Twenty-Eight

You Don't Like Him Anymore

Quinn's POV

Monday morning, the first thing I saw when I opened my locker was a Post-It note, addressed to me in that same script-like handwriting that had haunted me for the past few weeks.

Hey Quinn, it said, the Q in my name curved upwards excessively, I think your time with Andrew Summers is running out. But don't worry! I've got the key to your relationship with your guy. Just go to room 705 at 2:15 this afternoon, and we'll finish this off once and for all.

I stared at the Post-It note for a while, until the letters started to blend together and blur in front of me. I didn't know what I wanted. The more time I spent wanting Andrew back, the more I wondered if I really even wanted him back at all. Did I even really like him, or did I just like the idea of being with him? He clearly didn't care about me anymore, no matter how much he tried to claim that "breaking up was best for me" as if he knew me. We'd barely spoken.

Still, even if I didn't necessarily want to date Andrew again (I couldn't believe I was admitting that, even to myself), meeting at the appropriate time and place could ensure that I met whoever kept leaving me these notes. After all, what did this Post-It even mean by "finish this off once and for all"?

Just as I was contemplating going, Elisabeth practically materialized beside me, wrapping her long blonde hair around her index finger. "Have you seen Cody?" she chirped, her blue eyes wide.

"Why do you keep asking me?" I demanded, shoving the note back into my locker and slamming the door with finality. "I have no idea where he is."

She stuck out her bottom lip, pouting, and then turned around to go interrogate one of her friends that had just passed my. Quickly, I swung my backpack over one shoulder and yanked out my schedule, trying to see if I could afford to go to room 705 at the time the note had suggested. Unfortunately, I didn't have free period for World History II today, so I'd have to skip class.

I flipped my planner to see what else I had going on today and caught side of the note Cody had written on my planner. Something inside me snapped and I had to completely rethink going to the meeting this afternoon. Going would show that I still wanted Andrew. Did I?

Frustrated, I stuffed my planner back into my backpack and started walking down the hallway. I had free period first, so I'd have plenty of time to think.

I decided to hang out at the picnic tables outside the cafeteria during free period, except the second I walked outside I saw Elisabeth and Cody sitting together at the table farthest away. She was laughing at something he said, the two pronounced dimples in her cheeks deeper than ever. I couldn't tell if he was smiling back or not.

Angrily, I plopped down at the table closest to me, turning my back so that I didn't have to see them laughing together. Then I pulled out my planner, purposely covering the note Cody had left on it with my gum eraser, and started studying for the World History pop quiz I knew I'd have today.

I didn't really know why I'd started devoting so much time to homework and studying lately, but it did prove a good distraction, and by the time the period was half over I'd already solidified the information from my history chapter and finished up a Chemistry problem set I'd abandoned the previous night. Neither Elisabeth nor Cody had left their bench, though I could hear Elisabeth's high-pitched voice floating across the lawn towards me every once and a while. I wished I'd brought my earbuds from my locker.

Absentmindedly I popped open my water bottle and chewed on the large plastic straw inside, trying to decide what I should do next. I always hated having free period first thing in the morning because it meant that I didn't really have a lot of homework to complete. Plus, with all of my friends angry at me, I didn't exactly have anyone else to hang out with other than some random acquaintances--and I definitely didn't want to encourage a curious conversation about why Andrew and I had broken up.

A shadow fell over me and a second later someone sat down next to me on my bench. When I looked to the side, I was startled to see that Cody had taken my orange highlighter and was twirling it between his fingers.

"Finished flirting with Elisabeth and decided to move on to me?" I asked dryly, snatching the marker from him and capping it decisively.

His jaw tensed. "Come on, Quinn. I can't even talk to you anymore?"

"Not when you go blabbering our business to your friends," I retorted. I tried to go back to my homework, but when I moved my planner to see what homework I could possibly do the gum eraser fell off, exposing Cody's note. I quickly covered it up before he could see it, not wanting to look at it for some reason.

"Sam started yelling at me over the weekend," I explained, just to cover up the awkward moment. "In case you didn't know, he's furious at me because I evidently did you some great wrong."

