Chapter 21: The Jealous Girlfriend
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Getting suspended earned me a very long lecture from Mom and Dad.
They talked to me about suspension, detention, boys, grades, college, and everything in between.
However…they didn’t ground me, deciding that suspension was punishment enough.
I also think they felt bad about the whole “Todd-thing.”
On that subject, they wasted no time in reporting the incident to the school and according to them (and Delanie), Todd got expelled.
Apparently he had been using “bad behavior” toward several other students.
Del said that he and his family are moving, so hopefully he’ll do better in a new school/environment.
Derek didn’t get in trouble for threatening Todd, because he was defending me.
I was glad to hear that.
And he came by after school on my suspended days like a “good boyfriend,” making sure to compliment Mom while chowing down on her afternoon snacks.
Unfortunately, all Liv and Del had to say about Blake is that he and Savannah have been making out in between classes consistently.
I had been hoping that he would’ve dumped her.
And now, well…my suspension is over.
Thank goodness.
I’m back in school, currently eating my cottage cheese while I watch Blake and Savannah eat their lunch together in the most adorable way.
“Hey, look who I brought!”
I turn my attention to Del, who has her arm around a grinning Darren.
I raise an eyebrow. “Am I missing something?”
Delanie rolls her eyes. “We’re back together again!”
Liv doesn’t seem surprised as she continues to mess around on her phone while she eats.
I on the other hand, am surprised.
“I thought you didn’t like him anymore,” I comment in confusion.
“Well…” she trails off, “I might’ve still liked him a little bit.”
“Admit it, babe,” Darren says in an overly cocky tone, “you dig me.”
“Oh, babe.” Delanie smiles a little too sweetly at him. “I just need a date for my party tomorrow night…and you happened to be available.”
He smiles back. “Whatever floats your boat, honey.”
“Do not call me ‘honey’.” She pulls away from him with a disgusted face. “Got it?”
His light blue eyes glint mischievously. “Okay, Della-Bella.”
She scowls and sits down. “Where’s Connors?”
“Oh,” I say as Darren sits beside her, “Derek’s—”
“Right here,” Derek interrupts, sitting down next to me. “Sorry I’m late…I bumped into someone at the end of class and knocked all of their stuff on to the ground.”
Delanie’s eyebrows crease. “And this made you late, because…?”
Derek rolls his eyes at that. “I picked up the stuff for her.”
Her? Her who?
Do I know her? What if it’s the girl he likes?
As in, the one he’s told me about?
No—he likes Liv!
Well…that hasn’t really been confirmed.
Yet.
Delanie cocks an eyebrow. “And who is ‘her’?”
Derek shrugs before starting to eat. “Just a girl.”
I suddenly realize that Delanie, Liv, and even Darren are staring at me…like I’m some kind of bug under a microscope.
What the heck?
Why are they—
Oh, the jealous girlfriend…right.
Well, here goes nothing.
“Just a girl?” I echo in what I hope is an annoying voice. “What girl, Derek? Who is she?”
While the three of them look at Derek, a rather confused Derek looks at me. “What?”
“You heard me,” I snap. “Who is she? Do I know her?”
“Britt, I—”
“And don’t even think about lying to me,” I cut him off. “Who is she?”
“She’s no one, Britt.” His eyebrows crease. “Why are—”
“You know what?” I put a hand up. “Forget it. Let’s just drop the subject.”
I resume eating my cottage cheese, trying to keep a straight face.
Poor Derek, hopefully he catches on.
If not…I’ll enlighten him later.
“Hey, Britt,” Darren suddenly says, “sorry about you and Blake by the way.”
“Don’t you think you should’ve said that last week?” Delanie looks at him like he’s an idiot. “When they broke up? Like everyone else?”
Darren tilts his head up. “Well, maybe I like to be special.”
“You’re special all right,” Delanie comments with a slight scoff, “a special kind of stupid.”
Derek chuckles some and Darren frowns at Delanie. “Not funny.”
“Connors thought so.” Delanie grins. “Didn’t you, Connors?”
Derek nods as he mutely drinks his soda and Delanie turns to Darren. “See?”
“Well, Connors isn’t your boyfriend,” Darren replies hotly, “is he?”
“Nope…” Derek drapes an arm over my shoulders. “I’m Britt’s.”
No, no, no, NO!
He is not mine.
Blake is mine. And I am Blake’s.
Even though this is all true, Derek is my fake boyfriend…and I’m supposed to act like I’m in love with him.
So, I wrap my arms around his waist in a side hug. “Yep, he’s mine.”
I’m dying.
Delanie rolls her eyes before starting to eat her food while Liv and Darren are both on their phones.
As for Derek, he’s staring at me with an enormous amount of curiosity.
Without trying to make it super obvious, I remove my arms from around him and awkwardly rest my hands on my lap.
Cool.
“Oh,” Delanie speaks again, “so I was thinking—”
Darren snorts. “That’s dangerous.”
Delanie smacks his arm, causing him to rub it with a wince. “Crap, Del!”
“As I was saying,” Delanie continues, ignoring Darren, “I was thinking and we have to go dress shopping today for my party.”
