Pretend

by Charlene Antrobus

  "Ok, ok. Ahhhhhhh! He is coming! Ok play it cool, act natural," Crystal said as she tried to act as though she was deep in conversation.

  "We are!" We all shouted, giving her a dirty look.

  "Hey ladies," Cameron said as a huge smile filled his face.

  As I looked up at Cameron hovering over us with his eyes fixated on Crystal, it was impossible to deny how attractive he was. Standing at least six foot tall, with a muscular frame, hazel eyes and short cut hair and light brown skin, Cameron was what I can only describe as delicious. The only problem was that Crystal had a huge crush on him, which meant that we had to endure hours of her screaming and hyperventilating every time that he walked into a room.

  "Hi," we all sang in unison. Crystal of course dragged hers out and stuttered half way through. How anyone can manage to stutter whilst saying a two letter word was beyond me but somehow she had.

  "Sorry, she does speak English, most days," Jess said gazing up at Cameron's eyes. This of course earned her a nudge in the side from Crystal.

  "Ouch.”

  "I just wondered if I could borrow your friend for a second," he said as a flirtatious smile filled his face.

  "Be our guest," Jess replied before Crystal stood up in a daze and followed Cameron to a quiet corner in the canteen.

  We all laughed as we watched Crystal twiddling her hair between her fingers, batting her eyelids and giggling every two seconds. I had to admit that I liked this side of Crystal, it gave us all a day off from her usual bossy antics.

  "She is so funny," Erica said as we all let out a giggle as we continued to watch Crystal melt after every sentence that Cameron was saying.

  We couldn't hear the conversation but I'm very confident that we will know all about it in the next five minutes.

  "So," Jess said turning to face me.

  "How's the love triangle?" She continued.

  I felt my cheeks instantly turn red as I began to stutter.

  "Triangle?" I asked.

  "You know, you, Jake and Kyle," she said as I let out a sigh of relief. I had expected to hear Aiden's name and I'm pretty sure that I would have been passed out in the nurse’s room if I had.

  "Yeah, you're like Janeson High's own little Bella," Jinnie said as they all burst out laughing.

  "Yeah but the question is, who's skin sparkles, Jake's or Kyle's?" Jess added before they all turned their faces to look at me.

  "Seriously? You guys are comparing my life to Twilight? It's hardly the same is it," I said, just glad that they hadn't mentioned Aiden.

  "Oh, it totally is Bella, I mean April," Erica said as they all burst out laughing.

  "Ha ha how mature of you all," I said as I held back my laugh.

  "Yeah well if this was Twilight, I'd be that red head girl," Jess said whilst pouting her lips.

  "You do know that she's the villain, right? She’s the one that’s trying to kill Bella?" Jinnie asked in confusion.

  "Yeah, I know. I don't mean that I'd want to kill you April," Jess said looking at me.

  "Thank God for that," I replied, sarcastically.

  "Just that I'd want to be the hot one in the film and the red head's the hot one," she continued.

  "Yeah, she also gets killed in number three," Jinnie sneered.

  "Yeah, I haven't seen that one yet, thanks for the spoiler," Jess replied, sarcastically.

  "My pleasure," Jinnie said with a huge smirk on her face.

  "Whatever. Anyway, what are you going to do, you know about the whole Jake and Kyle thing?" Jess asked, seriously.

  "I'd choose Jake if it was me, he's hot with a capital H," Jinnie added.

  "Oh, you can spell," Erica sniggered.

  "Shut up!"

  "Well, I'm definitely over Kyle, I know that much," I quickly replied to prevent Jinnie and Erica from having one of their petty arguments.

  "And Jake?" Jess asked.

  "I'm not sure, I guess I'll just have to see," I said, more to myself than to them.

  "I'm back!" Crystal said with a big smile on her face as she slipped back into her seat at the table.

  This was one time where I was extremely thankful for Crystal's interruptions. It wasn't really Jake or Kyle that I wanted to talk about and the pressure of all of the questions was making me want to just tell them everything about Aiden. Stupid, I know.

