"I'm suddenly not so sure anymore…" Sicily said, closing her locker door as she and Bailey walked to their first class. "It doesn't sound like a good idea."
She felt a hand come in contact with the back of her head. Bailey just slapped her.
"Are you crazy, woman?" Her best friends asked, outraged. "It's the best idea."
She eyed the blonde warily. "Uh-huh."
“Uh-huh, my ass,” was the straightforward reply. "Trust me. Texting him is the best idea there is, and I'm sure Tanner agrees with me on that one."
Ever since the dinner at the steakhouse a few days ago, Bailey, Zane, Tanner and Zack seemed to have gone from rivals to the best of friends. It was quite a surprise that the four got along so well that you’d think they were destined to be friends. Seeing the four of them make plans to hang out in the near future was something Sicily was extremely happy about. However, she still felt suspicious of this immediate camaraderie, like they were hiding something from her.
"Just don't think about it," Bailey said. "Just text Lucas. Just do it."
The head cheerleader couldn't help but laugh. "When did you start endorsing Nike?"
Pretending to pull her hair out as if irritated, Bailey screamed before saying, "Sicily! Damn it! Just text him or I'll do it for you!"
"Fine, fine!" Sicily rolled her eyes. "God B, chill. I'm doing it right now." She held her phone up to Bailey's face. "See."
Bailey was mumbling something which Sicily wasn't able to comprehend. She tuned her friend out and concentrated on her phone screen.
Hey, do you mind if I go to your house after cheer? You know, just hang out. What do you say?
She handed her phone to Bailey for approval since she didn't want the text to sound too desperate or too emotionless. Her best friend nodded her okay.
"Speaking of practice, I can't come today." Bailey grinned apprehensively.
Sending the message, Sicily raised her gaze to her friend. "What could possibly be more important than cheerleading?" Sicily was serious. She considered few things more important than her all-time hobby, but come on, what was so important that Bailey had to skip? The team still sucked. Sicily grunted. Suck was an understatement.
"I need to run a few errands for my mom."
"And my father told me I need to cook dinner for him for a month."
Bailey chuckled at Sicily's sarcasm.
"Take a chill pill, Sherlock Holmes." Bailey only giggled more. "You think I'm lying, huh?"
"What else would I think?"
Still laughing softly, Bailey placed a hand on Sicily's shoulder and squeezed it tight before she said, "I just got accepted into FIDM, you know, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. I need to suck up to my parents if I want them to pay for an apartment, a new car, and a new wardrobe. So for the duration I’m doing errands and a few chores."
Sicily shrugged her shoulders. "That's good enough for me." Silence surrounded then for few seconds, neither one talking, and then, the two eyed each other, and out of nowhere, they burst into a fit of laughter.
"Thanks, girl." Bailey hugged Sicily.
They stood back and eyed each other. Sicily made Bailey promise that she couldn't miss the next practice, and of course, the other practices left for the rest of the year. Bailey nodded her head eagerly and explained that her mom was just busy today since she was going to have a meeting this afternoon and a few guests coming over to their house for the night. Sicily laughed.
"Hey, you're not on trial here," Sicily said, chuckling. "You don't have to give me a million reasons. I already said you're excused for today, and only today."
Bailey beamed at her. "Hey Sicily?"
"Yeah?"
"I think you just got a message."
Sicily eagerly checked Lucas' reply immediately. She couldn't help but smile, one that was much bigger and brighter than Bailey's.
Even better, I'll go to your place. See ya around 5.
* * * * *
Lucas couldn't help but smirk, and without realizing it, his smug expression morphed into that of an innocent, vulnerable, eight-year-old-like grin.
Tanner and Zack caught the look, and exchanged big, all-knowing grins.
"Good morning," Zack said formally, eyeing his best friend mischievously. "And when I say that, I mean it literally."
The moment Zack opened his mouth Lucas turned his lips upside-down. Since when was he a softie? He shook his head. He wasn't going to answer that. "Shut it."
