URGENT Authors note at the end of this chapter.  If you ever read one of my authors notes it should be this one!

On the drive to school on Monday I had to explain the fight to Paige.  I spent all day Sunday distracting myself so I wouldn't think about it, and having to retell the story was just making me frustrated again.

"Long story short he stood me up.  No call, no text, and then he shows up at my house three hours later.  At this point Charlotte is just crushed.  Then he just appears and when I get mad he acts like I'm being completely irrational.  Then he says that I'm impossible and maybe he should stop trying to make us work" I was starting to get angry and hurt again, which was not how I wanted to start my day.

"Oh boy.  This isn't good.  You two can't break up, especially not over something as silly as this" Paige groaned.

"Silly?  How is this silly?" I couldn't believe my best friend wasn't taking me seriously here.

"I agree with you that he shouldn't have stood you up, and he definitely should have called, but the two of you are both stubborn, and I'm guessing you both are letting your pride get in the way here.  You're hurt that he stood you up, and he's hurt that you don't trust him, but you guys can't throw everything away because of this" Paige insisted.

"I don't understand why he thinks I don't trust him, because I do" I grabbed my bag and climbed out of Paige's car.

"Okay maybe you do, but you don't act like it.  Think about it.  You aren't the most open person, plus you keep this whole relationship a secret and-" I cut Paige off.

"Hey that's not fair he wanted to keep it a secret too" I pointed out as we walked into school.

"Fine, you're both idiots then.  Just talk to him and work it out please!" Paige shouted after me as we split up to head to our separate classes.

I was about to duck into my first period class when I saw him... and then I saw her.  Meredith was clinging onto his arm laughing at something he said.  He looked up and made eye contact with me, but the smile Meredith put on his face didn't budge.  I gave him a blank look, turned around, and went into class.  I couldn't let him see how much that hurt me.

We hadn't even officially broken up and he was already flirting with another girl, and Meredith of all people.  He knew how much I couldn't tolerate her.

Two could play that game.  When I walked into AP Literature instead of going over to talk to Jake like I usually did, instead I went to the opposite side of the room to where Danny sat.

I asked him about soccer and how his season was going until the bell rang.  I could feel Jake's eyes on my back the whole time.  When I sat down in my desk next to his neither one of us said a word.

I went to the library during lunch to avoid Jake.  I didn't want him to see how hurt I was by all of this.

Later that night we had our practice for the Senior Athlete Dance.  Anyone participating showed up in the school gym at 7 so the dance team could teach everyone the routine.

I walked in with Paige and she and I stopped and looked at each other.  Jake and Tyler were standing across the room talking to each other.

"Well this is awkward.  Any chance you talked to Jake and you guys worked this all out?" Paige looked at me hopefully.

"I went to talk to him today, but he was too busy talking to the she devil herself"

"He was talking to Meredith?  Gross, he clearly has bad taste" Paige gagged.

"Hey!" I poked her.

"I didn't mean you, I just meant he's an idiot talking to Meredith.  I mean how can anybody listen to that annoying, self-centered, captain stealing voice by choice?" Paige clarified.

"Nice save" I smirked at my best friend.

"What do we do?" Paige clearly didn't have a plan and I had no idea what to do in this situation.

Thankfully the dance team captains told us all to get with our partners and line up.

"Hey Tyler, you ready for this?" We paired up and tried to follow along to the moves the dancers were showing us.

"Oh yeah I'm a pro, but you know who's an even better dancer?  Your boyfriend" Tyler gave me a knowing look.

"Not you too.  Paige just gave me a lecture" I scowled at him.

"You two need to talk, ignoring each other isn't going to solve the problem" Tyler spun me around and I saw Jake staring right at me.  I couldn't read his expression.  Couldn't tell if he was hurting as much as I was.  Couldn't tell if he missed me at all.

"He made it pretty clear that he's done trying.  I don't know what I'm supposed to say" I realized at this point we weren't even faking like we knew how to dance, but I was too distracted to care.

