The Party Scene

Chapter 10
Say You'll Mean It

Tuesdays, the second day of the week, the second day of rumors, and another day of Alex feeling more guilty than ever. Alex was never guilty about anything. EVER. There she was, the girl he was going to tell he wanted to be with. He hesitated to take another step forward, but he had to, he had to let her know. Slowly he made his way over to her locker where she was standing with her head in her locker getting a book out. The moment she shut it, she saw Alex standing right in front of her. And Alex saw her bloodshot red eyes and tearstained face, with more tears producing in her eyes.

"Alex..." she breathed.

"I chose you, how could I not chose you." he whispered.

"No you don't. You'll crawl back to her, my friends were right about you Alex." she sobbed.

"Athena...don't...say that." stuttered Alex.

"You know it's true..."she spat.

"I will look you in the eyes and tell you it's not. I like you Athena." he said staring into her empty eyes. The eye's that used to sparkle every time he had seen her. This was an all time low for him, he'd never made someone so upset in his life. He didn't know what he could do to make it up to her. But he needed to think of something.

"I don't think that you mean it..." she sniffed. Well, if that was the way she felt, he wasn't going to try anymore. He couldn't change someone's mind, so he turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait..." she said jumping forward. Alex quickly turned around to see her wiping her eyes. He tilted his head waiting for her to speak again. "One more chance..." she scoffed up. Alex nodded his head and turned back to walk the opposite direction to class.

Later that day after school and everyone was at home, Jack was feeling lonely, so he picked up his phone and called someone that he was longing to speak with.

"Caybear!" he shouted as soon as he heard a click on the other line.

"Jacky! Hey bud." she exclaimed.

"Do you want to maybe hang out?" he asked.

"I'd love too! What do you have in mind?" she wondered. Jack looked around his room thinking of things they could possibly do.

"Fly kites!" he said excitedly.

"Oh! We could! That sounds like fun!" she said enthusiastically.

"Great! Meet me in the park!" he said hanging up. He had an idea, but it was Jack, he always had some kind of clever idea on his mind.

Jack quickly ran to the park moments after hanging up with Cayden, and he got his little plan ready. About ten minutes later Cayden showed up walking down the sidewalk and entering the gate to the park. Jack hurried to run up to her and give her a hug, and then he placed his hands over her eyes.

"Whatcha doing Jack?" she asked laughing.

"You'll see!" he squeaked leading her towards the center of the park he helped her sit down, and he himself sat down across from her, enough that he could still keep her eyes covered, he let his hands down, and her eyes were shut. "Okay, you can open your eyes now!" he said happily. She did, and what she saw made her eyes sparkle with joy.

"Jack! You did all this!? For me!" she exclaimed looking up at him. There before her eyes was a picnic set up for two.

"Yeah, I kinda did. I just wanted to be able to spend some more time with you alone." he said shyly looking around the park.

"Well, I love it." she said leaning forward grabbing his face so he was facing her, and she planted a quick kiss on his lips. When they broke apart Jack had the silliest smile on his face, and this made Cayden giggle.

"Cayden, can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course you can, wussup?" she replied.

"Well..." he began. But unfortunately he was interrupted by two familiar faces. His brother and sister.

"Hey little Jack!" they shouted.

"Ugh." he groaned. Cayden glanced back to see who had called for him. She had never met his other siblings. "What do you two want?" he asked.

"Nothing, we were just walking around, and spotted you with a girl!" teased his brother.

"Shut up Joe!" said his sister May. "Jack, don't listen to him...we were just going to meet up with a group of friends, and we happened to see you, we'll be on our way though." she smiled.

"Who's you're friend Jack?" asked Joe.

"I'm Cayden!" she smiled greeting the two. She noticed Jack was a little on the embarrassed side, and was turning a shade of pink in his face. After a few minutes of chatting, and Jack waiting impatiently, his siblings walked off to leave the two on their own. Joe was always popping up in Jacks personal life, don't get him wrong, he loved his brother, but sometimes he could get annoying. May was always nice to him however, and Jack greatly appreciated that. She was always on his side, and made sure that Joe didn't pester him too much, he only did this because Jack was a freshman. And you know everyone, everywhere always picks on the 'fresh-meat.'

