The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Chapter 43 (Pete's POV)

Cheryl has really been worrying me lately.

I know I'm going to quite some extremes, like putting a security camera in the bus, but I just need to know what goes on behind closed doors with her; I can't have her harming herself or anything dangerous.

I knew I was dead meat when they discovered the camera and broke it with Joe's frigging hammer.

I came home to an empty pizza box. That is the worst punishment I have ever received. I guess next time I'll know girls need their privacy. I should have trusted Cheryl enough to let her take care of herself anyway.

Its also kind of pathetic that I care so much about her; she isn't even technically mine. Nothing has gone far from that first date... she hasn't said anything and I haven't pushed it. I know she isn't really ready for a relationship right now, but I'm willing to wait for her.

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*Cheryl's POV*

"Guess what? I have your number. No escaping me now. Watch your back."

What?

Is that the wrong number? The only person that would send anything like that to me would be... Allie. Of course.

I quickly type up a response. "What did I ever do to you?"

Not even five minutes later I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pull it out, and what I read makes my eyes fog over and my hands grip my phone so tight my knuckles start to turn white.

"It doesn't matter what you did, its just important what I will do. Your little friend Hailey? She won't be here to call you her friend if she thinks she is going to keep Patrick from me. I advise you to break them up or you and her both will regret it."

What am I supposed to do? Either way will hurt Hailey. She's bluffing, right? Of course not. She's done horrible things before, why would she stop now?

"Cher? You alright?"

I look up to my best friend, putting on my best "I'm okay" face, not letting anything show through my eyes.

"Yeah, totally fine. My phone's just being... stupid."

She looks at me unconvincingly. "You sure? You look like you've seen a ghost."

My head snaps back up and I can tell she regretted saying that as soon as it came out of her mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that-"

"No, I know. Its just still so fresh," I immediately reassure her. She reluctantly nods, and Patrick looks at us questioningly. Hailey just shakes her head at him, smiling. He smiles back, uncertainly.

"Do you want to do something fun?" Joe asks, walking into the living area and plopping down beside me. I quickly turn my phone off so he doesn't see the threatening text. I'll just deal with that later.

"What is there we haven't done?" Hailey asks, letting her head fall on Patrick's shoulder.

All of us sit and think. Then Pete's face lights up.

"I got it!"

We all look expectantly at him, and he just stares at all of us with his cute little eye crinkle grin.

"Any time, Pete," Patrick says with a smirk on his face.

"Oh! We could go to the aquarium in town! We've never been there yet."

That doesn't seem like a bad idea. It could get my mind off of this Allie situation for a while.

"That would be fun," Andy says, all of us nodding in agreement. Pete smiles even wider, if possible, and jumps up from his place on the couch, fist pumping the air and "whoop"ing.

We all go to the aquarium, paying for our tickets and heading through the metal detector thingies I never remember the names of. I'm actually kind of excited to see all the fish and everything. I can tell Hailey is, too, by the looks of it. She's bouncing up and down so much that Patrick is even bouncing with her since his arm is around her.

Pete is literally bounding through the building, skipping so high that I'm surprised it isn't painful for his... manhood. Joe and Andy are just walking like normal human beings, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"Trohley," I whisper to Hailey, and she looks to where I'm pointing.

"Its so real," she whispers back, and I grin and nod.

We get past the little tanks with the small fish and crabs, making it to the bigger tanks with sharks and turtles and stingrays and all the big fish. I'm paranoid of the sharks, this irrational fear in my head that one will bust through the glass and get me or something. I move a little closer to Pete.

As were walking, its pretty quiet since everyone is infatuated with all the different animals. I end up spacing out and thinking about things I shouldn't. Most of it including Allie and what she would do to Hailey if I didn't do anything to stop her. I'm not sure how much time I have to come up with a plan.

I glance at her, and she's sharing a cute moment with Patrick, both of them smiling sweetly at each other. That would actually be a really good picture. I pull my phone out and snap it before they see me. I'm definitely not breaking them up for Allie.

I look up and see a big Great White shark come straight at us. I jump a little, but it stops right in front of the glass, it's razor-sharp teeth glinting against the fluorescent light. I hear a high pitched shriek, looking back and seeing Pete jump a mile in the air. Patrick sees him just in time, catching Pete's shaking body before he could hit the ground. Pete's arms immediately wrap around Patrick's neck, burying his head into his friend's neck. I can't help but burst out laughing at the sight.

After Pete recovers and stops whimpering, he raises his head and glares at me. I just wave at him with a smirk on my face. Patrick tries to put him down, but Pete refuses to be let down.

"Carry me," Pete says childishly, and Patrick just sighs, obliging.

Hailey comes over to me, walking next to me so the little bromance over there can have their moment.

"Sometimes I think Pete is jealous that Patrick has a girlfriend," I say amusedly.

She just looks sideways at me, a small smile playing on her lips. I know she ships Peterick pretty hard, but it would be odd to admit since she's dating one of the people who are in the ship.

All of us walk separate ways, Pete still suctioned to Patrick like a Koala bear, and look at all the interesting animals. For a while I forget everything weighing me down, and its a nice feeling.