I Hate You But I'll Wait

the black sheep

Astrid

"Here you go." Arabella said, smiling sweetly. That unsupervised flirt.

Now, it was Daniel who looked tongue-tied. Poor sweet, quiet and ever confident Daniel was immediately falling, face first, of Arabella Van Allen's charm called The Smile.

When he didn't say anything, Arabella continued. "Daniel, right?" She said, although the vixen totally knew who she was talking to.

The poor boy could only nod.

This time, Arabella flashed an even brighter smile. A certain level of The Smile, where in boys would finally break and fall to their knees in worship.

"Right. I thought I've seen you around here. Well, I really do hope you enjoy the pastries. I baked them myself." She said in a low voice that could only mean she was definitely flirting.

I narrowed my eyes at her direction but she ignored me. No surprise there.

"Uhh... yeah... thanks." Daniel stuttered.

"Great! Well, see you around." Arabella said, The Smile still working its magic.

With one final nod, Daniel left, looking flushed and in a hurry.

I stared after him, even as he disappeared, before turning to look at my sister. "How do you do that?" I demanded.

She turned to me looking as innocent as possible. The bitch was far from innocent. "Do what?" She said.

"You know what!" I exclaimed.

She gave me a lower level of The Smile, the level where it usually just softens up the boys' (and sometimes girls too) hearts but not enough to become Arabella Van Allen's slaves, thinking it would work on me.

It usually doesn't.

"I most certainly do not know what you are talking about, dear sister." She said and walked away to the kitchen.

The fact that she said "dear sister" is enough evidence to know that she did know what I was talking about.

I rolled my eyes when her head popped out from behind the door. "Yoda talk, really?"

At this, I proceeded to bang my head slightly against the marble table, enough to actually hurt.

~ o ~

"You have got to work on your social skills." My friend, Clarissa Dalton, said after I told them what happened back at the shop.

"I work at a pastry shop, where I serve old people, young people and all kinds of people of all ages at every time. I don't need to work on my social skills." I protested. "I just... need to work on my... Daniel skills. You know how I get when I'm around people like Daniel." I added.

My two other friends, Emily Lace and Maya Blane, joined Clarissa's laughter. Some friends.

"Yeah. Remember that encounter you had with one of Daniel's friends?" Emily said, a small twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh, yes. I remember." Maya said, grinning mischievously. "Shawn Newman. I remember how you apologized to him before vomiting all over him." she added.

"Excuse me. I was sick and probably dying, just so you know. It wasn't my fault he was in my way." I said.

"Um, yeah. It kinda was, Astrid." Clarissa said.

"James Blane. Maya's brother. I certainly have no problem talking to him and he's one of Daniel's friends." I said, determined to keep my pride and dignity intact.

Maya laughed, lightly. "My brother's a pig, Astrid. He talks to anyone who doesn't talk to him, that includes me too." she said.

I slumped and defeat. Okay, so maybe I wasn't the best person out there when it comes to popular (may I add hot) and well known people, but hey.

Say you saw Beyonce on the streets or Jennifer Lopez, tell me you wouldn't go crazy. It's the same when I'm around Daniel and his friends... just worse...

After a few moments of merely eating and drinking, Emily looked up and said, "Hey, have you guys heard? Daniel's band is having a gig on Friday. We should go."

"Did they finally decide on what to call themselves?" I asked.

She shrugged. "No idea. So, are we going?" she asked.

There was a chorus of "Sure."s and "Why not."s but I could only say, "I can't. It's my turn to close up the bakery on Friday."

To this, a chorus of groans was heard. I looked at each of them guiltily.

"Come on, Astrid! It's in the middle of the school year of our last year together and you haven't gone on a single party with us! And we don't even go to that many parties. And every time we do, you are either too busy or too stressed. Besides, it's Daniel's band that's going to be playing. You really don't want to miss out on that." Clarissa said, exasperated.

It was true, though, about what she said. It was our last year at this retched place and I've basically been spending it alone at home or going to the shop. Suffice to say, I did not have a life.

I sighed. "Okay. Fine. I'll try. But you know how my sisters can be." I said.

"You mean, how Arabella can be." Emily said. "Seriously. That girl needs to get a boyfriend." she added.

"With those looks, it's not long now. I mean, she is in college, right? Most of the hot ones are in college." Clarissa said.

Maya stayed quiet, like she usually does, observing.

"So, it's settled then. This Friday at The Black Sheep?" Emily said, mentioning the most famous hang out place in our town.

The thing about The Black Sheep is that it can be anything. A bar, a cafe, a diner. That's why most of the small events happen there; prom, homecoming, cliche high school parties, the likes.

I nodded rather reluctantly. "Okay."

And then the bell rang.

~ o ~

Let me know what you guys think about this chapter. Too fast? Too slow? Too boring? Y'all can tell me on the comment box.

See you soon! :D

- rain