  "So, what happened?" I asked in an attempt to take the attention off of me.

  "Well, he asked me out!" She squealed as the rest of us slowly joined her one by one.

  We got all kinds of funny looks from the other tables but we didn't care, when one of us got a date with a hot guy, it was something to scream about.

  "Ok, so when are you seeing him?" Jess asked in excitement as we all kept our eyes on Crystal.

  "Tomorrow!"

  Again we all screamed and got more funny looks. Oh well.

  "Where is he taking you?" Erica asked.

  "To see a movie but I'm not sure which one. He is so dreamy!" She said as she placed her hand on her forehead and pretended to faint from his 'hotness'.

  We all burst out laughing.

  Suddenly my attention was taken away when I spotted Kyle walking through the doors.

  "Hey guys, I'll be back in a sec," I said as I leapt from the table and headed towards Kyle.

  They were far too engrossed in their conversation about Cameron to take much notice of what I had just said and I was thankful, the less attention my life gets, the better.

  "Hey," I said as I approached Kyle.

  His nose looked completely fine, which I was glad of, since I felt so guilty about it. He also seemed kind of nervous which I knew was probably a result of last night's text.

  "Hey," he said as he shifted his eyes from the ground to me and back again.

  "I just wanted to know if there was any more news on Mimi?" I asked.

  "Yeah, she'll be out tomorrow," he replied.

  "That's great," I said as I smiled at him.

  "Yeah," he said as a faint smile, touched his lips.

  "So, you’re still ok with me coming to see her when she gets out?" I asked.

  "Yeah, she'll want that," he said in a sad voice.

  I felt bad but I had made up my mind and I was sticking to it.

  "Ok, well I'll give you a call tomorrow so that I can sort out about visiting her, if that's ok?" I asked.

  "Yeah cool," he replied a little happier for some reason.

  "Ok, great. Well, I'm going to go," I said awkwardly as I began to head back to where Crystal and the others were sat.

  "Ok, bye," he said in a voice that almost broke my heart.

  My life was such a mess.

  As I headed back over to the table, I knew that they were still talking about Cameron or another hot guy from the expressions on their faces.

  "I know that he's your brother but he is hot!" I heard Jess say as a look of disgust filled Crystal's face. Great!

  "Oh good, April will you please tell Crystal how freaking hot her brother is?" She asked as I sat back down, hoping that nobody would see my cheeks changing colour.

  "Who, Aiden?" I asked, dumbly.

  "Well, how many other brothers does she have? Of course Aiden," she answered impatiently.

  "Look, we are so not having this conversation. You finding my brother hot is just weird," she said to Jess.

  "It's not like I'm saying that I would date him, obviously that is like an ultimate friendship no no. Brothers are off limits but it doesn't hurt to do a little window shopping," Jess said as Jinnie and Erica nodded in agreement.

  Of course my stomach dropped. This was definitely the time for a subject change!

  "Eww," Crystal said as she shook her body in disgust.

  "You're with us on this aren't you, April?” She said, looking directly at me.

  Oh great! How can I answer this without looking guilty? I can either lie and say no or be honest and look guilty, my options are seriously limited.

  "You can't ask April, she practically gre
w up with me and Aiden like a sister so he's like a big bro to her," Crystal, quickly jumped in.

  "True," Jinnie said.

  I had hoped that my silence hadn't given anything away but I seriously felt like I was about to explode.

  "Guys, I just remembered that I left something in homeroom, I'll catch you up later, ok?" I said as I stood up.

  "Oh, ok," they all replied as they stared up at me.

  "Meet you in class," I added before almost power walking, to get out of the cafeteria.

  I hadn't left anything in homeroom but that conversation had my stomach doing back flips and it wouldn't take long for Crystal to have worked out that I was acting suspicious.

  As I quickly walked up the hall, I was completely caught off guard as someone grabbed my arm and dragged me into an empty classroom before I could even scream out the word help.

  "Ok, before you start shouting, just hear me out," he said as I stood with my arms folded and my face scrunched up.

  I stood in silence as I waited for him to start talking again.

