Author's Note: I dare you to read my story!

Day Nine: One and Only by Adele

I looked over to see my best friend, Spencer, chewing on the end of her pen as she read Romeo and Juliet.

I quickly went back to my own homework as she began to glance over at me. If she saw me staring at her, she didn't make a comment on it.

I didn't know why, but I got weird feelings around Spencer. It was indescribable. I wasn't sure what had changed about our relationship as of recently, but something was a lot different.

She was on my mind and…not in a friendly way. Sometimes when I dreamt at night…she was there. As creepy and stalker-ish as it sounded, I kind of liked it.

The distance between the two of us during these afterschool study sessions were draining, for some reason. I couldn't bring myself to make even two full minutes of conversation alone with her without feeling awkward. I needed a mutual friend to be there, maybe just to keep me from making an ass of myself (Hanna and Caleb were usually pretty good buffers).

I wasn't sure what to do with myself anymore. I couldn't just keep sitting around, waiting, too scared to make a move.

Why did she have to make things so hard?

"Are you okay over there?" Spencer asked me, looking up from her book and over at me.

"Um…yeah." After a minute's hesitation, I put down the book I was holding. "I can't study anymore. Do you want to leave?"

She looked a little bit crestfallen, like she really wanted to keep reading Romeo and Juliet. Reluctantly, she agreed, gathering her books and leaving the library with me.

We went over to this old movie theatre which played classics like Hitchcock movies. This day, they were playing Psycho, one of my personal favorites.

"You've never seen Psycho before?" I asked, incredulous.

She shook her head. "I've heard allusions to it, more specifically, the shower scene, but I never actually watched it. I heard it's creepy."

I nodded. "You might be a little scared. Wait, no; it's not scary so much as it is creepy," I explained.

She sighed. "You'll be here to hold me if I get scared, right?" she asked playfully.

I gulped. If only she knew how much she was torturing me…

"Right."

The painful feeling of my own fingernails digging into the flesh on my thigh didn't stop me from doing it. I didn't want to show him, but I was terrified.

"Spencer?"

I jumped and let out a small yell when he said my name. I looked around and saw that there were only about four other people in the movie theatre.

"Are you okay?" he inquired cautiously.

I just nodded. I attempted to shake off all of the nervousness. I rubbed my arm before taking a handful of popcorn to settle my stomach.

"We can leave if you're too scared."

I could tell he was trying to be sincere. But I couldn't let him see just how terrified I was. "Are you challenging me, Cavanaugh?" I asked quietly, trying not to disturb the other people in the theatre.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. "No, not at all," he answered. He gave me a small smile reminiscent of Noel Kahn before he said, "In fact, I dare you to watch the rest of the movie."

I gave him a small smirk as I sat back in the seat, only to remember how horrifying this movie was.

Stab, stab.

I winced as I watched the scene unfold.

"Not thinking of chickening out?"

I gulped, but shook my head solemnly. No, I wasn't about to let Toby Cavanaugh, of all people, see me scared. He was the last person I wanted to see in this state.

"Why don't you just do it?"

I chewed on the inside of my lip. Why didn't I just say it?

The blonde sitting across from me scoffed. "Come on, Toby. Everyone knows you like her except for her. Just tell Spencer. I'll bet she likes you, too," she assured me.

I sighed. "How can you be sure?"

She looked at me incredulously. "Are you kidding me? I'm her best friend! Of course, I'd know how she feels about you! But you need to be the one to tell her how you actually feel. Come on, Toby! I'm sure she feels the same," she repeated.

I ran my hands through my hair nervously. Finally, I let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, you're right. I'm going to tell her. I'm going to tell her that I like her and just get over it. I mean, what's the worst that can happen, right?"

She nodded in agreement. "Exactly. What's going to happen? The worst that can happen to you is that she says no," she told me.

I gulped. The prospect of her saying no…I just realized how much it would hurt me.

How much it terrified me.

Despite that realization, I was flagging her down in the hallway later that day so I could talk to her at lunch. She agreed.

But when I saw her in the courtyard, she was talking to Andrew Campbell.

I hated that guy. He was on the Debate Team, right? I think he was some book nerd who was in most of her classes.

I stood as nonchalantly as possible out of the doorway. When I saw Andrew come into the building with a smile, I decided it was safe to go in there to talk to her.

Spencer smiled when she saw me. "Hey, Toby!" she greeted.

She was extremely chipper. "Hey. What was that about?" I asked.

"Oh, Andrew?" I nodded. She shrugged. "He said he wanted to ask me about a meeting with the Debate Team and then he just asked me out."

My heart sunk a little bit. Doesn't mean she said yes…

"What did you say?"

"I said yes," she told me.

That sound you just heard was the sound of my heart breaking.

The rest of the day, Toby seemed to be avoiding me. It kind of sucked, especially since I didn't know exactly what was wrong.

I got a funny feeling around him which really agitated me. And what really sucked was to see him so saddened by something I couldn't understand and try to mask that pain.

I wondered if he thought about me like I was thinking about him. I wondered if he looked at me kind of like a lost puppy dog or if he thought of my voice when I wasn't around. Kind of in the creepy way that Andrew sometimes looked at me.

I wondered if I looked at him in the same way.

In hindsight, I wasn't exactly sure why I even agreed to Andrew's idea of going out. Truthfully, I didn't even like him that much. I guess I just liked the idea of being with someone.

But what if I didn't even want a guy like Andrew? Honestly, he was just too much like me to ever like him.

More I thought about it, the more I realized that the person I was really attracted to was Toby.

So how was I supposed to deal with this whole debacle? I wished I had never said yes to that stupid date. Maybe I could've just asked Toby out. It was non-traditional, but I've never been a passive kind of girl, and I was fine with that.

