Honestly, why is this girl being so damn difficult?

I obviously love a challenge and challenge is hard for me to come by these days. But this? This is not what I was expecting. When Delanie didn't show up for any classes we have together I was sort of worried about her. Then I realized... what? Your worried? About a girl? This is not like me at all.

By the time gym rolled around, and I didn't see her playing baseball with the girls' class I knew I had to ask somebody where she went. Just because I was curious, not worried. I had to keep reassuring myself that I really was just curious, Jayden Breeze doesn't care about any girl. So why did I practically race to find Amanda or Cali after school? Curiosity, I swear that's it.

"Cali! Good you're still..."

"Listen up Breeze, I might be dating your cousin but that doesn't mean I have to like you." Whoa, I had never heard this girl sound so angry. She always has a smile on her face. "You made Delanie sick, as in physically sick today, whatever game you're trying to play with her just stop. Not every girl wants to hook up with you! My friend hasn't had a crush on a guy ever since..." she cut herself off and took a deep breath "well that's not really your business... but she likes Josh and if you do anything to fuck that up I will chop off your balls and serve them to you on a silver platter. Got it?"

All I could do was nod and soak in all the information she had just told me. Delanie really liked Josh? Not every girl wants to hook up with me? What exactly was Cali about to say but decided against it? I had no idea, but I would find out.

***

"You said what!" I dropped my phone as I laughed uncontrollably about what Cali had just told me.

Immediately after getting sick at school I called Lucinda to pick me up. Not once in my entire life do I remember being so angry that I have vomited. My whole body was shaking as adrenaline pumped through my veins at such a rapid rate; I just couldn't handle it. You know what else I can't handle? Jayden stupid, jerk-face Breeze!

Honest to God if he approaches me at school I will rip him a new one. How can this guy not see that I really am not into him and that I never will be? You have to bepretty full of yourself to accuse somebody of pretending to like somebody just to make you jealous. If there is one thing I know about Jayden, it's that he thinks he could be king of the world if he wanted to.

"Cali," I scooped my phone off of the floor and put it back to my ear. "are you still there? I'm sorry I just cannot believe what you said to him! I would have loved to see his face!"

"I wish you could have seen it Delanie! He looked like a deer caught in headlights, I wouldn't be surprised if he was still standing by our lockers trying to figure out if I really meant it when I said that not every girl wants to hook up with him."

Have I ever mentioned I have the best friends ever? We are always there for each other no matter what the situation is, in this case Cali was there to defend me and threaten to chop off Jayden's balls. If that's not the act of a best friend then I don't know what would be.

After talking to Cali for a little while I got a text message from Josh, me being the love crazy girl that I apparently have become, hung up with Cali to chat with him. I had texted him almost right after I got sick to tell him that I wouldn't be in Home Ec, I had left out why I was sick, and he seemed genuinely concerned for my well being. That's exactly the kind of guy I want in my life, somebody genuine to match my genuine best friends. He had even offered to skip school to keep me company, but I didn't want us both to miss a full day of school. Even though the offer was extremely tempting, I had to turn it down. Although now that school was over, I had no problem with him coming to see me.

My phone vibrated signaling I had received a text message. I read it immediately and my stomach exploded with fluttering butterflies.

'basketball practice after school but afterwards, I want to play doctor =p'

I had to be just as flirtatious with him, so I responded by saying,

'how can I say no to that?'

I loved how cute Josh was and the fact that he was being flirtatious with me only made me like him even more. It had been too long since I had been flirted with, by a guy I like anyway, and it felt good. Sure, I might be rusty at flirting back but it shouldn't take long for me to get back on my game. Even though I wasn't feeling sick anymore, I was definitely looking forward to a visit from Doctor Josh.

