I shove a couple of people out of my way, earning me some very dirty looks, but they should know never to mess with a woman on a mission.

I can see Cayden leaning near his locker and talking to his friends. I march right in front of them. They barely notice me and continue talking. I mean, I'm not a tiny girl. I'm 5'5" but the way these guys are acting, I may as well be invisible.

"Ahem!" I say and it's pretty clear that it's a very fake ahem. Cayden and his two friends turn towards me. Jack, one of his friends, checks me out from top to bottom before giving me a sly grin whereas Finn, his other friend, looks confused as to why a nobody is talking to them. Cayden, on the other hand, looks bored. Bored!

"Why didn't you come?" I ask Cayden, looking him right in the eye. It seems like after yesterday, all my crush feelings have transformed into wanting to crush him feelings.

"I din wanna." He says, not even bothering to pronounce the T's.

"You do realize what a group project is, right?" I ask, now putting my pity face on, and giving him a soft look like I'm talking to an idiot. "See, it's when a group of people, say for example, Brandon, July, you and I, come together and do a project. Together." I say, stressing the last word. His friends erupt into giggles and Cayden just gives me a cold stare.

"We need to be done with this project by next week."

"So, there's still a lot of time. Stop. Bugging. Me." Cayden says, coldly. I just roll my eyes. Does he think he can scare me?

"We're meeting again at July's house. Try not to be an asshole and be there. "And with that, I'm already heading towards my next class.

At lunch break, I tell my friends about what Cayden did and they all agree that it was a mean thing to do, except Creed who just loves Cayden now. The rest of the day is uneventful and after school, I go to July's house with Brandon and we wait for a long time, but Cayden doesn't show.

This continues over the entire week. We finally give up on trying to get Cayden to participate because he won't. The bright side is that the three of us work really well as a team and we decide to talk about rainwater harvesting. Brandon even managed to build a tiny model.

"Hey!" I call out to Brandon. He's wearing a blue T-shirt and dark grey jeans and let me tell you, he looks good.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't butt sprinkles?" Brandon teases me. Unfortunately, Brandon met Belle and she continued to embarrass me by telling him how much I liked being called butt sprinkles.

"Bye!" I say as I turn to the other direction and start walking. Brandon laughs and holds my wrist to stop me. His hand is rough and warm. He releases my hand when I turn towards him.

"C'mon! It's cute." He defends himself.

"I never should have introduced you to my friends," I tell Brandon, "But I already did and it's too late now. Do you want to sit with us for lunch? If you say yes, you have to call Belle red sausage."

"Red sausage? Why? " Brandon asks confused.

"You don't want to know." I say and drag him towards the cafeteria but I stop when I see who's sitting with us today. Unfortunately, Brandon doesn't get it and sits next to Belle.

There's only one spot vacant and it's next to Cayden. I take a deep breath to calm myself and sit next to Cayden.

"Hey, red sausage." I hear Brandon greet Belle and I can't help but giggle.

"Shae!" Belle shrieks at me. Jason just shakes his head.

"Where's Creed?" I ask Jason while stealing his juice. Food always tastes better when you steal it from your friends. Scientific fact.

Jason frowns at me for his juice box but continues, "He's flirting with some of the cheerleaders."

"Of course he is." I say, not even surprised.

"Hey." Cayden says to me. I just shoot him a look that says 'Really? Are you serious?' Cayden sighs and walks away from us.

Jason gives me a dirty look, "That was unnecessarily rude!"

"Unnecessarily rude?" I ask, incredulously, "That day when Brandon tried to tell him to come to July's house, he said that he can't waste his time with us and then asked us to do the project ourselves but keep his name on top!"

"Wow! I hit a nerve, didn't I?" I hear Cayden say as he sits beside me. He's holding a juice box in his hand. So the entire sighing thing was just drama. Sometimes, girls don't even deserve the drama queen stereotype.

I just shoot him a look of pure fury. Jason and Belle look amused whereas Brandon is just frowning.

"Fine." He sighs and holds his hands up as if he's surrendering. "I'll come today but only because you're so desperate to be with me."

"Do you have a death wish? Are you suicidal?" I ask clenching my hands into fists. I wouldn't actually punch him, I heard that it hurts like a mother, but he doesn't know that.

Then he gets up, leans close to my ear and whispers before going, "I'll see you later."

I turn to my friends to see them staring at me with shocked faces.

"So sexual tension, anyone?" Belle says and I immediately hit her, hurting Brandon in the process.

