Side Note: I Think I Love You

Chapter 16 - Ian

I nearly drop my phone when Attie basically screams the moment she opens her locker.

"Woah there, what happened?" I ask, but she doesn't respond.

Instead, she peers into the locker again and mutters the words, "oh. My. God," before reaching into her locker and pulling out a plastic spider. "Son of a bitch."

I raise a brow. "It's a spider." A fake spider.

She nods. "I noticed. I'm just wondering how Jason got it in here."

I shrug as I observe the fake tarantula. "Maybe he got here early."

"Impossible. He drove us here. I saw him." Then, realization dawns on her face. "He had your brother do it. Ugh, they're both gonna get it."

I shake my head. I remember Derek telling me about a prank war between Attie and Jason a while back. The details were a little fuzzy to me but apparently my brother got caught in the crossfires of Attie's last prank. Man, I wish I was there to see it unravel. "You know, it makes sense why he asked to borrow my car today. I had to ask BJ for a ride to practice."

"I'm keeping this on me for the near future." She places the spider back in her locker. "Gives me a good idea for Halloween."

"Like?" I'm becoming very invested in this prank war now.

Attie moves her fingers across her rosy lips in a zipping motion before winking. "I'll never tell."

"You can't tell your boyfriend?"

"Nope. I can't deal with snitches." She playfully smacks my chest. "You know what happens to them."

"Oh, yeah," I respond, a hint of high laughter in my normally deep voice before slinging my arm over her shoulder. The motion catches her by surprise.

"What are you doing?" She laughs.

"I'm wrapping my arm around you," I answer. It seems obvious enough. "Am I not allowed to do that?"

"Oh, right. I forgot for a moment." Yeah, she forgot that we're supposed to be dating. I'll be honest, it felt natural to do that. I'm a physical person—comes with the territory of playing a contact sport—so handshakes, hugs, kisses, anything beyond that doesn't make me feel uncomfortable.

A few people wave at me before noticing the brunette under my bicep and waving at her, too. Attie stares at the group that passes by before waving back with a smile. "Is this normal for you?"

I shrug before we start walking down the hall. "I hardly notice it sometimes. I'm guessing this doesn't happen to you a lot?"

She lets out a laugh. "An understatement. Aside from you, Derek, Amy, and a few others, nobody knows my name. They either don't think I exist or I'm just 'Jason's sister' to them."

"Well, in the next two hours," I say. "Everyone will know who you are, princess. Don't you worry."

"Eh. I don't really care about that."

I turn to face her. "You're not like most teenagers?" Struggling to find popularity amongst their peers by doing anything and anyone? A shocker. Not to say that she couldn't be popular if she wanted to. Attie is easily one of the prettiest girls that I know and that alone could do wonders.

"I wouldn't say that," she corrects. "I'm mainstream in the little things. Like my taste in music. Most of my Spotify consists of Taylor Swift songs and the occasional Gracie Abrams and Harry Styles. I dress like a normal girl, I wear makeup but I'm not a crazy wild child, like you."

"Okay," I say, interrupting her. "I'm not that wild."

She raises a dark brow at me. "You don't jump off cliffs every once in a while or play pranks on teachers?"