Cody just clasped his arms behind his head, nearly elbowing me in the temple. "He's taking things out of proportion," he said easily.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Should I be?" He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes, and there was something in them I'd never seen before. He brought his arms down and picked up my highlighter again, and this time I let him take it. "Look, Quinn, I'm not expecting you to be over Andrew. I'm not going to be mad at you for liking him. That's stupid and I don't want to be that kind of crappy person."

When I looked at him this time, I had trouble tearing my eyes away. "So why were you mad at me before?" I asked softly. "You brought up that time last week when you were over at my house."

"I know, Quinn. I'm sorry that I was angry at you for not remembering."

I chewed down on my lip as he continued to stare at me, his wide brown eyes questioning. "You don't remember, do you?" he pried.

"No. I'm sorry." Frustrated, I ran my hands through my curly hair, messing it up at the top, and it must have been some kind of crazy instinct because he reached out and smoothed a piece that stuck out.

"It's okay," he said.

We watched each other for a few more minutes before he added, "I wasn't flirting with Elisabeth. I was trying to sit and study and she came over and she wouldn't leave. Maybe you were right about her liking me."

"A lot of people like you," I said. I wanted to add, "so why me?" I had no idea why he was trying so hard to be with me when he had so many other people he could have dated a lot more easily.

His eyebrows wrinkled. "So who do you like, Quinn?"

"Are we in elementary school?" I smirked.

"Touché."

He set down the highlighter and I could tell he wanted to ask again, but he refrained. And honestly, if he had asked me, I had no idea what I would have said. I didn't think I liked Andrew still, and I didn't think I necessarily liked Cody, but I couldn't deny the zap sent through me whenever he looked at me the way he was now.

He sure had changed a lot, though, from the first day of freshman year, when we'd met. He had definitely filled out a lot--he'd gotten taller and a lot more muscular, and he'd grown out his brown hair so that it curled softly around his ears. And then those dark eyes--sometimes teasing, sometimes soft and serious, that led down to a perfect nose and lips and his strong jawline. And his smirk, which he was currently offering me, with the right side of his mouth slightly higher than his left. He knew I was studying him. Maybe he was studying me, too.

"Do you think I changed this year?" I asked him nervously, wrapping my fingers around each other so that they formed a little temple.

"Hell yes." Cody reached his hand up and ran it through his hair--I noticed he'd stopped gelling it.

I had no idea whether the short laugh he'd paired with that was sarcastic or not, so I asked, "Changed in a good way or a bad way?"

He didn't answer at first as he went back to studying me just as carefully as he had been before. "Well," he said, "you've started doing your hair differently, and your face. You look like a movie star now. But yeah, your personality changed, too, when you were hanging out with those wannabes."

"You mean Vanessa and Kenzie and--"

"Yeah. Quinn, please swear to me right now you will never come back to school in heels and that weird short pink skirt with that freaking coffee cup."

"Cody!" I chided, because he hadn't exactly said "freaking". "How many times do I have to tell you to watch your language?"

He didn't blink. "You didn't promise me, Quinn."

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes. "I promise. Happy?"

That smirk was back as he said sweetly, "No, I'm not."

"Wow, you're demanding. What can I do to make you happy then, Your Highness?"

He pulled my planner towards him and uncovered the note he'd written, scanning it before shutting the planner and sliding it in my direction. "The list, Miss Ramirez, is very long."

I dropped my planner in my backpack and zipped my bag shut, kicking it underneath the table. The intense sun was hot on my shoulders and caused my hair to stick to the back of my neck, but at least we didn't have any of Cody's friends watching us and hooting at us. In fact, the quad was empty--there weren't even students walking to and from the cafeteria.

Abruptly, Cody clapped his hands together and said, "So here's the deal, Quinn. Last week. After you passed out. You woke up and I gave you some water and then you sort of started babbling."

"Oh no." I shut my eyes tightly, knowing exactly where this was going. For the past week I'd been trying to convince myself that I wasn't at all attracted to Cody, but I was pretty sure my subconscious had no intentions of listening to my reason.

