Being Watched

Chapter 12

“So how was your weekend?” Emma asks on Monday morning. I’m sitting on my chair and she has hers turned around so that she’s facing me.

“It was…” I trail off, thinking of a word that could fit. “Eventful,” I finally say.

“Did you by any chance have a date with Andy?” She asks, waggling her eyebrows.

I nod. “Yup,” I add.

She squeals like a little girl and I roll my eyes at her. “Tell me the details!”

I just shrug. “He took me to some expensive restaurant.”

She frowns at me and before she can say what she wanted to say, another voice joins the conversation.

“You went out with Andy?” The voice says.

My eyes widen in shock as I turn my head to the right and find Jeremy standing next to me, the frown on his face, identical to Emma’s.

“U-Uh…” I stammer. Mentally slapping myself, I clear my throat and say, “Yeah.”

His jaw clenches and he scowls. Surprised by his reaction, I ask, “You don’t like him?”

He looks surprised for a second before a blank expression replaces his angry one.

He just shrugs and says, “I didn’t say anything.”

Emma snorts. “You’re acting like a jealous boyfriend.”

I blush and shoot her a glare.

“I’m not!” Jeremy protests, a light blush on his cheeks.

Emma smirks at us. “Whatever you say,” she says teasingly, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Jeremy ducks his head and rushes to the other side of the classroom, to his friends, leaving my heart racing at the possibility of him being jealous of Andy.

“I think,” Emma says, serious now. “I think Jeremy likes you.”

I blush. “No he doesn’t,” I mumble, not wanting to get my hopes up. As much as I would love to believe that I won’t.

“And you like him,” she finishes, grinning.

“I-I…” I stammer because that is definitely true. I don’t just like him, I love him.

“That’s why you barely said a word about your date with Andy and that’s why you weren’t sure about going out with him in the first place!” She says, putting two-and-two together.

I sigh, caving in. “What should I do?” I say, burying my red face in my hands.

“Tell him,” she says as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.

“I can’t! It’s not that easy. What if he doesn’t like me back?” I say. I didn’t tell her about the bigger problem which is that I have been spying on him for three years!

“From the way he acted earlier, he does like you,” she says and I shake my head. He hasn’t shown any traces of jealousy before now so I can’t be sure.

Before I could reply, the teacher comes in so Emma turns her chair to face the front again and our conversation ends.

Throughout the whole morning I can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier.

I really want to tell Jeremy that I like him and I really wish it could’ve been easier. I can’t even think of what I did to Andy! I can’t believe I agreed to go out with him. How will I tell him that things won’t work out? Will we still be friends like he said or will he hate me?

The bell interrupts my thoughts as it rings, indicating that it’s break time.

I sigh and get out of my seat.

I walk down the stairs with Emma, Janna, and Rena while we talk about some school work. We keep on walking and when we’re outside, Emma gives me a mischievous smile. I frown in confusion but a few seconds later I understand what she’s planning.

My eyes widen when I see Jeremy and his friends sitting right in front of us.

“Hey guys!” Emma says, taking a seat next to Amelia on the huge stairs.

“Hey,” they all call out. Janna and Rena sit down too so I take a seat next to Henry so that I’m not the only one standing up.

I keep on telling myself to act casual and not seem too nervous or surprised.

“What’s up?” Rena says and takes a bite of the biscuit she’s eating.

“We’re just talking about going to the carnival this Saturday. There will be some pretty awesome rides! Want to join us?” Laura says.

I love carnivals! My favorite ride will always be the rollercoaster!

“Janna, Rena, and I have dinner with our parents all together,” Emma says, looking a bit disappointed and her best friends nod. Their parents are all friends so that’s why the three girls were friends in the first place.

“What about you Steph?” Gavin asks, smiling at me.

Before I could even think about my reply, Jeremy speaks up for the first time ever since we got here.

“No,” he says and we all give him surprised looks. What the hell?

“Stephany doesn’t like rides,” he adds, giving me a look that was kind of a glare.

I am too shocked to say anything. I don’t understand why he just said that. Is he mad at me or something? I know he’s not a jerk so why is he acting like one?

I bite the inside of my cheeks and avert my gaze from Jeremy’s cold blue eyes.

What’s going on?

“You don’t?” Gavin says, surprised. “Hmm I always thought you were the roller coaster type of girl.”

