rumour has it | ✓ [ old version ]

「 nineteen 」

CHAPTER NINETEEN

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"Why do I always lose?." I groan out while letting the cards in my hands fall to the ground beneath us after Luke placed down his finally card down. Luke smirks at my defeat and ruffles my hair to which I push his hand away and pout "you're cheating, I don't know how, but I'll find out." I threaten while pointing my index finger at the brown haired boy.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He says with cheeky eyes as he grabs the cards from the floor in front of us before shuffling them. Playing UNO with Luke is a stupid idea because almost every time he wins, I sometimes win because Luke isn't that lucky. But he wins more than a normal human does and that annoys me. I don't even understand why I play UNO with him.

But the rainy day filled with harsh winds happening outside, it kind of doesn't allow us to go outside and do something, so we're stuck with this. After he's shuffled the cards, he starts to deal them out and when a card is placed on the ground besides the stack he put down, the game begins and I'm determined to win.

However, even though my heart is in the game, my head isn't. I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation I had with Natalie yesterday. What she said about me supposedly looking past his flaws and seeing the boy he really is got to me because I didn't. I may have judged him too quickly before getting to know him truly and that didn't settle right with me. I kind of feel like a bad person. Stupid conscience making me feel bad.

"Do you think I judged Mitchell too quickly?." I ask Luke out of nowhere as I place my card down.

"Yes." Luke replies immediately and I turn to him, offended "what? You did!." He tells me when he notices the offended expression on my face. Wow, now I feel like an even worst person if my best friend thinks that. Since first meeting Mitchell, I always thought that he was a player and someone who didn't care about anyone, but himself, but maybe i could be proven wrong. He seems to care about his grandma and the last time I saw him with a girl was at the shops with Athena. But than again that could be because he didn't want this relationship to be founded out as fake.

"As my best friend, it's your job to tell me I'm right and to lie to me." I tell him with a pout "besides you hate him too!." I exclaim defending myself and pointing my index finger at him.

Luke chuckles "my job is to keep you in your place and call you out on your acts, lying to you is your dad's job and the only reason I hate him is because you do." He tells me. Our eyes focus on the game in front of us and despite us having a conversation, we are both concentrating on the game, wanting ourselves to win.

I sigh "what do you think I should do?." I ask him.

Luke shrugs "maybe you should get to know him." He tells me.

My eyebrows narrow in disgust. Do I have to? For so long I've hated him, so getting to know him doesn't sound like the most greatest idea out there, but I own it to Mitchell. I barley gave him a chance to prove himself to me and instead, judged him by his looks and actions which isn't fair to anybody.

"You really think I should give him a chance?." I question.

Luke nods his head "I think you should." He simply says "maybe he isn't who you think he is." Luke states.

Maybe Natalie and Luke are right. Maybe there's more to Mitchell than what's seen on the surface, I just hate him to the point of not caring, but that isn't fair to me or to Mitchell. Besides maybe it's the same for Mitchell, maybe he hates me because of our first meeting and hasn't gotten to know me therefore can't hate me truly. When did it get this difficult? Before our fake relationship, Mitchell and I were perfectly okay with us just being enemies.

But than this fake relationship happened and I got to spend time with him more than I'd like. I can't believe I'm even considering giving Mitchell a chance and to actually spend time with him willingly that is outside the fake relationship, but I'm so scared of people judging me for me being adopting when I'm in fact judging someone else. It made me feel like a hypocrite and I didn't like that.

"What if I don't want to get to know him? I'll look like a horrible person if he's actually decent because I judged him too quickly or he is a jerk like I think he is and I just wasted my time on him." I say "maybe it's just better if we just stay enemies." Because that's how it's always been. Mitchell and I have hated each other for years, only spending time with the other because of this fake relationship. Besides, it made it easier because than everyone stayed to their side; Mitchell and his friends ignored us whilst Luke and I stayed away. It was just simple. It'll save my time and save me from being nice to someone who's supposedly rude.

"How about this? If I win this game, you have to give Mitchell a chance, but if you win, you can continue to hate him as if nothing happened?." Luke offers and even though, I always lose to him, I agree because this could help me decide on what to do and doesn't make it harder on me. A few minutes and finally, Luke places his final card down and I still have two in hand, making Luke the winner.

"I'm honestly not surprised you won." I mumble.

Luke ruffles my hair "well looks like you have to give Mitchell a chance." Luke informs me and I groan out in annoyance, I swear if Mitchell turns out to be a jerk, more than he already seems than I'm going to kill him and Luke for wasting my precious time.

But than again what'll happen if he isn't a jerk and is actually nice?