Chapter 39 - The Development of Chase and Skye

A Chapter by emma

-Chase-

Staring at Skye as she sat, fuming, I thought of everything that had led to this moment. The angst of liking your best friend. The terrible awkward tension when Andrea told me she liked me back. The panicky breathlessness of our first date. The comfortable first few months of dating. The agonizing last month of preparing myself for the inevitable breakup. The long period of silence. And now the dreadful regret, the uncertainty. It was all too much.

“Hi, Chase!” screamed Andrea.

She was running towards me, her nine-year-old legs pumping her across the school’s field. Her hair was bouncing all around her, an explosion of floppy waves. I was about to get up and run towards her when I noticed the petite blonde trailing behind my best friend. I couldn’t help myself: I stared. I waited for both girls to finish running the few meters that were between us, then Andrea enveloped me in a hug. She was big on hugging.

When she pulled back, she was smiling. She gestured at the blushing blonde girl. “This is Skye. She’s new, so Ms. Evansten told me to be her guide.”

The girl blushed, then smiled shyly at me. “Hi.”

I grinned. “I’m Chase.”

She nodded, and then looked away. Something inside of me sped up when she glanced back over at me.

Skye pushed her hair back behind her ears nervously. I watched her as she watched Michael Blinkers, her eyes flitting back and forth between her work on her desk and the brown-eyed boy next to her. I’d known she liked Michael for a few weeks now, but it didn’t make anything easier. It was hard to swallow the lump in my throat whenever I watched her show signs of a crush on Michael. I knew what she was feeling, except I liked her and wanted her to get shy and blushy around me instead of Michael. It wasn’t fair.

The bell rang, and I followed Michael out of the classroom for recess. In our school, even in the seventh grade we still got recess. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he spun around. It was common knowledge to everyone except Michael that I didn’t like Michael. So he smiled at me, and I smiled back even though I wanted to punch him.

“What’s up, Chase?” he asked.

“I just wanted to let you know that Skye has a crush on you.”

This was honestly the meanest, most devious thing a kid could do to a friend in the seventh grade, but I was desperate. Michael’s face changed. He made a weird noise in the back of his throat, and I waited impatiently for him to have a reaction.

“She does?” His voice was quiet, hidden.

I nodded.

“That’s weird,” Michael decided finally. “I like her as a friend, but that’s it.”

I smiled, but tried to hide it. “Oh, well, that’s too bad.”

“Don’t tell her, okay?” Michael pleaded.

“I won’t, I promise.”

A few days later, I watched as Skye cried in Andrea’s arms. Someone had leaked about Michael’s knowledge of her crush. And the rejection. Guilt racked me for a few days, but it was all for the best, right?

“Chase, you’ll never guess what Skye just told me!” Andrea yelled into the phone.

“What?” I asked, a little nervous.

“She likes you! The way you like her!”

I gasped audibly. Now that we were in grade eight, it was socially acceptable to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, and the possiblities seemed endless. But the next day at school, it was nothing but awkward. I didn’t even want her to know I knew. Andrea kept telling me to make a move, but I couldn’t bring myself to. It went on like this for almost a full year. By the middle of grade nine, I made a move. I asked her out.

“Okay,” she said.

So I took her to the movies. We watched an idiotic, fluffy romantic comedy about some star-crossed lovers who beat the odds, overcoming their disapproving parents and ignoring their friend’s laughs, then the guy got hit by a car and died. She bawled, so I made myself pretend to be choked up. Honestly, it was terrible. But I agreed with her over and over again until she leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“It’s okay, I know you hated it.” Her smile was intoxicating.

A few months later, everything was going smooth. We were a cookie-cutter couple, but I got bored. She wasn’t all I thought she’d be. So I prepared myself on the best way to break it off with her.

In the end, even though I had a whole, gentle speech memorized, what I ended up blurting was, “Can we please breakup? I don’t want to date you anymore.”

I spent months being shunned from her. And that’s when my feelings for Andrea started to develop. It was hard enough liking one of my best friends, but I made everything worse by falling for the second. And now I was reeling back towards Skye. But she was over me.

I wondered what she saw when she looked at me. Did she see old memories, or did she see me with Andrea? Did she remember me in a good way, or a bitter way? I scoffed at my own thoughts. She hated me. Of course she was bitter.

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© 2012 emma

Author's Note

not a very productive chapter, i'll admit. but oh well. :) enjoy.

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Reviews

selkietales

Poor Skye for ever being with this guy. I mean, I feel kinda bad for him now since I know not all feelings can be helped, but still. Good chapter, though! I've been wondering what goes on in that head of his.