Tanner shouldered Zack. "Oops," said the former, laughing. "We shouldn't have interrupted him and cut his fantasies short. He looked like he was more-than-enjoying his thoughts." The latter couldn't help but snigger.
"You two aren't even worth my time." He eyed his two closest friends darkly. "Bastards."
Lucas left Tanner and Zack as he made his way to his first period for the day. Usually, he wouldn't bother being early to his classes, or being on time for that matter. It was just that his friends were irritating him. To add to that, since when did Zack actually find Tanner genuinely amusing? And he was still a little angry about them being with Sicily at dinner the other night. Something was off.
He shook away thoughts about his two friends. He needed to prepare for his meeting with Sicily later. Lucas smirked. He was more than prepared actually. He knew precisely what he had to do, and thank God, Bailey was willing to help him out.
* * * * *
Tanner and Zack were quietly talking to each other about how Lucas hadn't mentioned anything about the dinner a few days ago. Did he not notice Tanner flirting endlessly with Sicily? He must have. Zack was sure of that. Maybe that was why he was so grouchy around them.
Zack would just have to bring it up later during lunch. The two made their way to their first classes which were right next to each other. Seconds before the bell rang, Tanner received a message from Bailey, that he shared it with Zack.
Hey Tanner, let's meet up later after school. I need to tell you guys something. 4pm at Sicily's place.
* * * * *
Much to Sicily's surprise, lunch came quickly, and all-in-all her morning had gone by faster than usual. Typically her days at school would just drag by. But today things were speeding up. In a few more hours school would be over, she’d have cheerleading, and then she’d get to see Lucas.
"You seem unusually happy today, you know that?" Bailey said, smirking as she tugged on her friend's elbow and led her to the cafeteria.
"I do?" Sicily looked confused.
"Yeah,” was Bailey's amused reply. "Would it possibly be because of your planned encounter with the Devil himself?"
The brunette couldn't help but laugh at her friend's quirky but oh-so true statement.
"You know what," she said. "If we were having this conversation a month ago, I would have totally agreed with you."
"Agreed with what?"
"That Lucas was the Devil himself."
Bailey smirked before asking, "And now?"
A light hue of pink colored Sicily's cheeks, and there was no use in hiding her face from her friend. It was embarrassing for the head cheerleader to be cornered like this since she knew Bailey didn't need to ask those questions and was just doing it for the sake of being entertained.
"Shut up."
"Or what?” was the blonde's threat.
"I'll kick you out of the squad."
Bailey's eyes darkened. "You wouldn't."
In return, Sicily only smirked and then said, "Try me."
"Be thankful that I love you so much," Bailey replied, sighing mock-exasperatedly. "Or I swear, I would have thrown you into the Lions' den by now."
The two shared a laugh before they walked side-by-side to their lunch table to meet with the rest of the group. As usual, Sicily took the seat beside Zane, while Bailey sat across from the two.
"So, do you guys finally have dates?" Cassie, a petite blonde cheerleader, asked the group in general. She was sitting on the lap of one of the jocks.
"I already told
ya," one of the soccer players said. "I'm taking my girl."
"I'm going with Zane," Bailey put in nonchalantly, and almost immediately, everyone in the table started whistling while a few others applauded and laughed, Sicily was one of them.
After the laughter died down, almost everyone in the group had something positive to say about Bailey and Zane going together, including Sicily. "And I'm glad we're all going to be sitting at the same table," said Sicily, giggling. "The dance will be one hell of a night.”
At the next table, someone hissed loudly. Everyone turned around to find out who had just rudely given their opinion on the groups conversation.
But Sicily knew who it was. "You have a problem, Vanessa?" Sicily asked, her face frozen in distaste.
Ever since Vanessa had been kicked out of the group, she had been hanging out with people who completely resented Sicily for her beauty, wealth, and popularity. In other words, she had been spending time with those who were jealous of Sicily. This new group spent their days and nights talking about how much of a bitch their Queen Bee was. Sicily knew what they did and about whom they talked about, but she didn’t give a damn about the opinions of this group.