"Kayla he's crazy about you, he never meant to hurt you.  Do you even know why he was late that day?" Tyler sounded like he desperately wanted me to believe him.

"No he never said, we were both too angry" I realized that maybe we had both blown this out of proportion. 

Jake's P.O.V

"You need to talk to her" Paige scolded me.

"She's just going to freak out again.  She doesn't trust me, and I can't force her to" I was having a hard enough time trying to learn this dance without the lecture.

"Kayla's been hurt a lot in her life, and her ass of a father is mostly to blame for that.  You have to understand he has gotten her hopes up for years only to crush them every time.  So she put up walls and she doesn't trust people easily because that's how she protects herself" Paige explained.

"I know she's been through a lot, and I know this is hard for her, but this can't be a one sided effort.  I don't know what to do, it seems like she doesn't care" I couldn't believe I was talking about this with anyone, especially Kayla's best friend.

"Are you kidding me?  She's crazy about you" Paige slapped me like I was an idiot, which was probably true.   

"Then why did she insist on keeping this whole thing a secret?" This whole situation made no sense to me.

"You agreed to it, therefore you're both idiots" Paige pointed out.

"I only agreed to it because I was afraid if she got freaked out about the whole commitment thing, then I would lose her" I couldn't look at Paige when I said it.

"Then for goodness sake tell her that" Paige threw her hands up in frustration.  Everyone stared at us.  It was clear we weren't paying attention to the dance.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but she isn't exactly talking to me right now" I retaliated.

"She was going to talk to you this morning, but then she saw you flirting with Meredith and she got all freaked out again" Paige clarified.

"Flirting with Meredith?  What?" I was confused, but for some reason the idea of Kayla being jealous made me feel a little because then at least I knew she cared.

"I saw you with her at the end of the day too so don't try to deny it.  You know Kayla can't stand her, plus she's a psycho so I don't know why you would want to talk to her anyway" Paige started ranting.

"Woah woah woah slow down there crazy.  I wasn't flirting with Meredith, trust me I dislike her just as much as you guys do" I assured her.

"Then why have you become all chummy with her recently?" Paige wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Because I wanted to know how Kayla's game went the other day, but I obviously couldn't ask Kayla that" I don't know why this was embarrassing to admit but it was.

"Awww that's so sweet, wait a minute, why didn't you just ask me?" Paige switched from amused to confused in about two seconds.

"Because I assumed if Kayla and I weren't talking then you and I weren't talking either.  I thought you'd be mad at me" I explained.

"Well I was pretty ticked off that you stood her up, and I still am, but I think you two can and should work this out.  I consider us friends now" Paige jumped up and I had to catch her before spinning around.

"Thanks Paige, and I promise I'll talk to her"

As we finished the spin I made eye contact with Kayla.  For a second I thought I saw pain in her eyes, but then her mask was back on and she was unreadable once again.  Man I missed her.       

As Tyler and I were driving home I decided to call her, but it went straight to voicemail.  The message I left was only four words. 

"We need to talk"

URGENT END OF BOOK INFO

Alright I am trying to decide what to do with the rest of this book.  I am debating between three options and I really care about your opinion so please comment and say which option you want.

1. I end An Unlikely Duo in two chapters.

2. I continue the book and plot line like normal.

3. I do a series of one- shot chapters of big events in their senior year that aren't connected like homecoming, prom, college apps, graduation, etc.

Please comment what you want to happen with this book and if you can please tell me what you want to see. 

Do you want to know how Kayla ends up paying for college?  Do you want to know if the whole school finds out Jake plays volleyball?  Do you want more Charlotte?  More Paige and Tyler?  TELL ME.  I love this book, but continuing a plot line after this long is getting tricky and I really want to know what you guys think.  Thanks!  Next chapter is written so if I get a lot of feedback and support on this chapter then I'll post the next one sooner.