Hey Romeo, Don't You Think You're Just a Tad Overrated?
This is a Dating Complex
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"Are you sure you're fine with not going?" Alyssa asked, concerned.
"Yeah, it's fine!" I assured my friends, plastering a fake smile on my face.
Will looked at me suspiciously over his fork. "I mean, we could always watch a movie together in the game room," he offered.
"Yeah, we can keep you company," Beth offered.
I shook my head. "Guys, I'm going to be fine! It's just a dance! And I'm coming with you to get your dresses, too. And Beth, I know you don't want to ditch Tyson," I said, with a knowing grin.
She blushed.
"Are you sure?" Alyssa pressed again.
"Ask that one more time, and I'm going to take this carrot stick and shove it up your nose," I threatened. "I'm going to be fine. I'll have fun by myself!"
"I mean, even the Headmaster's going to be there for a portion of the dance," Will muttered.
I forced a laugh. "Guys, I'm fine with not going. It's just a dance. Plus, we have the Sweetheart Dance on Valentines Day too, remember? It's okay."
"Something tells me otherwise," Alyssa muttered quietly. I glared at her and stood up to dump my tray.
On the way to the garbage can, Cam Gallagher walked by, brushing past my arm. He looked at me, and quickly averted his eyes and walked away, ignorant to the fact that I was standing right there. I scowled. What was his problem now?
_________________________
The bad news was that I was currently sitting in another torturous Calculus class, listening to Mr. Harbing drone on and on about logarithms and polynomials. The good news was that it was the last class of the day, and there were only five minutes remaining until class ended. At long last, the bell rang, drawing relieved sighs from all of us in the classroom. I stood up and stretched, closing my textbook and packing it away slowly in my bag.
"Hey," someone said next to me. I didn't even need to look up to see who it was.
"What, Cam?" I asked, rather irritated.
He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you being so touchy?"
I shouldered my bag. "Well let's see, you bit my head off yesterday, ignored me for the rest of the day and today, and now you suddenly expect me to bow down and kiss the ground you walk on?" I answered, stalking out of the room.
Cam sighed, dogging my footsteps. "I just wanted to know if you'd be ready for tomorrow's math team meet."
"Well apparently, you graded my packet and I answered half the questions wrong. So, no," I said, turning the corner and quickly jogging down the staircase, eager to get out of the building and away from Cam.
"Actually, you did better than I expected. If you're more careful tomorrow, you'll do great," Cam enthused.
I whirled around at the bottom of the staircase, and Cam had to stop himself from crashing into me. "What do you want, Mr. Gallagher?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "You obviously want a favor, or else you wouldn't be feeding me compliments like you would feed a puppy. And it's not like I'm bawling my eyes out right now." I crossed my arms. "I'm not stupid, Cam. What do you want?" I repeated.
Cam looked away. "If you put it that bluntly…" he muttered, trailing off.
I glared at him.
"I was just wondering…you know next Tuesday, I mean, you don't want to if you don't have to, but…uh…"
"Get to the point!" I demanded.
"WillyougototheWinterFormalwithme," Cam said so quickly that I completely missed it.
"Sorry, come again?" I asked.
He took a deep breath, looked away, and turned back. "Will you. Go to. The Winter Formal with me on Tuesday?" he repeated coherently this time.
His question was so arbitrary at first that I burst out laughing. "Ahahaha! You're kidding right? Hahahaha!" Cam looked quite offended. My eyes widened. "Holy crap, that was for real?"
He sighed. "Sometimes Aurelie, you are so dense that I honestly wonder what goes on in that head of yours," he commented. I stared at him. "What?" he asked, confused.
"Are you bipolar?"
"What?" Cam said incredulously.
I shook my head. "First you're nice, then you act like a complete jackass, then you totally ignore me, and then you start being all nice to me again, and now this? What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? I think I have a legitimate reason for every single one of my actions! I'm nice when you deserve it, except when you refused to hand in your paper and I had to hunt you down, and I didn't ignore you at all! I was communicating with my…eyes," he finished lamely.
