Chapter nineteen- I wanted assurance not a story of my pitiful end

How to apologize to a person who is a complete jerk? I'd like to vandalize his car saying 'I'm sorry'. That seemed like a perfect idea but I settled for second base. The former had to wait for another time when I found out Tristan's secret. There were two things I was doing with Mission Finding Tristan's Secret. MFTS in short. First was trying to find the secret, of course. And second was taking a chance.

I had tried to ignore my crush on Blaise for past two years. I wanted to take a chance then. Not trying to become his girlfriend but his friend at least. I was not going to give in to any temptations when it came to him. I was going to play hard to get and even win the game because he wasn't going to get me. I will defeat him in his own game. He will fall for me and I will not catch him. I just hope in this stupid game I don't fall in love with him too because there are greater chances of me falling for him than the other way around.

I had to apologize but never waver from my path. I wanted a taste of what it would be like to be friends with Blaise Anderson. I wanted to explore more. And I wanted to find out that secret to keep myself tied to ground and not fly up high in the air with his sweet words.

Right now I have to apologize to him with my sweet words so he forgives me.

"What?" He frowned down at me as I smiled up at him innocently shoving a Tupperware in his hands which he caught with ease. "What is this?"

"A box," I answered. That was easy.

"What's inside this box?" He inquired looking at the top of it. He couldn't see tasty cupcakes lying inside.

"Cupcakes," I answered simply.

His eyes shot up at me with surprise. "Cupcakes?"

"Yes. Cupcakes." I nodded.

"Why are you giving me cupcakes?" He asked cocking his head. A lock from his hair fell on his forehead distracting me.

"To apologize,"

"Apologize? For what?" He seemed confused and amused at same time.

"For being rude yesterday. For ignoring you. I'm really sorry. I'm not going to ignore you." I explained. "But I was angry yesterday after my encounter with her. I didn't mean to lash out on you."

"It's okay. I understand." He nodded. "But don't listen to her or any other girl ever again. I've never been with any girl in my life. They all are liars spreading rumors."

I smiled tightly up at him. Now that is a lie. A handsome boy like him never had any girl in his life. I find that hard to believe. But I was going to believe him, just for pretence.

"I know. I don't usually listen to them but she gets on my nerves easily." I shrugged.

"She gets on my nerves too. If she was not a girl I would have broken her jaw by now." He said with a shudder and it made me laugh. I'd like to do that too.

"So... what you say? Friends?" I asked shoved my hand near to his hand which was still holding the box.

He only had to move his hand a little to hold mine. Tingles shot up my arm from hand at his touch. That sounded so cliché and unbelievable. But I mean his hand felt so good in mine. I didn't feel as repulsed as I felt when Nick had held my hand.

"Hmm..." He hummed in response. I didn't know whether to take it as a 'yes' or a 'no'. I decided to take it yes because that was the answer I was looking for.

"So we are good now?" I asked testing.

"Yeah, we are definitely good." He answered smirking at me. I smiled at him. His eyes were filled with amusement. What is he smiling at? Is he feeling so happy that I came crawling back at him? Well bad boy that's not the case. And you are not going to win whatever game you are playing.

"I have a class now. I'll see you in lunch." I said hopefully.

"Yeah, I'll see you there." He returned with a smile. His eyes lit up bewitching me. I dragged my eyes away from his and turned to next class. This is going to be harder than I had thought.

I was extremely hungry by the time of lunch. My stomach was growling as I made my way to cafeteria. Fortunately I didn't encounter either Emma or Kim again. I knew Kim was going to chew my head off when she would see me sitting with Blaise. But I was not going to let her dictate my life. If she was someone wise, I might have considered her thoughts. If I listen to an airhead, I have vacuum inside of my head.

"Haven't you eaten anything in your lifetime?" Jessica asked sarcastically. I hadn't even noticed her and when I did, my eyes almost bulged out.

She was wearing tight jeans but no baggy sweatshirt but nice plaid shirt and a vest. Her glasses were gone revealing her eyes. I had never seen her without her glasses before and that sight simply left me spellbound. My mouth was already filled with spaghetti and I had stopped chewing.

She flashed me a smile and her braces were also gone. She looked nothing like a nerd. In fact I would say she could compete with Kim for head cheerleader position with those looks. She looked even better than Kim.

When she sat on the chair, I chewed fast and forced myself to gulp food with water and looked at her with wide eyes.

I lifted my hand and touched warm skin of her cheek with my index finger, recoiling my hand back as soon as it made contact. She gave me a confused look.

"Jessica?" I gasped.

"No, not Jessica. God." She rolled her eyes.

"Where are your glasses and braces?"

"Gone. Got my braces removed and there is a thing called contact lens." He pointed to her eyes.

I nodded. "You look good. You look really good. You look really, really good. You look really, really, really good. You look really, really, real-"

"Okay I get it," she interrupted me raising her hands.

"You were always pretty but today with these looks 'pretty' sounds dull in front of you." I told her honestly.

She frowned. "Listen Beryl I've known you for two years and I never felt as if you are a lesbian. But let me tell you I'm not lesbian. Not at all. I even have a boyfriend."

"Neither am I." I scoffed.

"I don't believe you." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"And what will make you believe me?"

"Maybe when you get a boyfriend, a certain green eyed boy with dark hairs and body to die for. A boy who plays both football and basketball. And his name starts with 'B' and ends with 'laise'." She smirked as I groaned closing my eyes.