I just wished that Toby showed up first.

"Hey," I heard a small, shaky voice say behind me.

I turned around to see a tear-stricken Spencer. The mere sight of it made me really sad.

"What happened, Spence?"

She bit her lip, quivering. "Can I talk to you someplace more private?"

I nodded and she led me out of the library and to this small room that most people didn't know about. It was like a small congregation spot for our group the first few years of high school. She turned on the dim light in the room.

"What's wrong?" I questioned again.

She sniffled. "It's about Andrew. He broke up with me," she said, her voice laced with uncertainty.

I felt my body tense a little bit. It was just that familiar rush of testosterone that I got from Spencer being so saddened. It just made me really angry and made me want to defend her to the end.

"I just…I don't know what I could've done wrong! I thought I was doing everything right! I thought I was being a perfect girlfriend!" she explained, tears falling freely now.

"Oh, Spencer. Nobody's perfect. If Andrew can't accept that you're amazing with your flaws, he's not worth it. One day, I promise you that you will find someone who accepts and loves everything about you, even the things that you find to be annoying or a flaw in your character."

But nobody ever told you that I want to be that person.

I watched Toby as he wiped away some of my tears.

"Don't cry…don't cry," he whispered to me, his voice still wavering as he attempted to help me.

I wanted him, in that moment, to envelop me in a hug. Somehow, I just knew he would be an amazing boyfriend, simply because of the way he acted with his friends.

"Toby?" I asked, my voice still a little bit shaky. I was more certain about this than everything else, but rejection was still a pressing fear in my mind.

I wasn't sure why I was so scared, as I had experienced this with other crushes. But Toby was very different; he was sincere and not like other guys. He took people's emotions into account, while also being expressive about his own emotions.

I felt his arms around me and it felt right.

"Hey, um…do you want to come over my house later?" I asked as I wiped away a stray tear.

He nodded. I let out a sigh of relief. I just wanted to move on. I guess I knew for a very long time that Andrew wasn't really the person I wanted to be with. He was too safe and—in all honestly—pretty boring. Toby was exciting and charming and we just got along really well. He was protective and sweet and loyal and I loved him for it.

And I think I loved him as more than just a friend.

I sat down on Spencer's bed, flipping through her biology textbook. I really hated that class. It was boring. The only upside about it was that Hanna was my lab partner, and no class was a boring class with Hanna Marin.

I laughed thinking about it. Spencer came in and jumped on top of her bed.

"Thanks for coming over," she said.

"So…what do you want to do?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to talk," she said.

I nodded. "Okay." After a moment of thinking, I began to speak again. "But first, I have something I really need to say to you."

Was I actually about to do this?

I regret nothing…

"I just can't stop thinking about you, Spence. I hate how much Andrew hurt you. I was always kind of jealous, because I wanted to be with you this whole time. You're the only girl I've ever wanted to be with for a really long time, but…you were always with him. Still, I just want to be with you, and if you give me a chance, I would do everything I can to make you happy. And I don't really care about Andrew or whoever you dated. I just…I really like you. I want to be able to call Spencer Hastings mine."

She looked at me for a moment. "Did you really just say all of that?" she asked. I couldn't tell if it was a faint smile on her lips.

I just nodded numbly.

She finally allowed herself to smile. "Really?" It sounded like relief washing over her.

Before I could process what was happening, she had reached over to kiss me.

"I know how hard it is to admit to that. I mean…I've been trying to come up with the courage to tell you the same thing," she confessed.

"Really?" I asked, stunned.

She nodded slightly. "Yeah, I have been thinking about it for a while."

I nodded. She smiled.

"So then, can I just say something?" I asked.

She nodded.

"I dare you to let me take you out on a date."

She smiled mischievously. "Just say when and where," she responded calmly.

I nodded. "Tonight at eight to see that new horror movie."

She bit her lip, trying to hide her grimace. I laughed.

"Fine, fine. I dare you to…kiss me."

She quickly acted on my dare, before pulling back from the chaste kiss. "But I do want to go on a date with you, just…not to a horror movie."

I nodded, knowing that this was the case. "So then…do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow night?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'd love to."

AL3110: Well, I hope this lived up to your high expectations. Though, I have to admit, I am very excited for One-Shot 33: I Am Not A Robot by Marina & the Diamonds.

eveningshades1107: Let's pretend that the faceless girlfriend is Chanel, so maybe you guys don't hate me so much. And thank you. I did see your review before I left, so thank you for the well wishes. And Ah! I'm glad someone else also loves Mona.

dreamcatch3r: Thank you very much, dear! I hope you liked this one-shot! And I hope that you do get the opportunity to go to London, because it's beautiful.

Spobyforever259: *GASP* But I'll let you live since you decided you like Marina :) And you might not really live under a rock. Most people have no clue who she is. They just kind of know her song "How to Be a Heartbreaker". She's so different from normal pop, and I love her for it. I genuinely don't think I have a least favorite song by her. All her songs are so different and raw and unique. I love all of them. They're all gems. I think I do have "Radioactive" in my playlist for the collection. And it's okay. I could go on and on about Marina forever and ever and ever. Ha ha, I love how invested my readers get in the stories. And the trip was nice, but I am really sick of all the people in my class.

prettylittlespobette: Oh, I'm not considering. I have 3 slated for the story: "Our First Time" from Doo-Wops & Hooligans; "It Will Rain" from that Twilight soundtrack; and "If I Knew" from Unorthodox Jukebox. I really love "If I Knew". I think that's one of my favorite songs. I also really like "Locked Out of Heaven".

I'll take what I can get when it comes to reviews, but I really hope you enjoyed it!

The next one shot will be "Alone" by Heart, and I am pretty excited for it. Until next time! -Kayson :)