10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love

Vincent Confesses

THE EPIC PART YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR........... VINCENT CONFESSES!!!!!

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Vincent saw neither Elizabeth nor James the next day. Where had the idiot gone off to? What was so urgent?  

The following day, Elizabeth finally showed up during Trigonometry, the same as ever.  

"Where were you?" Vincent hissed.  

"James's mom called and demanded that he go back to Florida straight away yesterday. She sent a huge envelope of cash for a plane ticket and was throwing a huge fit since it hadn't arrived here in a day."  

"..."  

"I think she got her personality from my dad," Elizabeth said to the unspoken question. Vincent tried to smother a laugh.

"You two!" the teacher snapped crossly. "Pay attention!"

 "So James is gone for good?" Vincent asked cheerily as they strolled over to the library building.  

"Until the next time his fickle highness ships him off to California, yes."  

"You miss him, don't you?"  

"Yes," she admitted. "But I'm also relieved he's gone."  

"And why is that?"  

"James didn't show how hurt he was about being rejected," she whispered as she kicked a loose pebble. "But that doesn't mean he felt any better about it."  

Vincent sighed. "It never would have worked out between the two of you anyway."  

"That's what I told him. It's not as if he wasn't prepared. He said he knew it was strange, and he didn't pressure me to accept or anything."  

Silence.  

"What did you want to ask me anyway?" Elizabeth asked curiously.  

"Oh, uh... I'm not sure you want to hear it right now."  

"Of course I do!"  

"No, really, you're dense, but you're not insensitive."  

"Dense?!" she protested, outraged at the fact she was being called stupid in any category of life.  

"Yes," Vincent said firmly. "Dense."  

Elizabeth charged off to the library, leaving Vincent to call after her in peals of laughter. He was relieved. Their relationship was stable once again. Today was going to be perfect for asking her.

The two bickered the whole time in Mechanics, earning a stern talking to from the teacher and a few jealous glares from both genders.  

All the way until after school, Vincent still didn't have time to ask her; until they got in another fight.  

"I'm telling you!" Elizabeth stamped her foot, "Stop going out of your way to contradict me!"  

"I'm not going out of my way; I seriously believe that World War II was a war of greater magnitude than the Civil for the US!"  

"Than you're a bigger idiot than I thought."  

"Why do you have to insult everything people have to say?"  

"Why to you have to be so stubborn instead of submitting to my superior mind?"  

"Don't answer my question with another."  

"Don't stave off boredom by interjecting with solid facts!"  

"Your opinion is not a fact!"  

"It's always a fact because I'm always right!"  

Vincent was having the time of his life. Sparring with her was seriously amusing.  

"Aha!" Elizabeth yelled, reading his face. "You think this argument is amusing!"  

"So what?" he retorted, trying to conceal his surprise.  

"So I was right about me being quick entertainment to you."  

"That's not even possible," he spat.  

"And why is that?"  

"If I only saw you as a plaything, then I wouldn't have fallen in love with you!"  

A few of the witnesses fainted, while most girls gasped in shrill disappointment. Guys felt their eyes bulging out of their sockets and one person simply dropped his cup of coffee with a gaping mouth.  

Elizabeth stared at Vincent, who realized he had just confessed in front of over twenty eye witnesses.  

"You're joking, right?" Elizabeth asked nervously after a while. Vincent took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and looked her in the eye.  

"I'm not."  

Elizabeth couldn't believe it. "When did you 'fall in love with me'?" she made air quotes with her fingers.  

"I'm not sure," he confessed. "I was in the middle of it before I realized what was going on."  

She was speechless. This was ridiculous! She had always despised and used Vincent, not to mention locking him in a janitor shed. Why on earth did he like her?!  

"I think you're amazing," Vincent explained, as if reading her thoughts. "You're incredibly smart and that thing you pulled off at the festival was legendary.  

"You walk around with your head held high in mismatched socks, and from the very first day of school, you made your mark on everybody. I still think you're a bit too violent at times, but it's not as though you're insensitive," he smiled.  

"Elizabeth Blackburn, you motivated me to show up to classes and study hard with your straight forward attitude and love for competition. I've never felt so alive with anybody else. Will you be my girlfriend?"  

A few members of the crowd cheered her on, saying that she should accept. Vincent was right. The girl was really something, and they had been able to tell that the two love birds would have ended up together eventually.  

Elizabeth looked into Vincent's warm sparkling eyes; the same ones that had pleaded people from different stalls for supplies on her behalf, and the same ones that had surveyed the making of her big pink card that was taped on her wall this very moment.  

"Not interested."