Pretend (18 page)

             
"Crystal it is not what you think and will you be quiet
everyone is starting to stare.”

             
I couldn't stand around and listen to this anymore and so I stormed off towards the entrance leaving them to battle it out.

As I fought my way through the crowd of teens, I noticed the expressions on people's faces begin to change as they started to stare at me. I didn't really give a damn at this point.

             
"Hey slow down dude," I heard as I was walking past a row of lockers.

             
As I turned to face the person who was now holding my a
rm, I realised that it was my good friend Murphy
. He was s
tood with Taise, one
of our other friends.

             
"What's up with you? Y
ou like you've just seen a ghost?" He asked as I slowly began to move closer to the lockers.

             
"Nothing man
,
I'm just tired," I lied.

             
"Bro
,
if that's tired
,
then
I'm Justin
Bieber
. Now
,
what's
 
the problem
 
or should I say what's the name of the
 
chick that
 
is giving you problems?"

             
Just as I went to answer, I felt a pair of hands slip around my neck.

             
"Hey baby," Cayce said, as she looked into my eyes and flicked
her hair.

             
As I looke
d behind her, I could see Murphy
making grabbing
actions at her and licking his
lips
as Taise stood, shaking his head at him with an amused look on his face
. I had to try really hard to
keep the smile off of my face. Murphy was
such
an idiot
sometimes.

             
Suddenly my eyes shifted
behind them to where I could see April staring. I felt a funny feeling come over me as she continued to stare into my eyes. I couldn't help but notice that she looked sad but she brought it on herself by letting that jerk back into her life.

             
"How
are
you doing
,
beautiful?" I said to Cayce as I slipped my hand around her waist and laughed at a joke that didn't even exist.

             
"Oh, you
’
r
e
in a better mood today," she said as she began to tickle the side of my neck with her soft fingers.

             
I watched as April stormed off, back in the direction that she had come from.

             
"Hello," I heard Cayce say
as she tiptoed, to make eye contact with me.

             
“
She
looked
upset
,” Murphy mumbled as Taise shook his head
in agreement
.

             
“What?” I asked in confusion.

             
“April, didn’t you see her? I heard that Kyle’s sister got hit by a car after Crystal’s party
.
Apparently she
was
coming from some family thing
with her mom and they went to cross the road to get to their car when some lunatic came out of nowhere and hit her
. April’s close with the kid
,
so I’m guessing
that
she took it
quite
bad
ly
,” He continued.

             
"S
orry but I
’ve
got to go," I said as I quickly ran
off
in the direction that April had gone.
I really screwed up last night, I wished that I’d known about this then
maybe
things could have been different.

             
"Aiden!"
Cayce shouted after me as I ran off.

             
"
Yo
dude, wh
ere you going?" Murphy
shouted over the crowd of noisy teens.

             
Looking at my watch and seeing that I had five minutes left until the bell went, I quickly turned back around to face him.

             
"I've just got something to
sort out, I'll see you in homeroom," I shouted
before turning back around.

             
I had to find April...

I could literally feel the blood circulating through my veins as the image of Cayce wi
th her arms around Aiden's neck
kept po
pping into my head. That was the last straw.
I was not going to allow another
guy to make a fool of me again.
I'm done! It serves my right for even thinking about my best friend's brother in that way. Not that she was being much of a best friend right now anyway.

As I pushed through the crowds of people I couldn't help but ask m
yself, who could I really trust? Everyone seemed to want to hurt me right now, f
irst Kyle, the
n Crystal and now Aiden. Maybe
I would just be better off on my own. In fact,
that's exactly what I what I am going
to do from now on, look out for number one. No
more ‘door mat
April
’
anymore. Today would mark the last day that anyone would ever treat me like
that again.

             
Suddenly the all too familiar vibration of my cell phone interrupted my thoughts. I slipped
 
it out of my jean's
 
pocket in anger. I wasn't in the mood to hear what anyone had to say right now, especially since all
of
the p
eople that
 
it could possibly be
were annoying me at this very moment in time. So, let me guess Aiden, Crystal
, Kyle...Oh, it's Jake. Great, w
hat does he want?