Around five o'clock, Josh finally texted me to say practice was over and he just had to shower before coming over. Thank god, I had been sitting around staring at the clock and then at the phone, just waiting for him. It was boring and frustrating. I am ashamed to say I resorted to creeping on Facebook. When I logged on, I had two friend requests one from Josh Striker and the other from Jayden Breeze. I declined one of them and accepted the other; I bet you can guess who I accepted and who I declined.

Only five minutes after hearing from Josh, my doorbell rang, and I bolted for it. I was already in my pajamas but at least they were cute ones, hot pink short shorts and a plain white tank top. Before opening the door, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and tried to flatten some of my fly away hairs. As I placed my hand on the doorknob, I heard my brother come up from the entertainment room and he rushed over to me before I could open the door.

"You don't want to do that." James blurted, trying to push me back into the living room.

"Uh, yeah I do freak, it's probably Josh." I tried to reach the door, but my brother was too strong for me to get past. "What's wrong with you, I mean besides the usual abnormalities?" Before he could answer, I ducked down and crawled right through his legs and ran to the door.

"Sorry Josh, I didn't mean to..." my jaw dropped as I saw who was standing in my doorway. I was lost for words. Why the hell was he at my house? He had the nerve to come to my house after making me sick with rage that very same day?

"By the look on your face I can tell you weren't expecting me." Jayden said in a bored tone before pushing past me and kicking off his shoes. "I thought you said she wasn't here." I looked at Jayden with a confused and angry expression on my face but he wasn't referring to me, but my brother.

"She's been sick all day I thought she would be sleeping. Did you bring it?"

"Of course I did." Jayden said, pulling out a video game from a plastic bag. So that's why he was at my house? To play a stupid video game with my stupid little brother? Nice try Jayden, but I can see right through you. Just as I was debating whether to choke out my brother or Jayden the doorbell rang again and without thinking about who it could be I wrenched it open with an angry look on my face.

"What?" I asked rudely and then instantly slammed my hand over my mouth when I realized I was speaking to Josh. "I'm so sorry!" I said with my hand still over my mouth. When the hurt expression didn't leave his face, I pulled him into a hug and held onto him tight. His hair was still wet from his shower and the cool moisture felt nice on my hot, flustered face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking into my eyes for an answer. His words sounded so kind and it made my heart melt.

"Unexpected and unwanted guest." I shrugged giving him a smile and led him into the house. Unfortunately for me, Jayden was still in my house. If there was a way to make a whole human disappear from your life, besides killing them, I would love to know. The last thing I wanted was for Jayden to be friends with my brother. It's bad enough that his cousin is dating my best friend. I don't mean that I don't like Jason; I love Jason, especially for Cali but it's just very unfortunate that he is related to such a pig.

"Are you hungry at all?" I offered Josh politely, considering he just had basketball practice I assumed he would be.

"I could eat." He replies with a smile that causes my breath to catch in my throat. This guy really gets to me and I love it.

As I boiled water for some good old Kraft Dinner, James and Jayden came wandering into the kitchen interrupting the conversation I was having with Josh. I rolled my eyes, and he gave me a knowing look that told me he understood who the unwanted house guest was. From the get go I knew that Josh wasn't a fan of Jayden, but what surprised me most was the looks of disgust that Jayden was flashing Josh.

"Make two." James said as he tossed another box of Kraft Dinner at me, which I dropped. Apparently my brother had never heard of making eye contact before throwing something at somebody.

"James, do not push my buttons, not tonight." I gave him a threatening look and tossed the box back at him. There was no way in hell I would cook for Jayden. Besides the water was just about at a rolling boil, if I added more water for the second box it would have taken forever to get to that point again.

Josh and I chatted to ourselves as the other two boys make themselves some food, with no help from me. He told me about basketball practice and how Home Ec had been a complete drag without me. While we talked, I ignored my brother and his guest to the best of my ability. I was happy to have Josh there with me and I wanted nothing to ruin it. Finally, after what felt like hours, James and Jayden went to play their stupid game. The entire time they had been in the kitchen with us Jayden was glaring at Josh and he also seemed to procrastinate going downstairs.

