The Art Of Betrayal

Chapter 9

Kira's POV
Two weeks have passed since we ran into Levi at McDonalds. I've only got two more weeks with Bailey before he leaves for tour. I've never had to learn how to deal with everything without him, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I've been thinking, and I decided that I should tell Levi how I feel about him. I know that sounds crazy, but I figured that if he liked me back (hopefully) I would at least have someone to fall back on after Bailey's gone. That would be nice.
I've tried to work up the courage to talk to him, but I've chickened out every time. It's like every time I get close to confronting him, my brain thinks up another way it could go wrong.
'He'll laugh at you, and then everyone else will find out, and they'll laugh at you too. Then, soon enough, the whole world will be laughing at you.'
This is what's stopping me this time.
As I stared at him, a seat away from me, in our maths classroom, I noticed the entire room staring back at me, including Levi.
My heart started pounding, as my head snapped to the teacher at the front of the room.
"Uh.." I said
"What is the answer, Kira? To question number five? Do you even have your book opened?" The teacher asked me, clearly annoyed.
"Um, sorry, sir, what page are we on again?" I asked.
The teacher, Mr. McCormick, sighed.
"Levi, show our dear friend Kira here where we are." He said, and returned to teaching.
Levi moved his desk closer to mine and whispered, "We're on page 342."
"Oh, um, thank you." I whispered.
I started nervously flipping through the pages of my textbook, Levi's desk still close to mine. I waited for him to move over, but instead he spoke.
"Hey, I'm really sorry about what happened the other day. Alex should've just kept his mouth shut." He said.
"Thanks, that's really sweet of you. But it's not your fault, you don't have to apologize." I said back to him.
"I just think he was really out of line. Madison, too. I can't believe she stole that necklace from you." He whispered, shaking his head.
"It's fine, I'm used to it." I replied.
"What do you mean?" He asked, actually looking at me.
"Well, she's been treating me like that for as long as I've known her. It's really not that big of a deal. Like I said, I'm used to it."
"You shouldn't just get used to her treating you like shit. You deserve better." He said.
I finally looked up at him, and was surprised to see that he was blushing. A grin involuntarily crept onto my face, and before I could stop myself, I was blushing too. He grinned back at me, and I looked down at the book, still smiling like an idiot.
"Kira, Levi, I'm gonna need you two to pay attention. Now." Mr. McCormick said.
Levi, moved his desk back where it was supposed to be, and the moment was over.
~~~
As the bell rang, signaling lunch, I got all of my stuff together. I met Bailey in the hallway by our lockers.
Seeing my smile, he looked at me questioningly.
"What's got you all happy?" He asked.
"Am I not allowed to be happy?" I joked, still smiling.
I started exchanging my books at my locker.
"Of course you are. But you just seem... overjoyed." He said, with a grin.
"I'll tell you when we get into the cafeteria." I said.
"Alright, I'm gonna take a quick bathroom break first though." He answered.
I nodded and he walked back down the hall. I walked away from him, towards the cafeteria.
As I walked through the doors, I made my decision. It was perfect; Bailey was in the bathroom, so he couldn't stop me. I was going to tell Levi that I liked him.
I scanned the cafeteria, looking for Levi's face. I spotted him in line for lunch with Alex. I made my way over to him.
"Hey, Levi, can I have a quick word?" I asked.
He turned and nodded.
"Yeah."
He turned to look at Alex and asked,
"Save my spot?"
Alex looked me up and down, laughed, and said,
"Yeah, sure, mate."
Levi stepped out of line towards me.
He looked at me expectantly.
"Umm..."
"Oh, yes, right. I just wanted to tell you... I thought that you should know... Ireallylikeyou." I muttered quickly.
"Sorry, what was that?" He asked.
I took a deep breath.
"I really like you. And I have for the longest time. I just thought you ought to know." I said.
He stared at me for a few seconds, before a loud laugh rang out throughout the cafeteria. I looked up to see Alex clutching his chest, laughing so hard he was struggling to breathe. Everyone was staring.
"You, Kira Mitchell, complete loser, 'like' Levi Evans, complete jock?"
He announced to the whole cafeteria.
Everyone broke into endless laughter.
"Now tell me Levi, what do you have to say about that?" Alex said.
I looked at Levi, and he hesitated.
"You can't possibly like her.. or can you?" Alex asked.
All eyes were on Levi now.
He hesitated again, before saying,
"No, or course not," and laughing along with everyone else.
My eyes filled with tears and I pushed my way back through the crowd of students and ran to the bathroom. Through the tears I saw Madison cracking up. I ran past Bailey, who was just walking back into the cafeteria trying to ask me what was wrong, but I was already half way down the hall. When I got to the bathroom, I locked myself in a cubicle and sunk to the ground. I put my head in my hands and cried. I heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and a soft knock on the cubicle door.
