My Enemy's In Love With Me

2: Homecoming Talk

"Homecoming is just a week away! Does everyone know who they're going with? It's open choice, so anyone can ask anyone!" The head cheerleader, Bree Garber, says with such fake enthusiasm. She eyes Jakob with that last sentence, then moves on. 

"Jeez, maybe I shouldn't have told anyone about that." Jakob said. 

"No, I'm glad you did. Besides, it's not her place to judge you. Or anyone's, for that matter." Maria says. Jakob grabs her in a hug. I've always loved their friendship. They're like a couple, only not romantic.

Homecoming was a week away and they're announcing the canidates today. I'm surprised they haven't announced them earlier, but whatever. "How much do you want to bet Bree is a canidate?" I asked. 

"I bet you $20 she's a canidate, and I bet $50 she's going to ask Percy to Homecoming right now." We follow Aaron's glance. 

"Oh my gosh-- Percy and Bree? What a couple that would be! Perfect horror movie plot." Maria glares at the two, talking about 20 feet away. 

"So Percy, I was wondering if you would want to go to Homecoming with me?" It was more of a 'you are coming to Homecoming with me' rather than 'will you'. 

"Oh...Bree, that would be awesome, but...." Percy glances in my direction.

My direction?  Why is he looking this way?! 

"I'm sorry, no." Percy says, turning back to Bree. She didn't notice his glance at me, thank god. She looked angrier than a fire ant whose home was just washed out. 

"What?" She whispers. 

"I said no." Percy looks her in the eye. Bree doesn't say anything, she just stares at him.

Then she leaves.

"Ok. Wasn't expecting that." Aaron says. 

"So technically, she did ask him. He just didn't say yes." Maria says. "So you win 50 bucks." 

Aaron chuckles a little. "Um...maybe just 25." 

"How much you wanna bet she's crying right now?" Maria asked, laughing evilly. 

"I don't know...she looked more mad rather than sad." Jakob says. 

"She's probably racking her brain tyring to figure out why he said no." I know that was mean, especially since I was also tyring to figure that out. I mean, he looked at me. Me. Maybe he just glanced over here because he knew we were watching and he didn't want us to see him shoot Bree down. Yeah, that was it. That's the only plausible explaination.

Later that day during the pep assembly, they announced the Homecoming candidates. They were Bree, no surprise, Wendy, Paula, and Dixie. No surprise for the girls. All the mean, popular ones.

For the guys, it was Roger, Jared, Victor, and Ben. Again, not surprised. More mean, popular people.

"Homecoming, you and me?" Aaron asks after school that day. We were walking to the bus stop. Jakob and Maria were running late, so we had to wait for them. 

"Of course, why even ask?" He chuckles, seeminly relieved. 

"Oh, good. I was hoping you wouldn't be one of those girls who still like to be asked by her boyfriend even though it's obvious they're going together." 

I laughed. "Nope, not me. So you don't have to bother with prom." 

He smiled his perfect smile. "Ok, noted." I look him over. Something seemed...wrong. Not with him, really...just like he knew something was wrong. It was hard to explain. He looks down at me when he notices I'm looking at him. 

"What?" I smiled, covering up my curious look. 

"Just...looking." I said. Just looking? That has to win best excuse of the year. Not even looking at my knight in shinning armor or  just looking at you, handsome. Nope, just looking.

"Ok." Aaron responded, though he didn't seem as judgful as I was on myself. 

"Do you think Maria and Jakob are going to go together? Not like a pair, but a friendship?" I asked. 

Aaron shrugged. "I'm not sure. Jakob's not afraid to show his true self, I don't think he'd need a girl on his arm to try and cover it all up. As for Maria, she wouldn't want to be the one to do that, even if he wanted. Besides, Maria is going to go with Jimmy." I laughed. 

"But she won't be the one to ask him. She'd make him ask her." 

"No way he'd do that. He's too popular, remember?" Aaron and I laugh. 

"Then we'll just get them together without them realizing it. You go up to Jimmy and tell him Maria is asking him, and I'll go to Maria and say Jimmy is asking her." 

"Then nobody has to really ask anyone, and they still end up together." 

"Too risky?" I asked. 

"Way too risky." We laugh in unison. 

"Ok, so if our friends end up alone, you can dance with Maria and I can dance with Jakob. Or the other way around." I said. "If Jakob really wanted." I added. 

Aaron laughs a little. "He might. You never know."

"Eh, we'll just let them decide." I said. 

"Good thinking. We'd surely find a way to offend them in some way." 

"We probably already have." I stopped to turn around. Maria and Jakob were on their way over. 

"Hey, guys. Whatcha talking about?" Maria asks. 

"Nothing." We said in unison, which only made her more curious. 

"Ok..." she says slowly. 

"Hey...did any of you notice Percy glance our way when Bree asked him to the dance?" I made sure to say our way instead my way. 

"I did see that. What was that about?" Aaron asked. 

"I didn't see him glance our way, but I saw him glance your way." Jakob smiles. I frowned like I had no idea what he was talking about. 

"What? My way? I thought he was just looking at all of us...as a group..." 

"You did notice it was just you!" Maria says, smiling. I look to Aaron, who's just plain faced.

"Bye, Maria. See you later." Maria waves us goodbye. 

"What did you mean Percy was looking at Lexi?" Aaron askes suddenly. 

"After Bree asked Percy, before he said no, there was a moment of hesitation. During that pause, he looked at Lexi, then said no." Thank you, Jakob. Go more in depth. Aaron didn't respond right away, he just stood outside his house, staring at it. 

"Aaron?" I asked. He knew something. That look that something was wrong came out again, like it was a splinter that resurfaced. 

"Is something wrong, buddy?" Jakob asks, looking to me after he didn't answer to see if I knew. I shrugged.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'll see you guys later, alright?" He says without so much as a glance at each of us, then he walks up the sidewalk and into his house.

"That was weird." Jakob says as we walk to his house now. 

"I know. Did he look like he knew something?" I asked just to make sure it wasn't just me. 

"He did." Jakob frowns. "Oh well. Probably nothing, right?" He smiles, but it's not genuine. 

"Right." I respond, then wave as he walks inside his house.