  "Ok could you not do that whole angry thing, I told you, it's cute and it makes it very difficult to have a serious conversation with you," he said as a smirk filled his face.

  "Bye," I said as I turned around and headed towards the door.

  "Ok, ok. No jokes, sorry," he said as he quickly raced in front of me before I could leave.

  "Look, I know that you're mad at me-"

  "You're damn right," I interrupted.

  "No interruptions," he said as he raised his eyebrow and threw me a smile, which if I wasn't still mad with him, would have been seriously sexy.

  "I know that what I did last night was out of line-"

  "Mmmm!" I said sarcastically.

  "Really? You're going to ad lib through-out the entire speech?" He asked as he smiled at me.

  See this is why I can't stand Aiden Daniels because he is so damn sexy. The fact that I still notice his stupid sexiness in the middle of being mad makes me mad! The fact that he still smiles in that way that absolutely drives my stomach crazy, annoys me even more! The very fact that he feels it necessary to take mini steps closer to me each time that he finishes a sentence, driving me completely wild is why he makes my blood boil!

  "Continue," I said, looking him dead in the eyes.

  "Ok, I was a jerk, again. I shouldn't have hit Kyle despite how much he deserved it. I know that I should have at least text you last night to apologise but what can I say, I'm a guy and sometimes I just do stupid things," he said as he continued to stare at me.

  He was right he was a jerk last night. Hitting Kyle was stupid and so was he.

  "So, that's the bit where you can talk now," he said after I had been stood in silence for a few seconds.

  "Look, Aiden I'm grateful for your apology and everything but I'm mad-"

  "Ok, so what can I do to make it up to you?" He asked as he smiled at me.

  "Nothing, look this was a bad idea in the beginning. I mean, you're Crystal's brother and I'm her best friend, do you know how mad she would be if she found out about everything that has happened," I whispered.

  "Nothing’s happened," he said with a look of confusion on his face.

  "Yeah and maybe that's how it should stay," I said in a direct tone.

  "Is that what you want?" He asked taking a closer step to me.

  There go the stupid butterflies again!

  Why was he taking more steps towards me?

  Oh! There goes the tingle through the spin.

  Ok April, you need to get control of yourself.

  "Yes," I finally managed to whisper after my heart had increased, twice in speed.

  "You're lying," he said as he smiled at me.

  Damn that smile!

  "No, I'm not," I stuttered.

  "You are," he said confidently.

  "It's ok, do it your way," he said as he walked past me and leaned against a table and let out a chuckle.

  "What's that suppose to mean?" I asked, angrily.

  "It means that you keep running from the inevitable and at some point you're going to have to stop running," he said as that stupid smirk remained on his face.

  I didn't have an answer so I folded my arms and grunted. Childish, I know.

  "So?" He asked.

  "You really think that I want you?" I asked, sarcastically.

  "Yup," he said as his smile increased.

  "You are so full of it, aren't you?"

  "No, I just don't run away from the truth like you do," he replied.

  "The truth?"

  "Yes the truth. See, I can admit that I want you April, I'm just waiting for you to stop fighting it," he said in a more serious tone.

  I was pretty sure that my cheeks were at least blood red by now. He had never been so direct and it was completely taking me by surprise.

  "Yeah, well I'm going on a date with Jake tonight. Why would I do that if I wanted you?" I said as I snorted at him.

  Idiot! That told him.

  "You tell me?" He said as he stood up and took a step closer to me.

  "Well it's because he's sweet-"

  "And?"

  "He's not arrogant-"

  "And?"

  "He doesn't get all angry at the most stupid things and punch guys in their nose-"

  "Anything else?"

  "Yeah, he's a nice guy!"

  So pathetic April! Those answers were lame, even I knew that.

  Stepping right up to me so that I could feel his hot breath against my cheek, he whispered in my ear.

  "Does he make your heart beat this fast?" He said as he pressed his body against mine.

  He was right, my heart was moving at the speed of a train and it was not slowing down. I don't know why he had this effect on me but I just couldn't stop it.

