Chapter V

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

-Stephen Chbosky

The walk with Caleb and Jacob wasn't as bad as Andrea thought it would be. They ignored each other. Jacob kept a hand on Andrea's arm while Caleb had his hands shoved into his pockets. Andrea felt like Jacob was bothering him, but she said nothing. Her mind kept going back to Mitchel's face.

To say he looked hurt was an understatement. Andrea knew Jacob and Mitchel weren't on the best terms, so for her to walk away with him must have hurt Mitchel. She didn't know why it irked her so much, but it did.

Once they reached the door, Andrea opened it. Caleb hurried inside, while Jacob smiled at her. "May I come in?"

Andrea blushed. "Maybe some other time, alright?"

"Of course, whatever you say, Andrea."

He gently grabbed her hand and lifted it to his mouth as he kissed her knuckles one by one. She felt her face heat up. He noticed and chuckled before leaning forward and planting a kiss on her burning cheek. He pulled back. "I hope we could hang out some other time, yes?"

Andrea nodded, not completely aware of her actions. Jacob smiled. "I'll see you later, Doll."

"D-doll?"

"A pet name for you. Like it?"

"S-sure."

Jacob winked before turning on his heels and walking away. She stood there for a bit before shaking her head and shutting the door. She walked upstairs to her room and pulled out her math homework. She sighed before she began working on it. All the sudden, her laptop screen lit up. She glanced at it and saw the familiar phone icon with Giselle's grinning face above it. Andrea got up and brought it over to the bed, answering it.

Giselle's face popped up on the screen as Andrea began working out the problem she was working on. "Andrea! How was your day?"

"After lunch it was great."

"How many hot guys are there?"

Andrea scoffed. "Come on, no one compares to him."

"Andrea, I know when you are lying. You met another one, huh? What's his name? What does he look like?"

"Well-"

Suddenly, Andrea's phone went off. She picked it up to see a text message.

Jacob <3:

Sup Doll?

Andrea frowned. She never gave anyone her number. She pressed on his contact page to see a selfie of him under the tree smiling at the camera. You couldn't see Andrea, but she must have been asleep when he took it. She pressed on the picture and held it up to the computer for Giselle to see.

"Oh my Lordy. He is smokin'!"

"Giselle..."

"You go girl! Go get him!"

Andrea quickly opened the text conversation and asked him why he put his number into her phone.

Jacob <3:

Can't a guy get the number of a hot new girl that he may be slightly interested in?

Andrea gasped. Was he kidding? She showed what he said to Giselle who only squealed in return. "Yes!" She screamed. "You go on a date! Forget about you know who."

"I told myself that unless he wants me, then I won't worry about whether or not I like him. That's good, right?"

"That's good. Who else did you meet?"

Andrea then went to describe everyone she spoke with that day. She first spoke about Aristide, Michal, and Troy. Then, she talked about Zoe, Charlotte, Fai, Leyna, and Estal. Then, she spoke about Carmilla, disgust clear in her voice. Lastly, she spoke about Mitchel.

"You know, out of all the people for you to like, I'd have thought it'd have been Mitchel." Giselle said as she twirled a section of her hair around her index finger.

"Mitchel? He's just a friend." Andrea said.

Giselle looked away. "Whatever you say." She muttered as her phone chimed.

"Who texted you?"

"Nash." Giselle said, smiling brightly.

"Okay, spill."

"What do you mean?"

"You obviously like the guy."

"Who? Nash?"

"Yes, 'Nash'!"

"No, no. I would ne-never."

"Come on..." Andrea called, trying to draw it out of her.

"Fine, maybe just a little bit."

"A little bit?"

"Okay, a lot." Giselle said, slapping her forehead. "I have no idea why I have feelings for him."

"Scientists say the more time you spend with people, the more likely you are to develop feelings for them."

Giselle sighed. "I've liked him since freshman year..."

"Freshman?" Andrea cried out as she broke the lead in her mechanical pencil.

"Yeah...I know."

"You really should've told me." Andrea grumbled as she smashed her thumb against the top of the pencil.

Giselle frowned. "It felt like a school girl crush, nothing important."

"News Flash: We are school girls." Andrea grumbled as she went back to work on the last problem.

"Andrea, I hope you aren't mad..."

"No, I'm not mad. I'm just a tiny bit annoyed at the fact that you didn't tell me. I immediately tell you who I like, and I just wish you could do the same."

Giselle looked down. "I-"

"Goodbye, Giselle." Andrea said as she shut the lid.

She looked back down at the paper and quickly finished the last problem. She stood up, smoothing off her clothes before grabbing her phone and shoving it into her right pocket. She then grabbed some money and put it in her wallet, placing it in her left pocket. She walked downstairs. Caleb was sitting on the couch, the television on, showing Supernatural on the set. Dean and Sam were currently fighting the yellow eyed demon. He was rambling on about Sam's importance.

Andrea sighed as she walked up to him. "I'm going out."

"Watch out for muggers and perverts." Caleb said, disinterested.

Andrea nodded before walking to the door. She cast one last look at her brother, his attention still fixed onto the television. She heard Dean scream as she opened the door. She walked out and then shut it. She exhaled before making her way to the business part of town.

****

She sat in the booth by the window. Rain pelted the windows. Andrea grumbled to herself as she took another sip of her hot chocolate. She should've brought an umbrella, if she owned one.

