The Tables Have Turned

Chapter 11

“Hailey!” Emily called as she ran into my room “Help!”

“What’s going on?” I said worriedly as I took in her horrified expression.

“We told Chase and he stayed silent the whole time, only glaring at us then he said that he wanted to talk to Josh alone and he looked really scary when he kicked me out of the room. What if he hurts him?” She said in a rush. Any normal human being wouldn’t have been able to register all what she said but I have awesome abilities when it comes to listening. Maybe it’s because I talk fast, I thought then I remembered that Emily was panicking and Chase was probably planning Josh’s murder.

“Oh shit,” I muttered as I closed the book I was reading and jumped off my bed. I followed Emily downstairs and I was surprised to find Alex and Paul still there.

“Did you hear any screaming?” Emily asked urgently.

Paul smirked and Alex struggled to muffle his laughter. Wow didn’t they care about Josh at all?

“Josh… The poor guy is probably wetting his pants now,” Paul commented and I giggled but immediately stopped when Emily shot me a death glare.

I cleared my throat and tried to forget what Paul just said because I was one of those people who never succeeded at hiding their laughter.

“Sorry,” I told her, biting my lips. “Where are they?”

She pointed to the door that leads to the family room. I pressed my ear against the door but I couldn’t hear anything.

“What are they saying?” Emily asked.

“I can’t hear anything,” I said “Time for Plan B.”

“And that is?” Paul inquired, looking amused.

I winked at him and cleared my throat again.

“Just don’t laugh, okay?” I said.

“Why?” Paul asked, trying to figure out what I was going to do.

“Because if you do, I’ll start laughing too and Chase will bury me alive with Josh,” I said seriously and he started laughing along with Alex. Emily just looked horrified.

“You’re being melodramatic,” Alex commented and I shot him an incredulous look.

“It’s Chase! Do you remember what he did to Fred?” Emily said, referring to her ex-boyfriend.

Alex and Paul both winced. I didn’t know what he did and when I was about to ask, Paul spoke.

“Come on, Hailey, we want him out alive,” Paul then said and I prepared myself to go in. I’ll ask them later.

I put my hand on the door handle and opened the door confidently. Both of their heads turned in my direction. Irritation flashed across Chase’s face as relief covered Josh’s face.

I made sure to keep my oblivious act.

“Chase! Where are the chocolate muffins? I know you hid them! You’re so selfish!” I exclaimed, scowling at him.

“They are in the kitchen, Hailey,” he said through gritted teeth.

“No, they’re not,” I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Get out,” he ordered me.

“You get out!” I replied angrily.

“Hailey I’m busy!” He screamed his face red from anger and I knew it was time for me to leave and of course take Josh with me.

“Whatever!” I yelled too and grabbed Josh’s hand, shoving him outside before Chase could do anything. I saw Chase following him outside and panicked. He knew what I was doing and he was so mad right now he could do something he’ll regret.

I immediately shut the door and locked it. I shoved the keys into my pants pocket and Chase’s eyes glared at me.

“Give me the keys,” he growled, making me flinch. Oh God! I should never get on his bad side. I can’t believe I’m scared of Chase right now!

“No,” I said and surprisingly my voice came out more confident than I expected. That’s good because on the inside I was praying that he won’t kill me.

“Give me the damn keys!” He yelled again. He even tried to take them out of my pocket and I winced when my thigh started hurting because he kept on trying to take them out.

“Chase!” I screamed but he didn’t answer. I tried again but I got no answer. I heard my friends outside knocking on the door and telling me to open it but I couldn’t.

With all my power, I put my hands on his chest and shoved him as hard as I could. He stumbled backwards and fell on the couch. A look of surprise flitted across his face before anger settled back in.

“Geez calm down! What the hell is wrong with you?!” I yelled at him “Since when do you have anger management problems?!”

“I don’t have anger management problems!” He snapped.

“You tried to take the keys from my pants pocket and you didn’t even notice that you were hurting me!”

His eyes went down to my pocket then back up to my face. Suddenly, his eyes softened and he looked shocked.

“Hailey I’m so sorry!” he apologized, still shocked “A-are you okay?”

I sat down on the couch next to him and sighed. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? I—”

“I said I’m fine,” I snapped, cutting him off.

What the hell happened? Why did he act like that? I never thought that Chase would be the one with the anger problems. He’s always smiling and happy. That was the first time I have ever seen him like that and it was for a stupid cause! He didn’t need to get that angry because his sister is dating someone!

“Hailey?” Chase whispered cautiously.

“What?” I asked, still not looking at him.

“I’m sorry, I was just angry at Josh and you came in and…” he trailed off.

