The Conversion

Chapter Eight: Phone Calls

After the fight, we had gone home at about 9:30 because Jake had his regatta the next morning. We had dropped an exhausted, tipsy Luna back at her house, and went home - Jake immediately crashed. It was now morning and I was just getting out of bed, sleepy-eyed.

"Mornin' Jake," I said as I entered the kitchen. Jake was in his rowing uni-suit. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Good morning," he said sourly. I smirked and took the orange juice container from his hands before he drank straight from it.

"Don't be gross," I said as I poured two glasses. Jake took the biggest cup and downed it in one gulp.

"Bottoms up," he chuckled, wiping at his face. I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'd better go. Coach insists that we arrive right at 8:30," he said. I checked my watch, it was 8:27.

"Cutting it close, eh? Coach might make everyone do five minutes of jumpies." Jake waved it off. We both knew that Jake would easily get away with it, unlike the novices, who would get yelled at. The perks of being the best rower on the team. However, if he showed up more than about five minutes late, he'd be the one on the receiving end of the yelling. I chuckled, hoping he'd get stuck in traffic.

"Let the novices take care of the boats," he said, smirking.

"Well, off you go. I'll see you later."

"See ya," he said over his shoulder. I heard the door slam behind him.

I headed up to my room to change. If I got to the lake slightly early, I could hang around Jake and some of his friends for a few minutes, maybe help rig the boats. It might help my chances of getting a scholarship. Clemson was a good school and gave out many women rowing scholarships.

My phone rang. That was odd, few people called. They usually just texted. I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey Bella, it's Max," a deep voice said on the line. I perked up.

"Oh, hey. What's up?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Not much. I was thinking... do you want to go to dinner tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah! I'd love to. What time?"

"I'll pick you up at about six."

"See you then. Can't wait," I said, a wide smile on my face.

"Yeah, see you," Max said. In a daze, I quickly showered and put on some decent clothes. Then, I headed downstairs to grab some yogurt. I gulped it down quickly and ran outside into the car. Turning the key in the ignition, I grabbed my phone and rang up Luna. As I waited for her to answer, I started for the lake.

"Hey girl!" Luna said cheerfully.

"Hey! What's up?" I said.

"Not much, you?" she said.

"Max asked me out," I blurted.

"Congratulations! When are you going on your first date?"

"Tonight." We continued to gossip about Max and other school-related things until I pulled into the parking lot at the lake.

"OK, well I've got to go now," I said.

"Sure. But one more question, why did you say 'yes' to Max?" Luna asked. Why would she ask that? I mean, does it matter?

"Um... well, he's different from the other jocks. He's totally hot, but nice at the same time. I enjoy being around him," I said.

"So it has nothing to do with popularity?" Luna asked.

"Not really. If he wasn't popular, I probably wouldn't go out with him, though. You know, reputation to uphold."

"OK," Luna said, seemingly satisfied.

"Bye," I said and hung up.

I got out of the car, and walked to Clemson University's trailer. Seeing my brother's best friend, I walked up to him, smiling.

"Hey, Lee!" I said. Lee turned around.

"Hey, Anna!" Lee said, pounding me on the back. He smirked.

"Have you seen Jake?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think he went to get Starbucks."

"Awesome." We continued to talk about random things. I spotted Peter out of the corner of my eye. "Um... I'll talk to you later," I said hastily.

"Okay, see you," Lee said. I walked towards Peter.

"Hey, Peter!" I called out, a smile on my face. It was weird that he had ignored me at the party. I guess he just thought I would treat him the way I had treated Luna.

"Oh, hey Bella," Peter said half-heartedly, looking at his shoes.

"I didn't expect to see you here," I smiled. He gave me a ghost of a smile. "Something wrong?" I asked, my smile faltering.

"Uh, no! I'm sorry. What's up?" he said after shaking his head and looking at me.

"Oh, not much. But what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I thought we had practice, but then I saw this crowd," Peter said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

I nodded, and was about to reply, but my phone rang. I frowned and hastily said, "Sorry, I'll be just a second." Then, I answered the phone.

"Hey, Bella," Max said in his deep voice. I blushed and smiled wide.

"Hey, Max!" I said happily. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peter's smile turn sour. What was up with him?

"Hey. I just realized, I don't know where to pick you up from" Max said with a laugh.

"I'll text you my address, then," I said. Peter's eyes clouded over at that. Weird...

"OK, I'll see you later."

"See you." I hung up, and returned my attention to Peter. "Sorry about that," I said sheepishly. Why did he look so angry?

"It's fine," he muttered.

"Peter, why are you so angry?" I asked.

"Are you that oblivious?" he asked, his voice low. I stared at him in shock. "You know, yesterday I thought that we had a mutual liking of each other. Like, in a boy-girl kind of way," he said, his voice rising. "But then you go and become Max Jenkins' girlfriend! Turns out I was wrong," Peter scoffed. "And now, you're rubbing it in my face!" he finished, his voice having risen to a yell.

Shocked, I start to apologize, "Peter, I didn't know-"

"Stop. Just stop and go away," he said miserably.

OK, so that was a cliffhanger ending, eh? Mwahahaha! Sorry it took a while to update. I usually don't update unless a reader says something like, "I can't wait to read the next chapter" or I get around to it. So thank you!

This chapter is dedicated to heeranshi because she is a devoted reader. Like, she voted for every single chapter of this story! So check out her stuff!

QOTC: Do you think Peter overreacted? He'd only known her for two days!

Please comment, vote, share, follow, etc.

Happy reading!
B