  As I went to argue my point some more he suddenly silenced me as his lips crashed into mine. His hand had somehow found its way around my waist and had us literally pressed up against each other.

  I pushed him back, angrily and then without a seconds thought I pulled him back towards me and kissed him again.

  What the hell was I doing?

  This is Aiden, Crystal's brother!

  This shouldn't be happening.

  Then why wasn't I pulling away?

  Why didn't I push him off and say no?

  Why did it feel so damn good and so right?

  Why was my stomach doing back flips all over the place?

  He grabbed my thighs with his hands and lifted me onto the table that he had been previously sat on. My legs were wrapped around his waist and my heart beat was racing faster than ever. As my hand slipped into his dark brown hair, I was suddenly brought back to reality as the sound of the bell rang through-out the school.

  As I was forced to take in my situation, I pushed him back, jumped from the table and ran towards the door.

  "Hey, wait up," he said as he grabbed hold of my wrist.

  "No, I can’t. I can't do this Aiden, it's wrong," I said as a flood of panic took over me.

  I couldn't betray Crystal like this, it was wrong. She would hate me forever and I mean forever.

  "Why?" He asked in a sad voice.

  "Crystal," I replied quietly.

  "Look, can we just pretend that this never happened," I pleaded.

  "I can't. How am I supposed to do that?" He asked.

  "I don't know, just avoid me, keep your distance. I don't care but she's my best friend and I can't do this to her," I whispered.

  "But-"

  "No Aiden, there's nothing left to say. She's my best friend and I pick her. I'm going on my date with Jake tonight and you carry on with Cayce or whoever but this never happened," I said as I slipped through the door and escaped down the hall towards my next lesson before he could say anything else.

  What have I done?

  * * *

  Needless to say that my day went very slow. My mind was completely distracted by mine and Aiden's little episode earlier. I have no idea wha
t came over me but I couldn't let that happen again, I just couldn't. Granted, it felt great, no I'm lying, it felt amazing! No one had ever kissed me like Aiden had. I literally felt like I was somebody else. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy but I'm not lying I felt like a character from a movie. It was like imagining the perfect kiss from a movie and then multiplying that by ten. That's why I have to avoid him at all costs. I couldn't trust myself around him, not after what happened, I just couldn't. If Crystal ever found out, I know that she would hate me forever and I didn't want that. If that meant giving up the greatest kiss of my life then so be it. Friendship was about sacrifice and that's what I was doing.

  Luckily, I had managed to avoid seeing Aiden for the rest of the day. Bob had text me to say that he and Mom were picking me up, so that meant that I didn't have to catch a ride with Aiden and Crystal which would have been very awkward.

  My mom and Bob had stopped picking me up from school years ago and it was pretty strange that they were doing so today.

  Was something wrong?

  "Hey," I said as I stepped inside of the car.

  "Hey honey," my mom said as she turned around and threw me a smile.

  "Hey, kiddo," Bob said as he started up the engine.

  "How was your day?"

  "Yeah, it was ok thanks," I said as I tried to hide the tension in my voice.

  "So, how come you guys have picked me up?" I asked in a confused tone.

  "There's something that we have to tell you sweetie," my mom said in a gentle voice.

  "Ok," I replied in a worried tone.

  "Your aunt May has taken ill and it may be her last days," she said in a sad tone.

  Aunt May is Grandma's sister, she lives in England. I had only met her twice in my entire life, when she had come to stay with Grandma. She was a nice lady but I didn't really know her as well as my mom did but my grandma did talk about her all the time.

  "Grandma's flying out there as you've probably guessed and as you know she will not go anywhere without your gramps.”

  I shook my head, showing that I agreed.

  "So, me and Bob have agreed to fly over as well so that we can help her out with your gramps whilst she's over there as she will be tending to Aunt May as well," my mom continued.

  "When are you going?" I asked.

  "Tonight.”

  "What? That's a bit soon isn't it?"

  "Yes, well darling, it was sprung on us all today. We've had to spend the whole day trying to get time off work, booking flights, making calls. We were just as shocked as you are, believe me," she continued.