The hot chocolate burned her throat as it went down, but she ignored the pain. It was freezing in here, and she honestly didn't care if it was too hot.

"Andrea?"

Andrea looked towards the voice. Mitchel stood there, a coffee in his hand and a brown sack in the other. Andrea smiled at him. "Hey, Mitchel."

He gave her a timid smile. It wasn't his usual grin, so she knew it must have been because of the day's earlier events. He looked at the booth in front of her, and gestured to it, asking if he could sit down. She nodded, not caring if he did or didn't.

"You seem upset." He said, staring into her eyes a she sat down.

"Just- it's nothing." She said, hanging her head.

"Hey, if anything is wrong, tell me, I won't judge."

"Promise?"

"Andrea, you and I are friends. I could never hate you."

Friends. The word caused Andrea to be ecstatic, but for whatever reason, she felt down as well. She cleared her throat before taking another sip of hot chocolate. Then, she explained the whole situation to him, adding in the fact that she like Jacob. She had no idea why, she probably just needed someone to vent to.

Mitchel's jaws clenched when she said she liked him, but he didn't voice his opinions. Andrea's shoulders sagged once she finished explaining. Mitchel exhaled.

"You should forgive her."

"But-"

"Think about it: she didn't tell you because she didn't like the fact that she liked this Nash character. If she was pleased with liking him- such as you were with Liam- I am sure she'd have told you. Besides, she wasn't sure of her feelings for a while. Don't hate her for not knowing for certain how she felt. It takes a while to truly except your feelings for others. A lot of the time, you choose to like someone else to cover up the feelings you have for the other person. Not because you don't like the person, but because you either aren't sure, or you don't want to like them. Eventually, however, the feelings for the other person dry up and your feelings for the original person come back up. Tell me, did she say she liked someone else in freshman year?"

"Yeah, a guy in our class named Zack."

"There you have it: she was trying to hide her actual feelings. Eventually, she realized she didn't like that guy, so she probably tried to move onto someone else."

"My brother." Andrea said, breathless.

"And then, she stopped liking your brother, and accepted the fact that she liked Nash. Don't you see, Andrea? She was trying to prove her heart wrong. The problem is, the heart is one of the most logical and smartest organs inside of us, and it tends to be right. No matter what you do, you'll always follow your heart. Hasn't all the books and television programs you've seen and read taught you that?"

Andrea smiled at him. "Thank you, Mitchel. I'll have to apologize to her."

"Why not do it right now?"

"N-now?'

"I'll be right beside you." Mitchel said as he stood up and sat down next to Andrea. She relaxed as she pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts list before tapping on Giselle's. She pressed call and then put it to her ear.

"Andrea?"

"I-I'm sorry, Giselle. I over reacted. I shouldn't have done that." Andrea said as Mitchel held her hand, drawing circles on it with his thumb.

"No, I should've told you."

"No, you had the right to keep it to yourself. You were trying to convince yourself you hadn't been crushing on Nash, so that's why you attempted to like Zack and Caleb."

There was silence for a while. Then, Giselle spoke. "Since when did you become so wise?"

"I had a bit of help realizing where you stood."

"Was it Jacob?"

"N-no, it wasn't him."

Suddenly, Mitchel held his hand out for the phone. Andrea smiled at him before handing ti to him.

"Hey, you must be Giselle, right?"

"This is Mitchel."

Chuckle. "Yes, I helped explain to her what you must have been going through."

"A guardian angel? Maybe."

"You think the way Andrea described me was hot?"

Andrea felt her face flush red as Mitchel looked at her, the sides of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Yes, I guess I am attractive."

"You want a picture?"

"Sure, I'll take one and send it to you."

"I'm going to give you back to Andrea, alright?"

"Bye, Giselle."

Andrea took the phone out of his hands before pressing it to her ear. Giselle was chuckling on the other end. "He seems nice."

"Giselle..."

"Let's finish this once you get back to your house, hmm?"

"How do you know-?"

"I doubt you'll ever bring a guy to your house. I know you. Besides, I can hear the people in the background."

"Alright. I'll call you later, alright?"

"Yep, see ya'!"

Andrea pulled the phone away once Giselle hung up. Mitchel was staring at her. She blushed as she handed her phone to him. "You want to put your number in?"

Mitchel smiled. "Sure."

He took her phone and added his number in. Then, he gestured for her to scoot over to him and he held the camera up as he took a picture of them in the booth together. Then, he set that as his contact photo.

"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" He said as he stood up.

Andrea nodded. "Thanks for that, Mitchel."

"Of course, I could never leave one of my Best Friends hanging now, could I?"

Andrea felt her heart skip a beat. Best friends? She smiled genuinely at him. "I know you couldn't."

Mitchel smiled before giving her hand a quick squeeze. He walked out of the store. He pulled out an umbrella and then hurried down the street.

Andrea sighed. She still had no umbrella.

****

Sup! What do you think of this chapter? Not as light hearted as my other ones, but great all the same, right?

At least, I hope so.

Anyhow, I have nothing to say, other than to thank everyone who has read, commented, and voted so far! I dedicated this chapter to the first reader who hasn't been silent, so thank you @Skipper12324! (Would've dedicated sooner, but this is a prewritten chapter)

Anyways, see ya'll in the next chapter! The first part is coming to a close soon! Adios!

-Paige

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