The Switching Arrangement

Chapter 10

(picture of Garrett ^^)

🙈🙉🙊

Embarrassment doesn't even begin to explain what I'm feeling. It's as if someone hit the pause button on life and all the unpleasant emotions starts surging up my veins, my heart, my lungs. That moment in which everyone stares at you, faces in shock and disbelief but at the same time, no words are spoken, no movements are made.

 And I feel it all - shock, disgust, embarrassment, and the feeling I can only describe as 'Oh, God, can someone please shoot me in the head right now?'

Everything is in pause as I stare down at the putrid mess I've projected on Garrett's shirt, trying to comprehend what I just did. The vile taste in my mouth tasting worse and worse with every gulp I take.

But no words can come out of my lips. 

I mean, what do you say in that kind of situation? 'Sorry' is definitely not enough. 

Then, Garrett finally breaks the silence by quickly taking off his shirt. Garrett takes his shirt off, in the middle of a party, without uttering a word. 

"OH. MY. GOD!" I hear a girl shouts from across the room as everyone else registers what had happened and what is currently happening. 

And all sorts of sounds from the crowd starts to flood the room.

"I'm sooo sorry! I...I...I didn't know..." I start to say, but its hard to focus since he's practically half naked. "Garrett, I..."

Garrett's face is unreadable, but I know he is ashamed beyond comprehension. Obviously, since he just got barfed on by a nerd who happens to be his date, in front of all his closest friends. 

But then he looks at me, shirtless and with his eyes not filled with anger, but with sadness. "Luna. I... I deserve this." 

What? Why?

"Dude! That is even better than what we planned!!" I hear Matias shouts, running towards David Choi. 

"Plan?" I ask, looking at the olived-skin boy in front of me. 

David glares at him before telling him to shut the hell up. 

I'm so confused. What is going on? What is he talking about? Fortunately for me, Matias isn't one who takes orders from South Cross's hunky Chinese star quarterback as he doesn't exactly shut the hell up. 

"Oh, come on! Garrett won already, so no need to be hush-hush about it anymore!" he says before turning towards the widen-eyed Garrett. "Guess I owe you twenty bucks, huh?" 

"What... is he talking about?" I feel my lips quivering while I look up at the tall, beautiful boy standing next to me. 

This can't be true. This can't be true. This can't be...

I can feel every pair of eyes in the room bearing their stares into me, but I can't care less. All I care about is understanding what the hell is going on. What is there to be hush-hush about? Why does Garrett looks so guilty?AND WHY DOES MATIAS OWES HIM TWENTY BUCKS!? 

There's a possibility of an answer at the top of my head, but I refuse to acknowledge it. I need him to confirm it before I can actually believe in that possibility.

Garrett looks down at the floor  with his sculpted body tensing, not uttering a single word. 

"ANSWER ME!!" I scream at him. I've never screamed at anybody like that. But I don't care. If I don't scream, then I'll cry. And that is even worse. 

"It's... I didn't mean for it to..." he starts to say, but I cut him off. "Look at me." 

He does and I stare into those green eyes I've found so beautiful. Suddenly, I realize that I barely know this guy in front of me. We've been talking for less than a month. We've only been on a date once. Yet, it feels so long. It feels so big and momentus. It feels... somehow, like a dream. 

Then I realized that it's probably because he's the first boy I've ever truly liked. And the realization makes it hurt ten times stronger. 

"I made a bet!" he says. Garrett balls his hands into fists and closes his eyes. "No, I... I accepted a bet from Logan. That I can make you like me and then bring you to this party... to make you... drunk." 

"What..?" The truth doesn't sink in immediately. Somehow, I feel detached from the words I'm hearing. Like it's uttered by an unknown voice I've never heard of. 

"Luna, I told them I wanted off, but.." he starts to explain but I don't want to hear it anymore. It's too much. "Just... stop." I say, turning away. 

He steps closer to me and I can feel the vile taste coming back to my mouth. "Luna, please. I'm just so confused, okay? I didn't want you to know." he says, but the words cannot pass through me.

All I can think about is that I spent all night yesterday drawing a portrait of him. I spent so long in front of my desk getting his auburn curls just right, taking time to dot his face with those cute little freckles I adore so much and wasting hours just to get his eyes right, so that the portrait looks like Garrett.

Because I know that the eyes are the most important part. If you can't get them right, people won't even know who you are drawing. It's like drawing SpongeBob with Mr.Krab's eyes. 

And suddenly, my brain just had to recap that memory of him singing 'Let it Go' at ComiCafe. The way he volunteers because I wanted to hear the band so bad, the way he looks my way when he's bursting those lyrics. And that moment in the car... in the car...

All of those. All those conversations and cute funny texts. Those math memes?

 Are an act?

God, I'm pathetic.

"Don't talk to me ever again." I whisper with my back facing him. If I take even a glance at him, my eyes won't be able to hold on the tears anymore. 

"I'm really sorry. I.." 

You know what? I don't care if I cry anymore. Just hearing his voice makes me want to throw up now. So, I turn around, ready to slap him on the face.

But someone beats me to it. Out of nowhere, a fist lands on Garrett's jaw and it's coming from none other than Hunter Collins.

Hunter just punched Garrett for me. 

🙈🙉🙊

Did I just post chapter 9 yesterday? Yes, yes I did. But I can't help but write this one. It's just too good ;) It's pretty short, but I hope I got my intentions across. 

What do you think of Garrett now? Honestly, there's a lot of sides to him and he's not entirely a bad guy. But more on that later. Hihi. 

Pleaseee tell me what you think in the comments because I want to know whether this chapter made an impact or not. 

-Mika