To Know Love

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I ran a tense hand through my ruffled hair, gazing at my strewn childhood memories on the floor. I tried to recollect my frantic thoughts as I panicked about what I had just agreed too.

Derek had knocked on my door, waltzed shamelessly into my room, and queried me if I was interested in meeting up with him later tonight, when everyone had gone to bed. Either our relationship was heading for the better or I was just too naïve at the moment to even think about possible consequences. Most likely the latter.

What to do, what to do…, I thought, at a loss. I had confirmed to his odd request with a ‘yes,’ so obviously it was the logical solution to show up, right? Perhaps wrong. I was beginning to have second thoughts. My father had always warned me to be cautious around people who turned out to be abruptly nice. Since I was a princess, I was taken advantage of easily. Like I needed Derek to show me that. Okay, Bella, stop. I demanded myself. I had said yes to Derek. It would be highly unlike me to just ditch him now, not to mention rude.

Knock, knock, knock.

I stiffened. Was he already back? What if he tries to make agree to yet another stupid proposal? My heart pounded in anticipation as I let out a weak croak. "Yes?"

To my relief, I saw Sky’s wandering head peeking through the crack of the door.

“Sky!” I practically shouted, excited to tell her what had just happened.

“Whoa, there!” She steadied herself as I ran over to fling the door open.

“No time,” I grabbed her hand and leaped with her onto my bed. “Okay,” I calmed myself down as I prepared to spill out the goods to her. “So Derek came in here, and started looking at me with unusually sultry eyes, you know how he can be, and then we got to talking and he-”

“Wait.” She held up her hands as a sign for me to slow down. “Derek…was in your room?” I nodded to confirm. Suddenly, the Oh! Now I get it… look was plastered on her face. “So that’s why I saw him in the hallway! I assumed by default that he was just some creeper lurking outside of your bedroom.”

My cells electrified. “You saw him? Did he…mention anything perhaps?” I tugged on a loose strand of hair nervously, looking like I had committed a crime.

“Not in particular…” She sounded hesitant. “I was walking up to your room, right? After I had finished that staggering load of dishes-that took forever, by the way, let me tell you. I mean, why do I have to do them? Right? Just because Cole has been sick these past few days my mother suddenly acts as if the world is ending-”

“Sky!” I snapped my impatient fingers in front of her face. “Continue!”

“Right. Sorry. So I was walking in the hallway when I noticed he was walking towards me. I thought that was especially unusual, considering the fact you hate each other, am I right?” Her eyes looked incredulous. I nodded, indicating her to proceed. “Then he asked me if I had a pen. When I replied with a ‘no,’ he barged into your dad’s office like it was nobody’s business and came out with this.” She waved a folded piece of paper in front of my face.

“What’s that?” I asked, reaching curiously for the paper.

“Ah, ah, ah.” She pulled her arm back and wiggled her index finger, gesturing a ‘hold your horses’ notion. “What I want to know is what he was doing in your room in the first place.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. I punched her in the arm.

“Look, it’s not like that.” I snorted. Of course Sky would be the first to suspect something that wasn’t really going on. Figures. “All he wanted was to ask me if I wanted to meet up with him later tonight.” I rolled my eyes. No big deal. At least, that was the impression I wanted to make on Sky.