             
Hey, sorry that I haven't been in contact but my cell's been
             
playing up. Hope we're still on for tomorrow? Crystal gave
             
me your address already. I can pick you up around 7, if that's
             
ok?

             
Tomorrow, oh gosh I completely forgot about that and who told Crystal to just go giving out my address!
Grrrr
.
Why was everything making me so damn mad? Usually I wouldn't mind, I would j
ust say thank you
 
but right now
she was at the top of the list of people in my bad books, so thanking her
 
was the
 
last thing on my mind. I'll have to deal with Jake later. To be perfectly honest, I am not in the mood to go anywhere with him and I need time to think of a convincing excuse as to why I can't make it.

             
I had five minutes left before the bell would go, so I quickly slipped into the girl's restroom to splash my face with a little water and calm down. No sooner did I walk in, I heard the door swing open and slam shut again within seconds. Did people have to make so much noise in the morning?

             
As I turned
around
to give the person a dirty look for disturbing my moment of peace, my jaw almost fell to the floor.

             
"What the hell are you doing in here? This is the girl's restroom. Are you crazy?" I shout, whispered.

             
"Yeah I know but I needed to talk to you," he said. He seemed to have been running from the look of his red cheeks and the slight pant in his voice.

             
"Aiden, I have nothing left to say to you," I said as I attempted to walk past him and walk out of the door.

             
"Please," he said as he gently grabbed my arm, preventing me from leaving.

             
"Just, hear me out.”

             
"What, l
ike you did with me last night?
I wanted you to hear me out but instead you drove off
,” I said in an angry tone.

             
“I’m really sorry, I had no idea about Kyle’s sister,” he said in a guilty voice.

             
“Well, you should have asked,” I fired back.

             
“Yes, I should have and I’m sorry,” he replied.

             
“A
nd
you
ignored my text this morning,
" I said in a frustrated voice
.
I don’t know why but it was becoming harder to stay mad at him even though I was trying my hardest.

             
"I left my phone at home, I haven't seen your text," he replied in a gentle voice.

             
"Oh, how convenient," I said as I folded my arms across my chest and raised one eyebrow in the air.

             
"It's true. Look, April, I know that I was a jerk last night and I'm sorry. I should have given you the chance to explain," he said as he stared at me.

             
"Yes, you should have," I replied.

             
"Come on, you can't stay mad at me forever, especially since I spent the entire night thinking about you anyway," he said with a smirk on his face.

             
It took every bone in my body not to smile at that last comment, especially since the butterflies in my stomach were going absolutely crazy.

             
"Yeah well, you're still an idiot," I said as I tried my hardest to look angry.

             
"Yeah and you're still cute when you're mad," he said as he took a step closer to me.

             
"You're also arrogant, big headed and you always think that you're funny," I said as I tried to calm the butterflies in my stomach down as he got closer and closer.

             
"Good to see that you know so much about me and there was me thinking that you didn't care," he said as the smirk on his face continued to grow.

             
To say
that I didn't want him right now
would be a lie. As I stared down at his dark blue, denim jeans and his tight, black tee my heart started to beat at a pace that I could not control, even if I wanted to. Why did every muscle in
his body have to be on display?
Why d
id he have to look so damn sexy?
As I stood there trying to resist the urge to kiss those beautiful lips, I suddenly realised how hard it must have been for Edward to resist Bella's blood. Ok, so I wasn't a vampire and I didn't want his blood but this was just as hard.

             
"You're not as irresistible as you'd like to
 
think," I managed to whisper after moments of standing there with probably the strangest expression on my face.

             
"I'm not?" He said as he slipped his hand around my waist and gently pulled me closer. He still had that stupid smirk on his face.

I forced myself to muster up all of the courage that I had in my feeble little body.
 
Our faces were so close that I could literally feel his breath on my lips. If I lost concentration even just for a second
he would be back in control and I was not about to let that happen. It was my turn to be in control and if I really wanted to be then
 
it was now or never.