The Bad Boy's Best Friend |✓|

Chapter Three

"J look! It's a peacock!" 

"That's cool but I want to see the lions" 

"But I don't! what if they eat me?"

"Oh don't be silly, I will protect you of course!'

"Promise?"

"Promise"

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Olivia stared at herself in the mirror. She wondered what she had done to cause Jared to freak out on her. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down, trying to stop tears from streaming down her face.

She was hurt. Jared, who was supposedly her best friend,  had just told she had no business being involved in his life, and that affected her deeply. The thought of him being this way for a whole year, and hanging out with someone like Kate, irked her. 'How could someone change this much but not change at all?'   

She made sure she didn't look sad, and walked downstairs. They were to have dinner together, her family and Jared's. Which meant he was still down, probably acting like nothing had gone wrong

 She walked into the drawing room and found him laughing happily. 'Its like nothing happened at all'.

She donned a smile, and looked as bright as possible. Fortunately for her, everyone were busy in their conversation to notice the falseness that lay in that smile.

Everyone but Jared.

He could make out that she was probably crying. He saw pain, and felt a pang of guilt come over him. But what would he do? How can he tell her what was going on? How could he trust her?

Just then Margaret said, "Well, dinner will be ready in about ten minutes, and Andy this time if you spill food on my carpet, you're gonna be cleaning it." Andy smiled gleefully.

Olivia saw how everyone seemed to be back to normal. Their friendship hadn't changed.
'Guess its my fault'. She thought to herself. That's when Jared flung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close and murmured into her ear, "I'm sorry Liv. I didn't mean to hurt you"

She smiled slightly, and looked at him and said, "I'm not hurt. It's okay" 

She wondered if he felt he needed more time to warm up to her again, was he angry that she had left in the first place? 

He raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay then, what's for dinner?" 

Margaret could be heard as she walked around the kitchen, setting things up. "Olivia! Jared! set the table for me, will you?"

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Olivia woke up with a grin on her face. She had a good nights sleep after a somewhat odd evening, but was extremely excited for school. Meeting everyone after so long was going to be fun. She wasn't nervous, because after all, Ashleigh had filled her in with all the details. She was yet to meet Drew and that her excited too.

Picking out a beige top, and black shorts, she donned it with her brown belt, and smiled approvingly at her selection.

She quickly got ready, and combed her hair, putting it into a fishtail braid, and did her makeup.

Olivia didn't usually use makeup unless it was for special occasions, and so all she did on that day, was moisturize and apply mascara. She had a few freckles, and a pimple or two, but it never truly bothered her. she felt it added 'personality' to her face. 

Happy with how she looked, she grabbed her bag, and walked downstairs.

"Mom! I'm leaving!" She shouted and grabbed her car keys. 

But as soon as she put the keys into ignition and tried to start her car, it didn't work.

"God no! Please don't do this baby no please" she said to her car and tried again. It didn't work.

"Dammit!" She said and got out, wondering what to do next. Walking was far from an option since her school wasn't exactly close by. She sighed and grabbed her phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?,"Jared said as soon as he picked up.

"Umm Jared, did you leave for school yet?" She asked.

"No, I'm leaving in five minutes. I'll be there, be ready." 

Olivia smiled in amusement, a part of her happy that he knew her so well even now, another part a bit confused on why he hung up rather randomly. She called him once again.

"Hello?" Jared said, sounding a bit confused.

"That was rather rude you know, just hanging up on me like that. What if I called to ask you to bring something?" She said, animatedly. She knew there was a while before their friendship went back to the way it was, but she couldn't help it. It felt natural to annoy him. Like a birthright. 

"Well, DO you need something?" 

"Well, no, but still it's rather rude. I do need a drop to school. Don't forget to pick me up." She replied, and heard him sigh.

"Princess, this call was pointless. We both will be late now if I don't hang up, so.. can I hang up?" He asked, laughing slightly.

"Yup. Ooh and if you have those chocolate donuts at home get one for me!" She said and he laughed and hung up.

'Princess'  the word replayed in her head and for some reason, she felt a wave of optimism.Her Jared was still there, just hidden. He pulled up on her curb and she opened the passenger seat and said,"Good morning!"and got in.

He just stared at her with an emotionless expression.

"What? Is something on my face?" She asked.

"What? No. Oh and your donut's on the backseat. Also, seat belt" he responded.

She was too busy appreciating the beautiful donut, and so didn't register what he meant, and repeated, "Seat belt?"

He leaned over her, grabbed the seat belt and tucked it in, and she said, "Oh you meant put on my seat belt. Thank you!"

He sighed, and started the car.

"What happened to your car today?" He asked, curiously.

"I don't know, she doesn't start. Maybe she's not well" Olivia said and pouted. Jared shook his head at how silly that sounded.

They spoke about random things, and sang to songs on the radio, and finally, he pulled into the parking lot.

As soon as they got down, he walked towards Kate, before Olivia could catch up to him.

She was confused. 'Why is he going to her? Leaving me alone? What is going on?'

He took a last glance towards Olivia, hating himself for hurting her yet again. It's not like he wanted to. He just, didn't have a choice.Her being back changed nothing. She'd get used to it and leave eventually. 

'I'm sorry Livvie'