100 Ways To Love Her

Misunderstanding

Mya and Andie were dropped off at the school entrance by Mya’s mother, “Have fun guys!”, she waves at them and Mya replies by swaying her arms up in the air, “Thank you, Mrs. Martin”, Andie said before the car leaves. 

The two of them go inside the campus, they first headed to their lockers, when Andie then saw Josh getting something from his locker,

 “Hey!”, Josh just looks at her, raised his eyebrows, and nodded once, Andie felt weird at his reaction, “Is everything alright?”, she asked, 

“I am on the phone”, he then showed her the earphone on his ear,

 “Oh sorry”, she told him, 

“Can we talk later?”, he said, Andie didn’t respond quickly, baffled by his behavior, “Uhh..yeah, see you later”, she then left him. 

As she walks back to her locker, Andie heard him greet someone, “Hey man!”, she saw him and Mike go to the class together. 

“Are you ok?”, Mya suddenly touches her back after she saw her staring at Josh,

“Yeah I am, let’s go to our class now”, Andie told her.

Almost half an hour in the class, a school personnel knocks at the door, the teacher talked to him first, which lasted for a few minutes. “Andie!”, their teacher called her, “Come here” she gestured, Andie stands up and walks slowly towards her, gazing at the teacher as she gets near to her, “Someone needs to talk to you”, 

“Are you, Andie Anderson?”, the man asked her, “Yes, why”, she spoke in a soft and low voice, “The authorities need to talk to you, about what you’ve done, follow me”, the man took a few steps away but he notices Andie was still standing there, holding her hands together, the man then walks toward her, “This is for your own good ok?”, he pats her shoulder, “Let’s go”, this time both of them proceeded into the office.

“Here she is”, the school personnel opens the door, and a woman whom Andie saw that came into their house and a policeman is waiting inside the office, “Andie”, the woman wrapped her arms around Andie as soon as she saw her. “Are you all right?”, the woman asked, Andie just smiles a little at her and nods, “Don’t ever do that again”, she told her, “I don’t want to stay at the orphanage”, she uttered, while a tear fell down her cheek only thinking of the idea. The woman looks at the policeman she is with, and sighs, “Ok, let me see what I can do, but for now, maybe you can stay with me”, she held both of her arms, 

“I know what you feel”, the woman's voice quivers as she got teary-eyed, 

“You do?”, Andie asked her, the woman nodded, 

“I grew up alone since both of my parents abandoned me, so I stayed in an orphanage for a long time, no one was adopting me so I feel depressed and lonely there, thinking no one wants to accept me, so I ran away, move from one place to another”, the woman wiped her tears, “but I still returned because I will end up in nowhere if I continued to escape”.

Andie fell silent and expressionless after hearing her, 

“We are doing this for you, with us you will be in safe hands”, she added. 

“Ok then, I’ll go with you, but I need to get my things first later”, she said, the woman nods, and smiles at her, “No worries”.

At lunchtime, Mya and Andie go together to the cafeteria. As they have chosen a seat near the window, “What are you looking at?”, Mya asked, when she saw her friend looking around

“Have you seen Josh?”, Andie uttered,

“I don’t, I wonder where he is now”, 

Suddenly Josh and his basketball teammates including Fred comes in. “Oh, there they are,” Mya told her. For the first time, Josh sits with another group of friends, so Andie’s mind is puzzled, she is just staring at them, “I think I should talk to him”, she then gets up, but Mya grabs her arm and shook her head slowly, “Some of them are bullies”, she whispered, “It’s fine”, Andie then removes her arm from Mya’s grip.

All of the basketball teammates were chattering and laughing loudly when Andie approaches them. “Hi”, she waves a little. Mike then leans on Josh and clears his throat giving him a signal. Josh stands up and grabs, Andie’s wrist and he drags her a little, outside the cafeteria. 

“What’s wrong with you?”, Andie asked, “Please…”, Josh paused, closes his eyes for a second, and sighs, “Will you do me a favor? Don’t approach me or go near me, for now”, he told her, 

“What? Why? she wondered, 

“just do it!”, he shouted, which made Andie froze and stares at his eyes, puzzled by his actions, “Did I do something wrong?”, she asked, “No, you didn’t just please do as I say”, he then walks away, leaving Andie standing there, expressionless. 

When she goes back inside the cafeteria she glances at Josh talking with his friends, she sits back down, went blank and silent, “Are you ok?”, Mya uttered, 

“How did it go?”, 

“He told me to stay away from him”, 

“Wait, huh?”, 

“I don’t know why he said that”, Andie was still not removing her eyes on him, 

“Why would he do that?”, Mya then holds her hand, 

“It’s fine you don’t need him”, she removes her hand from Mya’s grip and gets up,

 “I don’t feel good, let’s go now”, she picks up her bag then Mya followed her and both of them left the place.

After class, Andie was still not uttering a single word after what happened earlier, Mya felt worried for her, “It really broke her heart”, she thought in her mind. 

