C h a p t e r 1 3

I followed Chase as we made our way towards his hot wheels. I stood stiffed while he sashayed to the driver's side, and unlocked the door before hopping in.

"Get in." Chase ordered, opening the passenger's door for me as he started the engine.

I false a grin, hesistant to move forward. "Uhm.. Well, how about.."

"---you do me a favor, just this time, and drive slow? For safety measures, perhaps?" I asked, flashing a smile.

"Oh, actually I don't do slow." He stated, making my smile fall down.

"Would it even kill you if you tried?"

"Nope, but isn't moving slow the reason of being late? Well, no offense to that..." He trailed off with a smug.

"What? Exactly how and why did this suddenly turn into me?--"

"Look, I'm not having another couple-quarrel with you, babe. We're just kinda wasting some of my precious time here, so please get in. Also, Linda and the guys already left and I have no idea where in the world Paul lives."

"Oh, I'm sorry your highness. I didn't mean to, "waste some of your precious time"!" I hissed.

"We're wasting timeee.." Chase sang, pissing me more.

Ugh, fat you beach. I groaned as I forcibly threw myself in his car.

"Good girl." Chase smiled, "Now, put your seat belt on." He ordered, sounding like he was talking to a four year old kid.

I grimaced at him, What makes him think he could just order me around like this?

"For safety measures, remember?" He smiled, which annoyed me more.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for reminding me." I grumbled, before I fastened my seatbelt.

"Anytime." He smirked, before placing his foot on the gas.

"What happened to you?" Linda asked, seeing me come down on Chase's car.

I raised my brows in a notch, unsure of what she meant, before asking. "What happened to me?"

"She's fine." Chase spoke behind me, tapping me on my head.

Swatting his hand away from me, made him let out a chuckle while I let my eyes roll before responding. "Will you stop that?"

"Come on in." Paul invited us in along with Mrs. Henderson's joyful welcome.

"I'll prepare your food and drinks." Mrs. Henderson smiled as she walked towards their kitchenette.

Stacy sat down on a tan colored sofa and snorted out a question. "We don't have any space here for our practice, do we?"

The Henderson family lives in a bungalow with decorative plants, wood-like colored walls, and orange carpet, making the house temperature warm and look cozy.

"I like the accent." I randomly opined, touching the wall.

My eyes unconsciously landed to Chase who was standing right next to the door with his hands on his pocket, while staring at the ceiling. His posture gained him confidence and his built made him look like a model.

As I stole a minute scanning my eyes on him, I stopped questioning myself as to why he acted to being a boy who floats convention. Not to mention, earning the title of being the hottest boy really gave his head a blow. He just had something to be proud of. I quickly averted my gaze from him after he turned his head towards me.

"Oh yeah, thanks." Paul said, smiling.

"And uh.. We can have our practice on our backyard garden." He announced, looking at Stacy.

"I hate insects." Stacy scoffed, rolling her eyes with her hands crossed to her chest.

Same. I could have said that aloud, but then I remembered it was Stacy so, never mind.

"Alright. Let's go." Paul smoothly demanded as we followed him, ignoring Stacy's comment.

Paul guided us through the backyard, while Stacy's complaints rang annoyingly in my ears. I disliked her the most, she didn't even think of showing some respect when she wasn't even in her Barbie mansion.

My feet glued themselves on the ground while I stared at the colorful and refreshing scenery ahead of us. Succulent on pots, plants displayed on a man made shelf, and vivid flowers resting peacefully on their beds flashed before my eyes. The grass was neatly trimmed, with a number of fairy statuettes scattered around. Fortunately, I hadn't spotted any insects, yet.

"Oh, wow!" Linda clamored, focusing her glasses as she ran straight unto the flowerbeds located at the right end corner of the yard.

"She's a butterfly." Paul remarked.

"Can we just say, she's a fairy? I feel like that sounds a lot better." I let out a shrug, and sat down on a wooden chair with antique design, thereafter.