I open my mouth to tell him that I am and that I actually love those rides but I shut it before I do. If I tell them then they will insist that I come and they would question Jeremy why he said that I don’t like rides. That will create a problem for him and he’ll get even angrier with me and I don’t want that to happen.

So instead of saying the truth, I just shrug and mutter a “Yeah well...”

For the rest of the break time, I tune out all their voices and just sulk.

I hate that Jeremy is mad at me right now. Is it just jealousy or is there another reason?

I won’t lie, the thought of Jeremy being jealous made me giddy, but I doubted that it was only jealousy because he was being so cold.

And if he was jealous, then he likes me and if likes me then he would want me to go with them to the carnival, right?

Ugh this is so confusing!

When the bell rings, everyone starts going up to class while continuing their conversation.

I fall into step next to Jeremy when I notice that he isn’t talking to anyone. This is my chance to find out what’s wrong.

“Are you mad at me?” I ask him when I feel him glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

“No,” he replies briefly as we get to the top of the staircase and start walking in the hallway to our classroom.

I roll my eyes at him. “I’m going to rephrase that,” I say then clear my throat before continuing, “Why are you mad at me?”

His lips twitch slightly before the scowl returns to his face and he shrugs.

“Are you jealous of Andy or something?” I ask boldly.

“What? No!” He says quickly.

“Then why are you mad?” I exclaim, glaring at him.

“Just leave me alone,” he says, annoyed.

I frown at him as he speed walks to his seat. Why is he PMSing?

And they say girls are confusing…

I decide to let it drop for now and just grab my Biology books from my locker.

For the rest of the day, I’m thinking about Jeremy, Andy, and the decision I have to come up with. I know that I will never be able to love Andy the way I love Jeremy and I just don’t know what to tell him.

I don’t want to ruin our friendship because of it.

He said we would still be friends even if dating didn’t work out so he shouldn’t stop talking to me when I tell him that it won’t work, right?

Emma also keeps on telling me that it is unfair to Andy and I know she’s right so by the last period, I decide to call Andy as soon as I get out of school and tell him.

When the final bell rings and I get back my cell phone, I start feeling nervous. What should I say? How do I start?

Before I could even think of the sentences I’m going to say to him, my phone starts ringing and Andy’s name is on top of my screen.

My heart beat accelerates and my nervousness increases.

“Hello?” I say into the phone as I walk out of the classroom.

“Hey!” Andy chirps happily. “How was your day?”

“Good,” I reply. “Yours?”

“It was fine,” he replies and I can imagine him shrugging.

“What’s wrong?” He then asks and I wince. He noticed that something was up.

“Um…” I trail off. “We need to talk.”

“Uh-oh,” he says. “I swear I’m innocent!”

I laugh even though I’m so nervous right now. “You didn’t do anything it’s just… uh…” I trail off, playing with the hem of my school shirt.

“God, how do people do this stuff?” I mutter under my breath.

“Are you going to break my heart?” He asks, only half-joking.

“Uh I just… I…”

“I thought our date went well…” he trails off, figuring out what I was going to say.

“It did!” I say quickly. “It’s just that I feel guilty because I love someone else and it’s unfair…”

He sighs. “Yeah, I get it.”

“I’m sorry,” I say sincerely, hoping he’s not too angry or hurt. I don’t want to think of putting myself in his place because it will make me feel much worse about this.

“It’s okay,” he replies but his voice says otherwise.

“Are you mad at me?” I ask quietly.

“No,” he replies. “I was just really hoping things would work out.”

“I know,” I mutter. “I’m sorry.”

He clears his throat then says, “I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait!” I say but the line’s already dead. I feel a lump in my throat at the thought of losing Andy. I force my tears away, thinking that he probably needs some time before I talk to him again.

Putting my phone in my pocket, I think that I will not lose Andy no matter what. He’s a great friend and I won’t let our friendship die just because I can’t love him.

If he didn’t text me today, I’ll call him tomorrow and make sure that things are okay with us.

Now onto the bigger problem, what should I do with Jeremy?

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Hey!

I'm so sorry about the short and boring chapter. :( I'm really sorry! I was planning a longer chapter but I couldn't make it so it'll have to be for next time :/ Forgive me? *insert my weird puppy face*

You'll like the next chapter, though, I promise!

So anyone else suffering from school? Haha too much homework and too many crazy teachers! :')

Anyway, good luck to everyone who has a lot of homework or tests! <3

Happy Birthday prettysparkle565  and  Ally1029. Have a wonderful year! :)

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Have a wonderful day/night everyone! <3