Gaijin No More

Cody's POV

The next day I avoided Aiden like plague. I hadn't wanted to come to school at all but I couldn't come up with reason good enough to tell my dad so he'd let me stay at home. So there I was, praying for the day to end.

So far I had only seen Aiden once and fortunately he hadn't seen me. I was an expert at getting lost in a crowd so it wasn't hard for me to stay away from him.

There were only three more classes and then I could go home. Yesterday Aiden had bombarded me with text messages and phone calls. I didn't answer any of them, just ignored the calls and deleted the text messages. I didn't even read them. I couldn't bear to see what Aiden had to say. Surely he didn't have anything nice to tell me after what I did.

Currently I was hiding in the school library. I was in the far back where no one came and where the books were covered by dust since they were rarely used. It was a perfect place for hiding. Aiden would never find me there.

Well, maybe Aiden couldn't, but his friends sure did. I was startled out of my skin when I heard a girl's voice behind me.

“I'm glad you took my advice and broke up with Aiden.” It was Lauren and she had three other girls with her. I vaguely recalled seeing all of them hanging out with Aiden from time to time. I think one of them was called Sheila. The other two, I had no idea.

“It was for the best,” I answered quietly. I didn't really want to talk about this. Not with them anyway.

“You're right about that,” one of the nameless girls said. “But unfortunately, it's not enough.”

I was puzzled. What wasn't enough? Me breaking up with Aiden?

“What Katie said,” Sheila spoke, nodding towards the blond girl, “breaking up with Aiden is not enough.”

“What do you mean 'it's not enough'? We are not together anymore so he doesn't have to choose between me and his friends.”

Now the another nameless girl spoke. “I'm sure you know how stubborn Aiden is. And he wasn't very happy when you broke up with him. We are positive that he is going to try to get you back.”

That was one of the reasons why I was avoiding Aiden. I knew that if he got his hands on me he'd be able to talk me into taking him back. And we all knew it wouldn't be a good idea.

“What else can I do? I haven't answered his phone calls and I'm trying to avoid him the best I can. There isn't much more I can do.” The girls had totally lost me. What else was I supposed to do?

“You just keep ignoring him, but we've also figured that you should show him you have moved on. Then he'd most certainly stop trying to get you back and move on himself,” Lauren said.

“Show him I've moved on? How do I do that?”

“Cecilia, you tell him. It was your idea,” Sheila urged the girl whose name I hadn't known earlier.

Cecilia stepped forward. “You need to get a new boyfriend.”

I was astounded. How the hell was I supposed to get a new boyfriend when I didn't know anyone? And most importantly, I wasn't even sure if I wanted another boyfriend.

“We know you're quite antisocial so we took the liberty of finding you a new date.” The Katie girl said. “Kirk, you can come out now.”

Kirk? Oh this kept getting better and better.

The very same guy who had offered me drugs emerged from behind the bookshelves, a cocky smirk on his thin lips.

“Hello again Cody,” he said and ran his hand through his dirty blond hair.

Kirk Coleman was rather attractive when I really looked at him. His body was lean, not overly muscular or anything and he was also broad shouldered and quite tall. The faded jeans he was wearing hugged his thighs nicely and the worn leather jacket gave him this alluring bad ass look. His eyes were brown, but not as dark brown as Aiden's.

Despite all this, I still couldn't see myself dating him.

“I'm sorry, but I can't do this,” I said and tried to leave but they blocked my way.

“Come on Cody, think about it. It's a known fact that Aiden hates Kirk and seeing you with him will definitely be the last straw for him. He'll forget you in no time and then you can both move on. You'll only have to fake dating Kirk for a a little while.” Sheila reasoned.

Once again my heart was screaming 'no' to me while my head was telling me 'yes'. I hated to admit it but they had a point. It would force Aiden to move on if he saw me dating Kirk.

But Aiden would also hate me if he ever saw me with his archenemy. I wasn't sure if I could handle Aiden hating me.

“Hey, don't worry about it too much. I'll take good care of you,” Kirk said and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I tensed at his touch though I knew I should get used to it. It wouldn't be very convincing if I flinched away every time Kirk touched me.

I wondered what reason would Kirk have to get involved in all this. He and Aiden hated each other's guts with passion, that much I knew. Maybe this was Kirk's way of pissing Aiden off.

Whatever his reason was, it could wait. I had more important things in my mind right now.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. Perhaps I should do as they suggested. In the end it would benefit Aiden, though I wasn't really fond of this whole plan.

“I'll do it,” I said quietly, keeping my eyes on the floor. I was surprised when I was hugged by Katie.

“I know it's hard but we all know this is for the best,” she whispered in my ear sincerely and kissed my cheek, making my face heat up.

“Well, it's settled. Let's go so I can show off my new boyfriend to the other students,” Kirk said and started leading me towards the library doors.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?