“You have no right to be angry! What the hell is up with you? Emily and Josh love each other; can’t you accept that and be happy for them? She is your sister and he is one of your best friends!”

“She’s my sister and I won’t let him hurt her,” he sneered.

“He won’t hurt her! It’s Josh we’re talking about! He’s probably the sweetest boy I have ever met and you know that he won’t hurt her.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair. “I just don’t want to see her hurting again. Fred was really good to her at first and look what he did.”

I knew where he was coming from. He looked so sad and confused right now. I sighed and gave him a hug.

“Stop worrying so much, Chase. After all she went through, Emily trusts him. Don’t you think that’s enough? If I were in her place I would probably never trust a guy again.”

“You’re right,” he finally admitted “I was just shocked when they told me and I wanted to make sure that he treats her right.”

“He will,” I assured him “Just be happy for them.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said, giving him a smile.

“You came in on purpose, didn’t you?” he asked as I was about to unlock the door.

“Yeah,” I confessed.

“Thanks,” he answered, giving me a hug.

I opened the door and found them all standing there, shocked and worried. They relaxed when they saw us.

“Hailey I’m so sorry!” Emily said, hugging me and I laughed.

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied “It was a nice adventure.”

“I’m sorry, Em,” Chase apologized to his sister and gave her a hug.

“It’s okay,” she replied and I could clearly see the relief in her eyes.

He then apologized to Josh who still looked skeptical, making me laugh.

“Just don’t hurt her, okay?” Chase said and Josh nodded.

“And Hailey saves the day!” Paul said and everyone burst out laughing.

“She sure did,” Chase answered, smiling “I owe you.”

I grinned and started walking to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” I heard Chase ask.

“I want a muffin,” I replied and he chuckled.

“I told you they were in the kitchen,” he joked and I rolled my eyes at him.

“You don’t even dare taking them,” I teased.

“If I ever did that, you’ll probably kill me at night,” he said, faking a horrified look.

“Probably,” I said, shrugging and they laughed.

They all followed me to the kitchen and we ate the muffins.

“Hailey?” Josh said.

“Yeah?” I asked as I filled a glass of water.

“Thanks,” he said and I smiled.

“No problem,” I answered.

We stayed in the kitchen, chatting and laughing. Alex didn’t say a word though.

“Cat caught your tongue?” I joked, hitting his leg with mine, under the table since he was sitting opposite to me.

He shrugged. “I’m just thinking.”

“About me?” I said jokingly, fluttering my eyelashes in a fake girly way “This is so flattering!”

He rolled his eyes at me but I didn’t miss the amused smile.

“You’re always on his mind, Hailey,” Paul said, smirking and Alex punched him.

“Dude, what was that for?!” Paul asked, glaring at him before his expression turned into an amused one “I was just telling the truth.”

I blushed and silently cursed myself. Blushing? Seriously?

Alex muttered something under his breath but I couldn’t make it out. Paul heard him though and he shot him a smirk.

“Ahem,” Emily said and we glanced at her. She gave me a sly smile and I looked away. I knew what she was thinking.

I stared at my glass of water and put my cold hands on my cheeks to stop the blushing. I felt someone staring at me and when I looked up, my gaze connected with Alex’s.

His blue eyes were staring intently at me and I knew that he noticed my blush. Could this get even more embarrassing?

Apparently, yes.

“You’re blushing Hailey,” Paul teased me.

“I didn’t know that my face is so important that you need to worry about what color it is. I’m flattered,” I replied and he laughed.

“You’re cute,” he said, leaning closer to me from across the table.

I mimicked him and leaned even closer so that our faces were only a few inches apart.

“I know,” I whispered, making him laugh.

“I thought you were going to kiss me,” he pouted and it was my turn to laugh.

“In your dreams,” I replied.

“Every night,” he said, smirking.

Everyone laughed except Alex who was frowning. I didn’t pay him any attention, instead I said, “I haven’t had a friend like you in a long time.”

“Awesome people are hard to find, right?” He said.

“Yep so consider yourself lucky because you found me,” I said, winking at him

Chase laughed and shook his head at us.

“You’re like the female version of Paul,” he said and I shook my head disapprovingly.

“No, Paul is the male version of Hailey,” I said “I’m original. He’s a copy.”

Paul gasped dramatically. “How could you? A-are you calling me fake?!”

“Yes, I think I am,” I answered, nodding and a fake horrified look took over his face.

“I’m leaving,” he said, standing up dramatically.

“Aw come on Paul!” I said, smirking.

“Talk to the elbow cause you’re not worth the extension,”  he said and I blinked at his elbow that was in front of my face.

“What?” I then said and burst out laughing. I kept on laughing uncontrollably and everyone joined in.

“That’s the new version of ‘talk to the hand’,” Paul explained.