Just that moment when my butt slapped the chair, someone hollered along with a crackling sound from an old wooden thing ripping apart, "Nikki!!--"

I quickly covered my eyes and yelped, but before I could hit the ground, two strong arms embraced me. A clash from the wood that had hit the cemented floor was heard, subsequently. I breathed frantically, I let one moment to calm myself down. As my fast heartbeat flooded my ears, I slowly looked at the person who helped me, when I suprisingly met an angel's eyes.

"Ch..."

Before I could finish speaking, insects began to fly around and suddenly went to change the face of the man in front of me, which was now had the looks of Paul.

"Chaul! I mean... Paul!" I awkwardly laughed.

"Wow, you're fast. Thanks..." I patted his upper arm, as he loosens his grip to have my way.

"No problem, Nikki." Paul smiled.

What happened to me? There's not even a single resemblance between Paul, and Chase.

"So??" Stacy began, "--Now what?"

"Guys! Shouldn't we begin now? Because, BTW we're wasting some of my precious time, you all know that?" She fakely yawned.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I wondered how many people had mentioned that line. Or, was it just their line?

Linda ambled back towards us, carrying a bouquet of flowers, "I think we should start now."

"We probably should." Paul nodded in agreement.

"Paul, do you mind if I take these flowers home with me?" Linda had asked.

"Yeah sure, there is no way I can connect them back on their own roots anyways." He deadpanned, just in time when Chase emerged from the door towards us.

Before we even started, Mrs. Henderson called Paul from inside their house.

"One moment, guys." Paul spoke before sprinting to where his mom was.

Linda placed the flowers she picked beside her bag as she started taking our scripts, and handed them to us with each of our names awkwardly written on top of our own sheet.

"Can I kiss you on the lips my King?" Stacy voiced out a line from her script.

"Wait, Linda..." I spoke but Linda cuts me with a shush.

Chase chuckled from behind while facing his script.

"Have I just heard a solemn cry of jelousy?" He asked, before lifting his head.

"Oh, please. Don't make me gag." I shot back, rolling my eyes while he lightly let out a laugh. How could he think stupid?

"Guys, have some cookies and juice first." Paul suggested, approaching us while carrying a tray and putting it on top of the table.

After spending forty minutes, more or less on eating, we decided to get back on our main assignment.

Everyone gathered around in circle as Linda explained how the story flows. For the passed hours, all we did was follow her lead throughout the rehearsal. Everything went fine, until Chase stepped in. He kept forgetting his lines, and each time he think a word sounded ridiculous, he would jump on to the next part of his script in which we hardly noticed at first, making us be baffled and wonder if he was still with us or just basically in his own group of his own play.

"Chase, our topic happened years ago!" Linda groaned, "It was supposed to be corny!"

"Fine, but skip my part for a moment. I'm getting tired." Chase complained, throwing his script as it glided on to the brick path.

Linda let out a weary sigh, defeatedly slumping her butt on the wooden bench. "This can not be happening."

My patience just hits its peak, we had been repeating one scene for an hour now, but I gradually closed my eyes and calmed myself, putting myself together, suprressing my anger. "Okay..."

"You're out of the group." I calmly spoke to Chase.

Chase looked at me with nothing but disapproval and quickly covering it up with a smirk, "You're not the leader."

"I don't even care! I just want you out of the group!" I spat, pointing my finger at him.

Linda stood on my side and held me on my shoulder, "Nikki, it's fine. We still got this."

I spun my head to face her as I let out an air through my mouth, "Fine, let's waste some time."

I was beyond pissed. Chase was being a complete pain in the butt. Everything that was running in his head was nothing but to look good, and feel good. When all you need to survive the living was to do good!

"Babe, please do your part. I'm getting tired now." Stacy pouted.

"Yeah, talk to him, he might follow you." I muttered, avoiding their eyes while I crossed my hands to my chest.