"Yeah, by rudely looking away. It's not like I'm a hideous monster," I said crossly.
"No, you're not," he mumbled under his breath, so quietly that I nearly missed it.
"I'm sorry?"
"You still haven't answered my original question," Cam spoke up.
I sighed and turned, pushing open the doors and exiting the building. "I'm not going to the dance, Cam," I said sullenly.
"What?"
"I said, I'm not going to the dance! David grounded me, and I can't go, alright? I'm going to be stuck in my room all night, while the rest of the school has fun partying," I pulled my coat closer to my body, the late afternoon chills getting to me.
"You're still grounded? But I thought…aren't you mad…that you're missing like the biggest dance of the year?" he was still following me as we crossed the street together, walking in the direction of the McAllister House and Reagan's Dorm.
"I'm not mad. I'm perfectly fine with not going. It's only a stupid dance anyway. I'll be fine by myself. I'm just peachy," I said, walking faster.
Cam quickly detected the bitterness that I had tried to hide in my voice. "You're sullen," he noted.
"I thought you said you weren't taking anyone to the dance," I changed the subject.
"I lied," he responded impudently.
"I thought prefects didn't lie."
He ignored the jab. "So you're really not going?" he asked again as they stopped in front of Reagan's Dorm.
"No, Cam. I'm not. I'll see you later," I responded shortly, turning and quickly walking away.
_________________________
He asked me to the dance, he asked me to the dance, he asked me to the dance, I can't believe he actually asked me to the dance, Cam Gallagher asked me to the dance, oh, what the hell, I can't go anyway. But still…does he…like me? Cam Gallagher! Oh, shut up, Aurelie, I chided myself as I let myself into the McAllister House, trooping upstairs after briefly greeting Rachel.
And it's not like he liked me or anything…he only asked me to the dance. He could always ask some other girl. Like Megan, or something. I mean, he made-out with Megan, but it's not like he likes her too. Unless….he does. Oh my gosh, what if he did like Megan? And her humongous boobs? Then why did he ask me to the dance and totally reject Megan? But then, he didn't really reject her, he was just kind of clueless.
And what about Max? Weren't they best friends? And didn't guys have this weird rule that they never dated their friend's ex-girlfriends or something? Not to mention that Max made me feel like a complete jerk. But he seriously deserved someone better than me. Someone that's not Brynne too. But then, if guy's weren't allowed to date their bud's ex-girlfriends, that means Cam doesn't like me. Or maybe he does, except he doesn't want to date me. Not that he ever said he wanted to date me. Unless the dance invitation counted as a date, maybe? Ahh, this was so confusing!
I rubbed my temple. "Urgh! Boys!" I groaned, falling backwards onto my bed.
_______________________
Reagan's Dorm for Boys, Room #247,Yesterday Night
"What's up, Max?" Cam walked into his best friend's room, like he had done so many times before. He automatically headed straight for the comfy bean-bag chair and plucked last month's issue of Sports Illustrated of Max's desk.
Max took a deep breath. "Well, if you really want to know, I talked to Aurelie earlier," he said.
Cam looked up from the magazine, interested. "What happened?" he asked nonchalantly.
"I asked her if she could give me another chance…and I asked her to the dance. She said no," Max answered curtly, taking the magazine from Cam and flipping idly to the tennis section.
"Uh…sorry, man," Cam muttered awkwardly.
Max shrugged. "Whatever. It's cool, I'm over it," he said casually, turning the page. "Hey, Andy Roddick won the Sony Ericsson Open," he noted.
Cam scrutinized his best friend. Max seemed unfazed. "Are…you sure?"
"Yeah, it says right here, Andy Roddick won the Open," Max pointed to the page.
"Not that! I meant...the other..." Cam trailed off.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Quit asking me about it. You still going solo right? Then we'll be the only bachelors at the dance, ha ha," Max joked.