"No, I don't, but you seem to have a problem," was Vanessa's reply.
Sicily was about to reply, but decided that she was better than this. She turned her head around and continued talking to her friends, completely ignoring Vanessa and her group of rejects.
"God, what's her deal?" Bailey asked to no one in particular as she rolled her eyes in clear annoyance. "Something must have died and crawled up her ass."
"I know, right?" Sicily nodded.
"She doesn't even have an ass," said Zane. Every guy at the table whistled, clapped and patted him on the back.
"Nice one, man!"
"Hell, yeah! I remember hooking up with her," a footballer said. "I specifically asked for mountains and she gave me hills."
"Hey guys, chill," Dan Matheson said. "At least hills are better than having no junk at all."
The rest of the guys groaned at Daniel's remark, and they started telling him how he needed to lighten up. He only shrugged his shoulders and throughout the duration of lunch, he kept quiet, and Sicily knew why.
Dan and Vanessa had been a couple, and Zane and she even went on a double date with the two. They actually lasted for a month, and only broke up a couple weeks ago because Dan had given in to peer pressure. Vanessa used to be one of the most popular girls at the school, and Dan had liked her then. Once Vanessa had gone behind Sicily's back, she’d been kicked out of the group, and ostracized from the rest of them. Dan couldn’t take that, so he broke up with her.
Sicily couldn't help but sigh. Dan must have really cared for Vanessa for him to back her up like that. Even with that however, she didn't feel any guilt. She rolled her eyes. It wasn't her fault that the guy gave more thought to his reputation than his girlfriend.
"What about you, Sicily?" Cassie asked, turning her head to face her cheer captain.
"What about me?"
"Who are you bringing?"
Sicily thinned her lips. She was no way in hell telling them she wanted to bring the King of their rival school. "No one,” she said quietly, and she swore she heard Bailey and Zane choke on their drinks. It bothered her a bit that she’d just thought about Dan thinking more about his reputation than his girlfriend, and here she was denying her friendship with Lucas, because of peer pressure.
To her distress, Bailey just had to open her mouth. "She's bringing Lucas Mercer!"
"B!" Sicily called out, eyeing her quote-and quote best friend with a death glare. Best friend. Hmph! Yeah, right.
"What?" Bailey asked, pretending innocence. "It's better for them to know now, you know. At least they have a few days to prepare and gear up for World War III."
"Hah-hah," Sicily returned, mocking her friend. "I am so dying of laughter."
"But Hun, you can't die on us now!" Bailey clasped her hands over her mouth.
"And why not?"
"You haven't even invited Lucas yet to go to the dance with you!"
Sicily rolled her eyes and after, furrowed her eyebrows. "Since when did you start campaigning for him? Last time I checked, you hated him."
"We could tell you the same thing, Sicily." That was Zane, the ever-smart, practical and annoyingly-sensible Zane.
"Dude, you mean our girl here likes that ass?" One of the basketball players at the table asked.
Zane nodded with a smirk. "And that ass likes her back," he then said, his voice sounding all-knowing.
A round of laughter ensued from their table, and Sicily couldn't help but bury her head in her hands. This wasn't right. She was the one being teased relentlessly by her friends. She was the cool one; she was supposed to be doing the teasing.
"Are you tired of us already, Carmichael?" Bryce teased. "That you have to move to another school already?"
Sicily decided to just go with the flow. There was no harm in doing it anyway. "I'm just done with all of you."
A series of 'Oooh's erupted from the guys while the women at the table laughed and cheered for their Queen. If she was going to put her arrogance to good use, this was probably the right time to do it.
"No, you're not," one of the guys said. "We haven't." And then the guy had the nerve to wink!
Sicily smirked. "But we did."
"We did?"
"Yeah, in your fantasies."
The guy slumped back down on his chair before he said teasingly, "Bitch."
It was Sicily's turn to wink. "All for you, baby."
