"Well now, over here we have this tiny little basket," Taylor announced in his best game show host voice while one of the volunteers held up my basket.

"Hey! A lot of effort went into that!" I exclaimed as he just ignored me.

Taylor rolled his eyes. "We'll start the bidding at 2 dollars."

"Taylor!"

"5 dollars," a voice said from behind the crowd.

Everyone turned around hoping to catch a glimpse of who had spoken. I already had my guess from the voice.

Jess stood there with his hands in the pockets of his yellow coloured peacoat. He caught my eye and raised his hand up in a slight wave. He had made a joke about bidding on my basket but I didn't actually think he would do it. Yet, I was slightly happy that he did.

On my left, Rory raised her eyebrows suggestively at Jess bidding on my basket. I stick my tongue out at her, trying to hide the blush on my face.

However, my mother on my right was eyeing Jess warily. Which made absolutely no sense to me since I thought she was actually quite fond of him.

Hearing no protest or counter bid, I was ready to make my way to the front to collect my basket.

"Ten dollars."

Shit. I stop in my tracks and turn to face none other than Tristan Dugray, who I thought had been shipped off to military school. Guess I thought wrong.

Jess, now agitated and looking at Tristan with a glare, ups his bid. "Twenty Dollars!"

"Twenty five." Tristan counters.

"Thirty."

"Forty."

As I made my way over to Tristan, to get him to stop bidding I heard Taylor speak. "Hello? Have neither of you seen how tiny this thing is?"

Both Jess and Tristan ignore him as they continue to bid on my basket. "Fifty!" Jess says, daring Tristan to bid. Bad idea on his part.

"Fifty five." He says. When he noticed me approaching him he sends me a lazy smile. "Hey, Cassie."

"Don't you 'Hey, Cassie' me." I tell him angrily. "Stop bidding."

Tristan rolls his eyes at me. I hear Jess in the background up the bid to sixty dollars. "Why should I stop?"

"I could so punch you right now." I reply hotly. "Jess, was bidding first." I try to reason with him.

"Yes, that's how a bid starts," he tells me slowly, making his point. "It continues when another person ups that bid."

"Sixty going once, sixty going twice," I hear Taylor say from the podium. Even if Tristan wasn't going to back down, I at least wasted some time.

"Seventy!" Tristan calls out, shaking his head at me. I knew Tristan wasn't worried about spending money, he came from a rich family after all. But Jess on the other hand, didn't make much working at Luke's.

"Eighty." Jess bids. I could feel his eyes on us as he spoke.

Tristan looked at Jess with a glare. "Okay, I'm bored now," he tells me quietly. "A hundred dollars!"

Everything went silent. I looked at Jess to see him looking at me questioningly. As if asking me whether he should continue to waste his money. I give him a slight shake of the head telling him not to. I could see him clench his jaw from across the square. His eyes burning with fury. So, he was mad and I had no idea why.

"A hundred dollars going once. A hundred dollars going twice," Taylor announced, waiting to see if anyone would bid again. "Sold, to the young gentleman at the back for a hundred dollars!"

There were a few scattered claps as Tristan went to retrieve the basket. Ignoring him and everyone else I ran after Jess who was walking off.

I called out his name when I was close enough. But what I've figured out is that he likes to ignore people when he's pissed off. I sighed in annoyance as I picked up my pace to get close enough to grab him.

I took ahold of his arm, causing him to spin around and face me. Standing in the middle of the street wasn't really a good place for the argument that I knew was coming but the whole town was at the basket bidding. So we didn't need to worry about any oncoming traffic.

"What?" He asked rudely, looking down at me.

"Don't be mad," I plead as he scoffs at me.

Jess shakes his head at me. "Don't be mad," he mocked in my voice. "What the hell is he even doing here?"

"I don't know! I just know that I didn't ask him to come!"

Jess rolls his eyes as he takes a step closer to me so that we only had a few inches between us. "And yet he's still here."

I throw my hands up exasperatedly. "I don't see why it bothers you so much! We're just gonna eat and talk, then I'll come and find you!" I explain, trying to make him understand.

"It bothers me because you said he was just a friend!" He says with obvious distaste towards Tristan.

"He is just a friend!" I shout back at him. I ignored the curious stares of the town who had just finished the bidding as I continued. "He's just a friend, just like you." The minute those words left my mouth I knew I was lying. Jess was so much more than just a friend to me.

From the look on his face, I knew those words struck him like a punch in the face. "Okay." He said, deadly calm with a shrug of his shoulders. "Fine, you do you. Didn't mean much to me anyways."