Cam blinked. "Yeah. Guess who I ran into today? That Megan chick. It was like the most awkward thing ever," he managed to change the subject.
Max looked up. "Really? What did she say? I mean, she is hot."
Cam didn't know what to do as he continued the mindless conversation going with his best bud. However, his thoughts were spinning around crazily in his head. He was originally going to ask Aurelie to the dance…he had what he was going to say planned out too, perfectly blasé…but he had no clue that Max would actually confront her again. What if he asked Aurelie anyway? And she agreed? He'd look like the biggest asshole ever then, and Max would probably hate him forever, even thought it did look like he was completely over her.
No, Cam reasoned. I don't know how it exactly works, but you never get over your ex.
Reagan's Dorm for Boys, Room #245, Tonight
Cam quickly entered his room and slammed the door shut behind him. And after a second thought, he locked it for good measure. He didn't want anyone disturbing him. Why the hell had he asked Aurelie to the dance? It was so capricious of him, so stupid! Not to mention that he had completely betrayed his best friend. So he was a jerk and an idiot.
And on top of that, she rejected him. She rejected him! Although Cam wouldn't know what to do if she had agreed. So for the time being, he was immensely grateful that she couldn't go. So everything was okay, for the time being.
But if she could have gone, what would she have said? Yes? Or no? What if she actually said no? Then she would have flat out rejected him and completely made him look like a loser. Usually when it came to girls, it was never this confusing. Probably because Cam thought most of them were annoying; they way they threw themselves at him. He simply ignored them. Except Megan. She was pretty hot, especially in that dress last year, and after a lot of pushing and coaxing from his friends, hooked up with her on the dance floor on impulse. Which was obviously a retarded thing to do too, since now she was obsessed with him too.
Cam sighed and buried his head in his pillow. Why did he always make such rash decisions when it came to girls? They were so frustrating! "Urgh! Women!" he groaned into his pillow, his complaint muffled by the soft down.
"Are you sure you're fine with not going?" Alyssa asked, concerned.
"Yeah, it's fine!" I assured my friends, plastering a fake smile on my face.
Will looked at me suspiciously over his fork. "I mean, we could always watch a movie together in the game room," he offered.
"Yeah, we can keep you company," Beth offered.
I shook my head. "Guys, I'm going to be fine! It's just a dance! And I'm coming with you to get your dresses, too. And Beth, I know you don't want to ditch Tyson," I said, with a knowing grin.
She blushed.
"Are you sure?" Alyssa pressed again.
"Ask that one more time, and I'm going to take this carrot stick and shove it up your nose," I threatened. "I'm going to be fine. I'll have fun by myself!"
"I mean, even the Headmaster's going to be there for a portion of the dance," Will muttered.
I forced a laugh. "Guys, I'm fine with not going. It's just a dance. Plus, we have the Sweetheart Dance on Valentines Day too, remember? It's okay."
"Something tells me otherwise," Alyssa muttered quietly. I glared at her and stood up to dump my tray.
On the way to the garbage can, Cam Gallagher walked by, brushing past my arm. He looked at me, and quickly averted his eyes and walked away, ignorant to the fact that I was standing right there. I scowled. What was his problem now?
_________________________
The bad news was that I was currently sitting in another torturous Calculus class, listening to Mr. Harbing drone on and on about logarithms and polynomials. The good news was that it was the last class of the day, and there were only five minutes remaining until class ended. At long last, the bell rang, drawing relieved sighs from all of us in the classroom. I stood up and stretched, closing my textbook and packing it away slowly in my bag.
"Hey," someone said next to me. I didn't even need to look up to see who it was.
"What, Cam?" I asked, rather irritated.
He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you being so touchy?"
I shouldered my bag. "Well let's see, you bit my head off yesterday, ignored me for the rest of the day and today, and now you suddenly expect me to bow down and kiss the ground you walk on?" I answered, stalking out of the room.