“So, about the assignment…”, she decided to start the conversation, 

“I am just going to help you with that”, Andie produced a faint smile at her, but her face went straight quickly, 

“By the way, I am leaving your house today”, 

“What?”, Mya uttered 

“The childcare services found me, I am going to stay with them for now,”, she holds both of her hands, “Thank you for everything, for letting me stay here and caring for me, I am really grateful meeting you, I hope someday I can repay you”, 

 Mya smiles at her, “You already did, by how you are treating me since we move in, you are my only friend here and I am also happy that I met you”, Andie then wraps her arms around her tightly, subsequently, Mya also hugs her tightly. A few seconds passed, they now let go of each other, “Come on, mom might be waiting for us”, both of them goes outside the campus.

When they finally reached the house, the two of them get down from the car, “So you are just going to pick up your things and leave?”, Mya asked, 

“Yeah”, Andie spoke melancholically, “I wish we had more time to spend together, like movie nights”, Mya told her, “Don’t worry I am going to ask them, if they would allow me to sometimes spend a night here”, “That’s a great idea”, she uttered and they walked towards the house. 

After picking up all of her things, Andie carries her bag downstairs. Mya and her mother were waiting for her, “Thank you Mrs. Martin for letting me stay here for a couple of nights, Mrs. Martin suddenly embraced her, “We are happy to have you here, you can visit us anytime you want”, Andie glances one last time at her before finally going to the childcare services,

 “Are you ready?”, the woman asked her, 

“I think so”, the woman gets the bag she is carrying with and placed it in the car trunk. Once more Andie turns around and waves at them, Mya and her mother waved back, afterwards, Andie goes inside the car, and they left.

At the basketball court, Josh wears his basketball jersey, ready for their last training. When the coach saw him he immediately approaches him, “Are you ok now?” he asked, Josh grins and nods, “I am so happy to make it into the game”, little did he know Mike and some of his friends are looking at him, while dribbling a ball, “He’s back, what are we going to do?”, Mike’s friend asked him, “I will show him who will be the MVP”, he stares sharply at Josh. 

After talking with the coach, Josh shakes hands with Fred, “You are finally back, let’s go”, Fred pats his shoulder and they start doing the warm-ups.

It was already four in the afternoon, the basketball practice ended early because the coach wants them to take some rest when they arrive home, so he strictly instructed it to the players. Josh was now packing up his things when out of nowhere Fred suddenly approach him, “You’re leaving already?”, he asked, 

“Yeah, the coach told us to have an early rest”, Josh said,

 “Wait, really? How about Bethany?”, 

“Bethany? What would I do with her?”, 

Fred sighs, “Aren’t you suppose to meet her today? Look at your phone”, he said to him, Josh afterward checks out his messages and saw Bethany texting him, “Dude! You gave her my phone number!”, 

“Why? There is nothing wrong about it, she just wants to be friends with you”, he scoffed,

 “Whatever!”, Josh picks up his bag and walks away, 

“Wait, are you really going to make her wait at the restaurant?”, he asked,

Josh, turns his face to him, and paused,

“That’s rude!”, Fred added. After hearing what he said Josh raises his left eyebrow, “Rude? Are you not the one being rude here, giving away my phone number without my permission, but fine I’ll go, however, this will be the last time”, he then leaves.

It took Josh, fifteen minutes of biking before he arrived at one of the restaurant’s downtown, It was just simple, with no fancy candles, tables, and waiters. As he enters inside sweat can be seen all over his face and neck. He thought an orchestra seems to be heard playing inside but it is just jazz music coming from a stereo. He gets a towel first from his pocket and wipes his sweat, he then looks around at the place and saw Bethany wearing a red dress with her wavy black hair on one side, Josh was quite stunned by her looks, subsequently, he looks at himself wearing only a white shirt and jogging pants, suddenly someone calls his name, he turns around and saw it was Bethany waving at her, Josh exhales deeply before sitting with Bethany. “Hi”, he puts his things on his side, “Thanks for accepting my invite”, 

Bethany smirks at him, he then noticed her lushes and her light pink lips, and he can’t help but stare at it, “Hey!”, Bethany snaps her fingers to his face, 

“Yes”, he uttered 

“Are you listening to me?”, she chuckles,

 “Uhh, what are you saying again?”, he asked. 

Bethany produced a short laugh, “I am suggesting about the food here”, 

“Oh sorry, I am just tired, because of my practice”, he told her, 

“No worries, I recommend here the chicken I am sure it will lighten up your mood”, Bethany said, 

“Sure”, he smiles at her, Afterwards Bethany called the waiter, the waiter took their order and put it into the kitchen. “So the game will be tomorrow?”, she asked,

 “Yes, but it will take us three days, it’s kinda like an elimination”, he said to her, “Oh, that sounds tiring”, she uttered. 

The waiter then comes back with a bottle of wine and pours it into their glasses, “Is there anything else you need, ma’am?”, the waiter asked, “Nothing, just make sure to bring our orders right away”, she said to him, “Yes ma’am I will be right back with it”, the waiter walks away.

“Wine!”, Josh whispered loudly, 

“It’s fine, it’s just one glass”, “she uttered,

 “Is this even legal?” he asked, 

“I don’t know”, Bethany then leans closer to him, “I used my sister’s card, we are looking exactly alike so no one will notice”, she whispered, “I can’t believe this”, he said, 

“Its ok, since it’s now in our glasses, just enjoy it, cheers”, she raises her glasses, Josh sighs and give in, “Fine”, afterwards both of their glasses clanked with each other.