This chapter is dedicated to @starsandsky for the AWESOME trailer she made!! :)

Chapter 3 - First meeting with the devil

If you have a great idea in your head and are very confident about it, nobody in this world can break it.
And with the idea suggested by Jess, I reached home with confidence that it was going to work.

Pairing up Sage, that was what our plan was named as. No matter how stupid it sounded, it was a great idea and I didn’t know why it didn’t pop in my head. Maybe I was too absorbed in self-pitying that I really didn’t think of a right way to deal with the rule.
And I had the thought in my mind that I wasn’t going to involve my own sister with some troublesome guy or a paedophile. We may not have the best bonding in the world but I wasn’t so insensitive to do so.

I went upstairs to Sage's room and stood in front of her closed door, thinking about what I’d say to her.

I was pretty confident that she'd understand me and would agree. Just blurb out the details that I’d love to help her to find a suitable guy, that was pretty much it.

I knocked twice and the door opened, revealing an angry Sage.
"What?" she snarled.
I stood there like a dummy for a few seconds. And there, I already ruined the moment by a dumb reaction.
“Have you lost your voice?” she spat.
“Why so angry, sister?” I asked calmly, ready myself ready.
"You have to date someone, Sage." I replied with a confident smile.
"No." And then, she shut closed her door in my face. In my freaking face.

Ouch!

"Come on, Sage. Open the door. You can't do this. At least listen to me once." I shouted through my side of the door.

Her door opened again, showing an even angrier Sage. She looked furious.

"You have one minute to do your rant." she said with a flat voice. She leaned on her door frame, crossed her arms against her chest, and looked me with a bored expression.
"Hey! That's too short to explain."
She glanced at her wall clock. "54 seconds."
"Okay, okay, angry woman." I commented.

Okay, here goes nothing.

"Dad said that I can't date anyone unless you do because you are the older sibling, and I truly don't find any sense in it. But, I want you to find someone nice to date so I can date someone too. It’s my only chance. Like I said, I can't date anyone before you so you have to do it first. And if you won't do it, then there’s no hope for me and -"
"There. Your one minute is over. Toodles, Boozohead." Then she banged the door shut in my face. Again.

Ugh, what was I saying? I should have explained it properly, but the pressure brought by the time limit made me lose control over my thinking.
I came to my room with my feet rubbing hard on the floor. Ah, I wasn’t able to do a single thing right. Screw you, AP class.
I threw myself on my bed with its light blue sheets.

What to do now?

There was only one person to call: Blair. After all, between the three of us, she was the dating expert.

I took my phone out from my back pocket and dialled her number. The phone rang thrice before she picked up.
"Hey, Jade! What's up?" She greeted cheerfully from the other side of the line. At least someone was having a great time.
"Sage didn't agree, Blair. What will I do now?" I cried, hopelessly.
"Aw, my little follower. Don't cry. You knew she will not agree so soon."
"Yeah, I did. So, what now?"
"Don't worry, Jady. We'll think of something, okay? You just don't let this little fickle-freckle get to that big ol’ head of yours."
"Yeah, I know you'll do something. So," I paused, switching to a less frustrating topic. "How is it going between you and Derek?"
Derek was Blair's current boyfriend. He seemed to be really sweet, and he treated her like a princess. However, sometimes, these two lovebirds would go through a very mushy and sappy phase, but they were cute together.

"It's going great. I love him so much. I think he’s the one.” she exclaimed, probably jumping on her bed.
“Blair, you said that about Caleb as well.” I snapped out, remarking her comment.
"Do you mean to say that I jump from one guy to another?” I bit my lip at her question, which she took too seriously.
“No, of course not Blair. I know you’re a very loyal partner to him but I was just telling you to take it a little slow, don’t hurry it up and then spoil it.” I stated.
“So, you mean to say that I’m bad at relationships?” she attacked me with another trap of a question.
“That’s not what I meant at all.” I replied and continued by attempt to change the topic away from Blair and to something more defenceless than her,” So, what are you doing tonight?"
"I am going to Timothy's party. Aren't you going?" She asked.

Asking ‘aren’t you going’ when you weren’t even invited was like scratching a fresh wound.

