Chapter 11: Gatsby (Alex's POV) "No way," I laughed while we went to get slushies from the food corner. "The deal was: The winner gets whatever they want. I won and I want a date," he reasoned. "First of all, you didn't win, you cheated-" "How?" "You distracted me! And a date is just- I don't know it's…" I trailed off, "Why a date?" I questioned. "Two blueberry slushies, please," he ordered before turning to me. "Blueberry, right?" he asked. How does he know that? "Yeah, blueberry," I mumbled, extremely confused as to how he guessed that. "Why not a date?" he asked. "Because we literally just decided less than an hour ago that we're friends, and now you're asking me for a date?" I questioned. "I'm not asking you to marry me. I'm just asking that we hang out," he shrugged while paying and handing me my slushie. "We can hang out without calling it a date. Why do you want to hang out with me so badly?" I asked. "I think you're a great person and I have a lot of fun with you. But I don't want us to just do each other these favors and then slowly but surely stop talking until it's just small hey's in the hallway and glances at the cafe. Got it?" he rambled. "Do you think you can keep talking to me?" Because frankly, I didn't. "Yes," he nodded. "Really? Because last time we were in front of your so-called friends, you were nothing but a douche," I rolled my eyes. "I apologized for that," he whined. "I said it was fine, I'm not still mad about it, I just don't want it to happen again. That hurt," I mumbled the last bit to myself. "I will not hurt your feelings again, I swear. But you're great company. You're funny, we have some stuff in common, we have things to talk about all the time, and you'll get a free date to parties," he shrugged causing me to smack his arm, "Ouch. Okay, but seriously. We have fun together, come on," he tilted his head to the side. "If you want to hang out, that's fine. But it is not a date. I don't go on dates with people I've only known two weeks," I said while giving him a pointed look. "So how much longer till I can ask you on a date and you say yes?" he asked. "A while. I don't like getting to know someone on a date. I think it's important for people to become friends first. Otherwise, you never get to know that person in that way and you just jump right into all the dramatic stuff," I rolled my eyes. "I like knowing who I'm going out with." "Oh, we're going out?" he smirked. "God," I sighed as we got back to Hannah and Jake who were, not much to my surprise, sucking each other's faces off still. My nose scrunched up in disgust while Carter tugged at one of my braids. "Wanna take a walk?" he offered. "Yeah," I replied. We got our shoes back and left the place, walking around its neighborhood. We walked while eating our slushies and talking about the most random stuff. "Tell me something about you," he said. "What do you wanna know?" I replied. "I feel like you know more about me than I do about you. What's your biggest fear?" he asked. "I'm scared of a lot of things but the most is probably death. Oh, and deep waters. I am so scared of deep waters and sea creatures of all kinds. Imagine, you're just chilling in the water swimming and a giant shark just comes and chops your leg off," I shuddered while shaking my head, "I don't do deep waters." He stared at me weirdly before chuckling and shaking his head. "What about you?" I questioned. He hesitated. "I am terrified of snakes. I hate snakes. And alligators and crocodiles. Neither of which you will find in New York, so I'm good," he smiled. "You hesitated," I pointed out. "No, I didn't," he scoffed. I have my ways. "Okay, we'll play a game. I'm going to say a word, and you're going to say the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that word. You don't get more than two seconds per word, okay?" He nodded. "Water." "Fish." "Earth." "Trees." "Wind." "Air." "Thunder." "Lightning." "Mom." "Dad." "Fear." "Lonely." I stopped and looked up at him. "Carter." He didn't even realize he said it. "Yeah?" he turned to me in confusion, still slurping his slushie. "What's your biggest fear?" I repeated. He probably realized what he said because he stilled. He sighed before tossing his empty cup in the nearest bin. "Being lonely," he shrugged. Uh oh. I should lighten the mood. I shouldn't have brought that up. "Well, then you never have to worry about facing it," I shrugged. "Why not?" he asked. "You've got so many people around you who care about you. You have your dad, Connor, your other friends, me," I elbowed him tauntingly and he cracked a smile. "People leave though, Alex. They always do," he replied. "I won't," I found myself saying. "Promise." I stuck my pinky out. "You're so weird," he mumbled while locking his pinky with mine. ◆:*:◇:*:◆:*:◇:*:◆ Like every Monday morning, we were sitting here in the first period, English, while Mr. Blaze explained the task. "Right, Gatsby! All right, everyone pick a partner. I'm letting you choose, keep my generosity in mind. You will choose any one scene from all the scenes we've read so far as a class, and you will both write an essay on it. Performing it in front of the class is optional. That is for the wild ones in this bunch. Once you have your partner please come and tell me. Off you go." Gatsby. Let's study Gatsby then. I turned to Hannah, thinking we'd be partners naturally, but before I could say anything to her, my chair was pulled to the left. I turned in confusion and saw Carter sitting there. "Hi," he grinned. "Hi?" I said, slightly confused. When did he change seats? "Wanna be my partner?" he asked. I glanced and saw Connor sitting with Hannah. Hmm. Interesting pair. "Hello?" he waved his hand in front of my face. "Sorry. Yeah, sure. I-" I stopped talking when a hand slammed down on my desk. I jumped and looked forward to see Abby. "Who are you?" she glared at me. "My partner," Carter answered for me. I stared between the two of them, not knowing what to do. "If she's your partner then who am I supposed to work with, Carter?" she stomped. "Ms. Forrester, please work in a group of three, if nobody has picked you as their partner," Mr. Blaze said in a bored tone. She narrowed her eyes at me but before she could say anything, the door opened and everyone froze and watched. My heart fell out of my chest and pounded in the pit of my stomach while I watched. "Mr. Blaze," he nodded. "What a surprise, welcome back, Hudson," Mr. Blaze nodded. He looked different. Not in a good way. He just seemed like he had changed for the worse. Colder. More heartless if that was possible. He glanced around the room, his eyes briefly meeting mine before he turned back to Mr. Blaze. "Since you are here, now the class is even. Pick a partner and they will tell you the task," Mr. Blaze said. "Alex," he shrugged. I went rigid in my seat and stared at him. What is he doing? Why would he want to work with me? "Sorry, she's already got a partner," Carter said calmly. "He said to pick a partner. I picked Alex," Hudson retorted. "Alex, who would you like to work with?" Mr. Blaze asked. "Carter," I said immediately, "Definitely Carter," I whispered to myself. Hudson rolled his eyes and stood there impatiently. "That leaves you with Abby. Go ahead," Mr. Blaze instructed. He rolled his eyes before taking a seat with Abby directly in front of Carter and I. He watched me for a moment before I turned to face Carter, trying my best to avoid his burning gaze on me. "What was that?" Carter asked. "That was my ex, anyway," I sighed while grabbing the book. "Hudson Peterson is your ex?" he whispered. "Yeah," I mumbled. "He is insane!" he whisper-yelled. "I know that now. You did me a favor when you kicked him off the team. At least he left," I groaned into my palms. "Then why is he back?" Carter huffed. "God knows, let's just pick a scene," I shook my head. We both flicked through pages but neither of us was paying attention. My mind was running on a one-way track at that moment and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Just one question. Why was he back? . . . .