“I didn’t know you still hang out with twelve year old girls,” I said, smirking at him.

“My sister always says that,” he muttered embarrassedly and his cheeks turned a little pink.

“Who’s blushing now?” I murmured and he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Speaking of your sister,” I started “When am I going to take her to watch ‘The Lucky One’?”

I still have the epilogue to read. It was truly a great book. Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors.

“Next week I think,” he said, frowning “Do you mind going on a school night?”

“Nope,” I answered.

“Great because she wants to go on Tuesday; the first day they release it,” Paul said and I nodded.

“I’ll drive you,” he offered.

“Thanks,” I said, grinning. I was so excited! I bet the movie will be epic!

“She can’t go on Tuesday,” Alex said.

“Why?” I asked but as soon as the word left my mouth I remembered “Oh!”

“Do you have a date with Alex?” Paul said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I rolled my eyes at him. “No, he’s tutoring me.”

“Oh right,” Paul said before smirking “Did he teach you A plus H equals to less than three?” [A + H = <3]

“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically “You’re so funny. Not.”

Of course, I glanced at Alex to see his reaction. He was glaring at Paul was seemed unfazed by the scowl.

“If that ‘less than three [<3]’ gets broken, I’ll teach you my fist plus your face equals to a broken face,” Chase said making us all laugh.

I was actually pretty confused. Why were they saying things like that? I wasn’t that oblivious. I knew there was something going on. Was it possible that Alex told them that he likes me? But he doesn’t like me, right? He hates me after all I did to him. And he can’t possible have told them about what I did because they would hate me if he did.

Maybe they were making fun of me. Maybe that was some inside joke between them and they were making fun of me. That thought hurt. I didn’t even know if it was true. I kind of knew that it was just me being insecure.

I have the right to be insecure because I never really had true friends and I wasn’t sure I was ever going to have any.

“Earth to Hailey,” I heard Paul say and I snapped back to reality.

“Hmm?” I asked, looking at him.

“I said the movie is at seven and Alex will come a bit earlier that way you’ll be able to do both,” Paul said.

“Okay, thanks,” I said, giving Alex a brief smile.

“What were you thinking about? You completely spaced out,” Emily said and I shrugged.

“Nothing,” I replied even though we all knew that was a lie.

“You’re very secretive, you know that?” Chase suddenly said and I blanked for a second.

“Not telling you what I was thinking makes me secretive?” I asked trying to change the topic slightly because I knew what he means.

“No, I’m just saying that you don’t talk about yourself very much,” he observed and I shrugged again, not liking the conversation.

“He’s right,” Paul said “Tell us something about you.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked, feeling nervous because I wasn’t sure what they would ask. I really hoped they didn’t ask anything that involved friends or parents.

 “How many questions can we ask?” Paul said and I thought about for a bit. The less, the better.

“Every person one question,” Emily suggested. That’s a total of four questions. I could handle that, right?

“Okay,” I said reluctantly.

“Tell me a funny incident you had at your old school,” Paul started and I didn’t need to think for longer than two seconds.

I smirked and they all looked at me expectantly. I had a flashback of that day and started telling them exactly what happened.

“It was during the last month of last year when I shoved pasta down Grace Meyer’s shirt,” I started “She’s not hard to describe, actually I can describe her in only a few words: Fake blond hair, fake boobs, fake lips, fake voice, fake cheeks, fake nose, fake eyes, and extremely revealing clothes. I wasn’t having a really good day and she was being her usual bitchy self so I lost my temper and well my lunch was on her. Literally. Her reaction was priceless! Come to think of it, that day became pretty awesome after that incident.”

They burst out laughing and I smiled as I remembered that day. She was pretty pissed but I didn’t give a shit.

“Grace Meyer? You two were—” Alex said and I immediately cut him off.

“Fighting. That’s right. Enemies forever,” I said quickly and he frowned. I know he wanted to say ‘best friends’ but honestly, Grace was never a true friend. We used to hang out because I used to act just like her. After what happened with Alex, I noticed what a stupid, sick person I was so I decided to finally start being myself and not the fake bitch. Of course, I fell off the social ladder. I was at the bottom and the ‘popular’ crowd—which I was once part of— made my life hell which clearly showed that they were never my friends.

He kept frowning at me and I shifted uncomfortably.

“Next question?” I asked in a desperate attempt to make Alex’s calculating gaze move away from my face.

“In what group did you belong at your old school?” Josh asked and I winced slightly. I can always lie.

They are your friends Hailey, a voice in my head said and I sighed internally, knowing that it’s true. Friendship cannot be built on lies.

“I was with the popular crowd at first,” I muttered.

“I kind of guessed,” Josh said “You’re pretty awesome.”

