A/N : Hey again! ^.^ Just wanted to say that I've introduced all the important characters in the previous chapters, except one. He'll come up a bit later. But that's it. Hapē reading!

PLAYLIST : New Romantics - Taylor Swift

     I looked at the flavors in the ice-cream shop and ordered a pralines & cream.

     "How can you not have strawberry flavor in your shop?" Shayna complained beside me.

     "We do. It just ran out of stock an hour ago," the girl behind the counter said.

     "Whatever. I'll take the rocky road then," she settled.

     Standing next to us and not looking at the flavors was Tiffany, lost deep in thought.

     "What are you eating?" I asked her.

     Her eyes snapped to mine. "Um, anything. What did you order?"

     "Pralines & cream."

     "Ok. Pralines & cream for me too," she placed the order.

     Tiffany was distracted by what Shayna said about her being the stalking girlfriend. She didn't say anything about it, but I knew it bothered her. She'd talk about it only when she wanted to. So, I didn't ask her anything and we went to the tables and ate our ice-creams.

     Tiffany fiddled with a loose thread on her ripped jeans. "Nate won't find out it was us, right? I mean, it could be anyone. Some random girl, right?" She looked at us with imploring eyes, urging us to agree with her.

     "Yes. I don't think he's even thinking about it," I agreed.

     "That's just wishful thinking," Shayna said.

     I gave her a disapproving look. "For once, try to be supportive."

     "It's not about being supportive," she argued. "Who had a reason for pretending to be Carla? Not any random girl. Only his girlfriend, who had a fight with him the same day. Why did they fight? Because of Carla."

     "You're right." Tiffany pouted. "What was I even thinking?"

     "You can't do anything about it now," I said.

     "Or maybe," Shayna said, "you can."

     I had a déjà vu moment. A different person this time, but with the same look on her face coming up with the same plan for the same, stupid, self-created problem. Shayna's look was enough to tell me what was going on in her mind.

     "Nope," I said. "Nope again. Not happening."

     "What? Fill me in," Tiffany whined.

     "I have a simple plan," Shayna said.

     "An evil plan," I corrected her.

     "Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "It's gonna work."

     "I'm listening," Tiffany said.

     "Ok. So you," Shayna pointed to me, "call Nate this time, changing your voice. He'll know it wasn't Tiffany and that'll be it. Tell him you're some random girl from school crushing on him."

     "Great!" Tiffany smiled her mad woman smile.

     "It's funny how you both take me for granted thinking I'm agreeing to this," I said.

     "You know what?" Shayna said. "I would've called him myself but I'm sure he'll recognize my voice. I really can't do the fake voice thing. And I thought you would've done that for our best friend."

     I cringed. "That's emotional blackmail!"

     "You don't have to do anything, Vivian," Shayna animatedly said. "Just let him listen to your voice for a minute and then I'll take care of the rest."

     "What exactly is 'the rest'?"

