They Say Love Hides Behind Every Corner. I Must Be Walking in Circles

Chapter 33

“Shay?” a female voice asked from behind me, a voice that I had come to know and love, since it had been my voice for so long and also because I was now friends with the true owner of said voice. All in all, this voice was very easy to recognize. “Oh, my God, it is you!”

I whirled around, ignoring the confused glances the people surrounding me (basically, my friends, my sister and Forrest and his annoying friends) were giving each other, and, most of all, me. “Holy crap, S!”

Serena’s eyes went from me to the group, overall, and then to Forrest. Her eyes widened significantly, and she opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to decide against it, for she closed it nearly immediately after.

I gave her a quit-being-so-freaking-obvious-you-stupid-turd look, because with how she was behaving, my little group would begin to become suspicious—well, more suspicious than they already were by Serena's unexpected appearance, considering I never hung out with Serena before the whole switch thing—and that would only cause problems for me.

Luckily for me, the look I gave her seemed to do its job of getting the message across, because she nodded meaningfully, and—thank the Lord—secretively.

I nearly let out a sigh of relief right then and there, but luckily, I managed to cover it up as a cough.

Then, Serena seemed to resolve on something, since she nodded again, this time in a decisive manner, and grabbed me by the arm. “I have something totally important to talk about with you, and I think you've got something, too.”

She dragged me over to the nearest restaurant, a pizza joint, and all I could do was send an apologetic shrug towards my friends.

They looked mostly confused, but nothing in their expressions told me that I would have some heavy-duty explaining to do later, which was always a plus. When you were me, you had a lot of those explaining moments, unfortunately.

I caught the glare Maddie sent to me at the last minute, but then I also caught the grin she replaced the glare with when she most likely realized that she could keep hanging out with Paul. Maybe, while I was gone, she would actually learn his name and “tell” me so I wouldn’t feel so weird, being the only one who knew his name.

Serena and I ordered our food and drinks silently. Well, we were silent to each other. Serena was quietly fighting with this girl that worked there, who she apparently had had some issues with in the past, and I was arguing, rather loudly, I will admit, with this stupid oaf who kept getting my order wrong.

God. Employees these days were so unreliable and stupid.

When we finally received our orders, the right way, we sat down calmly.

And then, all hell broke loose.

“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Serena said in a loud voice. “Was it broken? What happened? I thought you weren’t supposed to be talking to Forrest at all? I’m so f-ing confused.”

“Wait, how do you even know about all of this? I thought I was the only one who kept her memory. I wasn't really paying attention when the details were told to me.” I was the confused one, now, too. I hated being confused. I wasn't sure why, but I did.

“This ugly bald asshole showed up at my house and scared the f-ing crap outta me, if that’s what you’re talking about,” Serena replied with a scowl. “He wouldn’t stop talking, I swear. And then he was, like, ‘Shay has made the ultimate sacrifice, for your sake, Miss Serena Magnus’ and I was, like, ‘Dude, just call me Serena, you sound like a turd’. And then when I found out that this sacrifice he was talking about was a love sacrifice, I freaked out.”

“I guess you could call it a ‘love sacrifice’,” I allowed slowly, processing everything Serena had said through my mind. I then took a huge bite out of my slice of pizza, in hopes that it would help the thinking process move along a little faster, since it was currently moving at a snail-like pace.

“I wanted to cry!” she exclaimed loudly, causing many people around us to stare. Whoops. Guess Serena's hanging out with Maddie, Jasmine and I had tweaked her just a bit. “You and Forrest are so cute together! It's a crime for that ass to make you break up!”

“I did cry,” I replied wryly.

She gave me sympathetic look. “Well, how’d you talk to Forrest, then? And so…Shay-ish-ly?”

I rolled my eyes at her choice of words.

“Wait!” She held a hand up dramatically. “Am I gonna die?”

“What? No!” What did this girl have today?

“Is the switch gonna be undone ’cause you talked to him?” she asked right after I had answered. “’Cause if it is, I’m gonna kick some bald ass. That would be totally retarded if it was un-switched just ’cause fate wants you and Forrest to be together!”

“Maybe fate does want us to be together,” I mused, mostly to myself. “I mean, it’d explain why I couldn’t stop myself from ringing Forrest's doorbell on Halloween.”

“Ringing the doorbell?” she asked, looking very confused.

Oh, right. I had forgotten I had never told Serena the story. And so I had to explain both of my first meetings with Forrest.

As you could probably imagine, she was clutching the table tightly and laughing her blonde ass off. “Hah! Twice? Hah!” she choked out, gasping for breath as she tried to stop her laughter. “No wonder he fell for you!”

“Do you think he’ll fall for me again?” I could’ve slapped myself just because of the hope in my voice. It was so obvious, too.

