Pretend (19 page)

             
"No, you're not," I said as I slipped my index finger up to his lips and gently pushed his face away from mine.

             
He let out a slight laugh, which I have to admit was so sexy.

             
I gently
pulled myself
 
out of his grasp and turned towards the door and began to walk away.

             
"Bye, Aiden," I said as a smile filled my lips.

             
"Bye, April," he said. I knew from the sound of his voice that he was still smirking.

             
It
felt so good to be in control.

             
Just as I walked out of the door, I was greeted by the all too familiar sound of two voices, arguing.

             
"No, I
 
said it first! You copied me on purpose!"

             
"Why would I copy you? I keep telling you that I'm the smart one, copying you would mean that I'm trying to lower my IQ!" Erica shouted back at Jinnie.

             
"Oh
, because
you're so perfect aren't you!" Jinnie screamed.

             
"Compared to you?
Yeah!"

             
"Whatever
, P
rince Eric!"
Jinnie spat back as a smirk appeared on her face.
She had practically just turned her sister into a dangerous bomb and she knew it.

             
About a year ago, Erica liked a guy called Jayden. He was the school moron to put it nicely and when
 
he found out that
 
she liked him, he told everyone that he thought that
 
she was ugly and nick named her prince Eric. She
 
isn't ugly of course but some guys are just plain spiteful. People have only just started to forget about the nick name, until now that is.

             
"You spiteful little-"

             
"
Woahh
, ok guys lets all just calm down," I said as I stepped, in between them.
 

             
"Calm down! D
id you just hear what she
said!
" Erica screamed as she gave Jinnie a death glare.

             
"Yes I did," I said as I looked over at Jinnie who still had a smirk plastered on her face.

             
"And it was a very spiteful thing to say," I said as I raised my eyebrow
s
at her.

             
"Yeah
,
well it's not as if she's any nicer to me," Jinnie defended herself.

             
"Look, you're sisters and sisters shouldn't argue like this," I said.

             
"Yeah well as far as I'm concerned, she's not my sister, she's dead to me!" Erica shouted.

             
"Yeah, same to you
!
""
Jinnie spat back.

             
"You guys are so ridiculous," I said as the anger started to bubble up inside of me. I could see the shocked expression on their faces but I didn't care.

             
"Excuse me," they both said as they gave me the exact same angry look.
As I looked into their big brown eyes, I could see how angry they both were. As I watched the lines form in their smooth, brown skin as they scrunched up their faces and stared at me, I took a deep breath and continued.

             
"You heard! I have spent all night trying to comfort Kyle because his sister is lying unconscious in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and you two are wishing each other dead! You make me sick," I said as I stormed off.

             
I heard the patter of feet behind me and before I knew it they had both taken my arms into their hands.

             
"Please, wait, we're so sorry," Erica said in a low voice
as the guilt became evident on her face
.

             
"Yeah, we didn't mean it. We were just being stupid," Jinnie said.

             
"I know. I'm sorry.
I'm just really worried about Mimi. I didn't mean to take that out on you guys," I said as they both threw their arms around me. I could feel the tears welli
ng up in my eyes as the thought of Mi
mi came flooding back.

             
"Come on, let's get to class before we're
even
later than we already are," Erica said as
 
she tried to talk over the sound of the bell.
 

             
I s
miled at them both as they linked their arms
through mine and lead the way.

* * *

             
As the bell rang, signifying the end of the day, I let out a sigh of
relief. Today had been
one of the longest days of my entire life.
             
Concentrating on all of my lessons was one of the hardest
tasks, especially
 
when I had Mimi, Aiden and Crystal on my mind all day.

             
As I walked out of Mr Baker's History lesson, I heard my name being called.

             
"April," Crystal said as she ran in my direction.

             
I continued to walk as I
ignore
d her calling me.

             
"April, please talk to me. I know that you're
still mad but just hear me out.”

             
Where have I heard that before? It must be in their blood.

             
Without sayi
ng a word, I turned to face her
with my arms folded across my chest.

