged glances before agreeing.
xx
"Spencer's Coffee. You think with all the money our parents are paying them they could at least get a Starbucks." Cee complained as the three of us made our way into the dimly lit café. Depressing music was playing lightly in the background as we scrambled through the crowds of students already gathered at the scattered tables, some studying, some just sipping, towards the counter.
"Should I get the blended mocha or should I just stick with a regular coffee?" Naveed was mumbling to herself.
Cee and I stepped forward to place our orders when the barista turned around, and I nearly fainted on the spot.
"Well if it isn't Scrappy herself. What can I get for you?" Justine looked at me, and then at Cee. Her eye was fully bruised and the blue marking just above her upper lip was faded, and her skin itself was still a bit red, as if she had spent a great deal trying to wash the ink off. Oh, how I love ball point pens!
"Two large coffees." Cee said rather harshly. She pulled out four dollars and slapped them on the counter.
"Cream?" Justine's voice made me shiver.
"No." Cee answered. Truth is, Cee was starting to scare me. I knew she could pull the Bitch Card well, but not this well.
"Here." Justine slammed down the coffees on the counter and grabbed the money. "You owe me 5 cents." She held out her hand and waited, rolling her eyes for dramatic effect.
I placed a dime in her palm. "Keep the change." I winked at her and grabbed the coffees, and before I turned around, I complimented her on her upper lip. "I'd personally go for the Magnum P.I. 'stach, but good choice." I smiled and turned towards the condiment counter. I heard Naveed ramble off her order in the background.
"Did you see how pissed off Justine looked?" Cee asked me as she poured in packet after packet of Sweet and Low into her coffee. "She looked like she was about to burst."
I laughed. "Did you see that marking on her upper lip?"
Cee nodded.
"That's how I spend my detention."
Cee snickered. "You didn't."
I put the lid back on my coffee after I finished stirring a few packets of Equal into my coffee. "Oh, I did." I smiled widely. "I also grabbed Reid's penis."
Cee spit out her coffee all over the condiment counter. A few people turned around. "Sorry." She mumbled out, grabbing napkins and cleaning up her mess.
"I decided on the regular coffee, I didn't trust Justine making a blended drink." Naveed looked around at the coffee all over the counter. "Eww gross, who hacked this shit up?"
Cee blushed.
xx
"You did not grab Reid's thing!" Naveed nearly shouted at the top of her lungs. We were sitting outside on the lawn, even though the sun had faded behind the clouds and it looked as if it was about to rain. I shushed her repeatedly, I didn't want the entire student body to know what I had accidentally done during detention.
"I didn't do it on purpose." I retorted. I finished telling my two friends what had happened during detention and about my little run in with Matt.
"So what is Plan B?" Cee looked at me with her bright blue eyes. "I have no idea." I spoke bluntly. "All I know is that I have to get to Reid. And right now, the only way I can do that is through someone else, because he's not speaking to me."
"What is it with you and Reid anyways? You guys are sooo into each other yet you won't admit it to anyone else. It's only obvious." Naveed was insanely smart when it came to almost everything. But right now, she's wasn't smart.
Sometimes, Naveed could be so stupid.
"I don't like Reid." It was true. Romantically, Reid just wasn't the knight in shining amour type. All Reid Garwin knew was sex. And I wasn't a one night stand type of girl.
"Eliza, seriously." Cee and Naveed were both staring at me. It made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. I focused on my cup of coffee. Cee continued to talk. "You and Reid were like inseparable before high school and before Reid became a full-time man whore. You both rarely spoke when you were dating Bordy. Why do you think that is?"
I toyed around with the empty coffee cup in my hands while I answered her. "Because Reid hates Bordy."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because Bordy's best friends with Aaron Abbot."
"That's true, but that's not the only reason why Reid hates Bordy with a passion."
"Yeah Eliza, Cee's right. Reid hates Bordy because of you." Naveed spoke with assurance in her voice. I hated the fact that Naveed always thought that she was right. Most of the time, she is. Except for now.
"You guys are retarded." I replied casually. "It's not like that and it never was. Trust me."
"Okay, but why do you hate Justine so much?" Cee asked as she and Naveed glanced at each other. It was as if they were communicating silently, like telepathically or something.
"Because she's too timing Reid." This time, I was the one that spoke with assurance.
"Do you remember Teresa?" Naveed raised an eyebrow.
I nodded. "She was the slut that Reid dated for a few months. Why?"
"Why is she a slut? She wasn't two timing Reid." Cee asked.
