Chapter 6: Fixer upper
1020 Words
"We decided that you and Theodore will be in love by the end of the year," Jasmine said to me.
That’s it. Not even a hello. Straight to the point.
"Annabel Diaz. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?"
I went to school that morning and sat across from my friends with a coffee in hand, thinking I could avoid any Theodore-related topics.
But… nope.
I did manage to leave the house before Theodore came to pick me up and walked to the bus stop, which meant I hadn’t seen his annoyingly perfect face yet.
Therefore, my day was pretty good up to that point.
Kel nodded, agreeing with her conclusion.
"Seriously, let it go. You saw it yourselves. We barely manage to be in the same room together without killing each other," I gave it a final try.
"No, you looked like that. He was fine with everything. More than fine, actually," Kel said, straightening his glasses.
"Who was fine with everything?" a voice behind Kel asked.
I jumped in my seat.
I swear, he was like those monsters who appear every time someone calls their name.
"No one," Kel said in such a fast way that it was clear he was lying.
Turns out I wasn’t the only bad liar in the group.
I turned to Theodore.
He was holding three cups from the coffee place across the street.
My wonderful, no-Theodore morning was being shattered to pieces.
"Oh, okay. Morning, everybody."
Again with the polite thing.
"Oh, hi," I put on a fake smile.
"How are you? And why are you here? Shouldn’t you be out on the streets drinking blood from pedestrians or whatever you usually do in your free time?"
"Annabel," Jasmine hissed.
"What?" I asked her, at the same moment Theodore answered.
"You know, I normally would, but I decided to try something different this morning. Blood was bad for my digestion."
Theodore had a similar frown.
"Um, I guess. Yeah."
"Well, I think…" Kel said, "It would look even better on your bedroom floor."
I choked on my coffee while Theodore’s blood drained from his face.
"Are you hitting on Annabel," he pointed at me, "for me?"
He pointed at himself.
"Yep," Kel answered.
Jasmine had a huge smile and the this-is-just-the-beginning face.
Spoiler alert: that wasn’t the only trick in their pocket.
It was going to be a long year.
Theodore cleared his throat.
"I brought coffee and tea."
He handed one to Jasmine and one to Kel, leaving me out of it.
Did I have my own coffee? Yes.
Did I want him to buy me one? No.
Was I going to complain about it either way? Yes.
Yes, I was.
"Hey, what about me?"
I didn’t want him to get me coffee—I made my own—but maybe whining would make him leave or at least annoy him a bit.
"I am not spending my money on you, Annabel," that seemed about right.
"Besides, no one makes whatever it is you insist on calling coffee. And you always make your own anyway."
Okay… well, yes, everything he said was true.
I didn’t even know how he knew that, but it was true.
I didn’t like the taste of normal coffee.
I needed some sort of flavor to cover it, so I drank mochaccino or iced mocha, which in Theodore’s opinion didn’t count as coffee.
I had my smart-ass answer ready.
I always have one.
It’s a talent I’ve developed after knowing Theodore and Felix for almost seventeen years.
But the bell rang before Jasmine let me get the chance to say it.
"Go, Theodore," Jasmine took his attention.
"We are going to the movies tomorrow."
"We are?" I asked.
As expected, she ignored my question.
"And we were thinking that maybe you wanted to come."
"What movie?" he asked, like he was considering it.
"The new Marvel movie. It’s the premiere and we have tickets."
"Time?"
He was actually considering it.
"7:30."
I let out a snort that made everyone turn to me.
"What?" Kel asked.
"It’s just that the movie lasts two hours and we usually eat after. Theodore doesn’t stay up that late on school nights."
"You know what?" Theodore asked, causing their attention to return to him.
"I think I’ll make an exception."
The rest of the day went like that.
Theodore was hanging out with us—for some reason I couldn’t understand—and Kel and Jasmine were taking turns making pick-up lines about us.
At least he didn’t seem to be reading too much into it, and they hadn’t said anything directly to him about us dating.
Only joked about it.
Now we were leaving school.
Kel and Jasmine were talking about some sort of biology assignment they had, and I was just thankful that I was smart enough not to choose biology.
I had IT and robotics.
Kel and Jasmine chose chemistry and biology, and Theodore had IT and chemistry.
I was ready to get on the bus when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the line.
"Oh no. This time you’re coming with me."
My energy was drained from fighting Jasmine and Kel’s comments all day, so I was too tired to argue with him.
I crossed my arms and followed him to his car without another word.
His hand was still holding my arm.
He let go only when I got in, after reminding me to wear my seatbelt.
He sat in the driver’s seat and started the car.
At least, because of Kel’s maniac texts, I could watch my phone and ignore him.
KEL:
SOS
SOS
SOS
ME:
What happened?
KEL:
Only the best day of my life. James asked me out.
JASMINE:
OMG
ME:
Finally!!! When?
KEL:
Tonight.
JASMINE:
I want a full report after it.
ME:
Yeah, me too.
But leave the disgusting details out of it.
KEL:
No promises.
Gotta go.
Practice.
ME:
Good luck.
I’m not sure if Theodore was kidding or not, but just in case he wasn’t, I needed to form a game plan for tomorrow.
- Writer