Delanie has this weird fascination of putting things off to the last minute because she loves the “rush of it all.”
I know. I don’t get it either.
“Sounds good,” Liv says, looking up from her phone. “I’m sure Mom will let me.”
“Same here,” I agree with a nod, “I—”
“We have plans today.” Derek raises his eyebrows at me. “Remember?”
“What?” My eyebrows crease. “What plans? We don’t—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Delanie interjects. “Cancel them…you have to come, Britt.”
I smile at her. “Of course I’ll come.”
Delanie claps her hands together. “Great!”
“Yeah…” Derek’s arm leaves my shoulders. “I’ll come too.”
Delanie scowls. “You can’t.”
Derek shrugs. “Why not?”
“Because it’s a girls’ only shopping trip,” she informs him, “‘kay?”
Derek rolls his eyes. “It’s not like you own the mall.”
Delanie crosses her arms. “Who says we’re going to the mall, Connors?”
“Where else would you go,” Derek returns in a challenging voice, “Moore?”
She narrows her eyes at him and then stands up. “Let’s go, Darren.”
Darren looks up from his phone. “But, I’m—”
“Now, Darren,” she snaps before looking at Liv and me, “I’ll see you girls later.”
“Derek,” I say once she leaves, “what—”
“We were supposed to spend time together after school,” he interrupts me. “I’m going with you.”
“I don’t underst—” I stop and glance at Liv, who’s occupied with her phone then turn my attention back to Derek. “
Maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere else.”
He stands up. “Maybe we should.”
“Liv,” I say, standing up too, “I’ll see you later…okay?”
“What?” She looks up from her phone, completely oblivious. “Okay, bye.”
I frown as she goes back to her phone.
Liv’s never distracted like that and why has she been on her phone so much anyway?
“Come on, Britt.”
Ugh, he’s so bossy.
Chapter 22: Stay Away From My Boyfriend
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The library—he just had to pick the library.
“What is with guys and the library?” I wonder out loud.
He looks at me in disbelief. “What is with you being jealous over the girl I bumped into?”
“I wasn’t jealous.” I roll my eyes. “I was acting…just like we’re acting that we’re really dating.”
“Shh,” he hisses, looking around, “someone might hear you.”
“Oh yeah,” I agree sarcastically, “the books are probably eavesdropping on us.”
He frowns. “You know what I mean.”
I decide to play crazy. “Do I?”
“Britt.”
“Relax,” I sigh, “I’m joking—okay?”
“Ha-ha,” he says in a dry tone. “Look, you promised that we’d go out after school.”
“I didn’t promise exactly, I just—” I groan in frustration. “What’s the big deal anyway? We don’t have to go out together every day.”
He shakes his head, muttering something under his breath that sounds similar to: “You don’t understand.”
Don’t understand?
Don’t understand what?
“What are—”
“You know what?” he cuts me off. “Forget it. Act like I didn’t say anything.”
My eyebrows crease. “But, Der—”
“You hang out with Liv and Moore,” he ignores me. “Have fun.”
“Derek, I—”
“I’m serious,” he insists, “it’s fine.”
“Der—”
“Unless of course you—”
“Derek!” I exclaim in annoyance. “Just stop, okay?”
“No, really.” He nods. “I understand. I’ll just—”
I throw a hand up. “You can come!”
He grins way too big for my taste and I scowl because this was totally his plan all along…annoy the life out of me until I agreed.
Ugh.
“Are you sure?” His grin begins to fade. “Because I—”
“Yes, I’m sure,” I say, scratching under my left eye. “You guilted me into it…”
The grin reappears. “It’s a gift.”
“Or a glitch,” I find myself teasing him before swatting his arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
“You lead.”
Sighing, I grab his hand before leading him out of the library and all the way to his locker. “There…I’ll text you where we’ll be.”
He mock salutes me. “Roger that, captain.”
I shake my head with a slight smile. “You’re such a goofball.”
He smiles too. “It’s more fun that way.”
“I guess…” I trail off, “I’ll see you later.”
“Hey,” he says as I start to leave and I raise an eyebrow at him. “What?”
He wiggles his eyebrows at me. “No kiss goodbye?”
I mentally wince.
He can’t be—
“Relax, Britt,” he interrupts my thoughts, “I’m joking.”
I must’ve actually winced…
“I don’t know how you can resist this though,” he says, motioning to all of him.
“Very easily,” I mutter under my breath.
“What was that?”
My head shoots up. “Nothing.”
“Hmm,” he hums, stroking his chin, “it sounded like something.”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t.”
He crosses his arms. “Tell me or I’ll kiss you.”
“Kiss me?” I cough a little. “But, Derek…I—”
“Tell me,” Derek singsongs with a teasing smile. “Come on, Britt. I wanna know.”
I can’t tell him.
What if his self-confidence is low?
Still, I don’t want him to kiss me. But what I said could crush him.
“Well.” I swallow deeply. “You’ll just have to kiss me…’cause I’m not telling you.”
He shrugs. “I guess so.”
