THOSE GOOD TEEN YEARS (Book 1)

Chapter Four: Ignorance

Emma looked damn pretty.

Peter tried to control his heart as he walked towards first period English. he tried to avoid Emma because...he suspected that he had a crush on her. He couldn't talk to her without blushing anymore.

When had THAT happened? There was a time when he just couldn't shut up around her. SHE was the shy one. And, now, suddenly, the roles were reversed. Now he was like some rusted machine. He was stuck at think about Emma mode.

They had been best friends since third grade, when Emma had moved into Lakeforest from San Francisco. she had been really shy, and he had tried talking to her, but he guessed that she was a huge introvert. Then idiotic Kelly Riker started bullying her (honestly, that girl wasn't human), and Peter decided that he had to save Emma. From that time onwards, he and Emma had been best friends.

All that had changed during Sienna's Fourth of July party. Emma and he were dancing, and then suddenly Peter realized that he was awefully close to her. He could smell her lavender scent. He was also (idiotically) shocked by how pretty she really was. From that day, everything between him and her had changed.

He had been wrapped up in his own world when he felt a slight bump on his left shoulder. It was Emma.

"Hey, you ok?" Then she smiled.

NO! Don't smile, Em, please! it kills me! But he smiled back in return.

"Yep, perfect. how was your trip to 'Frisco?"

"It was nice. Well, Tori has changed. I was kind of shocked, but she was warm and everything towards me. Which reminds me, are you finally bored of me or something? You seemed to be on some silent mode since, like, July. Had enough of the nerd?" She winked.

Peter swallowed hard. He knew that he hadn't been that discreet about ignoring Emma. Damn this crush. He wanted things to go back to normal, like they were before. But, at the same time, he wanted to know what being Emma's boyfriend would feel like.

The thing standing between admitting his feelings for Em? Societal ideas.

Peter was a jock, and he knew it. He was outgoing, charming, and he knew how to flirt. He also knew that half the girls in his school had a crush on him, and that extended to Kelly as well. And it was because of all this that he didn't have the guts to ask Emma out. Emma was just the opposite of everything he was. She didn't know how to flirt (she looked so funnily clueless when a guy flirted with her in 7th grade), to talk about normal stuff. The only time she did talk animatedly was when she was talking about her studies or explaining a concept in class. She was a nerd. A cute, pretty nerd. And he thought people would think he was weird if a jock started dating a nerd. That happened in romance novels. Damn.

"Oh, please. You're my best friend and I'm not going to get over you. And you're NOT boring. OK?"

Her mouth dropped open. "Are you kidding me? I'm NOT boring? Hey, did you practice too hard something? Because this is not the Peter I know."

He was somehow saved from answering by the bell. Thank god. Emma was a little bit too close to the explanation of his weird behavior. He smiled, and waved her goodbye.

"See you at lunch? Or are you going to ignore me again?"

Something in Emma's tone made him realize how hurt she was by his attitude. Oh no. So the cheerfullness, she was just faking it. Damn. He wished he could have told her his true feelings, but he chocked up. Not now, he thought. 

"Nah, I'll see you soon. Bye."

He was the worst liar ever.