"I'm sorry about them..." he sighed."He's so embarrassing, my brother."

"Don't worry about it, I have a sister, and she can be the same way, only she brings all her friends into the picture, so I know how you feel." she said placing her hand on top of his. "So, you wanted to ask me something?" she asked.

"Oh, no it wasn't important. Actually, that's a lie...I was going to see if you wanted to accompany me on the swings." he chuckled. That however, was a lie.

"Definitely!" she giggled grabbing his hand as the two began to run to the swing-set. The truth was Jack was too nervous to ask her how she felt about him. He wanted to tell her exactly how he felt about her. The way he melted inside every time she entered his Algebra class. The way she smiled and laughed every time she saw him. And when she said his name, he could even explain how much more he fell for her. Little did he know, he wouldn't get the courage to tell her these feelings for another whole year, not completely anyway...to gain his chances with her.

Walking around town Samantha and Amanda were found wondering around the shopping center with all the little shops. Though neither had any intentions of buying anything, they didn't mind the window shopping. Samantha was trying to explain to Amanda her ideas on what had happened with Zack and Ali, and Amanda told her that she knew all along that Ali secretly had a crush on Zack.

"I tried to tell her that it was a bad idea. She wouldn't listen. But I explained that she needed to wait and see what happened with the two of you first. And that day when Alex told her that you we're going to be late coming over, she decided to execute her plan and win him over." said Amanda with that sad look in her eyes, she could only imagine how Samantha was feeling. She could only hope that would never happen to her.

"Why would she do that though? I thought she was my best friend. How can friends do that?" she questioned with tears filling her eyes.

"I think the question is how could Zack do that to you? You two are close, and he kissed you...Isn't that something to think about? How can you trust him? I would make your decisions wisely." said Amanda concerned.

"You're right...but I don't know how I can do that, Zack is such a good person, I can't help feeling the way I do about him. Do you know how that feels?" she asked looking deep into Amanda's eyes searching for an answer. She could tell Amanda was concentrating on that question.

"I...no." she hesitated. "I think we're all to young to really feel that way about anyone, you know...?" she finished.

"I guess...? But I mean, it has happened to me...I think you can't help who you fall for, no matter what age you are." she said as they continued to walk down the sidewalk. A few feet ahead was a Coldstones ice cream parlor, and Amanda suggested that they stop and get something, so Samantha agreed, coming closer and closer Samantha began to squint her eyes.

"Something wrong with your eyes?" laughed Amanda.

"No, I just thought that I saw Zack sitting outside." she sighed.

"You're paranoid...just let it go for now, he'll come to his senses and see that he really wants you.

"I don't think I'm being paranoid...that is Zack..." she gasped. "I don't think we should go here she said stopping, and Amanda kept going. "Get back here!" shouted Samantha tugging Amanda backwards.

"Whoa!" she screamed nearly falling backwards, this caught Zacks attention, and when he turned you could see the girl with him.

"Ali!" both girls gasped."Let's go, now." exclaimed Samantha.

"No, we're getting ice cream, don't be such a wimp." scoffed Amanda.

"I'm not! I just don't want to see them together! Look she's waving at us!" she barked. Amanda looked, and there was Ali waving and beckoning the two over to the table.

"Come on let's just say hi, you can't ignore them forever." said Amanda, Samantha followed even though she didn't want to.

"Hey Ali, Zack!" said Amanda stopping at the table, Samantha stood hidden behind Amanda and slightly glanced over her left shoulder.

"Hi Sam." smiled Ali. She said nothing back. "You're still mad?" she went on. Amanda gave her a look not to talk to her.

