Chapter 2: Fiasco to the Max

I knew I was going to regret it; I just knew I was, and you know what? I was proven right. I was so frickin right it's not even funny anymore.

See, the day started out just fine, in fact, it started out really, really good. My dad dropped me off at school, and I went in to find Chloe and tell her about Arsenio. When I found her and told her, she squealed and said that I was lucky to have such a cute guy in my house. Then, when I told her about how he acted after dinner, her mouth dropped open. The first thing she said was, "That is the weirdest thing ever." Let me tell you, I agree with her completely. I guess it makes sense though; no guy in the world is that perfect. See, he has perfect looks, perfect brains, and he's every girl's dream guy, except the damn personality. I mean seriously! The dude is a wimp. Good Lord, I'm being so mean, I must be channeling Winsey or something. This is so messed up.

We spent most of the rest of the day talking about Arsenio, because, well, he was the weirdest thing that had happened in a few days. At lunch, we sat in our normal spot, and started eating, still talking about him. A shadow fell over us, and I looked up to see, to my surprise, "Daniel, what are you doing here?"

He shrugged, a heart-stopping smile on his face, "Can I eat with you guys?"

I looked at my friends, who were all looking at him in awe, and some of them were blushing like mad, "Sure," Chloe said, before I could say anything, "Sit down, talk with us. Where are your other friends?"

He dropped his bag next to mine and sat down, our shoulders just touching, "The guys are ditching with their girlfriends, and I can't stand all those idiots who think it's cool to ditch class." See what I mean by golden boy? He doesn't like to skip, but why would he come to hang with us? I'm not complaining or anything, but why us? Out of all the groups in the school, why choose us?

I asked it too, "Why us though? Why not any of the other people?" Chloe elbowed me in the ribs when she realized what I was saying, which made the last few words a little pained.

He shrugged, and flashed a hundred watt smile at me, "Cuz I think you and your friends are hot."

All of our mouths fell open; that was probably the last thing I was expecting. He had his pick of any girl in the school, and he thought we were hot? Either this is a dream, or a seriously messed up day, but if it's a dream, do not pinch me, I don't want this to end; it's too good to be true. "Are you serious about that?" I finally managed to squeak.

He grinned and put his ear close to my mouth and whispered, "Especially you, Elena."

I swear I thought I would die at that minute; my face was so hot you probably could have cooked a full meal on it, and they would all be well done. That was how fiercely I was blushing, and I wasn't even joking about it either. My face was honestly that red. He didn't say anything afterwards, and the rest of lunch went by a good deal smoother after that, though I have to admit I couldn't help but wish he had kept talking to me. Though I will say that he was flirting shamelessly with me as if the others were not there. I can honestly say I had a very good meal that day.

After school though, when I left with my friends, I found a guy in a motorcycle sitting outside the front doors. When he saw me, he started waving. Damn, that can't be… It seems fate didn't want to be on my side today though. Sure enough, it was Arsenio.

"Hey, who is that?" Daniel asked.

I jumped; I hadn't realized that he had followed us out, "It's just a family friend," I said hastily, "He came to pick me up."

"He?" Daniel repeated, a hint of amusement in his voice, "It's a he? Does that mean I have competition already? I was hoping for a few weeks before guys started swarming you." Does he know how to charm a girl or what?

"Don't worry, I don't think about him that way." "Or, I don't anymore. I used to, and I almost kissed him last night too, but that's a story for a different time," I finished in my head. Yeah, there's some stuff he was better off not knowing about. I stood there for a minute before waving awkwardly to my friends and heading over to Arsenio.

"Hey!" he gushed. Why couldn't him acting like a girl have been a dream?

"Hey," I replied, sighing.

"Are you ready for the movie?"

"Yeah." Well, I had already agreed to it, I guess I couldn't back down now, no matter how much I want to. His face seemed to get a little darker before clearing up again.

"Okay!"

He patted the seat behind him, motioning for me to get on. I put on the helmet he gave me and he made sure I had my arms securely around his waist before he revved the engine and sped off. We arrived at Metrotown with almost 20 minutes before the start of the movie, so he asked, "Want to get something to eat?"

I shrugged, "Sure." We walked to the food court and he bought me a blizzard from Dairy Queen and a milkshake for himself. We found a booth and sat down, both of us saying nothing. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence, but it wasn't very comfortable either; it's just that neither of us knew what to say, it was that simple. We finished eating in silence, and then he asked, "So, was it good?"

For a minute, I thought I heard a ghost of his snarky attitude, but it seems I was mistaken, "It was alright," I shrugged.

"I know this isn't your idea of a perfect date," he replied, "Who would want a guy that acts like a girl for a boyfriend, after all?"

"You don't always act like a girl; you're not acting like one now," I pointed out in return.