Cam sighed, dogging my footsteps. "I just wanted to know if you'd be ready for tomorrow's math team meet."
"Well apparently, you graded my packet and I answered half the questions wrong. So, no," I said, turning the corner and quickly jogging down the staircase, eager to get out of the building and away from Cam.
"Actually, you did better than I expected. If you're more careful tomorrow, you'll do great," Cam enthused.
I whirled around at the bottom of the staircase, and Cam had to stop himself from crashing into me. "What do you want, Mr. Gallagher?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "You obviously want a favor, or else you wouldn't be feeding me compliments like you would feed a puppy. And it's not like I'm bawling my eyes out right now." I crossed my arms. "I'm not stupid, Cam. What do you want?" I repeated.
Cam looked away. "If you put it that bluntly…" he muttered, trailing off.
I glared at him.
"I was just wondering…you know next Tuesday, I mean, you don't want to if you don't have to, but…uh…"
"Get to the point!" I demanded.
"WillyougototheWinterFormalwithme," Cam said so quickly that I completely missed it.
"Sorry, come again?" I asked.
He took a deep breath, looked away, and turned back. "Will you. Go to. The Winter Formal with me on Tuesday?" he repeated coherently this time.
His question was so arbitrary at first that I burst out laughing. "Ahahaha! You're kidding right? Hahahaha!" Cam looked quite offended. My eyes widened. "Holy crap, that was for real?"
He sighed. "Sometimes Aurelie, you are so dense that I honestly wonder what goes on in that head of yours," he commented. I stared at him. "What?" he asked, confused.
"Are you bipolar?"
"What?" Cam said incredulously.
I shook my head. "First you're nice, then you act like a complete jackass, then you totally ignore me, and then you start being all nice to me again, and now this? What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? I think I have a legitimate reason for every single one of my actions! I'm nice when you deserve it, except when you refused to hand in your paper and I had to hunt you down, and I didn't ignore you at all! I was communicating with my…eyes," he finished lamely.
"Yeah, by rudely looking away. It's not like I'm a hideous monster," I said crossly.
"No, you're not," he mumbled under his breath, so quietly that I nearly missed it.
"I'm sorry?"
"You still haven't answered my original question," Cam spoke up.
I sighed and turned, pushing open the doors and exiting the building. "I'm not going to the dance, Cam," I said sullenly.
"What?"
"I said, I'm not going to the dance! David grounded me, and I can't go, alright? I'm going to be stuck in my room all night, while the rest of the school has fun partying," I pulled my coat closer to my body, the late afternoon chills getting to me.
"You're still grounded? But I thought…aren't you mad…that you're missing like the biggest dance of the year?" he was still following me as we crossed the street together, walking in the direction of the McAllister House and Reagan's Dorm.
"I'm not mad. I'm perfectly fine with not going. It's only a stupid dance anyway. I'll be fine by myself. I'm just peachy," I said, walking faster.
Cam quickly detected the bitterness that I had tried to hide in my voice. "You're sullen," he noted.
"I thought you said you weren't taking anyone to the dance," I changed the subject.
"I lied," he responded impudently.
"I thought prefects didn't lie."
He ignored the jab. "So you're really not going?" he asked again as they stopped in front of Reagan's Dorm.
"No, Cam. I'm not. I'll see you later," I responded shortly, turning and quickly walking away.
_________________________
He asked me to the dance, he asked me to the dance, he asked me to the dance, I can't believe he actually asked me to the dance, Cam Gallagher asked me to the dance, oh, what the hell, I can't go anyway. But still…does he…like me? Cam Gallagher! Oh, shut up, Aurelie, I chided myself as I let myself into the McAllister House, trooping upstairs after briefly greeting Rachel.
