Maybe It Was Fate

Chapter Twenty

Monday mornings. Not a fan.

However, today, I walk into school, my head held high, looking forward to the day. Kids are scattered in the hall, exhaustion from late night weekends, present on their faces. I weave in and out of kids to get to my locker.

When I get there, a certain someone is waiting for me. Never thought I'd be happy to see her.

"Nicole!" I say with a pleasant smile. "How are you?"

"Don't play stupid with me," she scowls. God, that's not going to leave nice marks when she's older.

"Okay, what do you want?" I ask, twisting my combination into my lock.

"For you to let me have Chris," she hissed. "You know that. You know how much I like him and I liked him way before you,"

I roll my eyes. "Nicole. Why can't you just back off and be happy that Chris might like me? You want him to be in a relationship with you but if he doesn't like you, he won't be happy in that relationship. He hasn't even asked me out, he's only asked me to the dance,"

Her eyes fix on the ground. She seems to be study the pattern on the tiles extra hard. "He asked you to the dance?" Disappointment is threaded through her voice.

"Yeah," I breathe, realising it sounds like I'm bragging.

"Oh." Her voice is thick and I can't help but feeling bad for her.

"How about this. You go to the dance with Chris. See how you like it. Maybe you just think he's the one for you, when in reality he's not. If I'm being completely honest with you... I really think that you and Aiden would make a cute couple. But I want you to go with Chris and try it out. Maybe you'll have a good time, maybe you won't but you have to promise me, you're not going to make any moves. Don't kiss him, or anything like that,"

She nods. "Okay, that's a fair deal. I mean, you like him too and it's really sweet you're doing this for me. Thank you," she reaches forward and wraps her arms around me. I stand there shocked for a moment before hugging her back.

"I'll go find Chris and talk to him. Just keep it in mind that he may not agree."

"Okay, thank you,"

She walks off in the other direction and I sigh. This sucks. Now I don't get to go to the dance with Chris. I know it's stupid to trust Nicole with this but I want her off my back. So much for putting her in her place.

I pull books from my locker and slam it closed, with a little more force than was probably needed. My next mission is to find Chris before first class so I can talk to him. I really hope he doesn't get mad at me. He probably will though.

Chris stands in the cafeteria on the opposite side from me, talking to Ethan and Jakob. I walk over to them, my stomach churning. This could go really bad.

All three boys grin when they see me. I give an awkward wave.

"Hey guys." I say.

They all greet me back. Jakob gives me a suspicious look. He can tell something is up.

"Hey Chris?" I say, shifting from foot to foot. "Can I talk to you? In... private?"

He looks at the boys and nods. We walk into the corner of the cafeteria where not many people are gathered.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I don't want you to be mad at me but..."

"But what?" he replies uncertainly, an eyebrow raised.

"Will you go to the dance with Nicole? Not as-"

"No," he cuts me off. "Absolutely not."

"But Chris, just-"

"Allie, I'm not going to the dance with her.

"Will you just listen to me? Please."

He sighs, signalling for me to continue.

"Just go with her, not as a date. I told her I would let her go to the dance with you as a tester. Maybe she'll hate it and lay off. Maybe we can direct her to someone else?"

"Allie... I don't want to go with her. I want to go with you,"

"But Chris, I'll still be there, I just won't necessarily be your 'date'. We can still dance and hang out. Maybe if you ignore her a bit and you're a bit rude, she'll be put off by you. I think we should send Aiden her way."

"Aiden? Really? He's actually liked Nicole for a while now,"

I mentally throw my fist in the air. I'm going to be a matchmaker.

"Will you do it? We can still go together as a group."

He groans and runs a hand through his hair. "Fine," he grumbles.

My eyes widen. "Really?"

"Yeah whatever," he sighs.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I jump up and down and hug him.

I feel him laugh underneath me, and hug me back. His arms snake around my waist, sending tingles up my arms. I draw away from him and pick up the books I'd put on the floor.

We walk back over to the boys. Jakob slings and arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him.

Chris grins at us. "Hey Jake, who are you taking to the dance?"

"I don't know." He says.

"Your girlfriend?" Ethan asks.

"She can't go anymore,"

"Go with Allie," Chris pipes up.

I whip my head around to look at him. "What?" Jakob and I say in unison.

We look at each other and laugh. "Just as friends, you know?"

"But aren't you going together?" Ethan asks, looking from Chris, to me and back.

"Um, not anymore. We made another agreement." I reply.

"I'm going with Nicole," Jakob coughs, choking on nothing and Ethan's eyes practically fall out of his head.

"Nicole?" Ethan questions, gobsmacked.

"As in, our Nicole. As in, fire breathing dragon Nicole?" Jakob says, patting his chest.

Chris just nods and rolls his eyes at me. "Her idea," he says, pointing his fingers at me.

"Hey don't point fingers," I smack his hand, which he pulls back and rubs.

"Why?" Ethan asks.

I shrug. "I just thought maybe if she went out with Chris, she wouldn't like it as much as she thinks and maybe leave me alone,"

They nod in understanding. "Well then," Jakob says, getting down on one knee. "Allie Bear... will you accompanying me to the dance?"

I laugh and pull him up by his collar. "Of course," I reply, adding a bow in for good measure.

"That was kinda cringe guys," Ethan laughs.

"That's what love is," Jakob jokes.

Chris narrows his eyes for a moment but laughs it off. I feel bad for making him go with Nicole because I know how much he didn't want to go with her. Hopefully he'll still have a good time.

When the bell goes, we head off to class and get along with our day.

//

Another chapter closer to the big dance... *smirky face*

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and be sure to vote and comment if you did. 

Love always x