-Tristan-
Ever since Kylie and I had finally reunited, I couldn't help but feel overjoyed all the time. It was like one of the old days, when Kylie's family had moved int o our neighborhood a few weeks after her father's death.
I could still remember the first time we'd met. Our first meeting hadn't been fo rmal-it had only been the result of an accident. Kylie had hit the window of my bedroom when she and Lacey had been playing baseball, and she'd talked to Mom an d me and promised to pay for the damage, which meant having to lose a week's all owance. Not bad for a fourteen-year-old kid, especially one who'd already showed assertiveness towards people whom she'd just met over a few days.
So yeah, that's how it started. We became friends, and it had been somewhat stra nge at first, since she was a girl and there had been things I'd been a little b it hesitant to indulge her in, like skateboarding, catching frogs, and climbing trees, still, she'd tried and done everything.
Thinking of those times made me feel alive.
I wondered if Kylie still remembered. She'd never spoken about them as years had gone by, and everything around us had changed. We were friends now, but I was s till unsure if we could do all those things once more, like we used to.
-Kylie-
I took a deep breath.
"Today's gonna be my lucky day," I told myself like it was a mantra and hopped d own Tristan's car.
His mouth curled up as he waited for me so we could walk together. "Yeah, right, " he said sarcastically. "Like you can predict what's gonna happen to you."
I threw a glare at him. "Hey, if I thought it often enough, as if I really belie ved it, maybe I actually would have my lucky day," I answered. "Right, Lacey?"
"Huh?" she called from far ahead. Her earphones were plugged into her ears like she was trying to drown herself in her little world again.
"Well, yeah sure. I think that's gonna help you earn some luck if you have at le ast tried studying your Calculus lessons in advance," said Tristan.
My face went pale, and I felt a little guilty. "Ha-how did you...?"
"Have you already forgotten that Cross is also my instructor? I know his teachin g patterns. When he's late to class, expect him to give you a pop quiz; when he teaches a lesson that spans a whole week, he'll definitely give you a unit quiz. I told you, he's Adolf Hitler on crack."
"Why haven't I noticed that before?" I cried. Maybe it was because I hadn't paid attention in class. Well, I'd tried to, but I just hadn't been able to do it. " Hearing about the unit quiz makes me feel like I'm being shot! Thank you so much , T-now I have to spend the whole day agonizing about this."
"It's a good thing that I gave you a reminder, though," he said. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and noticed that he was smirking.
"Yeah, yeah," I answered.
"Well, you can borrow some of my notes. They're complete..."
My eyes lit up. "What?"
"If you want to." He locked his eyes on mine for two seconds before looking away and brushing his head as if he felt edgy.
I simple gaped at him, confused. Wait-Tristan was being nice again, too nice. On e time I'd tested him to see how far he would go with his Mr. Nice Guy image by spilling Coke on his shirt in the cafeteria, but he'd kept everything cool and t old me it had just been an accident. Also there was the time when I'd smacked hi s face and told him there'd been a fly, even though there really hadn't been, an d he hadn't even gotten mad or anything. That was strange.
Is he changing...or is it something else?
But as for the change, I pushed away all the negative thoughts in my head and sa id, "Yeah, sure. But...what about you?"
"I can handle it myself."
We stopped walking, and as though eager, he quickly pulled a notebook from his b ackpack and handed it to me. I flipped through the pages, and my mouth dropped. It wasn't because his handwriting could have been mistaken for the work of a Nea nderthal man, but because his notes were fully detailed in comparison to Juliann e's. Of all the guys I'd known so far, Tristan was the only one who would bother taking all the lessons down.
Just as I'd thought-this guy had a hidden nerdy ego!
"Gee, Tristan, are you a nerd?" I blurted out. "Taking down all the notes on the board, seriously? One simply does not have time for that."
"Hmm," he said. "If you think I'm a nerd, then I bet I'd at least be in the hot category." He winked.
I gave him a weird look. So I guess the cocky attitude was still stuck in him.
"Yeah, whatever."
When I was about to take a step ahead of him, he touched my arm.
"Kylie, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "How about we go home together af ter school?"
"Why? Don't you have any dates for the day?" I joked.
"I'm not dating any girls now," he said. "In fact, I never look to other girls a nymore."
Well, that had been one heck of a weird statement. I'd never thought it would co me from a well-known player's mouth.
But... was he really a player?
I was starting to have doubts about him. I'd never heard the girls he'd broken u p with say bad things about him or hold bitterness against him; it was like he w as still being true, even though he was playing around...
I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Because there's one girl who's already gotten me."
Silence.
I let out a small laugh. "Whoa, that's so deep, T. I didn't know you could say s tuff like that," I kidded, since I figured he was pulling my leg. He was Tristan , remember? He was one of the worst goons I knew.
