Beauty and the Nerd

Chapter Twelve

Hey guys here's another chapter for you!! I'm just as excited, and Kassie's P.O.V is later on in the chapter! I just wanted to do a little explaining first! I'm sorry I took so long. I wanted it to be perfect.

Chapter Twelve

My parents and I are driving down to the town park for the fundraiser Kassie's family is having for her dad's cancer.

We got the invitation the weekend of the homecoming dance and its been a few weeks since then. I haven't seen Kassie much since our dance unfortunately and I'm hoping I will be able to steal some time with her today.

"Do we really all have to go?" My sister Hannah says in an annoyed tone.

"Yes Hannah, we were all invited." My mother says from the front seat.

"You know, for an adult you still act like a toddler." My brother Mikey says.

"Haha very funny! Coming from the baby who can only eat sandwiches with the crust off." She sticks her tongue out at him.

"You know I have to, I can't stand the crust."

"Please, let's not argue today." My father in a tired tone.

We finally find a parking space and head into the park. There are a lot more people here compared to what I expected which is great, but it may limit my time with Kassie or even seeing her.

We all go different ways with wads of money in our pockets since it is a fundraiser.

Mikey goes over to the food which is no surprise since he can eat a truck load. Hannah heads over to the artistic booths and my mom and dad go to meet some of their friends who are here too. Which leaves me here in the middle of the park all alone.

I start to walk around and check out all the games. There's the ring toss, I-got-it, the water gun ones and more. It's almost like a carnival.

A little kid comes up to me with a big bag of cotton candy and a worried look on his face suddenly.

"Hi- ca-can you help m-me?." He says through tears. The little boy looks familiar but I can't place him.

"Sure little man, what can I do for you?" I say. He cannot be older then nine.

"I-I lost many family somewhere around here." And he rubs his red eyes.

"We can find them, I promise. What's your name?" I ask him.

"David." He says quietly.

"What does your family look like David?"

"I was hanging out with my sister who-who..." he starts to tear up more and I don't think he's going to give me straight answers. "She's going to be mad cause she told me to stand close, but I saw the cotton candy!"

"I'm sure she won't be that mad. She'll just be happy to see you," I try to say calmly. "Where did you see her last?"

"Over by the popcorn machine."

"Lets go look for her there okay, David?" He nods his head and grabs my hand unexpectedly.

We get to the popcorn machine and start to look around. Since I don't know exactly what she looks like, I have a feeling this is pretty impossible.

Kassie P.O.V

I can't believe I lost him. I told him to grab onto my hand and to not stray away.

It's my fault anyways for taking my eyes off him for a minute. He's only seven for Christ sake.

I'm quickly walking around looking for that familiar blonde hair and blue eyes he has when I finally spot him holding some guys hand.

"David!" I yell and run over to him. I bend down then hug him to death. "You were suppose to stay with me, remember?" I wipe away the tears on his cheeks.

"I'm sorry Kassie, I saw the cotton candy and it was calling me." He holds up the bag to show me and I let out a sigh.

I look up the the stranger who helped my brother and realize its not a stranger at all.

"Peter, thank you so much!" I throw my arms around his neck and hug him too. He puts his arms around me after a few seconds and we let go of each other. "How did you find him?"

Peter's face has a little tint of red to it, "David actually came up to me. So he's your little brother huh?"

"Yep, David's my sibling. A handful but yeah."

"Hey!" David says.

"You know you are." I tease. I push back his blonde hair on his forehead.

Peter smiles at me and I smile back at his perfect white teeth.

"If you want to Peter you can hang out with us for a little bit, unless you have other plans," I say as I push a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Yeah, I would love to hang out with you." He says then pales,"I mean with both of you and I guess."

I laugh and David pulls me towards the claw machine over towards the arcade.

"Hold on David! Come on Peter." I say and grab his arm to drag him over.

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"I'm never gonna get that Scooby-doo!" David whines after the fifth time.

"I'm sorry David, but he's pretty down in there." I ruffle his hair.

"Here let me try," says Peter. He stuffs two quarters into the machine and the claw machine begins. He maneuvers the claw right on top then it swoops down to grab the stuffed dog.

"One Scooby-doo for you," he hands David the dog after he retrieves it from the machine.

"That was awesome Peter!"  I turn towards David, "Now what do you say?" I look him in the eyes.

David sighs then says, "Thank you Peter."

"No problem, bud." Peter smiles which is simply contagious.

"Kass I'm hungry." David says and tugs on my shirt.

"Oh okay, even after that whole cotton candy?" He nods his head,"Peter want to come get something to eat with us?"

"Yeah."

We take a seat over at a picnic table after we buy a couple hot dogs and fries. We are eating when I hear my name being called.

"Kassie!" I hear my dad say. He walks up with my mom and stops by, "I thought we would check up on you and David."

My father has very early stages of cancer, but he's too proud to act like it or even acknowledge it sometimes. His hair has pretty much fallen off and he wears a baseball cap to cover it up.