Serena must have caught it, too, because she grinned at me and said, “Oh, yeah. How many times seeing you did it take for him last time?”

I paused for a moment to think. “Umm… about five or six, probably…”

“See? Just five or six doses of Shayliciousness and he was completely and totally in lurve with you!”

I couldn’t help but grin at the thought. I took a big gulp out of my soda and swallowed loudly, earning a weird look from Serena.

“Wait.” She held up a hand again. “Did you steal something from him yesterday, and today?”

Thinking back, I realized I did steal things from him without even thinking about it. I just... did it. “Yeah, I did, actually… I didn’t even realize I was doing it again!”

Serena grinned and asked, “What’d you steal this time?”

“Yesterday, I took his comforter and sheets, remember?” I was referring to the story, of course, since I was pretty sure I had mentioned stealing his blankets and stuff while I recounted the story.

She nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”

“And today, well… I was hungry, okay? And he was practically shoving that Snickers bar in my face! I love Snickers! It was surprising I didn’t take it immediately, actually, so… yeah!”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Well, you know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think God is a very cool guy,” she stated with a smile. “And I actually paid attention in Religion class back when I went to a Catholic middle school, so if I remember correctly, God is this totally awesome person who would never be cruel to us, ’cause he loves us. This means he wouldn’t take this away from you, or us, actually, once he gave it to us, and besides, everything that happens, he Okays, so I think he wants you and Forrest to get together. How else do you explain your inability to stop yourself from being around him?”

“Maybe I’m just crazy?”

“Wrong!” She pointed a finger at me. “So that’s why I think you should just wing it and be yourself again around him, and be around him without worrying, so you can actually be happy!”

“You think I should just give into it?” I repeated. “Just give into my urge to make him fall for me again?”

Serena nodded, grinning like a little kid with candy.

“Okay,” I began, and when she opened her mouth to speak, I held up a hand. “Wait. I wasn’t finished. Now, okay, I’ll do it, but…”

“Oh, God, not a ‘but’,” Serena said as she shook her head and groaned.

“There’s gotta be a ‘but’,” I said, shaking my head right back. “I’ll do it, yeah, but you’ve gotta do the right thing, too.”

“Whadaya mean?”

“I mean that since I’m following my heart, you’re gonna have to, too,” I explained, clicking my tongue. “You know you love Finn. I know you love Finn. Finn knows you love Finn. Yet you won’t do anything about it! I know firsthand how crazy that guy is about you, S! He would die for you, I bet.”

“He probably would,” Serena admitted quietly.

“Then why won’t you do anything about it? You don’t love that Jared guy. That’s his name, right?” I asked.

She nodded miserably.

“And he’s an ass, as far as I can tell. Finn’s, like, the nicest guy ever.” I gave her a meaningful look. “And you’re crazy about him. What’s stopping you?”

“I— I don’t know,” she realized with a frown. “I mean, at first, I was scared of what people might think or say. But now… after all this… after meeting you… well… I don’t care anymore. I don’t really have a reason anymore.”

“Then you know what to do.”

“And so do you,” she quickly added, pointing her finger at me. “Remember, this was a deal!”

“I know.” I rolled my eyes, finishing the last of my soda.

This was one deal I didn’t particularly mind keeping.

***

“Hey, Maddie,” I whispered loudly. Maddie had invited Forrest, Paul and Lane (the guy that kept flirting with Jasmine) over to Jasmine’s house. We were just sitting there, watching The Hangover. It was actually sort of fun, partly because I got to be around Forrest and partly because it was just a really funny movie. “If you stand close enough to him,” I said, pointing at Forrest, “you can hear the ocean.”

Maddie started giggling like a crazy school girl, and everyone who heard me started laughing, as well.

So that was basically everyone, since I whispered it loudly on purpose.

“I’m hurt,” Forrest told me, holding a hand to his heart and giving me a (fake) wounded look.

“I don’t know how I’m going to live with myself,” I replied sarcastically.

“You should probably say sorry, then,” he suggested innocently.

“And you should probably shut your mouth before I shut it for you,” I retorted.

He grinned at me, and shook his head.

“Shut up! I’m watching the movie!” Ceci growled.

“You shouldn’t even be watching this movie!” I quipped, pointing an accusing finger at my little sister. “You’re only thirteen, and this movie is rated R.”

“Oh, bite me.”

Wow, was I setting a bad example. She never would have said things like that if she hadn't hung out with me for all of her life.

“Well, how rude!” I exclaimed as I put a hand to my heart as Forrest had done not one minute ago.

“I learned from the best!” Ceci told me with a grin.

“Who?” I demanded, and I only got it when Ceci rolled her eyes at me very noticeably. “Oh! Me!”

“Good God,” she muttered to herself, but she didn’t say anything after I threw a pillow at her.

Forrest snickered at our sibling fight, so I chucked a pillow at him, too.