But the firm set of his jaw, the sweat rolling down his forehead, the pink glow in his cheeks, and the way he looked at me showed that he was completely serious about it.
Is it real this time? Is he not actually playing around?
"Oh! I see... okay," I stammered, forcing a grin.
He took a step towards me. I snapped my mouth shut and swallowed a lump in my th roat.
"So... what do you think?" he asked.
"W-what?" My lips barely moved. Was he referring about the girl?
"I... I mean, about going home together."
Oh. "I'll consider that if-if you stop looking at me like that, you nerd waffle! " I exclaimed.
He grinned. "Your face is red."
I wouldn't have realized that I was already steaming if he hadn't mentioned that . I had to take a step back before I could pass out. I was too stunned to speak, and we just stood there in silence for a while. Just thinking about Tristan and I being so close like this, with a bunch of students around, made the situation even more awkward.
Finally, I couldn't bear the proximity and blurted out, "Okay! I'll go home toge ther with you. But the last one to reach the lockers treats the winner to vanill a pudding later!" and made a mad dash. From a distance, I could hear him laughin g aloud.
I knew what he was thinking-this was exactly those bets we'd made when we were k ids, and now we were doing it again. Just like we used to.
***
I sprinted to my seat and dropped my exhausted body onto the desk; my backpack m aking a soft thud as it hit the floor.
"Kylie, you do realize you're early for the next period, don't you?" Julianne sa id, not bothering to look up from her book.
I looked at the wall clock on top of the board. Crap-it was seven minutes after the bell had rung. But when I looked around and noticed that the others weren't in their seats yet, I sighed in relief.
"At least the teacher isn't here yet," I reasoned.
"Lucky for you, then."
My throat felt like sandpaper after all that running. I asked her, "Did you brin g water?"
Julianne finally looked up from her book to scrutinize me before bending over, p ulling out her water bottle, and handing it to me. I drank the tepid liquid and let out a loud gasp.
"You already look exhausted, and it's only morning," she observed. "What happene d?" She pointed to her upper lip, and I quickly wiped off my water mustache with my hand.
"Ah, it's because Tristan and I had a race." I made a fist pump. "Good thing I b eat him-that guy owes me a vanilla pudding."
Julianne slammed her book shut and leaned over my desk, as if what I'd said had fascinated her.
I gaped at her in confusion. "What?"
"So Tristan's wonderful, isn't he?" Her smile was starting to scare me again.
I grunted. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You said some time ago that you were testing his patience, so how's that going? " she asked giddily. "Any reports?"
"The same as ever. He's still the villain I know, and I solemnly swear he's up t o no good."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
I finally gave up with a sigh. I couldn't deny it anymore, since she was making her own observations, and I knew she wouldn't stop me until I said the right thi ng.
"I know that's not the answer you wanted to hear," I muttered. "All right! He's. .. I don't know. He suddenly got this nice side-he's helping me out and showing real concern for my problems... Tristan's pretty weird, isn't he? Turns out he's not as evil as I thought he was." My voice dropped on the last sentence.
Wow. I couldn't believe I'd been completely honest about Tristan, and because of it, my cheeks heated up.
Julianne's grin widened.
"Stop staring at me like that, Jules." I tried to avoid her eyes. "Really, it's making me feel guilty."
"Ooh, you like that side of Tristan, huh?" She wiggled her eyebrows.
I almost choked on the water I'd just drunk. "Wha-m-me?" I stuttered, waving my hands. "Like him? That's not it!"
She slapped the table a couple of times, almost having a mental breakdown becaus e she was laughing too hard. "I see now," she choked out between her snorts.
"You see what?"
"You don't like him, Kylie. You looove him."
"Shh, Julianne!"
"Omigosh. So it's true then?"
"Oh, shut up, Jules. It's not. I'm not."
"Admit it already!"
"I said no, dammit!" I cried. She was losing her mind again; I wondered what she 'd eaten that morning. "Stop saying ridiculous things, Julianne! That's not even it, okay? Well, he... he may have that popular 'princely' appearance, b-but he' s completely different from my ideal!"
"Hmm...?"
"And don't even think about stuff that's so ridiculous. It's giving me weird vib es all over, seriously."
"Then why are you blushing and overreacting, huh?"
"Says who?" I huffed. "Your eyes might just be tricking you, jeez. And I'm not o verreacting, I'm just reasoning out things in a cool way." I scowled before bury ing my blistering face in my arms on top of the desk. I wanted this class to be over already.
"You know, the day Tristan forgets his inflated ego will be the day I think he's in love, and not a day sooner," Julianne said like a know-it-all.
"What?" I didn't have a clue how on earth she was able to say things like that a bout him. I mean, they weren't even related-maybe Julianne really had a mind lik e an encyclopedia.
