Pretend (76 page)

             
"Hey gorgeous, you ok?" He said before throwing his arms around me.

             
"I'm great thanks, you?" I asked as I smiled at him.

             
"You know me, just up to the same old tricks," he said as he winked at me.

             
Jamie was kind of known as the school
s
'business man'. If you were ever looking for someth
ing to buy then he was your guy
. He would sell anything from sweets to drinks to phone
cases. If anyone would own their
own company by the age of twenty then it would be Jamie. Where he got the stuff that he sold I'd never know but then again I never asked.

             
"And how are 'tricks' going for you these days?" I said as I smirked at him.

             
"Wonderfully my dear.
That reminds me, tell all of yo
ur friends that I have some new make
up that I'm selling today at some
very
reasonable prices," he said as I began to laugh.

             
"What? A man has to make
a
living
sweet cheeks," he said as he smirked at me.

             
"J, your dad owns a
multi
million
 
dollar company, I think that you can chill out," I said as I smiled at him.

             
"Yeah but that's his living, I like to make my own," he replied.

Good point.

             
"Anyway I just came over to see if you'd seen Kyle today?" I asked, hopefully.

             
"As a matter of fact I have," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

             
"Where is he?" I asked.

             
"Now
,
that is going to cost you," he said as he winked at me.

             
"Do I
need to bring Crystal over here?
" I said as I raised my eyebrows at him.

             
"Well
,
if she's still hot then yes please," he said as he glanced over at where she was sat with a smile on his face.

             
"To kick your butt I mean," I said as he began to laugh.

             
"To be honest she is sexier when she's angry-"

             
"Jamie!" I said, cutting him off.

             
"Ok, ok, he's out on the field, you
know
by where we used to all hang?" He asked.

             
"Yeah, I know. Thanks J," I said before turning to walk away.

             
"No problem Ap
ril and remember about the make
up and Crystal," he said as I turned around and rolled my eyes at him.

* * *

             
Just as Jamie had said, Kyle was sat on the field just staring into space.

             
"Do you mind if I join you?" I asked before sitting down in the empty space next to him on the grass.

             
He nodded his head to say
no he didn't mind
and so I took a seat. We sat
 
still for five minutes, just staring until he finally broke the silence.

             
"How are you?" He said as he kept his head straight.

             
"I'm ok thanks, you?" I asked nervously.

             
"Yeah I'm good," he said, quietly as he looked down at the grass before pulling a few strands out of the ground and rolling them between his finger tips.

             
"Kyle, I wanted to talk to you about the other night. Look, I'm sorry for running off like that-"

             
"It's ok, I understand," he said, interrupting me.

             
"It still wasn't fair, I just saw your mom and panicked," I said.

             
"I know and I don't blame you," he said.

             
"I've had lots of time to think about everything, you know, put it into
perspective and you were right."

             
"What do you mean?" I asked.

             
"The baby, I'll never forget that but it was out of our control, it wasn't something that we could prevent," he said in a sad voice.

             
"I know," I whispered.

             
"I am sorry that you had to deal with it alone though, I never would have done that to you if I'd have known. If things were different, if the baby
w
as still, you know then I just want you to know that I would have stood by you even if we weren't together, I would have been there," he said in a serious voice.

"I know
that
you would have," I said as I let out a breath t
hat I hadn't even realised
I'd been holding.

             
"Good. I know that
 
I've screwed up a lot and I know that you've moved on and honestly it makes me happy to see you happy. I just want us to be friends like we were before, I don't want to lose that, ever," he said as he turned to face me.

             
"Me neither," I said as a smile filled my face.

             
"I really do love you April, as a friend I mean. You mean a lot to me," he said as he smiled at me and squeezed my hand.

             
"I understand," I said as I smiled at him.

             
For the first time, I realised that he got it. He knew that we were over and he knew that Aiden was the one but he understood
that I needed him in my life as a friend and I was so happy that he finally realised.

             
"You'r
e
one of my closest friends Kyle and we've been through way t
o
o much to just throw it all away. I love you too," I said as I threw my arms around his neck and smiled. That smile was soon wiped off
of
my face as I heard the footsteps behind me that made me turn around at a speed that nearly caused my neck to fly off my shoulders.

             
"Aiden, wait!" I shouted as I watched him walk away.

He ignored me of course. Why did he have to be so stubborn?

