Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer

“Two more days. Just two more days, and it’s all over.” Kent sighed happily. I couldn’t keep from sighing too. Obviously, I wasn’t too happy about the dare being over. I enjoyed spending more and more time with Kent. What would happen if the dare ended? Things will definitely get back to normal, and I totally wouldn’t want that.

“Me too. I can’t wait!” The fake enthusiasm in my voice was so transparent; a bimbo would have been able to catch on. I tried to push away the gloom and spoke in a more cheerful manner. “So, what’re your plans after we ‘break-up’”?

“I dunno. Have you met Kellie? I’m thinking of asking her out.” He answered, bored. I could feel my heart slowly breaking down. He said only about ten words, yet the impact was so powerful. I must like this guy a lot. “Wait,” He continued, more alert. “Why am I even telling you all this?”

I shrugged, but what use was it? He couldn’t see me because we were on the phone. My cell started beeping and I checked the caller ID. I had an incoming call from Harvey. “Give me a sec. Harvey’s on the other line.”

I accepted Harvey’s call on my cell and had Kent on the waiting line. “Hey, witch. What’s going down?” I greeted him. Calling him a witch wasn’t exactly an insult. I gave him the nickname ever since we started watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch together in kindergarten. He looked so much like the Harvey in the show, I just couldn’t resist coming up with a nickname from the show.

He chuckled. “Still playing with nicknames? Isn’t that a little immature, Pokemon?” I gave a giggle. He nicknamed me Pokemon because of Pikachu’s trainer, Ash. “Sure, Harv. So really, what’s up?”

“The gang thought it would be cool if we went swimming tonight.” He said, casually. A little too casually.

“Where?” I asked, feeling wary.

“In the indoor swimming pool.” His tone was innocent, but his words weren’t.

“Isn’t it closed after 6?”

“Oh, Ash, stop being so naïve. Obviously, we’re going to be there in private. Melissa has the key to the pool. So, are you coming? Everybody else will be there.”

“Even Kent?” I mentally kicked myself for saying that. First of all, why was I so enthusiastic about it? And secondly, I cannot believe I just said that to Harvey!

He snickered. “That wasn’t a confession, but you have to admit, it definitely said some things.”

I pretended not to know what he was talking about. “Okay. I’ll be there. What time is it?”

He told me the details of our meeting and I hung up on him to get back to Kent. “Dude,” I started, but I heard snoring on the other line. I pulled away from my cell and looked at it weirdly. Was that boy sleeping?

“Kent. Are you there?” No answer. Well, that technically wasn’t true. I mean. He was snoring, but that doesn’t really count as answering right? Oh, who am I kidding? He obviously wasn’t awake. I had to make sure of it first before I said something retarded.

“Oh my gosh, Kent!” I spoke in a loud voice. “There’s a chow in my house! It looks like hell, dude. It has the head of a cow, and the body of a chicken! It’s running around my living room screaming, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”!” I listened for his response. There wasn’t any.

“Kent?” I asked, softer now. “Are you really asleep? It’s not funny anymore, if you really aren’t.” He still didn’t answer, although his snores continued.

“Oh Kent. I’m so confused. What am I supposed to do?” I breathed out, speaking softly. I didn’t want any busybodies in my house to hear. The sound of his snoring reassured me and I continued.

“To tell you or not to tell you?” I murmured. I took some time to decide whether I should confess my feelings to him or not. I decided to go for it. What was the worst that could happen? He’d probably tell me he doesn’t feel the same way, and hopefully things would get back to normal.

“Okay Kent, here goes…” I took a deep breath to get rid of the nervousness I was feeling. It wasn’t too bad though. I mean, I’d be talking to someone who was sleeping. What were the chances that he would hear what I was going to say?

“You sure are taking a long time. What do you have to tell me?” His husky voice called out impatiently. I frowned in surprise. How long has this fool been pretending to be asleep?

“So, I hadn’t been sleeping at all since you hung up on Harvey.” He answered my question. Greaaat. “I was curious to see how you’d react.” As if that gives you any reason to do that.

“You are such a freak.” I muttered, feeling slightly fooled. I hated having that feeling. I hated feeling as if people could trick me. I wasn’t stupid. “Go call Harvey. I refuse to talk to you anymore.” I hung up on him and lightly tossed it on the sofa. I was not going to pick it up, no matter how many times he called.

He didn’t even call once.

~
“You knew about it and you didn’t tell me?” I narrowed my eyes at Ranger and crossed my arms.

He shrugged. “I knew Harvey was going to do it.”

“Thanks Ranger. Really. Thanks a lot.” I shot sarcastically and skipped down the stairs. I hastily tore the front door open and jogged over to my driveway. There was no way I was going to ride with Ranger to the pool. I thought about calling Kent but then I remembered that I was angry with him too.

I swear, I wasn’t usually like this. It must be PMS. I decided to call Summer. She would never disappoint me. I was sure of that. And anyway, she was used to my mood swings.

She promised me she’s be over in about thirty seconds because she was already in her car. I looked back towards the house. Ranger was still in his room. I silently prayed for Summer to drive faster. I didn’t want Ranger to come outside, and make me take his car.

I literally looked up to the sky and thanked God as Summer parked outside the house. I didn’t even bother opening the passenger door, I just jumped in. Summer gave me a weird look but knew better than to ask questions. She drove away from the house, turning up the volume of her CD player.

“Why aren’t you riding with Ranger?” She asked. We were about ten minutes away from the pool now.

“He was pissing me off.” I replied nonchalantly. The wind was blowing my hair away from my face and I was enjoying it. I leaned my head back against the headrest and just waited.

~
I gave Harvey a nod and a half-smile as soon as I saw them. Everybody was already there, Ranger included. Dustin gave me a toothy grin and I winked at him. I air-kissed Melissa and Olesia and we burst out laughing because it was so unlike us. Kent tried to catch my eye, but I purposely avoided him. I wasn’t ready to forgive him just yet.

So maybe I was being unreasonable, but I’ve been fooled before by guys. They pretended they liked me, I believed them, they laugh in my face and soon the whole world finds out about it. Why be that vulnerable again? And anyway, I came so close to telling him. So close. Better keep my guard up from now on.