Lunch quickly came to an end. Before they got up to go back to their respective classes everyone wanted to know if Sicily was being serious about asking Lucas Mercer to go with her to the dance. She said yes and for the most part, the smiles and nods were supportive. Only a few didn’t like the idea of their Queen taking an outsider.
"Just teach him his place," Bryce said, still sounding hesitant. "He's in our school, not his."
"That is a little funny coming from you Bryce as I could say the same thing in regards to Mischa." Sicily smiled at him mischievously. "But don't worry, I'll tell him to behave."
"Lucas Mercer? Behave?" one of them asked with a smirk. "That will be the day."
At the end of the conversation, most of her friends had promised her they'd be nice to the guy. She made all of them pinky-swear no matter how loud the guys complained.
"Thanks guys," Sicily said, starting to get all-sentimental. "I know I can count you."
"Don't push our patience too far anymore, Carmichael." And with that, everyone at the table laughed once again.
* * * * *
Climbing out of Bailey’s car, he stared in amazement at the car parked on the street. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" Lucas asked, the moment he saw Tanner and Zack getting out of the latter's car parked in front of Sicily's house. He then turned to Bailey who opened the gate for everyone. "Would you care to explain this?"
Bailey cocked an eyebrow up at Lucas. "So you mean they don't know about your plan?"
"What plan?" Zack asked, even though he’d more or less figured it out. This had to do with Sicily and Lucas, and the two Valentine Dances.
"And here I thought we were friends," Tanner teased, as he pretended to feel deeply hurt.
" I'm a guy," Lucas quipped, facing Bailey. "You didn't honestly expect me to tell my buds that I'm planning on asking the girl of my dreams to go with me to the dance? And not just ask mind you, but in a really weird and special way I might add" Lucas eyed her suspiciously.
"Well, they're more your friends than I am."
"You're Sicily's friend, and I guess that's enough."
Bailey couldn't help but smile like the Cheshire cat. Was she really hearing this?
"What the hell are you grinning at?" Lucas asked, his voice sounding like a roar.
"I just didn't expect you to say that,” was her fast reply, and she looked down to avoid his cold grey eyes that only lit up
when he faced her best friend.
Tanner couldn’t resist the temptation of teasing Lucas about his current situation, saying, "That's what happens when you're in love."
"You want this spray can up your ass, Fox?"
"Hell no," was Tanner's hasty reply. "I was just joking, man. Chill."
Lucas sighed. Why was he getting all worked up about Sicily? He had even shouted at his closest friends. That was never a good sign.
"Can I as why you have spray cans, by the way?" Zack asked in a more placid tone of voice as he looked at his best friend with a laid-back vibe and lax facial expression.
"Gentlemen," Bailey said, referring to Zack and Tanner as she put her arms around their waists. "I shall explain on the way to Sicily's room."
"Where's Lowe by the way?" Lucas asked, suddenly remembering Zane as he turned to face Bailey once again. "Isn't he her closest friend? I know he's closer to Sicily than you are to her."
"Way to make a girl feel special." That was Zack who rolled his eyes at the off-handed comment.
"Don't worry." Bailey patted Lucas' back. "No offense taken. Those two have been together since before kindergarten. Like, before they knew there was a difference between boys and girls." She continued, "And to answer your question, Zane's busy today. I just don't know what he’s doing."
The four of them went up to Sicily's room.
Lucas walked through the door and remembered the first time he had been there. He had kissed Sicily that night outside the ice cream parlor. She’d stranded him in the parking lot and he’d been offered a ride home by Zane, who in turn just brought him to her house. He got into another argument with her, something they did a lot. And with that thought, he brought himself out of his musings.
He didn't want to argue with her anymore, he realized.
"What the hell?" Tanner said, breaking into a laugh. "Fish? What is this?" he questioned, still laughing.
Bailey only laughed though of course she knew Lucas' plan.
"And may I add, there's too much fish in that tiny, little bowl," Zack added, his voice serious, but there was a smirk on his face.
Breaking the Arm, Healing the Heart Page 24