And it's not like he liked me or anything…he only asked me to the dance. He could always ask some other girl. Like Megan, or something. I mean, he made-out with Megan, but it's not like he likes her too. Unless….he does. Oh my gosh, what if he did like Megan? And her humongous boobs? Then why did he ask me to the dance and totally reject Megan? But then, he didn't really reject her, he was just kind of clueless.
And what about Max? Weren't they best friends? And didn't guys have this weird rule that they never dated their friend's ex-girlfriends or something? Not to mention that Max made me feel like a complete jerk. But he seriously deserved someone better than me. Someone that's not Brynne too. But then, if guy's weren't allowed to date their bud's ex-girlfriends, that means Cam doesn't like me. Or maybe he does, except he doesn't want to date me. Not that he ever said he wanted to date me. Unless the dance invitation counted as a date, maybe? Ahh, this was so confusing!
I rubbed my temple. "Urgh! Boys!" I groaned, falling backwards onto my bed.
_______________________
Reagan's Dorm for Boys, Room #247,Yesterday Night
"What's up, Max?" Cam walked into his best friend's room, like he had done so many times before. He automatically headed straight for the comfy bean-bag chair and plucked last month's issue of Sports Illustrated of Max's desk.
Max took a deep breath. "Well, if you really want to know, I talked to Aurelie earlier," he said.
Cam looked up from the magazine, interested. "What happened?" he asked nonchalantly.
"I asked her if she could give me another chance…and I asked her to the dance. She said no," Max answered curtly, taking the magazine from Cam and flipping idly to the tennis section.
"Uh…sorry, man," Cam muttered awkwardly.
Max shrugged. "Whatever. It's cool, I'm over it," he said casually, turning the page. "Hey, Andy Roddick won the Sony Ericsson Open," he noted.
Cam scrutinized his best friend. Max seemed unfazed. "Are…you sure?"
"Yeah, it says right here, Andy Roddick won the Open," Max pointed to the page.
"Not that! I meant...the other..." Cam trailed off.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Quit asking me about it. You still going solo right? Then we'll be the only bachelors at the dance, ha ha," Max joked.
Cam blinked. "Yeah. Guess who I ran into today? That Megan chick. It was like the most awkward thing ever," he managed to change the subject.
Max looked up. "Really? What did she say? I mean, she is hot."
Cam didn't know what to do as he continued the mindless conversation going with his best bud. However, his thoughts were spinning around crazily in his head. He was originally going to ask Aurelie to the dance…he had what he was going to say planned out too, perfectly blasé…but he had no clue that Max would actually confront her again. What if he asked Aurelie anyway? And she agreed? He'd look like the biggest asshole ever then, and Max would probably hate him forever, even thought it did look like he was completely over her.
No, Cam reasoned. I don't know how it exactly works, but you never get over your ex.
Reagan's Dorm for Boys, Room #245, Tonight
Cam quickly entered his room and slammed the door shut behind him. And after a second thought, he locked it for good measure. He didn't want anyone disturbing him. Why the hell had he asked Aurelie to the dance? It was so capricious of him, so stupid! Not to mention that he had completely betrayed his best friend. So he was a jerk and an idiot.
And on top of that, she rejected him. She rejected him! Although Cam wouldn't know what to do if she had agreed. So for the time being, he was immensely grateful that she couldn't go. So everything was okay, for the time being.
But if she could have gone, what would she have said? Yes? Or no? What if she actually said no? Then she would have flat out rejected him and completely made him look like a loser. Usually when it came to girls, it was never this confusing. Probably because Cam thought most of them were annoying; they way they threw themselves at him. He simply ignored them. Except Megan. She was pretty hot, especially in that dress last year, and after a lot of pushing and coaxing from his friends, hooked up with her on the dance floor on impulse. Which was obviously a retarded thing to do too, since now she was obsessed with him too.
Cam sighed and buried his head in his pillow. Why did he always make such rash decisions when it came to girls? They were so frustrating! "Urgh! Women!" he groaned into his pillow, his complaint muffled by the soft down.