Chase snorts, but I stayed quiet and shot him a glare instead.

"Okay, I'm gonna do it. Only because I want this to end already." He intoned, bending over to pick his script.

"Glad you thought about that." I hissed as he went into his character.

After a few more cuts we had finished, thankfully. It was already eight in the evening and Stacy ditched us after rehearsing, while Chase, Linda, and I stayed for dinner since Mrs. Henderson asked us too.

"Thank you so much for the meal Mrs. Henderson." I smiled.

"Thank you too, and please do call me Samantha." Mrs. Henderson smiled when she suddenly received a phone call and excused herself.

In just a minute gap, another phone rang. Chase then, pulled out something in his pocket. The screen on his phone blinks, and he stared at it for a moment before accepting the call.

"What's up?" Chase boldly spoke.

He cocked his head towards me with no particular reason while he talked to someone. His eyes imitated the night sky, with a twinkle and a hell lot of dark touch, while the edge of his lips sloped upward. Staring back at him, I decided not to avert my gaze while I raised an eyebrow. It took us a couple of seconds, just staring at each other until he flashed a wink. Groaning, I let my eyes roll away from him while he chuckled.

"...Oh, yeah. I'm listening." Chase gave the person on the other line a lie.

Meanwhile, I decided to talk to Paul instead about random stuffs. We hadn't talked much anyways, and I would love to hear him speak of himself.

"How's school?" I spontaneously asked.

Too much for random stuffs. I'm not even his mom!

"Uhh, well... it was good actually. I've been..." Paul started with a stammer unsure of what he heard which he continued, boisterously.

I should be listening to Paul but my ears traveled their way to the other guy across the table.

"Yeah sure. I'll be there in an hour." I attentively listened to Chase while facing Paul.

What am I doing? I questioned myself. My eyes were here but my mind flew. The vision of Paul waving his hand in front of me made me think of how cheerful he was. He must be enjoying a lot. I thought he was going crazy until he called my attention.

"Nikki!"

I blinked and focused my eyes at Paul, and scratched my nape before asking him. "Oh, uhh.. you were saying?"

"Chase was asking you if you want to ride with him." Paul stood up as he started gathering the plates together with the spoons and forks used.

"Oh." Why haven't I heard him say it?

I looked around the room for Linda, before standing up. "Well, how about Linda?"

"Oh no, I'm fine. House is just a block away." She said, smiling.

I noticed Chase who was already outside, tapping on his phone.

"Uhm.. okay. Tell your mom thanks for the lovely dinner." I smiled, grabbing my bag and waved goodbye to both Linda and Paul.

I walked out of Paul's house and strode to Chase's car.

"Thanks for waiting." I hopped in.

"Sure." Chase said, revving the car with a loud roar before driving.

"And by the way, we will stop by at the gasoline station near my dad's house. Nicolas will then give you a ride home." Chase stated, adjusting his headlights to bright as we drove to a silent road.

"Okay." I gradually bobbed my head up and down.

The lights on the highway passed by in a blur making it seem like one elongated light was following us along the empty road. A few minutes of driving with a dead silence swirling inside the car, Chase turned in on a dark narrow road, straying from the enlightened highway. I scanned the unfamiliar area as I tried to pick up the streets we passed by to illustrate the place where we were heading.

"Here we are." Chase mumbled, interrupting me from my thoughts as he pulled in. He unbuckled his seat belt and hopped out.

"Here?" I repeated, trying to sketch what Chase meant by gasoline station when all was here was an abandoned looking flower shoppe.

The door roughly opened and Chase released a heavy sigh, biting his lip. "How many times do I have to knock on your door and ask you to come out here??"

"I didn't hear any of it." I admitted. I seriously didn't.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for a second and get your ass out here?" Chase irritatedly spoken.

"Alright. Alright. Jeez, what is your problem?" I hopped outside, glimpsing at the land abuts on the lean road ahead of us.

