A Stupid, Hopeless Crush

Chapter-21 Bowling and F.R.I.E.N.D.S

“Brandon, get back here RIGHT NOW!” I yell, as I chase him across the lawn of my house, as he runs forward happily, the most precious thing in my life clenched tightly in his hand.

Namely, the keys to my dear, sweet Maximus.

“BRANDON!!! If you don’t give ‘em back right now, I swear I’ll never let you play in any Championship game ever!” I threaten him, willing my legs to move faster.

“No, no! No way in hell, princess!” he laughs running around and dodging me whenever I try to lunge at him. “You promised me anything if I won! I want your motorbike!” He turns around to grin at me, and his eyes widen in shock as he quickly ducks to avoid a pebble that I just chucked at him with force.

He stands up to his full height with a horrified expression, and looks at the fallen pebble, then at me incredulously. “Are you insane?! Do you want to give me brain damage or something?!!”

I open my mouth to tell him that he needs to have a brain for some damage, but he senses it, and holds up a finger to stop me. “Don’t answer that, actually.”

Then he grins and jiggles the bike-keys in front of me, and starts running again.

That is it.

With a roar, I run as fast as I can and jump onto his back, tackling him down. The laugh emitting from his mouth turns into a yelp, and we both fall on the grass, me on top of his back.

“Give. My. Keys. Back!” I say threateningly, sitting up so I’m straddling his back. I twist his left arm behind his back, and he howls in pain.

Confused? Let me begin again.

It’s been a month since Brandon and I had that talk in Starbucks, where we called a truce once and for all. I have to admit, I’d still had some qualms about being friends with him, and I always watched my back when it came to him. But he has behaved like an actual friend all this while, and I have begun to trust him.

And of course my crush on him has only grown, gathering hope every time I see him being nice and sweet to me.

But not today. Definitely not. He took it too far. Because today, it’s the question of my motorbike, my dear Maximus.

It all started today when Brandon showed up at my place at ten in the morning to spend the Saturday with Kris and I. The three of us hung out for a while, watching a movie and playing a board game, until June and Laura showed up around noon. Ethan arrived soon after, and after two intense games of Scrabble, everyone decided to go get hot-dogs. Which I hate, by the way, so I refused. Brandon was too lazy to go with them, so he stayed back to keep me company.

Little did I know that ‘company’ meant challenging me to a game of Mario Kart.

Which, by the way, I completely suck at.

I mean, you wanna play Call of Duty? Bring it on; I’ll even kick your ass at it! You’d like to play Grand Theft Auto? Sure, I’m for it! I love shooting people and yelling like a banshee!

But I simply, simply cannot race to save my life.

And you might be thinking why I agreed if I suck at racing games. Well, here’s the answer: Brandon called me a wuss.

(Cue dramatic gasp.)

Nobody calls me a wuss, alright? I’m Kylee Jackson, the Captain of the soccer team that has won the Ohio Interschool Soccer Championship Series three years in a row! I’ve punched the biggest of jerks, completed the hardest of dares (which included stripteasing at one of Ethan’s wild parties), and I’ve done all of this without a second thought. I am not a wuss!