HATE FALL LOVE

Chapter 9

[BRIANNA'S POV]

"Do you..." his voice came out too hoarse and croaked as he spoke to me, "... like me?"

Upon hearing what he said, I felt my tears leaking out of my eyes and I let them stream down on my face. Yes, I wanted to tell him that so badly. Yes, I've liked you for so long now, Kent. But I couldn't find my voice yet and what only came out of my mouth was some incoherent sluggish sounds as I nodded my head and shut my eyes tight, wondering why I still have to be vulnerable in front of him.

"Brianna..." the way he uttered my name so endearingly had me gasping as I turned and look at him again. "Stop crying," he said. And I did. I sniffled and held back a sob as I slowly put my hands on top of his that was holding my face. Then he gently smiled at me, his face lightening up as if he was enjoying this intimate moment between us. I was getting too confused, but I could not move away.

"Kent..." I trailed off but I still wasn't sure what I should tell him. What would I even ask? What should I say? I'm not so confident about myself right now and I was still scared to know what would happen next.

"I want you," he suddenly said, making me flustered and incredibly shocked to hear those words coming from him. What was this all of a sudden? Why would he want me? I thought...

"But--"

"Brianna!"

I was just about to express my worried thoughts to Kent when out of the blue, Jess's yelling voice, calling my name so loud, cut the moment short as soon as she appeared, marching down from a distance. She was looking extremely furious and was even breathing heavily as she strode towards me and quickly pulled my arm away, forcing Kent to drop his hands from my face and letting me go.

I was too stunned that it took me a few moments to blink consciously at what was happening.

"What's this all about, Knight?!" I heard Jess angrily accusing Kent beside me as she shot him a deathly glare, saying, "I almost let myself get fooled! You bastard, you think you could just do whatever you want?! You planned everything, didn't you?! I knew it! You were using your friend to keep me away from Brianna!"

"What?" I was now completely baffled and anxious, unable to comprehend what was making Jess really aggravated as I looked at her with worried eyes, asking, "What happened, Jess?"

"Did he do something to you again?" Jess looked at me with a frantic face, scanning me from head to toe as she tried to search for any clues but I only shook my head at her, still lost in this entire situation. And realizing that she won't get any reasonable answer from me, she turned and scowled at Kent again.

"You're a terrible one, Kent Knight! You thought I'd just let you fool her again, huh?!" She snarled at him, gritting his teeth as she squinted her eyes, "I won't ever let you get close to Brianna anymore! Ever! And tell that i***t friend of yours too, that if he ever starts approaching me once more, I will make sure both of you will never feel your balls again."

Turning to me after she had ranted so loudly at him, Jess slowly calmed down and said, "Let's go, Bree. We should stay away from these jerks."

I quickly noticed the sad look on her face when she turned away, but I still didn't point it out for fear that she might lose his temper again. And feeling like I had no choice in this, I just let my friend drag me away without saying another word.

Yet while I started walking away from Kent, I found myself looking over my shoulder to look at where he still remained standing on that same spot when we had kissed. He had never talked back to Jess but he sure did look quite annoyed. And when his eyes caught me staring at him, his face immediately softened. I blushed, but I still didn't look away. And for a few more seconds, just before I had completely lost sight of him, we didn't drop our eyes at each other.

It really happened. Kent Knight had really kissed me... By his own choice. And now, I felt even more troubled, because I knew that I can never really get over him anymore after what he just did.

That kiss had just ultimately worsened my feelings for him. And I was totally screwed.

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[KENT's POV]

I almost said it.

I can't believe it... I really almost said it. The words that had been stuck in my throat, the very thing that I have never uttered for so long now, I really almost said it all to Brianna. I wonder what would she tell me back if I have really told her that? If I had suddenly revealed what I felt that time, was she going to say the same thing to me? Or would she just run away?

It was just inconvenient that her friend had just chosen that very moment to interfere with us. Yet no matter how much I have tried to think about it again, perhaps it was just better that I didn't get to say it at all. This was not the right time as well. And I didn't want to act too impulsively with her. I didn't want to ruin it all by being too fast.

Though I have already figured what I truly felt after that kiss she had given me that night, trying to resolve the dilemma it gave me in the past two days, I knew I still could not risk the chance too soon. I had been filled with only the thought of Brianna in my head and that had kept me contemplating whether I must take a step forward or wait for the right moment. I couldn't get over her since that night. When she had kissed me, it just suddenly dawned on me. It was as if something had smacked me right in the face and I was completely blown away.