“Thanks,” I said, forcing a smile “But I was popular because I was a bitch.”

Silence.

Talk about awkward.

“You? A bitch?” Emily said with disbelief clear on her face. They all had identical looks except for Alex who looked shocked that I admitted that.

“Yeah,” I said awkwardly.

“I never would’ve guessed,” Chase mused and I was glad they didn’t judge me “What happened then?”

“I did a lot of awful things and I finally decided to stop with the bitch act even if it would cost me the popularity. It was too late, though,” I mumbled the last part, thinking of what I did to Alex.

They must’ve noticed that I didn’t want to talk about it because they didn’t ask any other questions. I actually felt happy that I told them now that I knew they weren’t going to judge me.

“Next question?” Paul said and I smiled gratefully.

“What is one of your fears?” Chase asked curiously.

“The dark,” I said.

“That’s why you keep your lights on at night,” he said and I nodded.

“Why?” he asked.

“You get only one question, Chase,” I said, smirking but on the inside I was panicking. I didn’t want to explain that to them.

“Fine,” he muttered.

“Next question?” I asked.

“Go ahead, Alex,” Emily said “I’m still thinking of my question.”

“Where are your parents?” he asked and I flinched. My throat constricted and I just stared at him, wide-eyed.

Oh God. Breathe, Hailey, breathe.

What should I say? Why did he have to ask something like that? I looked up and immediately regretted it. Paul and Alex, who were sitting on the opposite side of the table facing me, were staring at me curiously, awaiting my reply.

I felt my heart hammering in my chest and I was too shocked to think of the tears that were now prickling my eyes.

Talk about panic attacks.

I had to say something.

“Not here,” I choked out.

Alex frowned and opened his mouth to protest. I know my answer wasn’t enough.

“My turn,” Emily said before he could say anything else and to say I was relieved is an understatement. I was so grateful.

“What is your favorite memory or day back home?” She asked.

“March twenty fifth, two years ago,” I blurted out and immediately regretted it when I felt Alex’s leg stop moving under the table and his surprised gaze met mine. I blushed slightly and bit my lower lip. I should’ve said something else like my birthday at the age of seven. Ugh! Think before you speak, I scolded myself once again.

“Elaborate…” She said and I groaned internally.

“It was the day my parents met my ex-boyfriend,” I started awkwardly, aware that I was talking about Alex who was now sitting right in front of me. “He was very nervous and I won’t lie, I was nervous too. Surprisingly, my parents were pretty cool about everything. He had lunch at my house then he took me to the beach. It was still cold but him being the crazy boy he was, he pushed me into the freezing water and we ended up playing in the water for hours. We then watched the sunset and he took me back home. We were both sick for a week but it was worth it.”

I got lost in the memory of Alex and I laughing that day and enjoying our time like we should. The memory was still clear in my head and that was probably due to the many times I think of it.

“He sounds amazing,” Emily said and I snapped back to reality.

“He is,” I said and then blushed when Alex’s blue eyes bore into mine. What was he thinking right now? I really wanted to know but his face didn’t give away anything.

“Then why did you break up?” Paul asked and I looked away from Alex’s gaze so that he wouldn’t see my feelings. I didn’t want him to see that I was hurt too that day; I didn’t want him to see how weak I was.

“Because I was a bitch,” I said simply, knowing that it was true.

“Did you cheat on him?” Chase asked curiously.

“No,” I said truthfully “I don’t cheat.”

“But you regret breaking up with him and acting like a bitch,” Emily said and I nodded.

“Then he should forgive you,” Paul concluded.

“No, you don’t understand, he should hate me,” I said, wincing at the memory of what I did to him.

“But you clearly regret it! If he doesn’t forgive you then he doesn’t deserve you,” Paul said and I snorted. Hah!

“It’s the other way around, Paul. I didn’t deserve him,” I said and he frowned.

“Yes, I was that bad,” I said, sighing.

“Well, at least you changed and that’s enough,” Chase said and they nodded in agreement.

I glanced at Alex one last time and got furious when I saw his face blank. I really hoped that he would forgive me after what I just said. If he wasn’t here, listening, I probably wouldn’t have told them about the break up but I wanted him to know what I really thought and telling him this way it was less awkward.

I really, really wanted him to forgive me so we could start over but at the same time I knew that it was impossible for him to forget what I did to him.

These are the consequences of acting like a bitch, Hailey, I told myself.

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I think that was the longest chapter I have ever written. Haha I'm not sure though but it's pretty long :P

I had a funny story to tell you guys but I forgot what it was :( That always happens when I'm writing my author's notes. I don't have time to think about it cause I wanna watch a movie my sister told me about so yeah vote and comment [I like to hear your opinions ;) ]

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