"These questions are getting annoying!" I was starting to get pissed off. Why did no one believe me? I didn't like Reid like that! Did I? "I don't like Reid in that way, can't you just get over it."
"We never said you liked him." They spoke in unison. I went from slightly annoyed to really pissed off.
"No but you insinuated that. And besides, Reid deserves better than her!" I started screaming, causing people to turn around and stare at the commotion I was causing. "She doesn't deserve the ground he walks on! She doesn't even care about him! Instead she's using him to make her popularity status soar beyond Spencer's reputation and NO ONE has the balls to say anything to him about it! He doesn't deserve this! She doesn't get him like I do!"
My throat was starting to ache, I hadn't yelled that loud in years. Not since they had cancelled Clarissa Explains It All.
Cee and Naveed looked scared. I automatically felt bad for yelling at them.
Naveed's expression soon changed. She went from scared to excited in less than ten seconds. It was a tiny bit scary. "She doesn't get him like you do. Did you just hear yourself?"
Cee nodded, agreeing with Naveed. "She's right you know, subconsciously you want Reid. Get over it and admit it to yourself already. Everyone knows but you."
"Ahh!" I screamed and stomped off. They were supposed to be helping me figure out a Plan B, not interrogating me on my feelings towards a friend.
Feelings?
Sure I cared about Reid as a person. But in that way?
xx
I stopped walking before I entered the dorm room building. I needed a cigarette, desperately and sadly. I pulled out my smokes and lit one up. Instantly, my stress lifted up and away from my body and all I focused on was my tiny little cancer-ridden cigarette providing an unhealthy stress release.
"'Sup?" I heard a familiar voice greet me. I looked over towards the other side of the building and spotted Bordy, wearing his usual jeans and a t-shirt, standing with his back leaning against the building.
"Oh hey Bordy. I didn't see you there." I took another drag. The more I inhaled the fumes, the better I felt. It was as if all of my problems were floating away with every exhale I took.
"You look upset. Is everything okay?" He walked over and sat down next to me, resting his back against the building.
"I think I like Reid Garwin." I answered him and took out another cigarette.
I looked around the gymnasium and noted how packed it was. Prom was a pretty big deal, especially if you were Cee and I. We spent months leading up to it planning out every detail, from where to eat dinner at, to what type of jewelry we were going to wear. Cee and I both had our dresses picked out since we were sophomores.
I floated weightlessly against Bordy as we danced to the last slow song of the night. I was wearing an emerald green Versace dress and not only did I look fabulous but I felt pretty damn good too.
My slightly curled hair was resting against my shoulders as I closed my eyes and rested my head against Bordy's chest. The music was almost over and I wanted this feeling to last forever. Etta James, At Last, could faintly be heard as I concentrated on the rhythm of Bordy's heartbeat.
I opened my eyes as the two of us swayed lightly to the music. My junior prom had been perfect, from my date to my dress, everything seemed to fall into place. I smiled as I felt Bordy rest his chin against my head. Tonight had been flawless. Until, I made the mistake of looking over at the couple dancing a few bodies away from us.
Reid and Teresa.
Reid was saying something into her ear and she was giggling. I felt as though I wanted to vomit.
Teresa was a natural beauty, much to my disliking. She was born and raised in Argentina, and spoke with a thick accent that made all the boys swoon. She was tall and had a model's body despite the fact that she could eat all the boys under the table. And tonight, she looked like a supermodel. She was wearing a baby blue strapless gown, with sequins sewn in at the hems. Her hair was placed beautifully at the nape of her neck and her eyes sparkled brightly as she danced next to Reid. I wanted to hate her. But I couldn't.
Reid on the other hand, had ditched his fingerless gloves and was wearing a very flattering tux. His hair was actually combed and he didn't look as though he had just fallen out of bed, which he normally did. He looked mature and grown up and not at all the child I used to know. And as he danced there, with his arms around Teresa, he looked happy.
I really wanted Reid to be happy, and I remember thinking that I had wanted him to find someone like I had found Bordy, but when I had first heard he and Teresa were dating, happy was not the emotion I first felt. Instead I looked for reasons to hate Teresa, to hate Reid, and to hate the fact that they were together. I loved Bordy. I mean, I love Bordy. He is perfect in every sense. He is sweet, caring, and he loves me for who I am. But when I look at him my stomach doesn't flutter with thousands and thousands of tiny butterflies. My stomach only fluttered like that when I look at Reid.
I turned my gaze back towards Bordy and forced a smile. Tonight had been an amazing night.
"You should probably think about quitting." He eyed me as I pulled out a third cigarette from the box.