"Yeah." He stared down at the table, not looking at me. "You said--you said you really, really liked me and you wanted to go out with me. So I told you I'd break up with Julia because, you know, I don't even know why I was dumb enough to go out with her in the first place, and you said I should, because then you'd gladly go out with me, and then I sort of sat down on the couch and you put your head down on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around you and you sort of fell asleep again."

I bit down on my lip, hard. "I'm sorry, Cody," I said. "I didn't know what I was thinking--"

"I'm not done yet," he said. "You woke up again."

"Really?" I muttered, silently cursing myself.

"Yeah. So you woke up and you looked up at me and you were so out of it, and it was so wrong, but then you kissed me and I shouldn't have kissed you back because you didn't even know what you were doing, but I did and it was really terrible of me, but I actually enjoyed it."

I squinted my eyes shut again, so tightly it hurt.

He cleared his throat. "Um, yeah, so we kissed for a while. And then you fell asleep again and I started feeling really, really guilty of taking advantage of you like that, so I laid you back down on the couch and then your mom came home and I left."

"So am I a good kisser?"

"Quinn, what the--"

I lifted my head from when I'd buried it in my hands and stared him straight in the eye as I said, "It was just a curious question."

I had no idea why I'd decided to make a joke out of everything he'd just told me, because it was actually really serious, but I guessed I didn't know what I could do other than lighten the mood.

Slowly, the corner of his mouth lifted into a smile as he shrugged and said, "Nah, not really. I mean, average." When I frowned and looked away he nudged me gently and said, "I'm kidding Ramirez, come on."

"So it was worse than average?" I asked sweetly, turning back to him.

He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and said seriously, "No. It was way, way better than average. I'm sorry, Quinn, I really am. I regret doing that to you. You had no idea what you were doing and I was technically still with Julia. And I shouldn't have gotten mad at you for not remembering."

"It's okay," I said, chewing down on my lip. My phone buzzed and I flipped it over to see who had texted--but not before I caught a glimpse of the time. "Cody!" I squealed, jumping up as if I'd been electrified. "We're twenty minutes late for second period!"

"Sh-"

"Don't," I said, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. I turned around long enough to smile at him and then took off running in the direction of the auditorium, hoping Mr. Vann wouldn't mind that I was so late.

As I ran, it took everything in me not to turn back around and look at the spot I'd just left. I wondered what it was like, kissing Cody. It was awful that I couldn't remember--it would have been something that I'd keep stored away in my mind forever.

Flipping my hair over my shoulder, I yanked open the door and slipped inside the theatre, listening to the distant strains of students reciting Shakespeare's works.

~*~*~

I grabbed Julia by the sleeve when I saw her standing just outside the cafeteria at lunchtime, dragging her until we were in a quiet place near where Cody and I had sat that morning. She was glowering at me, her eyes practically spitting fire, but to her credit she didn't pull away from me.

"I'm so, so sorry about what happened with Cody," I said, all in one rush. "It sounds crazy but I completely forgot what happened that day."

She shrugged, the anger in her eyes disappearing entirely. "It's fine, Quinn," she said.

"What?" I was completely taken aback. Hadn't she spent all weekend angry at me for what I'd done, and now she had just forgiven me in less than a heartbeat?

"Really, it is," she said. Tucking part of her bob behind her ear, she added, "I'm over him. I just really wanted you to apologize, and I wanted you to realize what you had done. But you know, I don't really like Cody anyway. He's a little too...I don't know..."

"I got you," I said, and she nodded.

Then her face broke out into a smile and leaned towards me, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "So," she said, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "Andrew Summers. Are you over him yet?"

In that exact moment, some part of me let go something I'd been holding on to for a really, really long time. "Yes," I said. And I meant it.

She pulled away, her eyes sparkling. "Good."

A/N: So who do you guys like better (not for Quinn, just in general)? Cody or Andrew?

Also, remember how Homecoming was coming up?  Prepare for a surprise next chapter... ;)