Chapter 3: What is Going On?

Let's just say that no matter how loud you can scream, a childish guy whose heart you just broke can scream much, much louder. "GO AWAY!" he'd screamed, "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Trust me, that probably made me a good deal deafer than I already am; it wasn't the best combo. So, obviously, I didn't get any answers. Well, what's done is done. He wasn't right for me, so I broke up with him. I did what was right for me…so why do I feel so bad?

That was the question that had bugged me for hours. It even stayed with me as I lay in bed trying to sleep. Why did it feel like Arsenio was lying? Why did it feel like there was something wrong with the way he acted? I shook my head; there was something seriously wrong with the picture. I just didn't know what it was, but I was determined to find out.

The next morning, I got up early, just to find Aresenio and try and force some answers out of him. However, his room was empty when I got there, and when I went to ask my parents where he had gone, they told me he had gone out for a run just a few minutes ago. Damn it, I swear that dude was just avoiding me. However, he didn't know how Elena acted. If she wanted something, she was damning well going to get it.

That day, the first thing I heard when I got to school was Chloe hissing in my ear, "So how did the date go?"

I glanced her, "How do you think?"

"Fail?"

"Absolutely. He was acting like a total girl, so I broke up with him, and now he never wants to look at me again. He's so pissed off at me."

"Well, that's kind of a good thing too, isn't it? I mean, it's not like you were that into him in the first place."

Was I though? Did I really still like Arsenio even though he acted like a total baby? What was it about him that kept me thinking about him? Was it the fact that he seemed to have done it on purpose?

"'Him?' I thought you said I didn't have any competition," a voice said behind us.

Chloe and I spun around to see a smiling Daniel. "Daniel!" Chloe said in surprise, "What're you doing here?"

"I thought I'd walk you two to class, if you don't mind my company," he said. Dude didn't even bat an eye as he said that.

Chloe and I both turned a bright shade of red and stuttered our agreement, even as my head was screaming 'Keep it cool Elena!' at me over and over again. "Why is he doing this?" I wondered, "What's up with the sudden attention?" It should have thrown me off way more than that, but for some reason, I felt the need to just ignore the oddity of the situation and play along. Why though, I have no idea.

He walked beside me towards our classroom, chatting easily with Chloe, as I stood sandwiched in the middle. Thoughts raced through my mind, but my earlier confusion about Arsenio completely vanished from my mind, and now all I could think about was Daniel.

No matter how much I tried to think about Aresenio, the thoughts would instantly escape me. It struck me as weird even back then, but I didn't think too hard about it, thinking that it was just because I liked Daniel better. Maybe later it'll strike me that that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

As we reached mind and Chloe's classroom, Daniel smiled a golden smile at her and said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak to Elena outside alone for a moment, Can you excuse us?"

She nodded and sent a wink at me as she went into our classroom. I turned to Daniel, my heart thumping loudly in my ears. He pulled me into the shadows of the nearby stairwell and pulled me close, smiling lightly. He bent his head close to mind and spoke softly, but it was like he was speaking through a megaphone; I could hear every word, every vowel so clearly. He was so close I could feel his warm breath on my forehead. "So," he whispered, "Would you like to tell me who this 'he' is that you went out with yesterday?"

My cheeks were already on fire, but the very mention of Arsenio made my cheeks flame that much more. "He's the son of a family friend," I whispered, "He asked me out the day before last, and I agreed. We went out yesterday, but it was a disaster." Why am I telling him this? But I couldn't stop; it was like my mouth had a mind of its own. "The last thing he said to me was that he never wanted to see me again because I broke up with him right after the movie."

"Oh? Is that so? Then might I presume that he is no competition to me?" I felt a small pressure on my forehead and my cheeks turned even brighter of a red, even more so when he didn't take his lips away.

"Yeah," I said with a breathy voice, "You can."

"Then can I have the pleasure of taking you out to dinner tomorrow night?"

My heart practically stopped beating with those words. He was asking me out. Me. Elena Sky. Daniel Centanio, the golden boy of the school, was asking me out. Either the world was very, very cruel and this was some sick joke, or I was dreaming, because there was no way in hell this could be real.

As if he sensed my thoughts, he laughed out loud, "Breathe, Elena, breathe. No, you're not dreaming and no this is not some sick joke. I really want to take you out tomorrow. Say yes, please?"

I looked up into his face, ignoring the fact that he seemed to have answered the very words I had been thinking. Then, I said the dumbest thing ever, "Why do you want me?" Stupid, stupid, Elena.

He raised an eyebrow at me, looking amused as I tried to hide my face. He laughed out right and tilted my chin up, making me look at him. "Don't be embarrassed," he said huskily, "You have a right to ask that, especially since I've never really paid any attention to you. The truth is, I've always watched you from afar, I just pretended not to notice you. The passion that you do everything with, it just drives me crazy. Do you understand? I want you because you are you."

Man, this guy really knew how to drive a girl crazy, didn't he? I swear my heart was pounding so heart he could hear it; that was how loud it was. If I placed my hand over my heart I probably wouldn't even by able to feel my heartbeat with how fast it was going.

"So is that a yes?" he asked, "Will you go out with me?"

My lips didn't even hesitate to form the words, "Yes."

He smiled brilliantly at me and placed a small peck on my forehead, "I gotta head to class now. Talk to you later?"

I only had time to give a dazed, "Sure," before he was speeding away, smiling hugely. I wasn't even aware of it as I walked back towards my classroom and to my seat. I was still out of it even when Chloe hissed for details in my ear. With stumbling words, and a dreamy tone, I told her what had transpired between Daniel and I.

Even when she was throwing notes on my desk and giving off small whoops, I was still unaware of what was happening. Everything happened so fast; it was all so sudden that my system just seemed to shut down on itself. I knew though, that when I could process what was going on, I'd be jumping up and down in ecstasy.

But now, I suddenly found myself thinking about Arsenio and Daniel together, comparing them, seeing which of the two was better for me. There was Arsenio, the mysterious man that seemed to speak to my soul, and seemed to try and get rid of me, and there was Daniel, the golden boy that openly admitted his feelings for me, enough to risk being late to class.

Why were guys suddenly hounding me all of a sudden? And why did they have to both be guys that caught my interest? If they had to be guys, why couldn't they at least be like, someone really boring and someone really cool that I liked? Why did it have to be two guys that both intrigued me? Sure, I'd had a crush on Daniel for a really long time, but with Arsenio in the picture, it was harder to decide, especially since he seemed to be trying to make me hate him.

Why did he do that? And what was he about to call me? A- something? I didn't buy the excuse that he had put up the manly side just to attract me, not for one second; a guy that looked like that did not, in any way, seem like the feminine type. So what was he? What was his game? Why did he want me to hate him?

But most importantly, what the hell is going on?