"Samantha..." said Zack, she quickly looked at him, his eyes were filled with sympathy for her. She nodded her head at him, but couldn't cough up any words to speak. And she was left there just staring into the eyes that she was mesmerized with. "Hey...come on, say something..." he went on.

"I....I can't believe this." she whispered and walked off, Amanda shrugged and followed her helpless friend. Samantha glanced back and saw the two grabbing each others hands over the table and swaying them back and forth. "Gah, that just makes me sick." she said bitterly.

"You're going to have to talk to them sooner or later..." sighed Amanda as they went in to order their ice cream.

Now lets take our chances.
Please give me your answer.
It's all up to you so please take me away.
We've waited for so long.
I can't say it feels wrong to close my eyes, when all I see is you.

It was done, he had a introduction, the versus, the chorus, he'd completed his first song. He'd been signing it over and over again making sure it all made sense. He was satisfied with the lyrics on the notebook paper flying around on his bed. It'd been a few weeks, and there was the final product, sure it needed sheet music, but they as a whole were seriously progressing, and starting to sound better with each practice they had. This once started out as a small joke, but it was taking a toll on Alex, and he really wanted this to work out. If he worked hard enough he knew this could work just fine. All he needed was to clear all the drama out of the air. The only problem was he wasn't exactly sure how to go about that. Just then his phone rang, it was now around eight, he looked down and noticed who it was...Lena.

"Hey..." he said exhausted.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Just fine...do you mind coming over, we need to talk..." he hesitated to say.

"Here we go..." she said hanging up the phone. Whatever it was she had thought this conversation would be about, she was so right, but that much more wrong. A few minutes passed and Alex made his way outside, and just then Lena walked up glamorous like always with her hair blowing in the cool nights breeze. "Is this going to end bad?" she asked walking up to him, his head was in the downward position.

"I hope not..." he said looking her in the eyes, and grabbing her right hand in his left. "Let's take a walk." he said. For a few minutes no one spoke, both just walked in the middle of the road their fingers intwined in each others, Alex constantly bit his lower lip.

"You're so cute when you do that." giggled Lena nervously. He chuckled.

"Listen...I told Athena what happened, and she's agreed to give me one last chance, so I can't screw this up." he paused, looking deep into Lena's eyes, right then and there she froze in her place and gripped onto his hand tighter. "And.." he started.

"I think I understand." she interrupted.

"I don't want to loose you though...can we keep us a secret?" he asked, holding onto her hand just as tight. She nodded and pushed her body closer to him so their sides were touching. "Good, because you're a secret that I can keep, and I want to keep you with me." he smiled.

"Alex, every time I'm with you, I get such a high. There is always something about you. But if Athena finds out...then thats not good." she stated.

"I hope that she won't, if she does then...well that's just that we'll be over. Then it can be you and me, which is how I think it should be. It's just my friends." he explained.

"They don't think I'm a good influence. I get that a lot. Which is why they've set you up with Athena...don't worry our secret is safe with me. But this will never be okay with me, I'm sorry this can't be easier....I wish we didn't have to sneak around all the time." she pouted with her lips in a puppy like state.

"Hah, oh don't give me that look!" he laughed nudging her.

"Hey!! Alex! haha, don't push a girl, didn't your mom teach you better?" she laughed nudging him back.

"Didn't anyone teach you it's not right to go along with a guys plan to go behind his girlfriends back...I didn't think so. You're with me now, there's no rules when you're with me..." he continued to laugh.

"So no rules, that means I can do this." she said getting on her tip toes to kiss him dead center in the middle of the road. He released her hands and began to feel up her body until they reached the back of her head.