     "You'll find out soon, babes. Trust me."

~~~

     I still wasn't convinced about going ahead with Shayna's plan, but I agreed. I don't know why I do that.

     After having our ice-creams, Tiffany and Shayna came with me to my house. I used the spare key under the pot by the front door to open it because it'd take forever for anyone to come answer the door at my house.

     We went directly to my room. Shayna had come to my house for the first time today. She was glancing around taking it all in - the quotes painted walls, the tall bookshelf at the far corner, the TV mounted on the wall, the closet and dresser next to the door. On the door of the closet was a heart shaped collage of photographs of family trips and of Tiffany and me on school trips. There were also posters of my favorite bands on the walls which weren't quote painted. A single bed sat in the center with white and blue bedspread.

     "Nice room," Shayna remarked. "I'm glad you don't have a life size cut out of Einstein."

     "Why would I?"

     "I don't know," she shrugged. "I just thought you did. But I also thought you'd have my picture too on the door of your closet."

     Oops! "I don't have a single picture of you. If you give me one, I'll stick it on."

     "Sure thing." She smiled and plopped on the bean bag next to the bed. Tiffany and I sat on the bed.

     "Ok," Shayna clapped her hands together. "Let's stalk Nate."

     She dialed his number on Gina's phone and put it on speaker. After a few rings, he answered our call.

     "Hello?" came his thick voice over the speaker.

     I pinched my nose and answered in a nasal tone, "Hey, Nate."

     It wasn't sexy to listen to, but I wasn't going for sexy. I wanted to set it apart from my soft and laid back voice. Because god forbid, he makes the connection and then we're back to Tiffany hyperventilating about Nate deeming her a desperate stalker girlfriend.

     He groaned. "Who are you?" There was curiosity in his voice. He didn't guess it was me, yet.

     "I really like you," I blurted out.

     "Seriously? Are you for real?"

     "I really like you," I said again, this time drawling out the words.

     He sighed. "Why did you pretend to be Carla?"

     "Um, just like that?"

     "Look, you're stalking me. Please don't call me again. Ok?"

     "But-"

     "But nothing. I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. Bye." He hung up.

     I set the phone on the dresser and looked at Shayna and Tiffany for their reaction.

     "Omigod! Nate's such a baby. Who talks like that?" Shayna said.

     "He's not a baby. He only loves me and got no interest in other girls," Tiffany proudly said.

     "It was actually funny. The way Nate got scared and hung up." Shayna laughed. "He's such a boy next door."

     "That I agree," I said.

     Nate was the sweet, shy boy-next-door and Tiffany, well, she enjoyed attention. They were the perfect example of opposites attract.

     "So, we're done now?" I asked Tiffany.

     Shayna beat her to the answer. "No, he just heard your voice. That's step one."

     "Seriously, Shayna. That doesn't even make sense. Nate won't give another thought to it of we stop now."

     "That's exactly what he'll do," she claimed. "He may be unassuming but he's not dumb. Don't you think he'll wonder why this girl stopped calling all of a sudden?"

     "Because he asked her to. Duh."

     "No," she answered. "Because it was Tiffany."

     "That's just twisted. You're scheming." I accusingly pointed a finger at her.

     "He's Tiffany's boyfriend. Let her decide. It's her call." There it was again. The challenge reflecting in her tone.

     We've always been conflicted on opinions and never agreed on anything. It wasn't intentional, it just happened. And for Shayna, it was like a competition. If she gets her way, she wins and is happy. If not, she starts throwing tantrums. Tiffany was always stuck being the deciding factor. She always tried to come up with a mutual agreement of sorts. But this time, she favored Shayna.

     "I think Shayna's right. We'll text him a couple times and then stop forever."

     "That's ridiculous," I protested. "You're turning crazy."

     "Takes one to know one," Shayna remarked.

     I lifted my eyes and stared at her and she said, "Just kidding."

     If they wanted to act stupid, fine by me. But Shayna wasn't gonna make me agree to it.

     "Alright." I put my hands up in the air. "Do what you want to. I'm not getting involved."

     "No probs. I just need the phone," Shayna said.

     "Here you go." I tossed the phone to her and she caught it.

     I was least bothered with what she planned on doing. I wasn't expecting Tiffany to stick up for Shayna. Maybe she had her reasons. She didn't want Nate finding out about all this. She hated being the jealous girlfriend. And Shayna was poisoning her mind.

     Shayna pocketed the phone and we didn't talk about it again the whole day.

~~~

     That night, we had a sleepover at my house. Yes, Shayna and I were at loggerheads most of the time, but we learnt to pause our differences. Times like these, Shayna and I ignore the fact that we don't get along well.

     As incredulous as it may sound, we did have fun. We brought extra pillows and blankets from the closet and settled in front of the TV in my room. We had a horror movie marathon, did each others' hair and nails and talked about guys.

     By the time we actually got to sleeping, it was four in the morning and we dozed off and slept like a log.

A/N : Thanks for reading! If you liked the chapter, please show it by voting and commenting :)

# What is the movie you'd watch again and again and never get bored?

This chapter is dedicated to you theforgottonone You're almost always the first voter on every chapter I post. Thank you for reading my book <3
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