Once Upon a Time

Chapter Five: Where I Stand

Chapter Five: Where I Stand

A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to update this, but I hope the length (it's longer than my usual 1500 words per chapter) and Stefan/Alana interactions made up to it. Enjoy!

"What?" Stefan asked when he noticed me unable to comment on what he said. "Speechless, Ross?"

"It wasn't exactly a typical Stefan response you gave me," I defended myself. 

He laughed, "Can't I actually say something deep?"

"Doesn't suit you," I retorted, shrugging nonchalantly. That gained me another chuckle as Stefan scooted over so that he was sitting closer to me. I moved my legs to make room, still looking at him curiously. "Didn't know that you're smart enough to remember a quote like that one," I added.

"I'm offended, Alana," he mocked a sad face, placing a hand over his heart.

It was my turn to laugh. Although I knew that he didn't actually have a heart of stone, —or wasn't incapable of feeling, whichever one you prefer—I still couldn't get used to him being emotional and all that, even if he was only faking it. I shook my head in amusement, "Why should I care if you're offended? You and I both know that I still think that you're an idiot."

"That's a lie," Stefan countered. "If you think so, then you wouldn't even consider working with me for English."

Crap, he had a point. But I wasn't going to let him win the argument—even if it was only a small one. Welcome to the world of Stefan and Alana, where neither would back down even over the smallest things. I scowled at him, slapping the top of his head.

"Well, I felt bad for you," I retorted. "I won't want you to cry over a bad grade."

"You suck," he declared, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. I gave him a sweet smile in return.

Stefan rolled his eyes and moved away from me, rolling back on his bed. All I did was laugh at his antics, and soon enough, we were back to working on our book. Admittedly, our progress was painfully slow, but it was better than nothing. I hadn't expected too much from Stefan anyway.

Before I knew it, it was six already. I checked my phone and saw a couple of messages from my mom, asking what time would I be home. I quickly typed in, 8 at the latest. There was another unopened message. It was from Carson. It said, Can we Skype later? I need to tell you something. I wondered what it was about. It was usually me who needed to tell him things—like how Kristen had once pissed me off, or how I couldn't help but cry because I thought of all the mean things Darren said to me back in seventh grade. Nonetheless, I told Carson that of course he could talk.

So, how's Stefan? ;), another message came through as soon as I sent my reply. I groaned out loud, which—obviously—caused Stefan himself to turn his head and look at me.

"Something wrong?" he asked. Oh, yeah, something was wrong. The guy that was supposed to be my best friend was trying his best to make things awkward between my project partner and I—who happened to be in the same room as I was in right now. That was what was wrong. But I  didn't need to tell Stefan that.

"Nah, just Carson being annoying," I told him, shrugging my shoulders. "As usual."

Stefan seemed to find my answer interesting, because he furrowed his brows as if he was thinking about something. I wondered what the hell was so interesting about Carson being a little shit. "Have you ever gone a day without talking to Carson?" Stefan asked me. Apparently, that was what he thought of. Was my friendship with Carson that interesting?