Forever Girl

Chapter Eight

(Picture: Alexa)

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I stared at that stained piece of paper.

I thought about whether or not I should do it, but I couldn't arrive at one decision. It's like a connect-the-dots puzzle. If I start at this point, I could go to the point next to it, the one behind it, the one infront of it or the one a million miles away. I could go the long way, the hard way or the easy way, as long as I would end up in that specific point- which would be being with Maddie. Now the problem is, I could start on a different point, and make a whole new drawing. I could also go to the wrong point, which would make things more complicated. The worst, I don't know which dots would lead to being with Maddie.

But as of this moment, I only have two choices: point A- to call her, and point B: to rip the paper to pieces. It was 9:26 in the evening, and she might be asleep by now. Girls are just so into beauty rests, as far as I've heard, so I guess I shouldn't call her. But what about tomorrow? Well yeah but there's school, and if we meet she might bug me about the deal and I don't want her to bug me about the deal. But then there's calling her about not agreeing but then she might talk me to it and then I might eventually agree and..

AGH!

So it's true what they say that you can cause yourself pressure, and end up doing things. There are seven irresponsibly ripped pieces of paper on the floor (yes, I've counted them). Wait, what did I just do. I didn't make my decision yet!

Out of instinct, I picked up the pieces of paper and slowly put them together like it's some jigsaw puzzle. Good, I could still read the numbers. Ugh fine.

I grabbed my cellphone and dialed her number. One ring.. two rings.. c'mon Dan there's still time to end this call.. okay, on the fifth ring... fourth ring.. and oopps.

"Hello?" said a voice from the other line.

I sighed. "Hi.. It's Daniel.."

~~

"Is this really necessary?"

"Do you want Maddie back or do you want to spend the rest of your life sulking?"

So yeah, I actually called the pretty Alexa, and said that I would agree to be his pretend boyfriend just for the sake of breaking Maddie and Liam up. She told me to come to her house, which is surprisingly not really far, at around 7. She said I needed a light make-over, to make things for convincing. So here I am, sitting on a chair, with Alexa holding a pair of scissors.

"You see, you're cute. But we could make you both hot and cute, despite your.. body," she said. What's wrong with my body? Sure I don't have big muscles but they're nothing to be ashamed about. "It's all in the hair. Yours is too long, we have to do something about it," she continued, as she started snipping down parts of my hair. Cool, a free haircut. After she cut my hair she starting slabbing down wax. I tried wax once, but Maddie laughed at me so hard, so I never dared put on some wax ever again, not until now.

It didn't take her long, I guess. She was done with my hair after half an hour. There were no mirrors in the living room, so I didn't really have the chance to see what she did.

"There, you look attractive," she commented. "Now follow me."

I followed her up the flight of stairs. I still feel strange. A guy having a makeover- that sounds so wrong. Ugh. Just the thought of that made me shrug.

I found Alexa going through a cabinet, Great, now she's gonna change my way of dressing up. What's it gonna be this time, leather jackets and baggy pants?

"Here," she said as she gave me a tshirt. "It's my brother's. You can borrow it, just wash it first before returning. You picked the wrong day to wear a polo shirt."

It was a green shirt with yellow "Don't Mess With Me" text stitched to it. How mature. Obediently, I wore his brother's shirt, which fit me perfectly. I guess we're kind of the same size. She closed the cabinet door which revealed a body-sized mirror, and wow, she did a miracle in 45 minutes. I actually looked attractive and doable. In the mirror I saw Alexa walk closer to me. We actually looked like a good couple, the kind that would make people go 'Awwww, they're so cute!' or 'Dang it I wish I had a relationship like that' or even 'What a match made in heaven.'

"Now you are Daniel Skarth, Alexa Reece's boyfriend," she said as she kissed my cheek. I blushed.

Awkward.

~

I felt like a celebrity being with Alexa. Heads turned as we walked down the hall, and we weren't even at the center like in most movies. We walked by the right side, with my arm around Alexa's shoulder.

"Act natural," she whispered. But I am acting natural. It's just that I never had this kind of treatment with my past girlfriends. We just walked around without anyone noticing us.

"Hey Daniel," I heard a familiar voice say. I turned around in full enthusiam.

"Maddie!" I exclaimed. I moved my arm away from Alexa and hugged her tight. "I missed you," I whispered.

"Ugh-hmm" I heard someone fake cough, and it was Liam. All right, I forgot that the love of my love has a boyfriend, and that I have a gorgeous fake girlfriend. I freed Maddie in my arms and walked back in Alexa's personal space.

"So.. you're with Alexa now?" Liam asked. He looked.. obscure. I couldn't really fathom his facial expression, probably somewhere between calm, cool and angry.

"Hi Liam," Alexa greeted. "Yes, he is. It seems like our similarities has brought us together." Oh yeah, like having our love interest fall in love with our fake love interest's love interest. That, I guess, was the only similarity we had that brought us together.

"How did you guys meet?" Maddie asked. Hmm, she was curious, it's a sign of jealousy.. i think. But how did we meet? Oh yeah she sat beside me on a cafeteria table and the next day we are in a relationship.

"Uhh.. we.." Kring! Saved by the bell.

"Well, I think we should hang out sometime," Maddie said. What! Hang-out? "It'd be a double date, or however you would like to call it."

"That's a great idea, Madeline, I think we should," Liam said in this intonation. I guess he sensed the 'fake' part in out fake relationship.

"Of course, it would be fun," Alexa said. "Well, if you don't mind, I have a class to go to. Bye Daniel." She turned me around and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. I did not see that coming. "See you after class," she said as she went inside.

I guess Maddie and Liam did the same. I didn't really see them for my back was turned on them, but for a moment there, I didn't really care. Liam walked in the door, snapping me out of my reverie. I turned around and saw Maddie, looking at me peculiarly. "You wanna go to class or what?" she asked, which reminds me that our first period classes were in the same hall.

"Yeah..  sure."

It's been a week since I last had walked in these halls with Maddie, or even talked to her. She was suddenly a stranger to me. What we had before was this uncomparable friendship, but all we have now was uncomparable awkwardness.

"So.. Alexa, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah.." Think. What would a boyfriend say. "I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with a face like that?" Hmm, I guess that response was okay enough.

"But why so fast?"

"I had to take the chance, and turned out the odds were in my favor," I said. I'm not really sure how Maddie feels about this. Is she happy for me, jealous or what.

"Good for you. I guess Liam won't mind if we hang out again, since you have a girlfriend now." She held my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. I couldn't help but look at our hands, tangled like they would always be when we were still what you could call friends. When we reached her classroom, she gave me a hug.

"I missed you too, Daniel. A lot," she whispered. When she was done, I smiled, said "See you soon" and walked away. As she was about to go inside, she shouted, "Just like old times!" and went inside.

"Yeah.. just like old times."