Oh crap.
Wait. What am I doing?
I can just leave!
So, I basically run to my locker, ignoring Derek’s calling.
No doubt he’ll be here soon.
Still trying to catch my breath, I quickly unlock my locker and throw the door open.
Someone suddenly curses and I mentally groan, because I know that voice.
I slowly close the door, revealing Blake holding—well…his face.
“Blake!” I exclaim. “I’m so sorry. It was an accident, I swear!”
“Ow.” He lets his hand drop. “Jeez, Britt…”
“I’m sorry,” I apologize again. “Really, I am.”
He winces. “Why were you flinging your door open anyway?”
“No reason,” I quickly lie. “Let me take you to the nurses’ office.”
“Please?” I add when I see that he looks unsure. “It’ll make me feel better.”
He slowly nods. “All right, fine.”
Yes!
I awkwardly walk beside him to the nurses’ office, gathering curious glances from random people.
But I don’t care. I’m just glad that I hit him.
Not like hit him, hit him.
I’m glad that I’m taking him to the nurses’ office.
That still sounds bad.
I guess what I should say, is that I’m glad to be spending time with him—even if it is because I hit him with my locker door and I’m taking him to the nurses’ office.
Yep, that sounds about right.
Once we’re in front of the nurses’ office, I instantly reach to open the door when Blake stops me. “I better do it.”
And cue flushed cheeks.
“Sure.” I step aside. “You’re probably right.”
I catch a glimpse of his now partially discolored face and slightly swollen nose as he opens the door, causing me to wince.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” I immediately respond to his sharp voice. “Sorry.”
He rolls his eyes, then walks into the room and I do the same.
Not the “rolling eyes” part, just the walking in part.
“Dear goodness!” Ms. Sweeton exclaims once she sees us. “What happened?”
Ms. Sweeton is an elderly woman…probably in her late seventies, who (like her last name suggests) is very sweet.
Really, she’s the—
“Britt,” Blake interrupts my thoughts, “why don’t you tell Ms. Sweeton what happened?”
I hate being put on the spot.
“I, uh—” I laugh a little. “Well, you see…what I did was—”
Blake sighs in frustration. “She busted me in the face.”
“Good heavens!” Ms. Sweeton’s baby blues go huge. “Why on earth?”
“It was an accident,” I reply in an almost desperate tone. “I didn’t know he was there!”
Her faint, gray eyebrows crease. “You didn’t know?”
“I hit him with my locker door,” I try to explain. “He was behind it and I opened it—”
“Threw it open,” Blake cuts in, “she threw it open.”
I look at him and then at Ms. Sweeton. “Okay, threw it open…and it hit him.”
“But it was an accident!” I insist. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”
She clicks her tongue as she waddles over to the room’s mini-fridge. “Kids these days…”
I don’t look at Blake, k
nowing that if I do, I’ll only be met with a hideous glare. But I want to look at him. That sounds creepy.
Gross, Brittany…
“Here, sweetheart,” Ms. Sweeton says, giving the bag of ice to Blake and then she motions behind him. “Go ahead and lie on the bed over there.”
Just as he nods, someone bursts into the room.
And that someone is unfortunately Savannah.
“Baby, what happened!” she exclaims, walking toward him. “Someone said they saw you come in here. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Sav,” he assures her, “really.”
“Baby, your face!” she gasps, lightly touching his bruised cheek. “It’s all red!”
“I figured as much,” he drawls, his gaze on the ceiling, “but thanks for telling me.”
“Did you and Derek have another fight?” she asks point-blank. “Did he do this to you?”
“No, babe.” He shakes his head. “It wasn’t—”
“It was me,” I interrupt Blake. “I hit him.”
Savannah cocks an eyebrow at me. “You hit him?”
I squirm a little. “Guilty.”
She glares while stepping closer to me. “You jealous bi—”
“Sav!” Blake pulls her back. “Chill…wouldja?”
“Britt!”
My head snaps in the office door’s direction where Derek’s now standing. “Derek, hi.”
“What happened?” He doesn’t hesitate in coming toward me. “Why are you in here? Did you get hurt?”
“I, um…” I begin to fidget with my fingers. “Well—”
“She hit my boyfriend!” Savannah informs him in a shrill voice. “She flippin’ hit him!”
Derek grabs my shoulders. “You hit Blake?”
“No!” I automatically reply. “Well, yes…but it wasn’t on purpose!”
His eyebrows crease as he lets go of me. “Huh?”
“She hit me with her locker door,” Blake explains with a sigh, “she didn’t see me.”
“It’s the truth.” I bob my head up and down. “I would never hurt someone on purpose!”
“Good to know.” Savannah rolls her eyes. “You just better stay away from my boyfriend.”
“I have to get to class.” She turns to Blake. “So I’ll see you later…‘kay?”
He nods and she kisses him before smiling. “Bye, baby.”
I hate her.
She walks past us, giving me a smug smirk as she tosses her blond hair over her shoulder.
I hate her even more.
Chapter 23: What’s the Problem?
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My Boyfriend's Best Friend Page 13