"There are definitely no rules for that." he paused to speak. What neither of them acknowledged was who's house they were in front of. Athena's. Yikes. Let's hope she didn't spot that...only she had, and she couldn't believe it, she had just been going to shut the blinds in her bedroom and she looked down to see a couple walking. She always walked to be that girl with a boyfriend she could walk the streets with hand in hand. She figured this could be her and Alex, but he clearly didn't seem to care to much, he was gambling himself with two girls, and quite frankly Athena couldn't take it. But she had a plan, oh boy did she have a plan. She would pretend she didn't know what she had seen, see how well he played along, or if he ever came clean about it. Guys would be guys, after all. Secretly that night Athena cried herself asleep, no one would ever understand how much she really wanted to be with Alex, and it wasn't for his looks, she wanted to get to know the guy behind the great looks, that's what she cared about. She knew there was a good guy behind all that, somewhere, and she was determined to figure it out.

Eventually Alex walked Lena home, it was only nearing nine o'clock, but he was tired, and confused, and had to put it behind him that he was cheating on Athena, a girl who had never done anything to deserve what he was putting her through. He had confidences that this wouldn't be heard about through the schools, he wasn't planning on telling anyone, and he knew Lena wouldn't, not if she knew what was good for her, that would lead her away from Alex if she told, and she definitely didn't want that.

The next day at school Samantha and Amanda were spotted talking throughout the halls, and Ali sped up to meet them. Samantha spoke not one word, and the three silently headed for the boys.

"Yeah...I know it's bad, but I mean I think it's safe." finished Alex.

"What's safe?" asked Amanda.

"Nothing, sheesh." joked Alex.

"Don't be so mean!" exclaimed Rian. "She's like my best friend." he said giving her a big hug. All the boys secretly knew that Rian had a thing for Amanda, and they were pretty sure she had a thing for him...but the two themselves were clueless. Amanda never wanted to admit it, because he was her best friend, and she didn't want to jeopardize their everlasting bond. But in all honestness, she really did like him, she was falling for her best friend. As for Rian, he was head over heels for her, but he never, not once showed any signs. Unless you count all the times he took her schoolwork to her house when she was sick, and bringing her favorite foods, flowers and such. He was a helpless romantic.

"Thanks Rian! I knew I could count on you to stick up for me." she smiled hugging him back. Alex rolled his eyes and walked off to Athena, along the way Cayden passed him.

"Hey you." he said as she passed.

"Jack over there?" asked Cayden, he nodded his head, and she quickly continued over to Jack.

"CAY!" shouted Jack.

"Jackboo!" she giggled.

"Can we speak in private?" she asked.

"Lets go in the broom closet!" he suggested enthusiastically.

"That works for me." she said following him. "Okay, so I get the feeling that yesterday you had more to say to me...am I right?" she questioned.

"No, I didn't have anything else to say." he lied.

"Well, if you say so." she shrugged not buying into what he was saying.

"Is something going on?" he asked her.

"No, I just got the idea that maybe...never mind. Ew, it's really bad smelling in here." she said covering her nose as an excuse to get out of an extremely awkward conversation. Jack opened the door to reveal the hallway, all eyes were on the two of them.

"Uh oh..." frowned Jack.

"Shit." whispered Cayden under her breath. She could only guess what the whole freshman class was assuming went on in the closet.

"Um...well I'll see you later..." said Jack, she nodded and quickly walked off covering her face as she managed to get through the halls with everyone shouting at her and asking questions.

Down the hall just away, after all that hiatus, Alex could finally speak with Athena. Here it went, he would have to not let her know anything.

"Poor Jack..." said Athena.

"And Cayden...I know how rumors are." he said looking anywhere but in her eyes.

"I know you do." she breathed. "So, I meant to call and see if you wanted to hang out last night...but I got sidetracked...maybe after school we can if you're not too busy." she said trying to get anything out of him.

"Oh, yeah I was busy with working on some song lyrics last night anyway. I finished the first song though. You should definitely come over today and hear them." he answered.

"You can like serenade me!" she smiled shutting her locker and placing her hand in his, and the two began to walk down the hall, passing Lena on the way, neither acknowledged each other. Although, really Alex spotted her, and she's definitely spotted him. And all along Athena knew it. Boy, we're the pair of them good, if they thought they could play this game against her, they were definitely mistaking, she could play just as mean as them.