Teen Romance Fantasy

Act 44 (Ch)

"I think I have a crush on Sarah Archer."

"We know."

I really loved my friends and especially Eric but sometimes his sarcasm was just too much for me. Here I was, anxious as always, pouring my heart out and all they did was nodding and saying that they had already known it.

"That's it?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Pretty much." Kadir admitted.

"You're not surprised?"

"Non." Anthony answered absentmindedly, as he decided whether he wanted to burn his chemistry test or simply throw it away. Both options were valid. He didn't want to see the letters anymore, which spelled out the word failed.

"If you're all that aware of it already, can't you at least tell me what I should do now?"

"Confess?" Kadir asked with a touch of irony to his voice. I rolled my eyes at him, since even I had figured out that much. What I wanted to know was how I should proceed. Of course Kadir caught on quite early. He tried to avoid my gaze before eventually he answered.

"Listen Christian. I know all of this must be confusing to you but I think right now is not the time to talk about it."

"Why not?"

Kadir continued to avoid my gaze. He seemed unsure of what he was supposed to do. Even Anthony suddenly showed signs of agony. Something was holding them back. They hadn't expected me to realise what my feelings were really about. They thought I would insist on only seeing Sarah Archer as a friend but now things were different. I knew it for sure. I was in love with Sarah Archer. I, Christian Wood, had fallen in love with someone. Even when she wasn't with me, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about her. Every time the butterflies inside my stomach began playing around just like children and sometimes I even began smiling.

"We're your friends Christian and we want you to be happy mais sometimes it's not that facile. Imagine you find out that Sarah Archer is in love with someone else et whenever you're with her, you get reminded of it. How would you feel?"

Where was that question coming from? Was Sarah Archer already in love with someone? Don't tell me it's that college guy! Oscar or whatever his name was. How was I supposed to compete with someone like him?!

"Just stop it you guys." Eric suddenly interrupted us. He put his book on quantum physics down and looked me directly in the eyes. His gaze was too much for me. Never before had Eric been this focused on me. I felt weird.

"I'm happy for you Christian and honestly I think you should talk to her. The way she looks at you is different from everyone else. She trusts you. Believe me, I'm sure she feels the same way as you do."

Eric was cautious and calm. He spoke to me as if I was nothing more than a young child. I held my breath as I listened to every word he said. Eric acted different than usual. Something was wrong with him. I could tell that his voice had been shaking. The words he said had been his true feelings and yet he wanted to hide them for some reason. His keen green eyes became glassy, as if he had been ready to cry every moment. He was only acting strong in front of me.

Did I know what I wanted to say to Sarah? Not really. I couldn't even find her. She either had been absent from school or she didn't want to be found. Whatever the reason, it bothered me. After school I decided to message her but even then I didn't know what to say. Eric told me that confessing through the phone had been a bad idea. He also told me that it was normal to feel nervous.

I would have asked Tyson for help, since he had the most successful relationship experience so far but we had still not been on good terms. As for Anthony, bad idea. Sure, he managed to invite Sarah to my place but still I was pretty much aware of the long lists of relationships he had so far. And Kadir, even though he was handsome, he had never been in a relationship. Most people were just fangirling over him, which had been something he despised.

The answer eventually showed itself at the school gym right after school. I had stayed a little longer to study at the library. After some time however I lost interest and decided to go home. For some reason which I couldn't explain, I chose to walk past the school gym, where I met Aisha.

Her black hair was wet, as if she had just come out of the shower. In her arm she was holding an old bag. Since she didn't bother to close the zipper properly, I managed to take a glimpse at her red sneakers inside the bag.

"Oh my, I didn't expect to run into you Christian. I just had a rehearsal with the hip hop club. Do you by any chance have to go in that direction? If so, let's walk home together!"

-

"So you're saying, you have a crush on a girl but you don't know how to tell her?" I shook my head in embarrassment. It was still a little difficult to face her. The black mist in front of her face was luring me in with a lullaby of despair and yet somehow I managed to hold back. Talking to her wasn't as hard as I had expected. She didn't push me. She simply listened, intrigued by my words.

"Sorry. I know it's sudden."

"Don't apologise! I'm happy that you decided to talk to me. It's like an honour. Anyways, I think you should just go up to her. Tell her how you feel, before it's too late."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused, since I couldn't comprehend what she meant by before it's too late.

Aisha was in thoughts. She didn't know how she should approach my question. Suddenly she buried her head in her hands before slowly backing away from me. I watched her in a confused manner before suddenly she began jumping from one leg to the other.

"I once liked a guy, who was just like you. He didn't talk a lot and even when he spoke, he had always been rude to me. Honestly I hated that guy. Eventually we became friends however and at some point I just fell in love with him. I never told him that. A lot has changed since then. Nowadays we don't even look each other in the eye anymore. Pathetic, right?"

For a moment I was at a loss of words. I never really thought that Aisha had ever loved someone besides Anthony. Even I could tell that the two of them had no chemistry at all and yet I wanted to support them because Anthony was my friend. In the end I never considered Aisha'a feelings.

"Thank you for telling me this. I understand now. I promise, I'll tell her how I feel the next time that I see her!"

I made a promise and promises should never be broken. I was going to confess my feelings to Sarah, no matter what.