"Everything's good. So hows the fundraiser going?" I ask him wearily. My father didn't want this fundraiser because he's afraid to ask for help.

My father hesitates and my mom answers for him,"Its going better then expected." My mom says then her eyes catch onto Peter's, "And who's this fine boy?"

"Oh this is Peter. He's a good friend of mine." Peter adjusts his glasses then holds out his hand to my mother which she takes then my father.

"Hello, Mr. Grand." He says while shaking his hand.

"Hi Peter, it's good to finally meet a boy with fine manners. Are you related to the Hanlins?" My father asks and I can tell Peter is nervous.  He's met Peter before, but I feel like he's forgotten.  Our families already know each other.

"Yes I am." He almost says too quickly. They break apart and Peter sits back down.

"I can tell. You all look the same." My father then leans over and kisses my cheek and whispers quickly,"I like this boy better then that boy you're dating."

"Well we better go on and greet some more people, come on David we will give Kassie some free time." My mother then winks at me. Oh gosh can she be anymore embarrassing?

After they leave I see Peter with almost a confused expression.

"Do they know you have a boyfriend?" He asks suspiciously.

"Yes, but they don't tend to like Brandon very much." I say and play with the hem of my shirt. "They don't know Brandon very well either cause they think he's the player type, but I don't believe it.

Peter squirms a little and looks kind of uncomfortable.

"Is everything alright Peter?" I ask and he looks at me with those startling green eyes of his.

"Nothing, it's nothing. I'm going to head to the bathroom for a minute." He says quickly and gets up to leave before I can see if he's okay.

It's been a minute after he left and I see Brandon over by the Burger stand and wave him over.

"Hey Kass." He kisses me on the cheek and sits down next to me with a burger in hand.

"Hey I thought you couldn't make it because you had a meeting for basketball season coming up?"

"Finished with it. So here's some money for your dad." He gives me a twenty, but I reject it.

"Why don't you just give it to him yourself?" I said.

"You know, your father doesn't seem to like me very much." Then he pushes the money back towards me. I then push it right back.

"He might respect you more if you handed it to him." I say.

"It will probably be awkward though." And he pushes to me again.

"I'll come with you." Then we keep going on like this for a while.

Brandon looks tired and a little frustrated, "Come on Kassie, I don't want to talk your father. Why don't you understand that?"

"Why would you come if you didn't want to talk to my father then? It is a fundraiser for him!" I snap.

"If I knew you were going to act like this I wouldn't have come." He says then looks ashamed. "I'm sorry Kass."

I get up from the table and look down at him, "Just leave Brandon since you obviously don't want to be here."

"Kassie, I said I'm sorry. Plea-", but I cut him off.

"I think it's time you left."

He simply stares at me for a minute then angrily says, "Fine, I'll leave." He takes the twenty with him.

I'm pretty sure I love Brandon, but at times like this he makes it hard too. He'a difficult and strong headed, but he's always been like that.

I glance over and I see Peter standing over by a booth nearby.

"You see all of that?" I ask as I walk over to him with my arms crossed.

"Not if you didn't want me to." He says with his hands in his pockets and shrugs.

"It wasn't too obvious we were arguing was it?" I ask him worriedly.

"Not really unless they stared at you and could tell by your facial expression that you were hurt."

"You could get all that?"

"Yeah," Peter says truthfully. I smile at Peter and punch his arm playfully.

"You are so observant."

"I like to think I just know you well." He adds and smiles at the same time.

"You really do, don't you. Sometimes I feel like no one really gets me, you know. Sure Cleo is my best friend, but I don't know if you've noticed she's kind of only interested in herself." I say and look down at my feet.

"Hey it's okay, I feel that way sometimes too." He states with a nod.

We start to walk along the path of booths and end up along the river that trails through the park. Birds chirp and the wind blows slightly.

I can smell Peter's scent of mint and woods and I like it better than Brandon who usually smells somewhat musty.

He has a continuous smile on his face and I can't help thinking its kind of cute.

'What? You have a boyfriend; stop thinking that way'. I tell myself. I shake my head a little to rid of the thought.

"Kassie I-" Peter begins to say but is unfortunately cut off by Cleo's voice in the distance.

"Kassie!" She runs towards me and grabs onto my arm. "I finally found you. Oh, hello Peter." Cleo nods in his direction.

"Hi" He says and shoves his hands into his front pockets.

"Come on you have to come to this cool jewelry making booth with me!" She starts pulling me without my answer.

"Are you coming Peter?" I stop and look back at him.

"I should find my family anyways, it's fine." He shakes his hair out of his eyes.

"Are you going to be at the bonfire tonight?" I ask him and I don't want to see him go.

"I don't know honestly." He says.

"Come and find me if you do okay?" And Cleo pulls me farther.

Peter nods his head, "I will." And I leave him standing there.

"What are you doing with Peter Hanlin?" Cleo asks me when we walk to the booth.

"What? He's really nice and fun to be around." I state at her annoyed.