"Kira, what's wrong?" He whispered.
I didn't answer.
"C'mon, Kay, I know you're in there. Open up." He pleaded.
I sighed, wiped my eyes, got up, and opened the door. As soon as I got it open, he engulfed me in a hug. I cried into his shoulder as he tried to calm me down.
About five minutes later, I stopped crying.
"Hey, lets go." Bailey said.
"I can't go to class. Everyone's gonna laugh at me."
"I mean let's leave. We can go wherever you want. Home, to get something to eat (since we both missed lunch), take a walk. Wherever you want. I'll follow you wherever you go." He said, looking into my eyes.
I stared right back into his eyes. He slowly leaned his head down towards mine, and his eyes moved to my lips. My heart leapt. I quickly said,
"Yeah, why don't we take a walk," And walked out of the bathroom, Bailey right behind me.
Bailey just... tried to kiss me? No, that's crazy. For him to have tried to kiss me, he would have to like me. Like like me. And he can't.. can he?
Regardless, I think I did the right thing. I don't want to ruin our friendship with some kind of romance that's bound to leave us both heartbroken. Besides, I don't like Bailey like that anyways. He's my best friend, and he has been since we were little. He's basically like a brother to me. It would be too weird. No, I don't like him like that... or do I?

Bailey's POV
I feel so embarrassed. I can't believe I actually tried to kiss her. I'm so stupid. Of course she doesn't like me. Why did I ever think that? Now I've made a complete fool of myself to her. Plus, she definitely knows I like her. I mentally sighed. Now things are for sure going to be awkward between us.
Right now, we're walking to the same hill overlooking the city that we went to when we had our picnic. She's telling me what happened, and I can't believe it. Actually, I can. I knew Levi wasn't a good person, and now this proves it. What happened is terrible, but at least now, instead of having a huge crush on Levi, she hates him.
But I can't help thinking about what will happen to her when I leave. She'll be all alone. As much as I hate to admit it, everyone will definitely make fun of her after today. And in just two weeks, I won't be there to defend her.
She finishes her story, and looks up at me as we walk.
"Wow, Kay, I'm so sorry. That's terrible. You didn't deserve him anyways. He's not good enough for you. He may seem like the most perfect person to you, or at least he did, but he's not. He's a bad person, and you're an amazing person. You deserve way better than that." I said.
She sighs.
"They will never let me forget this, will they?" She asked.
Now I sigh.
"I suppose not. But I'll be there. The moment anyone says anything to you, you know I'll put them back in their place. I won't let anyone hurt you." I told her.
"Not for long. Soon enough, you'll be gone." She said.
"I know. Maybe I should just cancel the tour. You need me right now, and I can't just leave you." I said.
She looked up at me again, and shook her head.
"Don't you dare. I'll be fine. You can't just let down all of your fans like that. Half of the shows are already sold out. Besides, it's too late to cancel anyways." She said, and gave me a stern look.
I said okay as we arrived at the hill.
She went and sat down towards the edge, and I went and sat right next to her.
"You know, I really miss how things used to be, when we were younger. It was just me and you, Bailey, just me and you against the world." She said, looking off into the distance.
"It still is, and it always will be. You know that, right? I'm never leaving you." I said, putting my arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to me.
"I know. I just mean... well, back then, we had close to no problems. No worries. Now, we have just about everything to worry about..." she said, drifting off at the end.
"What do you mean, Kay?" I asked, looking at her.
She looked back, but avoided my eyes. She opened her mouth, closed it again, then bit her lip and sighed.
"You wanna know what my biggest fear is?" She asked, looking down at her lap.
"I'm listening."
"That everything's gonna change. I mean, of course it already has. But I mean change for the worse. I'm scared that you're gonna leave and completely forget about me. I'm scared about what's going to happen to my mum. And about what would happen to my dad if something happened to her. I'm just scared that one day I'm gonna wake up and everything I know and love will be gone." She said, her voice gradually coming to a whisper.
"Kira... I will never, ever leave you. Never. I'm gonna promise you right now that whatever happens, and I mean whatever, I'll always be be there whenever you need me, as soon as you need me. You're my world, Kay. I'd do anything for you." I said, gently moving her head to face me.
"And I know I can't promise that nothing will happen to your mom. But the doctors are doing all that they can to help her. As hard as it is, you're just gonna have to trust them."
She nodded, then wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tight.
As I held her in my arms, I couldn't help but realize that every piece of her fit perfectly with every piece of me.