Now it was my turn to feel like I've been punched in the face. I knew that what he said meant more than the fact that the whole basket bidding meant nothing to him. The meaning behind his words said that I meant nothing to him.

He knew I got the message when he nonchalantly raised his eyebrow. It was as if he was daring me to say something. So that's exactly what I did. "Fuck you, Jess Mariano." I said with all the emotion I could muster.

Without sparing him a second glance, I turn around to find Tristan. Stupid Jess. Stupid, stupid Jess. Stupid Tristan. Stupid guys! Why the hell did I have to like a guy? Wouldn't a girl be so much more easy and less dramatic.

With a million thoughts racing through my mind I didn't realise I had passed Tristan, who was leaning against the gazebo. He eyed me carefully. "So, where do you want to eat?" He asked, making me jump not realising his presence.

Great, another dumbass to deal with. Instead of answering his question, I asked him one of my own. "What're you doing here?" I cross my arms over my chest, pulling my dark wool jacket tighter against my body for warmth.

"Well, a little birdie told me you were having people bid on baskets and I just couldn't let yours go to waste." He says cockily as he pushes himself of the pillar of the gazebo.

"Well," I start. "It wouldn't have gone to waste."

Tristan rolls his eyes. "What, that guy?" He asks sarcastically, referring to Jess. "Why not spend lunch with someone you actually like?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I did actually enjoy his company," I argue back, taking a seat on the green grass.

"Ah," he says clearly happy with my choice of words. "Did. That's what you said." He took a seat opposite me, putting the basket between us.

"Whatever," I ignore his comment. "Will you at least tell me why you're here?"

Tristan groans and falls down on the grass dramatically. "Like I said, I couldn't let your basket-"

I cut him off. "Shut up." I snapped. "Why did you really come here? You're supposed to be in military school right now."

Tristan props himself up on his right arm as he lays on his side. "Fine. I just thought we could go on a date."

Oh my god, I really wished that someone would hit me on my head to make sure I'm actually awake. "Okay, slow down there James Dean." I say, surprising myself with the level in my voice. "Back up to the part where you think I want to go on a date with you."

"Well, I just figured since you like me and I'm quite fond of you too that we should try to make this work." He says confidently as if he hasn't got this situation as mixed up as a bag of nuts.

Running my fingers through the ends of my hair, I think of what on earth gave him the impression that I liked him that way. "Okay," I slowly start. "Why don't we back up all the way to when you think I like you."

"Wait a minute," he says as he sits up straight. "You don't like me?" He furrows his eyebrows as if thinking it was impossible for someone to not be attracted to him.

I sigh. "I don't like you the way Paris did, if that's what you're asking." I say slowly, trying to get it through his thick head.

"Oh," he frowns, looking at the unopened basket. "Well then, I don't know why I came here." He makes a move to get up.

"No wait," I quickly protest, standing up. "We can still eat if you want, y'know as friends," I suggest, trying not to bruise his inflamed ego anymore than I already have.

He gives me a sad smile. "Nah, my dad is gonna kill me sooner or later when I get home and he finds out I'm not on the train to North Carolina. Might as well make it a quick death."

As he begins takes a few steps away from me I pull on his shirt, signalling him to turn around. "You're still my friend." I say before engulfing him in a quick hug.

He leans his head on mine due to the big height difference between us. "Goodbye, Cassie," he whispers in my ear before pulling away. I watch as he heads towards the bus, not knowing when I'm gonna see my friend again.

I look down at the untouched basket I made. Jokes on Tristan, it did go to waste after all. I pick up the basket and make my way home, seeing as there was no one for me to share it with.

Passing by the phone booth, I see Lane sitting on the bench alone with her unopened basket next to her. She looked sad and angry all at the same time. God knows, who makes me feel like that.

"Hey, Lane." I give a friendly smile as I sit down next to her.

She looks up at me and pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Hey," she replied sadly.

"What's wrong?" I ask, genuinely hoping to cheer her up.

She just looked down at her shoes angrily. "Boys suck."

As she said that my argument with Jess comes to mind. "Yeah, they do." I agree.

Lane looks at me, surprised that I had agreed with her. "Didn't you have a date with some rich guy?"

"Yeah well, rich guy was also a stupid guy."

She nods her head. I open my basket and take out the only meal I had in there. Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Originally I had planned for Jess to eat them, seeing as he liked them. But since he's being a dick I think Lane deserves them.

Lane gratefully takes the sandwich I offered her and eats it. So there we sit. Eating our sandwiches in comfortable silence.