What? I am a very violent person.

***

I was having a very nice dream that involved Forrest in a swimsuit when I woke up with a start. I wasn’t sure why at that moment, but I sensed something. What I sensed, I wasn't sure.

Oh, God. What if it was a ghost, like in Paranormal Activity?

I lied to Forrest on Halloween, by the way. Paranormal Activity actually scared the crap out of me. Just ask Maddie or Jasmine.

I didn’t want to die! I didn’t want to kill my sister or anything, either, because I was possessed by an evil devil thing! That movie was supposed to be based on real-life events, right? What if I was next? The victims were picked randomly, after all.

Oh, my God!

And then suddenly, the evil bald man materialized besides my bed—yes, my bed! I had finally returned to my bed! I was so happy— looking emotionless.

Oh, crap.

This couldn’t be good.

***

3 Quotes of the Day:

1:"I love dis soo... Much ! ;D by the way I love ur new pic. I sed it to this guy that was gettin on my nerves and he was like " I don't hav a boyfriend I'm not gay.." and I was like " u don't have 2 keep secrets from me, and there's nothing wrong with bein gay by the way that guy was totaly checking u out, go over ther I mean the way u have been starring at him, it's obious u like him!!!" ahaha... Lol..!! I REALLY DONT LIKE THAT BUNNY-GUY!!! I'm gettin a mini hitler baby to come and natizify him in da night, fromRussia!!!! If u got the choice be honest but would u choseheaven or hell?! Cuz I wld pick hell ;D R u anything like shay???I'm obsessed with alot of stuff other than choca.. Like lemons ( yes, I eat them dead nice..) facebook, edittin pics ( picnik) writin songs, hating RE and georaphy, makin random comments, scarin the whizz ( I sound like shay now ) out of my friends, I wish I could be more random!!! :D sorry it's like 3AM on a school night and I gotta go, so cya..!!! :) " -FangsAnime01

[Lmao, that was a funny story! :)]

2:"You .. You evil .. You evil .. BANANA! You freakin' evil banana! How could you make it end there?! How could you not make Shay kill that stupid rotten banana of a faggot?! How could you not make Forrest make out with Shay right then and there?! I officialy hate you now. I SO LOVE YOU FOR UPLOADING! I was, like, OMG, IT'S UPLOADED! IT'S 12:30 IN THE AFTERNOON, I JUST WOKE UP, AND i'M SO HUNGRY BUT I'M READING THIS FIRST! My mom made me take a shower, and I ended up eating, then my sister wanted to use this lagging piece of poo. so now it's 2:30 .. Sucks. And I'm glad you liked my Oreo Bombs. 8) And I just have to say this .. Shay is kinda stupid. I'M kinda stupid .. So .. STUPID = Smart Talented Unique Person In Demand. Bugagagagagaga. Muakakakaka. GAH GAH GAH GAH GAH. Oh, fine fine .. You're stupid too. And by the way .. Stop being so stupid .. It’s my turn. You know .. You should so give Forrest to me. Since Shay isn't getting him any sooner. Lend him to me .. LOL, reminds me of when my friend, Janice, and I made a deal that when we're in Form 5 and there's prom and if we don't have any boyfriends .. We're renting some. Rent dates for Prom .. Can't wait for 4 years later. 8D My favorite line from this chapter .. "You're the girl that broke into my house and stole my blankets and stuff, Shay!" How can someone say that so normally? I can relate. 8D You know .. Those times when you feel like screaming, and you do. Buh-bye, stupid writer who created stupid characters which made me stupid. P/S: I plan on inventing chocolate laser guns that kills ants soon. 8) I'll give you one if you upload tomorrow. Well, a virtual one that doesn't work." -vampiresuicide

[Oh, my God, that should be my next screen name if I ever make an account on something! 'The Evil Banana'. It shall officially be my title! And you know it's official when I use fancy words like 'shall'. :) By the way, thanks for the cover! It was awesome-sauce. I love getting stuff like that.]

3:"Okay, I figured it out.. The bald man only said that Shay could not break into Forrest's house because, on his journey to some where he stopped at Forrest's house and needed a drink of milk! BUT when he got there, there was NONE! So when he found out who took it, he cursed them and a few other random people to make it look like he didn't just want to come after Shay.. SO; since she didn't take his milk that time. Bald man is gonna let her go!!! MUAHAHAHA I am a smart cookie!! >:D *Drinks soda* Any who... Oh yeah your sequel! haha I'm glad you liked my opinion. I mean I have read sequels before. But it's when people add children that bug me. Other any who.. YAY! Gay guy is gone!!! He was one bad character! And uhhh.. Oh yeah one more thing... BYE LOVER ~X~"-Lacey2GalaxyB

[Yeah, not so sure about that, but... well, it made me laugh. :)]