Chapter nine—What's your type?

Christian looks at the door again for a moment before he turns back to me. "What was that all about?" he asks, moving back his sweat-soaked hair from his forehead.

"I—um, she—I, we . . ."

He gives me a weird look from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong with you?"

"I have to use the bathroom." I don't even give him a chance to respond as I swivel on my heels and practically sprint to the bathroom, almost slamming the door behind me. I sit on the toilet and rest my elbows on my knees as I hide my face in my hands. Why? Just why? All I wanted to do was go to a school that was far away from my mother and her creep-o husband, and yet I seem to have more problems being here than when I was at home.

I just don't understand how I got into this weird love triangle. Christian likes Victoria, Victoria likes me, I like Christian, and you would think I would feel flattered that one of the supposedly hottest girls across the street likes me, but I find myself having anxiety and maybe a little bit of nervous gas. I wonder how much Victoria would still like me if she found out I was a girl. Maybe that wouldn't matter to her and she would gladly change sexual preferences to be with me. Well I'm not okay with that. I'd rather be chased after by guys than unsuspecting lesbian girls. At least then I would find pleasure in the guy's chasing me, With Victoria it makes me feel . . . disturbed. If I wasn't in the middle of this problem, I would honestly find the whole dilemma quite amusing, but as the gods who continuously laugh at me would have it, I am in the middle of it and I'm not laughing.

Maybe I should just end the charade and go home. My secret is bound to be discovered with all of this love drama going on. No! Anything will be better than going back to that hellhole! I guess that's true. At least it's someone my age that is attracted to me and not a fifty-year old perverted man. But maybe I should move into a different hall so I don't have to constantly be around anyone. Clearly you forgot she has legs, she'll still be able to find you! Ugh, why can't my life be simple? I just wanted to be an inconspicuous fifteen-year old girl dressed as a boy with no drama or worries, but obviously that was too much to ask for.

"Andy?" Christian asks as he knocks on the door, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Are you almost done?"

I get up to open the door and walk past him without looking at him. "Sorry, I guess I ate some bad . . . um, food." Ugh, why is it even when your brain isn't working you still manage to embarrass yourself?

I hear him close the door and I go over to my bed and fall face down onto the mattress. I think of all of the things I can possible do or say to convince Victoria that I don't like her and why she wouldn't really like me without giving myself away. I can't think of anything, and my brain seems to short circuit when I think too hard about it. Maybe it's just not meant to be . . .

I wake up disoriented, blinking rapidly as the muted sunlight shines in through the windows. I lean up and look at the clock to see it's only five in the evening. I groan and bury my face back into my pillow.

"Have a nice nap?"

I jump and gasp, then turn over to see Christian casually lying on his bed with a notebook on his lap and his physics book laying on his bed in front of his crossed legs.

I clear my throat. "I, uh, I thought you left," I mumble, sounding shy and embarrassed as always when I'm around him.

He shakes his head while he stares at me, a smirk on his lips. I narrow my eyes at him. "What?" I ask, wondering why he's looking at me like that.

"You should see you hair." He snickers. "You look like one of those trolls."

I'm tempted to roll my eyes. Jeez, thanks, every girl likes to hear she looks like she's a troll when she wakes up. Well he doesn't know you're a girl, now does he? I run my hands through my hair as I sit up on the bed and try to fix the rest of my appearance.

"You know, you're quite entertaining when you sleep," he tells me, that distracting smirk still on his beautiful face.

I frown. "What are you talking about?"

"You were talking in your sleep."

I feel the blood drain from my face. Oh, no. What did I say?

"You were mumbling mostly, but I did make out Victoria's name. And mine. And something about parakeets, I think." He laughs as he watches my expression, but then it slowly darkens. "So you were dreaming about Victoria then?"

I feel my face flame as I look at my hands. "I . . . don't remember," I mumble.

"You're lying."

I swing my face toward him to catch his frown. "I'm not!"

"You're still lying."

I jump out of bed and glare at him. "Well . . . so what if I am! What's it to you who I dream about?"

"Do you like her?" he asks me, keeping his expression contained now.

"I—you—why are you asking me all these questions?"

"I only asked one question," he mutters.

I huff out an aggravated groan and head for the door, but before I can get there Christian is out of bed and in front of the door, blocking my exit.

"You can't leave."