"Come on Beryl. You know it will be interesting. You and Blaise will have a beautiful house in hills. He will go to forest to collect firewood and you will clean his house. When he will come back you will make food for him-"

"I've heard that sort of thing somewhere." I said noticing similarity of her story with another story.

"Why you always interrupt me?" She sounded exasperated. I gave her a look of disbelief.

Before I could say anything, I noticed a boy standing over Jessica. His hands covered her eyes making me smile. He leaned down next to her head and I turned my head away not wanting to witness their lovey-dovey interaction.

I only ended up coming face to face with the subject of my inner turmoil these days. I blinked a couple of times as his breath fanned my face. He stared back at me and then his gaze dropped to my lips and I leaned backwards.

"Josh is that you?" Jessica asked with a smile. It was obvious she knew it was him. I rolled my eyes.

"No, it's Principle Johnson." I said sarcastically. She squeaked pulling away from Josh who chuckled along with Blaise. I was surprised she reacted like that. I thought she was not going to believe me.

"That's rude Beryl," she scowled.

I gave her an innocent smile and she rolled her eyes at me.

"Beryl, what are you planning for today?" Jessica asking after pecking Josh's lips.

"Nothing special," I shrugged. "Why?"

"Today is party at Nick's house and Blaise needs a date." Jessica smirked.

"Uh-huh," I knew what she was doing. Oh no.

"And I think you can be his date, right Blaise?" Jessica asked. Blaise blinked at her a couple a times and then nodded.

"Why does he need a date?" I inquired.

"It's a formal party by Nick's parents. Everyone is going with a date. Nick is going with Emma. I don't know how she snatched that offer from Kim. So are you coming?" Jessica said in one breath.

"Yeah, will you be my date?" Blaise asked from my side. I didn't know what to say. No boy has ever asked me that before. I always remained hidden in shadows. Going on a date at school's most popular boy's house with his best friend didn't sound a very appealing idea to me. And that too a formal party.

"But I don't have a dress." I lied. I had about five dresses none of them bought by me but gifted by my parents and my aunts.

"We'll buy you a dress. Don't worry." Blaise smiled at me. I was mesmerized by his sweet smile that I momentarily forgot about huge problem in front of me.

"I've never been to formal parties." That was truth. I had told my mom and dad not to drag me anywhere until I'm eighteen.

"It's not a big deal Beryl. We all will be there." Jessica assured. "We are not going to hand you over to goons. And even if we do Blaise will be there to save you. He will beat them up for even thinking about kidnapping you. And if they torture you then Blaise will torture them. He will be your savior. But if they kill you then there will be big trouble. Blaise can end up in jail. That will be sad. I will lose my friend. I will-"

"Jessica!" I gaped at her. I wanted assurance not a story of my pitiful end.

"But none of that is going to happen because we are not handing you over to goons. So chill."

"No," my answer was firm. I was not going to that party. Jessica opened her mouth to say something but I excused myself to return a book to library. I didn't look at Blaise. The disapproving look in Jessica's eyes said enough. He was disappointed. Well, I was disappointed too when I saw his phone that night.

It was Physics period when I had to face Blaise again. He was silent as I entered not looking at my eyes. I sat beside him and he suddenly spoke.

"You don't want to go with me?" He asked randomly.

"No," I answered without thinking then realized it sounded so rude.

"So will you go with Nick?" I frowned at him.

"Isn't he going with Emma?"

"But if he was not?"

"Then no. I don't like social events and of course not formal parties where everything is mostly fake."

"I also don't like these parties." He agrees his tone easing.

"Then why are you going?"

"Avril will kill me if I don't go." He replied grumpily.

Avril. Again her. Why the heck he cares for her so much?

"Oh! That's great." My curiosity was at its peak. If I don't like formal parties I won't attend them for anyone. Here Blaise was going there because of this Avril. Who was she? She had pretty much wrapped him around her finger.

"Hmm..." I hummed in response with my brain running. I ought to meet this Avril. "You don't like parties but still you are going. If you can make a sacrifice then I can also. I will be your date. We will bear the misery together." I tried to sound convincing. I didn't want to give any inkling that I wanted to see this Avril girl.

"That's great. I will send you a dress-"

"No need. I have one. My dad had gifted me once but I never wore." I replied.

"That's great." He smiled. "Tell me the color of dress and I will grab a tie-"

"Midnight Blue," I interrupted him again.

"Okay, fine. I will pick you up at seven" He nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be ready." I smiled.

I guess I just landed myself in a big trouble.

**** ***

Now you have to wait for a bit longer for next chapter. And for TBTBD readers, I have this writer's block so I'm giving it a pause for now. I'll be updating it in next month or so.

Holidays are over. Second semester has started. And I have to go back to studies. But don't worry. We have about, I don't know, at least seven chapters left for this book. There might be more. Just read and enjoy.

And I've posted a new book- "How To Be A Good Boy?" It's a short story. Until I am in my right mind to come up with nice chapters for TBTBD and when I'm bored, I will be posting it. It's a cliché. A good girl - bad boy cliché. Really. I'm writing it for fun. You may like to read it for fun.

I'd also like to edit this story. I am going to edit it. English is not my first language. In fact it's fourth (comes after mother language, national language, state language. And two- three regional dialects also. Seriously, I know so many languages but no one appreciates it.) I'll surely fix spelling mistakes and all that stuff and please tell me about my grammatical mistakes. I really appreciate it when my readers do that.

-nerdinspects