She pushes her dark brown hair back, "If you hang out too much, you know what will happen." She pauses then continues, "He'll fall in love with you. That's what always happens."

I laugh at her a little and she gives me a 'I'm serious" look.

"Come on, Peter knows I have a boyfriend anyways. He wouldn't."

"Whatever, don't blame me if one day he confesses his love for you and you can't handle it." Cleo says.

Peter probably doesn't feel that way, right? I think about it over in my head a little bit, but push it back.

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The bonfire is blazing and people are all gathered around with drinks and there's a band singing campfire songs. It makes it feel like the whole community is a big family.

I have a soda in my hand and quite a few people are drinking but not that many.

I haven't seen Peter anywhere so I have assumed he's gone home. For some reason I feel somewhat lonely at this party.

My brother has gone home with my mom and Cleo is no where to be found. There is some of my friends here, but none of those you can be completely comfortable with.

I'm currently at the buffet snacking mostly because I'm bored and eating is the only thing I can think of doing.

As I sit down at the edge of the park, I hear a familiar laugh down by the river.  I eat the last bit of salsa and chips I have, then start to head that way. Little light post are along side the paths leading me to the the familiar voice.

"Brandon?" I ask when I see the back of his brown haired head.

He turns around and he looks tired. I walk closer and notice how dilated his eyes are.

"Are you alright?" I ask him.

"Kassie! Oh my Kassie is here everybody!" He is obviously drunk. He raises his beers to his also drunk friends.

"You're drunk! And where did you get the booze from?" I ask Brandon who has a dazed look on his face.

"You didn't want the twenty bucks so I thought I would use it for some entertainment." He chuckles and takes another swig of his beer.

"I can't believe you, Brandon! This is my dads fundraiser and you decide to get drunk at it?  What is wrong with you?" I say angrily.

"Oh boo hoo, it's always about you Kassie. Your father doesn't even like me so it doesn't matter what he thinks of me anyways, it's too late."

"He could have if you were a gentlemen, and he's definitely not going to like you if he finds out about this!" I point to the beer in his hand.

I start to walk away, but Brandon grabs my arm.

"Wait Kassie, don't be mad." He pleads. Brandon reeks of alcohol and something else that catches my nose.

"What's that smell on you? It's familiar?" I could have sworn I have smelled that scent a million times before, and it almost deceives me until I see Cleo walk out from behind a truck. Then it hits me like a tidal wave.

"Why do you smell like Cleo's perfume?" I ask him, but it's more directed at the both of them.

"She uh, she was helping me up when I fell down earlier." He says slowly and he thinks I'm going to fall for that.

"You're lying to me. I can tell." I say and it comes back to me a couple of months ago when I found them embracing. They just said that Cleo was sad because her college boyfriend broke up with her, but I wasn't so convinced. The way they act around each other  like they know a secret that I don't has always given me an eerie feeling.  I brushed it aside though because I thought I could trust them, especially Cleo.  Look how wrong I was.

"You're cheating on me with her aren't you?" I state and point to Cleo.

"Kassie." He sighs.

"You are! I can't believe my best friend and boyfriend would do this to me!" I will not give them the satisfaction of crying in front of them.  I ball my hands into fists to keep myself from getting too emotional in front of them.  And not in front of his friends either.

"Please let me explain, Kassie." Cleo makes her way over, a worry line crossing her forehead.  She tries to get close to be, but I only back up to stay out of her reach.  

"Oh wait, I mean ex boyfriend and ex best friend." I say and I feel like slapping them both. "I loved you Brandon! With all my heart and sure our relationship was a little rocky, but I didn't think you'd go and do this!"

"It's-" Cleo begins although I stop her before she can pour out anymore lies.

"And you're my best friend. The one who I share all my secrets with and you betray me with a huge one. Why couldn't it be anyone else?" I ask her. I'm shaking from head to toe with anger and frustration.

"Is everything okay here?" I hear a voice behind me and see Peter with a worried look on his face.

"Go away Peter wiener!" Brandon yells.

"I wasn't asking you." He walks up to me and looks me in the eyes in which I almost come undone, "Are you okay Kassie? What's going on?"

I scoff when I look over at Brandon and Cleo.  I casually wave towards them, "Oh nothing much, just found out that some of the most important people in my life went behind my back and have a fling going on."

Peter looks somewhat not surprised and looks at both Cleo and Brandon who wear twin expressions of sadness and worry.

"I'm done with both of them though." I say and start to walk away back to the fundraiser.

"Kassie I'm sorry." Brandon says and follows me.

My body spins around, "It's so easy for you to say right? You aren't experiencing what I'm feeling because you wouldn't know. I have never cheated on you once." I push him in the chest. My emotions are going haywire with anger, betrayal, sadness, and wanting to hurt them all the same.

"Lets see how you feel." I say calmly.

My brain tells me to do one thing and before I can talk myself out of it, I find myself in front of those green eyes and plant my lips on Peters.


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