I take a step back, my heart rate spiking at his close proximity. Why does he have to smell so amazing? "Why not?"

"We still need to talk about Victoria and why she was here talking to you."

I catch myself before I roll my eyes at him, then shake my head and say, "I'm hungry. We can talk about it when I get back from the cafeteria."

"I'll just go with you," he says, slipping on his house shoes and leading me out the door. "I'm hungry too, so two birds one stone." He shrugs after his explanation.

I do roll my eyes this time. I thought boys were the simpler of the two sexes, and yet boys at this school have completely proven that theory wrong.

I try to put as much distance as possible between us as we walk to the cafeteria together. I can see him taking quick glances at me from the corner of my eye but I ignore him, not ready yet to talk about the weird conversation I had with Victoria. What did she mean anyway by she'll show me who my type will be and her parents will be happy about her being with an honest boy? The girl is starting to sound as weird as you are.

When we enter the threshold of the cafeteria I see Drew and Luke sitting at one of the tables close to the salad bar and let out a sigh of relief. I see Christian scowl at me, knowing that this is my way to hold off our conversation, but I just continue to ignore him. I nod my head at the boys in greeting before I go to the counter and order myself a sandwich, then go back to the table and sit across from Luke and next to Drew. Christian sits next to Luke, a scowl still on his face.

"Are you ready for the fundraiser tomorrow?" Drew asks, and I want to groan and bolt, already tired of talking about that damn fundraiser.

"Yeah, I guess." I shrug as I take a huge bite out of my sandwich so my mouth is full and they can't ask me anymore questions, at least not for a few moments.

"I'm sure you are," Christian mumbles petulantly, narrowing his eyes at me. "Victoria was in our room when I got back from our game," Christian tells Drew and Luke and then proceeds to tell them what he saw and heard as she was leaving the room.

I sigh again and this time give into the urge to roll my eyes. "I didn't agree or disagree with anything she said," I try to defend myself.

Luke laughs. "Like that really matters, dude. She must be really desperate to risk getting suspended from school for a week."

I frown at him. "What are you talking about?"

"If an administrative or any other authoritative adult were to find a student of the opposite sex in one of the dorms, it's an automatic suspension. Apparently Westwood doesn't want to be seen as one of those schools that encourage teen pregnancy and the distribution of STDs, so they're really strict on that kind of stuff," Drew answers with a nonchalant head nod.

Well I wonder what would happen to me if they found out I was really a girl? I guess it's safe to assume and automatic expulsion. I wonder if it would be stupid to ask if I was caught if I can enroll at the all-girls school. You really do come up with some really brilliant ideas, you dork.

"Wow." Is all I manage to say as about a thousand thoughts rush through my mind at once.

"So what did she say to you?" Luke asks me, taking a bite out of his cheeseburger.

"Huh?" I mumble.

Luke smirks at me, obviously amused by my confused state. "What did Victoria say to you back in your dorm room?"

"Uh . . ." I take a quick glance at Christian and then look away just as fast. Oh, man, if I tell him what she said to me he's going to hate my guts even though I haven't done anything to lead the girl on. "She was talking about the fundraiser and meeting her parents, and something about how she's going to help me find out what my type is."

I look up and find all of them giving me confused looks. "She wants to help you find out what your type is?" Drew asks with a furrowed brow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

I shrug. "She also said something about finally introducing an honest boy to her parents." I glance up at Christian and see him looking at me with a myriad of emotions swirling through his eyes.

Luke runs his hands over his stubbly chin with a thoughtful frown. "An honest boy . . . what's an honest boy? And how would she help you figure out a type? How does someone not know what they're type is?"

We're all quiet as we all take in Luke's comments and then Drew breaks the silence by saying, "Maybe a virgin wouldn't know what his type of girl is but even before I lost my virginity my type was just female."

I look down and will the blush to just stay away for once, but when I look back up once I feel like I'm no longer in danger of combusting into a blazing fire of embarrassment, I see three pairs of eyes looking at me with the same question in their eyes.

I try to school my face into one of complete innocence. "What?" I ask, trying to sound nonchalant, but know I fail terribly.

"Andy, are you a virgin?" Luke asks me.

I look at everything else but them as I will the floor to collapse under me and save me from the embarrassment.

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I hope this chapter answers most of the questions asked about Victoria ;)

SS&G xoxo