             
"Aiden please,
it's
not-"

             
"What it looks like, of course not," he said as he looked at me with an emotionless expression that made me almost choke on my own breath.

             
"Aiden please," I pleaded as I stared into his eyes.

             
"I thought you meant it but I guess I was just kidding myself. It will always be him," he said before disappearing into the building and leaving me to feel like I had just been stabbed in the heart with a knife.

             
"Hey, hey don't cry, I will fix
this I promise. I will talk to him after school and explain everything don't worry, ok?" Kyle asked as he pulled me into his arms and held me tight.

             
"I won't let you lose him, I promise," he whispered.
I nodded my head and hoped that he was right because right now the one thing that I couldn't lose was Aiden. I just couldn't.

* * *

             
What had previously been a fast day seemed to decide that it wanted to go as slow as possible
 
now and as I sat through my chem lesson all that I could do was stare at the clock.

             
"My brother is such a
n
ignorant idiot! He never sticks a
round to listen to a full story. H
e just storms off like the hot headed idiot that he is!" Crystal moaned after I had told her what had happened.

             
"I guess it wasn't exactly the best thing for him to see. I can imagine how it must have looked," I said in a sad voice.

             
"Yeah but the point is
he should listen. A relationship is built on trust. Oh just wait
unti
l I get my hands on him," she said in a
n
angry tone.

             
"No
,
just leave him, Kyle said that he'll fix it and I believe him," I muttered as I stared at the three tubes of chemicals that we were suppose
d
to be experimenting on.

             
"So
,
does this mean that Aiden's like single now?" Hayley asked as a smile filled her face.

             
"No
,
now shut up before I tell your mom how you got drunk and threw up at my party," Crystal said as she scowled at her.

Hayley turned her head quickly in a bid to avoid Crystal's gaze.

             
"Well
,
I'll leave i
t to Kyle but if that fails then
I'm going to kick his arrogant butt!" Crystal continued.

             
"Ok
,
deal," I said as I smiled at her.

             
"Good, now what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" She asked as we both turned to Hayley
for the answer since neither of us had been listening.

* * *

             
It was finally the end of the day but instead of feeling happy like I usually would
,
I felt nervous. I needed to speak to Aiden and clear all of this mess up. I loved that boy but his
stubbornness
annoyed me more than I can even explain.
I wouldn't have felt quite as bad had I not watched Aiden chatting away to a couple of girls that clearly liked him
,
when we walked into the parking lot.

             
"I'm sorry
but
Kyle's time is up, I'm going to kill him!" Crystal said as she marched over to where Aiden was stood.

             
"Crystal
,
don't," I tried to shout as I chased behind her. She of course didn't listen.

             
"Goodbye," Crystal said as she stared at the two girls who were currently flirting with Aiden as though their lives depended on it.

             
"
Erm
...We'll catch you later then," the one that I recognised as Kayley said as she went to walk away.

             
"No, I'm
giving you guys a lift, remember? S
tay there," he said before turning back around with an annoyed expression on his face. He didn't even glance at me and instead just stared at Crystal with an angry expression on his face.

             
"What the hell are you doing?" She growled as she faced him.

             
"Talking, what does it look like?" He asked sarcastically.

             
"Really, just talking?
Well can I just remind you that you have a freaking
girlfriend!
" She screamed.

             
"Really?
Do I? Because as f
ar as I kno
w
she i
s in love with someone else, oh and speak of the devil," he said as he looked behind us.

             
As I turned to see what he was looking at, I spotted Kyle walking towards us with a look of determination on his face.

             
"Can I have a word please?" He asked as he approached Aiden.

             
"I'm busy," Aiden said as he turned to face the two girls again.

             
"Are you really this big of a moron?" Kyle
asked
which
,
was clearly the wrong thing to say to Aiden right now.

             
"Kyle
,
just leave it," I whispered as I gently touched his arm.

             
"Yeah listen to her Kyle, it's the smartest thing
that
she's said all day," he said as he sniggered to himself. He was angry.

             
"Look
,
I'm doing this for her not me. For some crazy reason she loves you, so are you going to listen to me or end up being a s
tupid jerk like me and lose the
one thing that you want because of a mistake?" He asked as he held Aiden's gaze. I watched as Aiden's
face softened slightly as he
glanced my way for a second.