"Well, just saying."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
It seemed that my luck wasn't working once again.
-Tristan-
As I was heading to my homeroom, I came across Clark, and we fist-bumped each ot her before we proceeding down the hallway.
"So have you heard the guys' plan?" he asked. "They're going to Jack's again aft er school-you in?"
"Nah, I'll pass. Got something planned already," I said, smiling.
"It's Kylie, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I owe her something." She'd been extremely happy when she'd creamed me in that race, but she hadn't known that I'd actually lost on purpose. I'd run so s lowly that I'd finished after her, which meant having to be around her for anoth er few hours or so.
"You know your chances are unfortunately slim," said Clark.
My smile dropped, and my face stiffened. "I know."
"So you're just gonna keep at it, even though you're aware of that?"
"Yeah. I've been aware of it for a long time. But it didn't stop me then, and I won't stop now, especially when we're finally on good terms."
"You're definitely determined, huh?" He elbowed me in the side.
"Course."
"Why?"
Just when I was about to speak up, a girl with a dark hair came up to me with a huge smile and instantly said, "Oh hey, Tristan! You know I tried to call you ye sterday, but you didn't pick up."
I brushed my head. I didn't have any memories on what she was talking about. I d idn't even know who she was. "Oh, I'm sorry?" I said instead, just to be nice.
"S'all right," she slurred, smiling a little. She cleared her throat. "But, um, I'm just wondering if you wanna come with us later at lunch?" She motioned to he r friends at the lockers, who were stifling giggles. "We're eating out. Well, yo u can invite your friends if you want to!"
I quickly shook my head. "No, we can't. We're kinda busy today."
Clark automatically hissed, "Y-yeah. We are," when I nudged him afterwards.
The girl dropped her gaze to her sandals and bit her lip. "Oh, shucks. I'm sorry I have such bad timing. It's okay, maybe I'll try next time." Then she rushed t o her friends in the most dramatic manner possible, and I caught a bit of their conversation before I turned away from them; what she'd done had only been a dar e from her friends. Huh.
"Dude, can you explain what I just saw?" Clark said as we continued on our way. "You completely turned down a girl! I mean, it's totally not like you-"
"Got no time to play around anymore, Clark."
He shook his head. "T, you're whipped."
"What can I say? I love Kylie."
"Whoa-wait, what? Are you serious?"
I shrugged. "I say what I mean, and I mean what I say."
Clark raised his arms to stop me, looking at me in surprise. "Look, Tristan, I t hink you have the belief that if you try hard enough and wait long enough for he r, she'll agree to finally give you a chance. But let's face it-it's not happeni ng."
I glared at him, and he raised both of his hands in mock surrender.
"Okay, okay, I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I do appreciate that you care abou t her. I'm just giving you a warning, man-there's too much to lose, you know."
"So that also explains why you're losing her?"
Clark shut his mouth, knowing the meaning behind the word her. "I know it's my f ault. I think I didn't try hard enough."
"Well, in that case, get Lacey a pet. Either a puppy or a kitten, just as long a s it fits in her mailbox." I laughed at my own joke, and then realized it was ki nda lame for serious times like these.
He grunted, which I took as a small laugh. "I don't know."
"Ask her out, then."
"It's not that easy."
Then what he'd said hit me-I was giving him advice that I couldn't even follow m yself. Yeah, it wasn't that easy, it had never been that easy. Clark's case wasn 't that bad, though, since he could still please Lacey because of her flexibilit y.
What about Kylie, though? She was the total opposite. She was still completely u naware no matter how obvious I could get. Then again, I couldn't blame her. She may have come across as hard to get, perhaps because she'd been through a few th ings, seen a few things, been there and done that. And there were three factors that contributed to that: her father's death, Erik, and me playing around with o ther girls, which was something I completely regretted. The first factor was und erstandable, but the second one wasn't and never would be.
Why?
It was because I knew Erik Taylor was a huge liar.
"But despite of that, I've already done something," Clark said, distracting me f rom my thoughts.
"What?"
He opened his mouth, and then shut it as though he was trying to reconstruct his answer. Sometimes I got the feeling that Clark had a trick up his sleeve, and I was about to ask him again when someone slung his arms around our shoulders.
"'Sup, dudes? We're too early for Calculus, you know?" Will said with a laugh. " Why don't we try being late for a change?"
"Cross is always later than us anyway," I said, shrugging, and pushed the door o f our homeroom open. "We won't get caught."
We stopped halfway when we realized that everyone else in the class had spun the ir heads in our direction, staring as if we were carrying a dead body. Silence w hizzed around them, and Mr. Cross, who was already in front, cleared his throat, much to our horror.
"Hartford, Reed, Young," he said indignantly, looking at his wristwatch. "Fiftee n minutes late. Detention after school."
Crap.