"Words cannot explain how much I dislike him." I mumbled between a bite of cheesy goodness.

"I can see it on your face. Besides the obvious reasons, why don't you like him?"

It was the first chance I got to vent about all my hatred towards Jayden to another male. The only people I had ever discussed these things with was Cali and Amanda. So naturally once I got going about all the things I hated about him I just kept going and going. I told him about his obnoxious behavior at Jason's first party of the year and about his persistent, annoying behavior towards me. I mentioned the heart-shaped note on my locker, the cake and when I got to the alcohol that he left in my locker Josh's jaw dropped to the ground.

"He left alcohol in your gym locker? Who does that?"

"Apparently he thought it was the best way to my heart, it's well known that I like to drink like every weekend."

"Do you still have any?" he asked as he finished the last of his Kraft Dinner. I laughed because I was hoping he would ask me this question. Instead of answering him, I showed him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the garage where the alcohol was stashed. There hadn't even been a chance to drink any of it, so all five crates were still full.

"All of that was in your locker! How did you get it out of the school without getting expelled?" he picked up one of the Smirnoff bottles and examined it as I spoke.

I told him about how Amanda and I had hauled it all out of the gym as fast as we could. Then I explained the second card that he had left for me telling me to meet him at Selesity Park. He didn't seem pleased when I told him that Jayden had a whole picnic set up for us. But when I told him I only stayed for the food and left as soon as I realized who I was really with, he couldn't help but laugh.

"So do you want to drink some of this?" He held up the bottle smirking deviously. Man, he looked hot when he smirked like that. What am I saying he looked hot no matter what!

"I don't know about that one... it's a Monday and in case you haven't noticed I'm almost out of alcohol." I gestured to the five crates full of Vodka bottles and we both laughed.

The rest of our night went perfectly. Even though I had been feeling like such shit before I was putting the alcohol down like it was water. I felt like a bit of an alcoholic because what started out as 'lets have a few mixers' turned into 'lets take a shot' and before I knew it I was kind of drunk. Soon I was blasting my iPod from the speakers in the living room and dancing with Josh, the vodka bottle gripped tightly in my right hand.

I turned around so that my back was flat against Josh's chest, he immediately gripped my waist and pulled me tight against his body. He danced like that for a long time; we kept talking and laughing the entire time. This was exactly what I wanted. Somebody I could have fun and party with, while still being able to be sober and have fun too. I knew that I was without a doubt falling hard for Josh Striker.

Over the next week and a half, I had the time of my life with Josh. The more time I spent with him, the more I realized how perfect he was and how much I liked him. He was respectful and still a complete riot at the same time. Most guys in High School don't know the time and place to act immature and goofy, luckily Josh seemed to have a decent sense about those types of things. This was a relief to me. Nothing is more annoying than a guy who acts obnoxiously at the wrong times. I've had more experience with that than with players, those types of guys are a very dominate breed.

Even though we were having so much fun together, Josh had yet to ask me to be his girlfriend. Sure we kissed and held hands now and then but it wasn't official or anything. That I felt so strongly about him and that he wasn't asking me was becoming a little worrying for me. I didn't even want to think about how stupid I would feel if he ended up not liking me enough to make me his girlfriend. But all the signs were there.

Most days he texted me first or asked me if I wanted to do something with him. He was also going out of his way to make my friends like him, not that it was that hard. Cali and Amanda both loved Josh because they saw how happy I was with him. No matter, he made them feel like he wasn't trying to steal me away from them. Can I just say that not one guy that I have ever dated gave a shit about what my friends thought. All I can think is 'Wow I really scooped up a good one this time.' Except the problem was I hadn't even really 'scooped him up' yet. We weren't boyfriend and girlfriend we were just friends that hung out a lot and kissed sometimes. I hoped that all of that would change soon because I was really didn't want to be spending my last year of high school entirely single.