"I don't know about that party. No one told me." I answered.
"But I thought Aiden told you?" as she spoke those words, I sat straight on the bed and shrieked with excitement, “Why would he tell me that?”

Oh, yeah, Aiden told me about it, but was I going to admit it and prove that I forget things too fast? No way in the universe.

"I was coming to tell you about it in school but he stopped me and asked if he could ask you personally.” her reply was enough to take me to take a merry go ride. Wouldn’t your stomach be filled with butterflies when your crush would do something like that?

“Perfect. Meet you there." I exclaimed with happiness and then threw my phone on the bed to do a little happy dance to myself.

Then the thought came again in my head, was I a bad sister to force my elder sister to date someone so I could do so as well? But wasn’t it my duty to look after her and check that her life was going in the right road?
Then I decided, I wasn’t going to pair her up with anyone from the streets, that guy would be a perfect match for Sage. It wouldn’t be just for me to be able to date but also for her to find someone to share her feelings with, which was quite hard because she didn’t like to tell people what was on her mind.
Dear sister, I was going on a very difficult journey, shower your blessings on me that I would be able to find your perfect match.

An hour later, I was already in my navy blue dress and I managed to slip a pair silver stilettos on.
I went outside and opened the door to my lovely Imphala, which I loved with all my heart and soul, because Dean drove the same car.
Dad wasn't home and Sage was with one of her friends, so I had the freedom for the whole night. Not that I wasn’t allowed to go out, that just seemed absurd. But every teenager has a deadline and dad didn’t like it a bit if I break it even by a second. And of course, I had Sage who never broke it so dad would always praise her about it, raising the bars for me. But she deserved all that praise, she was always on point.

As I neared the party, I could hear the loud music and the thumping of the bass from a distance and watched as people danced with the classic American blue and red cups in their hands.

I let myself in and scanned the place for my friends, but it seemed like they weren’t here. That was when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see some unknown guy smirking at me.
“Hey, you’re here.” Aiden chuckled, taking a sip from his cup.
I looked at his unusual behaviour, probably because of the dizziness.
I touched his shoulder lightly and spoke as I gestured him to sit down,”you should not be roaming here and there in this condition.”
I sat him down along with his friends. Having a light prep talk with them, I walked away, searching for my friends.

I searched for a door which could lead me outside so that I could place a call to either of them. I walked out to a garden where it was more peaceful and dialled Jess's number.
"Hey, Jade. Where are you?" Jess asked when she picked up. I heard the loud noise from her side of the line which meant she was here.
"I am at the party as well. Tell me your current location, and I'll come over there." I yelled out, pressing my ear closer to the phone’s speaker.
"At the counter in the dance room."
"Alright, I'll be there in five." I ended the call and spun in my heels to meet my friends, but when I did, my vision was blocked by someone.

 I looked up to see who it was and found Ryan Matthews, a guy who goes to the same school as me. He had been there since a long time I guess but we never crossed each other’s path by any means, which I was good I guess because he seemed to be a troublemaker.

He smiled at me and said, "Hello."
“You are blocking my view and my path." as I said those words, only one thought came in my head,’Oops, that came out a little too rude.’
"Nice comeback" And the smiled came back again, but the look on his face told me that he was pretty much drunk, and said again,”but it wasn’t required because I just said hello.”
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Now, would you please take a step to the side and let me go?"
“Not until you answer me nicely.” he stated, standing more firmly than before, acting very stubborn.

I didn’t want to behave in such a way with an unknown person but he was drunk, and a drunken person could be very dangerous and I was pretty much sure that there weren’t many sober people around.

I sighed with annoyance. Stomping my foot on the ground, I said with a forced tone, “Hello Ryan, how are you?”
I looked at him in the eyes with my lids narrowed and asked with a pretentious smile, “There, I reply nicely, mind getting away from my way?”
“Who’s stopping you?” he announced, giving me a little space to get inside.
Giving him a small smile, I was about to get back to the party when I heard him say, "It’s sure that we’ll cross each other’s’ path a lot from now."

******************

End of chapter 3!
Thank you so much for the amazing response! I love you guys so much!
It reached #197 in Humor and #265 in Teen Fiction. Yay!!
Tell me what you think about the new cover!
Hope you liked this one! :)x
Ryan in my vision. Picture on the side ------>
Jade's outfit in the external link!