             
"Thank you. Look, I know that I messed up this morning and that I shouldn't have just j
umped to conclusions but I
didn't want Kyle to manipulate you again," she said as a look of sadness came over her.

             
"Ok," I replied.

             
"I know that you probably hate me and I know that I
've got a big mouth. I only did
what I did because I don't want to see you get hurt
again
. April, you're my best friend and it may sound silly but I just want to protect you sometimes because I know how nice you can be and sometimes being nice gets your heart broken," she said as her eyes began to well up with tears.

             
"Yes
,
you have got a big mouth but I don't hate you and I'm glad that you tried to protect me but sometimes you have to learn to back off a little. I'm not a little kid Crystal and I can make my own decisions and as my friend you should trust me instead of jumping to the first cra
zy idea that pops into your head," I said
in a calm tone.

             
"I know but I just don't want to lose my best friend," she said as the tears began to roll down her cheek
s
.

             
"You won't. Come here
,
you do
ugh
nut," I said as I threw my arms around her and let her squeeze me half to death.

             
"You forgive me?" She said as she gently pulled away from me.

             
"Of course I do, where
would I
find another best friend at such short notice," I said as we both giggled.

             
"So
,
you'll still come to mine then?"

             
"To yours?
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that, sorry. Look, I don't know," I said, remembering that I would have to spend an entire evening with Aiden.

             
"Please," she said as
she blinked her eyes and fluttered
her eyelashes at me.

             
"Ok, ok I'll come if you stop flirting with me," I said as I burst out laughing.

             
"I wasn't flirting," she said as she scrunched up her nose.

             
"You were, that's exactly the same way that you
bat
your eyelashes at guys when you like them
or want something
," I said as we began to walk out of the school entrance.

             
"I do?" She said as she began to laugh.

             
"Yes
,
you really do," I replied.

             
"Oh dear," she said as we finally got to Aiden's car.

             
As I watched him leaning up against the bonnet and staring at me, my stomach
 
began to
 
do back
flips. This was going to be a
long night
.

             
"You sit in the front," Crystal said as a smirk spread across Aiden's face as he took in
 
her words.

             
"No, no I'll be fine at the back," I quickly replied as I opened the door and jumped inside of the car.

             
Aiden slipped into the driver
’
s seat as Crystal stood outside, fiddling with her shoes.

             
"Anyone would think that you were trying to get away from me," he said a
s he stared at me in the mirror
with a smirk on his face.

             
"Maybe I am," I said just before Crystal stepped into the car.

             
The journey to Crystal's house was made up of me and Aiden sitting in silence whilst Crystal
 
filled us in
 
on what happened during her day. It was becoming increasing difficult to avoid Aiden's eyes staring at me
 
in the mirror.
 

             
"Why are you two
so
 
quiet?" Crystal asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

             
"I'm just tired," I lied.

             
"And you?" She said
,
turning to face Aiden.

             
"Well if you
weren’t
talking so much
then maybe someone else might
get the chance to actually speak," he replied in a frustrated tone.

             
 
"What is your problem,
really?
" Crystal snapped at him.

             
"Just drop it," he said as he continued to keep his eyes on the road ahead.

             
"Yeah
,
well I just hope
that
you're not going to ruin our night with your stupid mood swings!"

             
"Don't worry, your precious night will be safe, I'm going to Jake's later," he said in an angry tone.

             
"Good! Would you believe that he's been like this since last night, just because I asked him why he let Cayce Hellman into our h
ouse in the middle of the night?
It's not my fault that his stupid
,
ex girlfriend is the school bike," she said, turning around to face me.

             
"No it's not," I said
 
as a rush of anger came over me.

             
What a hypocrite! He was angry because Kyle was at my
house when he had Cayce ‘school bike’
Hellman at his! I knew it, he was no better than Kyle!

             
I let out a small snigger as I wa
tched him trying to avoid
eye contact with me in the
rear view
mirror.

             
As we pulled up
outside of the Daniel's
house,
I stepped out
of
the car and stormed up the path behind Crystal, leaving Aiden inside his car. I was mad, scrap that I was furious!

             
"Hey, you ok?" Crystal asked as she turned her key inside of her front door.