And honestly, it terrified me at first because I knew what that feeling all meant. I had already gone through it. But I really hoped this time, I won't be doing the same mistake as I did before.

"Hey."

A voice popping up from behind me immediately pulled me back to the present as I turned and saw my friend, Ian Wade, approaching and looking out of breath as he stopped beside me.

"I was too late, huh? Sorry about that," he said with a grimace, looking solemnly guilty, "I think I've pushed too far."

He must have. And I found myself chortling at his words, remembering what I just did with Brianna a while ago on the same spot where I was standing at the moment. I might have also pushed too far with her. It seemed like we were both screwed over by those two girls, and I slyly smirked at the thought. Finding that funny, I moved and patted Wade on the shoulder out of sympathy, saying, "Yeah, I think she hates you now."

"She was really angry, wasn't she?" I heard Wade asking me in a depreciating tone after I walked past him and he followed me from behind. He might sound unbothered, but I knew he was worried. And it was really obvious, he was whipped. And I laughed again as I shook my head while heading down the path leading to the back entrance of the school building.

"Damn it," Wade cursed, sounding very troubled when he heard me laughing back as he probed, "What'd she say?"

"Thanks to you, I have to watch out for my balls the next time I see her. You've been a great help. We now have our work cut out for us," I sarcastically teased him, but still grinning because I actually found that hilarious, and to be honest, I was even trying to hold back my laughter when Brianna's friend had said that before. Then, turning my head to raise a brow at Wade, I said, "But that doesn't mean you'll stop, does it?"

"Nah, I'm not one to back down that easily. Yeah, She's a little hard to please, but she'll come around, don't worry about it," Wade simply remarked with assurance in his voice as we reached the glass doors, entering the school building, on our way to the hallways. Then Wade finally caught up with my pace, smirking back at me as he added, "She's feisty, isn't she? Just my type."

"Well, too bad," I sighed loudly, remembering the look on Brianna's face when she had walked away from me a while ago. I wished she wouldn't really shut me out for good as I worriedly admitted, "She might never let us get near them anymore."

"Oh, come on. That's just all talk, man. It's not like you're one to oblige someone else's warning." Wade brushed me off, easily laughing, as he added, "We just have to come up with a plan on this. And it's pretty obvious your girl likes you, Knight. It wouldn't be hard anymore 'cause she definitely got it bad, man. I'm telling ya."

I stopped in my tracks and felt the need to make a point to my friend as he paused as well and turned to me with a confused frown on his face. A few students gave us curious stares as they walk past us and I ignored them despite the knowledge that a rumor about me had been circling around again. They really had to stop all this drama and focus more on their own issues. I'm too tired trying to sort out my own problems to mind everything else.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. In fact, we have something else to deal with here first, Wade," I told him after a long pause, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared at him intensely. And tilting his head, Wade took a moment to process what I just said and he looked a little disgruntled when he realized what I meant.

"What do we have now?" he curiously asked.

"The Jocks."

As soon as I brought up this, Wade's face turned quite smug and haughty as he stepped towards me and slung an arm across my shoulder, leaning with a clever grin on his face as he said, "Why? Is someone trying to pull your leg this time, Knight?"

"It's more complicated than that, but we have to do a move against them soon. It's a matter of love and hate."

Laughing at my lame use of metaphors, Wade just shook his head, smirking as he said, "Good for you, 'cause I totally hate those damn bastards too. I'm definitely up to break some jock-y fingers. Let's go."

"No," I held up a hand across him, stopping whatever he had in mind, as I turned and gave him a serious gaze, explaining, "Not right now. It's not the time yet. We'll have to wait first."

Wade raised a brow at my words as he gave me a knowing look and commented with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "So you already have a plan, huh?"

I found myself smirking at that as I frowned at him, sounding cocky as I answered, "Well, don't you know me already? I always have a plan, you f***** idiot."

"Well, if you say so, boss," Wade just conveniently nodded back, shrugging his shoulders at me as he added in a confident tone, "There's really no stopping you once you already got a plan, anyway. All I have to do is follow your command."

I snorted at him, laughing as we started walking again. And with that, we both headed to the cafeteria, unfazed by the unwanted attention and frightened glances sent our way as we prepared for the upcoming trouble that would be coming... anytime soon now.