One Big Sweet Mistake

Chapter 21

The news that the dorkish Kelsey Jensen was dating with the hot guy Nicholas Weatherby spread across the school quickly. With the help of advanced technology, my news even became a trending topic on twitter (what the hell?!). It was getting hotter since Nick changed his facebook relationship status to ‘in a relationship’. Suddenly people forgot about my previous image as a lesbian and I felt like I was walking on the spotlight. I did not doubt Nick’s popularity, but please note that I was not a GEEK or DORK or whatever names people said to the kind of girl who spent most of her time in the library than socialized and hung out with friends nowadays. I just did not expose myself too much and preferred not to be seen.

On the first day of my freshman year, I recollected that Joey gave me his guide of surviving high school for girls which consists of three points:

1. Don’t be a bore, be a whore. (?!)

2. Hook up with your hottest quarterback. (#$%%$#%!)

3. Avoid grouping with GGE (?)

Important note: don’t follow them, you know Joey was stupid.

“What the heck is GGE?” I asked him, puzzled.

“It stands of Geek, Goth, and Emo. Anyway, make sure you join the cheerleading squad. You’ll have a sweet teenage life, I assure you,” he answered, grinning.

“Damn, you’re so stereotyping. There’s nothing wrong by being GGE. I’ll just be who I am and I’m going to be proud of it. Seriously, your way of thinking is just sophistry. Listening to you will just lead me astray.”

“Well, I’m just trying to help. I forgot that my little sister is a saint.”

He shrugged, sneering at me.

“And my brother is a culprit,” I replied.

You have no idea how pervert Joey was. After one semester, the first thing he asked me was, “Hey, Kelsey. How many boys have you shagged?” instead of “How are your grades?” Can you believe it?

Anyway, at first I did not believe of what Joey said, but it turned out that the social separation at school really existed, especially in public school where I studied. The distinctions amongst groups are more obvious as you stepped into the cafeteria. Where you sat and whom you talked to reflected your rank. That sucked. I always sat alone at the small table at the corner, daydreaming and hoping that cliché story about the jocks who fell for the bookworm would come into reality someday. I could not believe that now I and Nicholas became a couple. That was sickeningly insane, remembering that I did not even dare to greet him before. My high school life finally turned bright without following Joey’s guide. I was going to brag about this to him later.

“Let’s go to play bowling and see a movie tonight,” Nick said as we were walking through the hallway, holding hands.

“Sounds like a good idea. We don’t have any homework for tomorrow, right?” I asked him. Nick chuckled and shook his head.

“I’m game, then,” I said cheerfully.

“Come on, whenever you’re with me, please stop talking about assignment or anything related to study. Keep it for the class. Relax a little, baby.”

Nick ruffled my hair playfully. I hugged his arm and leaned my head upon his shoulder.

We quickly broke apart as we saw Gregory came out of the men’s toilet in front of us. He stared at Nicholas with cold expression, then walked off.

“Is he still angry about us? You should work it on with him, you know. It’s so stupid to ruin your friendship over a girl,” I talked at length, gazing at Greg’s back which went farther slowly.

“I know. I’ll talk to him later,” he said, sighing. I seized his arm again, this time more tightly.

“Thanks, Nick,” I whispered. He turned to me and asked,

“For what?”

I just gave him a warm smile.

Thanks for making me forget about Alex.

***

                When Nicholas picked me up at my apartment, I was surprised to see Madison sitting next to him at the front. She did not look happy, though. She showed me a sullen face while grunting along the way. Nicholas explained to me that Maddy also had a date with her boyfriend, but their parents were rather worried about her because last month she was caught kissing with a guy in the janitor’s room and was suspended for three days. Nick’s mom told him to watch her more intensely since then. Thus, when he knew that Maddy was going to go out with someone, he decided that he should not let her go by herself and set up a double date. Nick told me that he thought she was a little bit slutty. Ah, reminded me to Joey. Both of us had something in common about our siblings, then.

“It’s okay, Maddy. We won’t interrupt you and your boyfriend,” I said, trying to assure her.

“Kelsey, please tell my brother not to stand closer than a hundred meters from me,” she said, annoyed.

“Hey, your brother is within earshot, and sadly, he refused your request. Ten meters,” Nick replied. Maddy pleaded to me to defend her, but I just chuckled. They were two funny people. This date seemed interesting.

We hit the theater first, and Nick immediately got in the line to buy us Avatar 3D tickets while I and Maddy were waiting at the entrance for her boyfriend.

“What’s his name, by the way?” I asked, sipping my rootbeer. Maddy grinned and answered,

“Alex.”

I choked instantly and burst out spilling the rootbeer onto my shirt as I heard the name she just mentioned. Don’t tell me that...

“Ah, there he is. Alex!” Maddy exclaimed, waving her hand at a figure I recognized. Holy crap. He was really Alex, that Alex. I saw him gulping from afar when our eyes met. He walked towards us hesitantly, but trying to look calm when Maddy hugged him and kissed his cheek.

“Hey, this is Kelsey, my brother’s girlfriend. Kels, this is Alex. I’ve told you that we’re having a double date right?”

“Ah. I forgot about that,” Alex said, his eyes were still nailed on me.

“You look thirsty. I’m going to buy you a drink. Stay here,” Maddy said, winking her eye. Damn, why did she have to leave me with him?!

“It’s been a quite long time. Er...you never answer my calls,” Alex said awkwardly.

“Not really. It’s just two weeks since the last time I saw your shitty face. Anyway your name is not in my contact list anymore.” I snapped. He did not look surprised that I acted harshly towards him.

“Listen, I understand that you’re still mad at me. But please don’t start out at the moment. I’m with my girlfriend and you’re with your boyfriend. I’m not sure that arguing in front of them is a good idea.”  

Seeing Alex here, my mood turned bad all at once. I did not expect to meet him again because it would bring the whole memory about our accident back, and I hated that.

“Are you okay? You look sick,” Nick asked, worried.

“Um, I think it was because I ate decayed food this afternoon. I’ll just go to the bathroom for a sec,” I excused myself and stormed into the bathroom to wash my face.

Why did he have to date my boyfriend’s sister? Dammit.

After I calmed down, I got out of there. I startled when I saw Alex in front of me. I ignored him as if he was not there, but he quickly grabbed my wrist.

“Kelsey, please. I just want to apologize. Will you ever forgive me?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it. Can we just pretend that there was nothing happened between us? Get off.”

“Okay.”

Alex backed away.

I showed him my middle finger in front of his nose and gave him a threatening look. Then I walked towards Nicholas with a fake smiley face.

I had to move on.