The Ties That Started It All (The Ties Book 3)

2: She Likes Me

Daniel

I leave Biology class and follow Isabella and her friend to their lockers. My buddy Kevin stops me to hype me up for the game tonight.

“You ready to fvck up those pvssies tonight?”

“Sup Kev? Yeah, they won’t even know what hit them,” I chuckle.

“Absolutely! Coach wants to have a meeting right after school. He wants our heads in the game tonight because this game will determine how the rest of the season will go.”

“Yeah, I won’t be there. I gotta… there’s something I have to do.”

Kevin responds, but I tune him out. I’m still eyeing Isabella and her friend. Isabella grabs her bag from her locker and piles several books in her bag.

“Hey man,” Kevin says and taps my shoulder, “you alright? You seem preoccupied.”

“I’m fine.”

“Dude, you’re not fine. What are you staring at,” he asks and turns his gaze to mine. “Ohhh, I see you checking out that shorty over there. Better not let your girl see that,” he taunts.

“She’s not my girl,” I protest and glare at him. “Just because we fvck all the time, it doesn’t mean we’re in a relationship.”

“Better not let her hear you say that. I don’t think she feels that way,” he laughs.

Isabella and her friend prepare to leave and I walk away, leaving Kevin standing there. I’m not worried about that meeting after school because it’s the same bullshit pep talk coach always gives mid-season. Something about the way Isabella looked at me earlier. I can’t shake that feeling. Why have I never noticed her before? The way she smiled at me made me feel something I’ve never felt before. I want to feel that more often.

The girls are walking slowly, so I run to the parking lot to get in my car to follow them. I drive to the front of the school and immediately see them. They’ve picked up their pace to catch the nearby trolley.

I follow the trolley and they get off at a stop near the library. After they go into the library, I park in the parking lot and make my way in. These girls walk very slow. They are laughing and giggling together. I follow them and they go to the history section. I’m an aisle behind them, quietly watching them between the books. Isabella is very beautiful and she has a perfect figure-eight shape. My phone rings loudly, interrupting my secret study of the girls and Isabella and her friend turn their attention in my direction. I drop to the floor and quickly answer the phone.

“Yo?”

“Hey. It’s me,” a female voice brightly says.

“Who,” I whisper.

“Daniel, this isn’t funny! I know you have my number saved. It’s me,” the voice whines.

Hearing that familiar snarky tone instantly reveals who it is.

“Oh, Annabelle. Hey, what’s up,” I whisper again.

“I just wanted to talk. My i***t big brother started bitching about…”

Her words fade away as I stand back up to see what Isabella and her friend are doing. However, they moved. I move to the section they were at and frantically search for them.

“Daniel,” Annabelle yells through the phone.

“Where did they go,” I mumble to myself.

“Helloooooo?! Daniel? Are you there,” Annabelle screeches through the phone.

“Huh? What?”

“Did you not hear anything I just said? I said I wish I could see you. You think we can hook up before my dad comes to get me this weekend?”

“We can after the game tonight, I guess,” I say, hoping this conversation will end.

“What’s wrong with you? Is everything okay, Daniel,” she asks.

“Listen, can we talk later? I got to go,” I whisper yet again and hang up without waiting for a response.

Now that she’s off the phone, I need to find Isabella again. I walk all over the library and then I hear her exclaim, “God, he is so fine!”

I immediately move in the direction of her voice. Isabella is grabbing a book from the shelf and she seems flustered.

“How long have you had a crush on him,” her friend says. “Maybe this is your chance to let him know you like him finally and maybe he likes you too. That’s probably why he smiled at you!”

“No way, Mari. He’s way out of my league. He- he wouldn’t want to be with a girl like me,” she shyly counters.

They sit down with a few books and I just stand there and stare at her. Is that why she looked at me the way she did? Is it because she likes me? A beautiful girl like that has a crush on me?