"I'll quit when I want to… and right now," I lit it up, "I don't want to."
"Point taken." He shrugged. "So is that why you're chain smoking?"
I looked over at him, and for the first time, in a long time, I didn't think of the Bordy I used to be in love with, I didn't think of the Bordy that had cheated on me with his best friend's girlfriend, and I didn't think of the Bordy that had broken up with me and shattered my heart completely. For the first time, in a long long time, I saw Bordy as a friend. Just a friend. Sure he was an asshole for cheating on me, but I had long since forgiven him. And up until now, I had been avoiding him at all cost, but as I sat there, smoking slowing on the cigarette that probably was going to give me lung cancer, I saw him for who he truly was. Just a friend.
What am I doing? He told me he was just staying in to study. Why do I have to be so paranoid? He's not cheating on me. He doesn't have a cheating bone in his body.
I walked as quietly as I could through the dark halls. I was only a few dorm rooms away from his.
I held my breathe as I pushed open the door to his dorm room.
"Oh my God!" I heard a voice scream out.
It was my voice. I hadn't recognized my own voice because it was thickly layered with shock.
Bordy was making out with Kira. Kira fucking Snyder. She had no shirt on and he was only in his boxers. They looked up at me with wide eyes. Bordy did have a cheating bone in his pathetic body. It was standing firmly erect, for my very own green eyes to see.
I closed the door and ran back towards my dorm room as fast as I could. Why was I not angrier? Bordy was supposed to be the love of my life, wasn't he?
"It's taken you this long to figure that out?"
"Figure what out?" I was confused.
"That you like Reid. I mean, it was obvious even before we ever started dating."
"Was it really?"
"Yeah, it was." He grabbed the cigarette from me and took a drag. "I heard about the whole scene you caused with Justine during P.E." I smiled remembering the sound my fist had made when it had connected with Justine's face. I was sadistic. "I didn't believe it at first, until I saw her black eye after school."
"Yeah, well, someone had to do it. You know she's with Reid and Matt." I spoke bluntly.
"The whole school knows it. I even think both Matt and Reid know it." He shrugged again as if it wasn't a big deal. "I mean, she is Justine Baker. What do they expect anyways?"
"That's what pisses me off! Why is she getting away with it? Why doesn't Matt or Reid care?" I looked down at my feet, silently cursing at myself for getting grass stains on my newest pair of Mary Jane's.
"Do you want my blunt and honest opinion?"
I nodded.
"He's just doing it to piss you off."
"What do you mean?" I wanted him to elaborate.
Thankfully, he did. "If he was really into her, and he found out she was playing him, he wouldn't put up with it. But he's not really into her and he does know about Matt. He's only still with her because it's pissing you off. He's doing it because he wants the attention from you."
I stared at my grass stained Mary Jane's for a long time. I was almost surprised to see that Bordy was still sitting next to me when I finally regained consciousness.
"What would you do, if you were in my position?" It was weird, asking your ex-boyfriend, who had cheated on you, for love advice. To be honest, I felt a little awkward asking him that myself.
"Tell him what you told me." His advice was simple, and totally guy like. It was obvious and lacked any detail whatsoever.
Tell him what you told me. That was simple, right?
xx
"Where were you? I was starting to get worried." Cee sounded like my mother.
"I was just smoking and talking with Bordy, that's all." I walked over towards my closet and pulled out a pair of Juicy Couture shorts and a matching tank. It was getting late and I hadn't even started my homework. But I desperately needed to get out of my school uniform. I was slowly starting to turn into Naveed.
"You were talking with Bordy?" She sounded as if she was in total disbelief.
I turned around and walked into the shared bathroom, to change out of my uniform and into my pajama's. "We were just talking, relax." I tried to reassure her through the bathroom door. I emerged a few minutes later wearing my shorts and tank.
"What were you guys talking about?" She pulled open her desk drawer and pulled out her journal.
"Reid." I said quietly and I swear I saw her smile as she started writing in her diary. I would bet anything that she was writing about me.
I sat down on my bed and pulled out my book bag and began the daunting process of homework well into the night. Thinking that my homework would help ease my mind off of my blonde friend, I was wrong. Way wrong. My creative writing paper for my English class had turned into a story about how a beautiful, sophisticated young woman had fallen for the rebellious, tattooed young man who happened to be her childhood friend.
At around 2 in the morning I finally printed out my paper and turned the lights off. Unfortunately for me, sleep was not in my future and I spent the rest of the night, tossing and turning, thinking about Reid.