--------------------------------------------

After college, Brandon drives us to July's house. It has become a routine for us now. July opens the door and gives us a wide smile. I don't know how but she always reaches her house before we do.

"Hey, July!" I smile at her as Brandon and I enter her house.

July is loaded and you can see that from her house. Her house is beautiful and it's furnished so well. Her living room is in muted tones of white and beige except for a wall which is pure black. The contrast truly is beautiful.

July is such a sweet girl once she finally opens up, even though it took her so long. She's friends with us now and I couldn't be more happier about it. July gives us something to eat and by the time we are ready to start working on our assignment, the doorbell rings. I close my eyes praying that it isn't him.

But does the universe listen to good people? No, it does not.

"Wow! This is a very nice house!" Cayden says, releasing a slow whistle. July just blushes.

"Can we just get started now?" Brandon asks, his irritation clear in his voice.

Cayden raises an eyebrow at him. "I thought you guys would be a little more ecstatic that I'm here because, you know, all of you have been begging me to join this part-ay!" Cayden mocks us.

I just clear my throat and start filling him in on all the details of the project. Soon, we get started but after half an hour, Cayden gets up all of a sudden. "This is super boring, you guys, and it's taking too long. My hair's turning gray. I need to trim my beard" He says, fluffing his imaginary beard.

"It's been half an hour." July says, confused.

"It's been half my life." Cayden corrects her. July starts blushing furiously and Cayden grins at her response. What a cocky...

I don't get to finish my thought because Cayden turns towards me, winks and exits the house.

"I hate him." Brandon says, deadpanned but I'm too shocked to react. Did he just wink at me?

"You know what?" Brandon says getting up, "I'm too mad to work now. I'm just going to go. Do you want me to drop you?"

"No, it's fine. Jason lives a couple of blocks away from here. I'll manage."

"Bye, guys!" July says as she watches us leave from her doorway.

It takes me around fifteen minutes to reach Jason's house and the only thing I can think about is Cayden. He infuriates me so much. I just want to take his stupid pretty face and punch it repeatedly and I don't ever want to stop.

I know that Jason's parents have crazy doctor hours, so they won't be at home. I also know that Jason's backdoor is always unlocked because he's considerate enough to make the burglar's job easier.

"OH MY GOD, JASON! CAYDEN PARKER IS A DICK!", I scream at the top of my voice as I enter the kitchen through the backdoor and leaning against the counter is Mr. Parker himself along with Jason, Belle and Creed.

"Don't you mean? OH MY GOD, JASON! CAYDEN PARKER'S DICK!" He retorts bulging his eyes out, gasping, fanning himself, and dramatically fake-fainting.

Jason, Creed and Belle burst out laughing because apparently, my friendship means nothing to them.

"You!" I say, narrowing my eyes at him and dragging him upstairs to Jason's room, away from my stupid friends.

"So, someone is eager." Cayden grins at me as soon as I shut the door to Jason's room.

"Who are you? You were someone else when I didn't know you! You were sweet and kind and mature and now you're this!" I look at him with disgust.

"Why would I be this-" He says mocking me "-with people who deserve kindness? I'm only like this with you because you didn't stand with me during my worst and you don't deserve me at my best." He fake sniffles at this and I have to admit, he's a pretty good actor.

"Excuse me! You're the one who started this by being an asshole. It's not my fault. You acted like some diva and refused to work on that project and now we have 2 days to submit it and you still haven't pitched anything. You're lucky we aren't dragging your sorry ass to Mr. Mills right now." I finish, completely out of breath. That was a long rant. He just looks at me. His blue eyes are dark and his expression is unreadable. He's frowning, deep in thought. He looks hurt. I can't help but feel a little guilty. Was I too harsh?

"You're right! I should have helped more. I just loved how pissed you were and I just wanted to irritate you further. Trust me, the last thing I want is for you to hate me. I'll make up for it."

Wait, what is he implying? And why do I care what he's implying? I don't like him anymore. He's annoying and irritating and he's also apologizing but who cares? I don't.

"Good." I say, my voice a little shaky.

"So I'm going to go." He comes really close to me, turns my head up so I look him right in the eye. We're standing so close that I can smell him and the boy smells damn fine.

"I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me." I don't even hear those words because I can't concentrate on anything but his eyes.

"Yeah." I say, lamely.

Cayden gives me a small smile  like he knows exactly what he's doing to me and leaves the room with me staring behind him like an idiot.

Hey, guys! I hope you're enjoying the story. :)
P.S:Isn't Belle gorgeous?