He shrugged, "Don't remind me; I'll go back. So, like, when do you want to head over? Cuz the movie starts in like, 10 minutes!" Damn, he was back in his girly mode. "We're going to watch 'Ghost'!"

"Ghost? Isn't that a romantic tragedy?"

"Totally! That's the point!" With those words, he practically dragged me out of my chair and towards the theatre. When we got there, we bought our tickets and went in. It was the weirdest movie ever. I don't mean weird as in the movie itself was weird, it was actually pretty good, it was the fact that a 18-year-old guy was sitting next to me sobbing his eyes out at the sad parts, even when I didn't. It doesn't get much weirder than that, trust me. I listened to him 'aw' and cry with the rest of the girls around me, thinking that I was so dropping him when the movie was over.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the movie ended and we left. "That was the best movie ever," he sobbed, blowing his nose loudly on a napkin. He'd been doing that ever since we left the theatre almost 5 minutes ago. "It was so sweet!"

"Yeah, it was."

"You didn't like it?"

"I liked it," I said hesitantly, "But, Arsenio, it was kind of awkward and embarrassing with you crying next to me when I'm supposed to be the one crying, since I'm the girl."

"What? Just because I'm a guy I can't cry?" he demanded, turning on me.

"I don't mean that…okay, yes, I do mean that. It's just, you don't usually see a guy crying at the movies, and you almost never see the guy begging to go to a chick flick. It was just really odd, and I don't really think I like it that much."

"So what are you saying?" His voice sounded so cold, so hurt.

"I don't want to go out with you anymore.," I said, looking up at him defiantly.

He blinked, "So that's it? No 'it's not you it's me' crap? No 'I hope we can still be friends'? That's it? You're just going to leave me and kick me out of your life?"

"Well, I was hoping we could be-"

"Save it, A- Elena, I don't want to hear it, I really don't." He turned without another word and headed towards the exit. He was walking so fast it was hard for me to keep up, even slightly jogging.

"Hey!" I called, "Arsenio! Wait up!"

He looked at me over his shoulder coldly, "Get your own ride home; I'll do what you want, I'll get out of your life. You'll never have to hear a word about me again. If I could have it my way, you would never have to see me again either."

And he just left me there. Just like that. He walked away, back to his motorcycle, and sped off without a glance backwards, and I just stood there looking like a complete fool. I don't know how long I stood there in shock, I just knew that I was starting to attract a lot of attention.

When I regained my mind enough to process what had happened, I huffed and made a face, "I can't believe he just left me like that! How could he!" I supposed I had been pretty mean though, after all, he was doing his best to be nice; I just hadn't really been all that in to him.

While I thought about that, I noticed something suspicious about that last look he gave me. What was it? He seemed to have a resigned look on his face, apart from the hurt and anger there. I also detected a hint of, what was that, satisfaction? But it was not satisfaction in a good way at the same time, more like, grim satisfaction; satisfaction in a bad way. Why would that be? Did he want me to ditch him? If that was the case though, why did it look so painful? My head was spinning with questions, but not nearly enough answers. It was too much for my brain to handle all at once. First, I had to find a way to get home.

I took out my wallet, "$10," I muttered, "Plenty enough to get home." I walked over to the bus station and hopped onto a bus, heading home. I walked the last few blocks home from the bus station, trying to clear my head of all the junk in it, and trying to just not think for a few minutes until I got home to the drama again.

When I got to my front door, I took a deep breath and opened the door. "You're home!" my dad said, smiling from the kitchen. I looked around; no sobbing Arsenio, not yelling parents, what happened? "Where are the Riveras?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to act as if I didn't care, even though I swear my heart was going to burst out of my chest at any second.

"David, er, Dr. Rivera told me after he got home from work today that he found a place to stay not far from here, so they're just packing up."

"They're leaving?" I squeaked.

"They leave tomorrow afternoon," my mom said, "So you have time to say goodbye."

"Yeah, um, I'm just going to go to my room now," I replied, dazed. I walked to my room as quickly as I could without making it look suspicious, and closed the door behind myself before falling onto bed. "You know," I said aloud as I stared at my ceiling, "When I asked for drama this year, I didn't think I would actually get it." Wow, was my life messed up right now or what? I had a guy that I went out with once, and now hates me, and I have a really cute guy at school that suddenly wanted to hang out with me. What the heck am I supposed to do now? Well, there was the obvious answer, which was go out with Daniel and completely forget about Arsenio, but I didn't really want to forget about him. I mean, when I first met him, he was practically like a god; he was that awesome, but now, what happened to him? He said he was acting like that just to make me like him, but why did I get the sense that he was lying? Ugh, this is giving me a headache! Well, I guess there was only one thing to do then if I wanted answers; go straight to the source and scream until I got them.