He flashed another one of his deadly ensnaring looks, "Since you asked, you are my problem."

His response made me briefly glance at him with a blank expression but with my mind already blowing a fire.

"Well Mister Nice-Guy-Not, I'm not so sorry for being your problem but you better behave or I'll make this problem be more than just a problem!"

"You're cute." He shot back with a killer smile.

My face heats up and it felt as if I was physically indurated that I could no longer move from where I was standing.

Chase tried to contain his laugh, throwing another smirk after, "Way to stop a girl from blabbering."

"Ohh.. Well I hope this will stop you from smirking!" I shot back, punching him on his stomach causing him to groan and face to squinch along with his body.

After a few minutes of silence, I scanned the creepy flower shop towering behind us then probed with a hint of irk in my voice, "I thought you said, to the gasoline station?"

The signage hangs horizontally above the shop, some parts of the wall broke down, and the large glass in front has been disintegrated. Inside the shop, I could see rustied flower racks and discarded cash register laying sideways on top of the counter. I wonder how old this shop laid here?

"We'll just be meeting someone but I already called Nicolas' attention to come over here."

Suddenly, a message tone rechoed through the thick air as Chase scooped his phone in his pocket, tapping on it.

"Oh, there he is. That mutt." He spoke, shoving his phone back in his pocket and walked towards the guy to greet him. Chase gave him a man hug and both walked back to where I was standing.

"You didn't tell me you brought a girl." The guy smirked, scanning me up and down.

Chase rolled his eyes away from his mutt guy before looking at me, "He's not my girl."

"I never said she's your girl." The guy chuckled,

"So she's single?" He probed with his eyes fixed on my body. Perv! My eyes weren't relocated, Mister!

"Well.." Chase trailed off, "Why don't we just get on to the business? You let us wait here for more than an hour to meet your unforgivable ass, anyways.

"Okay boss, but it's actually not my fault your dad loves my sushi." The guy shifted his attention to Chase as he took a container from his bag.

They just chatted while I repeatedly glanced around the surroundings. A few more minutes later, a familiar car pulled in front of us, and to my suprise it was sir Nicolas.

"Good evening Ms. White" He nicely greeted through his open window.

"Hello sir Nicolas, I'll just get my stuffs. One quick moment." I politely said, jogging my way towards Chase's car to take my stuffs.

After hopping inside the other car with Nicolas, Chase walked towards our direction and spoke to him, "Nicolas, drive Nikki home. I just had to bring dad's sushi. He's actually hoping them for dinner."

"Thanks, Chase." I smiled, thanking him despite all the disagreements and quibbles we start. Hey, there's always a time to be nice.

"Thank you, too." He said back avoiding eye contacts with me as he quickly looked away.
"Hey, Jack. You need a ride?" Chase asked his friend as sir Nicolas removed the hand brake.

"Nah, I'm cool." He turned to walked his way, "Nice seeing you again, Chase."

"You too." Chase quickly went inside his car, and in a minute he drove off, hitting the road.

"Buckle up, Ms. White." Sir Nicolas reminded before he hits the gas.

"Thank you again sir Nicolas, for driving me home." I smiled, covering the speaker of my phone with my hand before hopping out.

I had a call from Hailey ten minutes earlier asking me about my rehearsals with Chase, I mean of course I would tell her that. To vent. But I couldn't speak anything about Chase because I was riding with someone who works for him, which made me uneasy.

"Well, it was quite a day Hailey and I should probably go to sleep." I said taking the door knob, silently opening it.

"Sure, Nikki. See you tomorrow!" Hailey smooched on the other screen before hanging up.

A/N: Hey! And yesssss, I know you're complaining on how looooong this chapter is but I honestly just couldn't stop writing. Even with this author's note I'm beginning to think this would literally be longer than the above story chapter itself. LOL Okay, okay I'll stop.

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