The Crush Plan

8

"Alright, everyone, pass up your papers," Mr. Brian urged, as I handed my paper to the girl in front of me.

Today, we had an English questionnaire to answer, and that took more than half of our class time. Just as Mr. Brian began to assemble all the papers together, the bell for next period rang. I shoved my pen into my bag, lifted it up and trudged out of the room nonchalantly. While I was passing, I heard a voice call my name. I halted on my tracks, not bothering to turn around and waited for whoever it was to catch up to me.

A girl stopped when she reached me, and fished through her bag to take out a blue piece of paper. She held it out to me, as a smile suddenly took on her expression. I recognized her all of a sudden; she was Edith Stonehall—Riley's ex-girlfriend.

"Hi, Autumn," she greeted, while I took the paper from her. "I'm hosting a banquet Friday night and was wondering if you'd like to come?"

My eyebrows raised in confusion, as I looked down at the paper and skimmed it through. It was an invitation, consisting of the information needed to go there. The venue, time, etc. I looked back up at Edith, gulping in anxiety.

Edith's smile widened. "So, are you coming?"

"Um...," I fidgeted around for the right words. "Why, exactly, am I being invited?"

She shrugged, like it was so obvious. "You're one of us, now. A jock. Since I'm hosting an event, the most popular and exclusive people have to be invited. So..."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm exclusive?" I couldn't believe her words, because she was one of the many girls who stood there and laughed at me when my first crush had humiliated me in front of the entire school.

"And, popular," Edith added, nodding. "You wouldn't be invited, otherwise."

I sighed, realizing Caden was going as well, most likely. "Okay, I'll come."

She grinned. "Great. Oh, and by the way, Ms. Willow wants you in her office. Now."

I found myself dumbfounded, as Edith strutted away. Ms. Willow was the principal of our school. She barely ever asked for me, and this was pretty much the first time. I headed for her office, still deliberating why she could have asked for me. However, I couldn't zero in on any of the predictions until I walked through the glassy door, and into her office.

The first observation I made, was my dad being seated in one of the seats in front of her. He turned around when he heard the door open, a wide grin on his lips. I froze where I stood, gaping at Dad and clearly not knowing what to do. He didn't hesitate before standing up and crossing over to me, engulfing me in a hug I couldn't determine if I should return.

"It is so good to see you, Autumn," he murmured against my ear. "I missed you, hun."

Tentatively, I found my hands traveling up to return his gesture. I knew I shouldn't be showing my affections to him after everything that had happened, but I couldn't exactly resist. I hadn't seen him in so long, and just seeing him in front of me—safe and secure—warmed my heart.

"It is good to see you, too, Dad."

After he drew back from the hug, I noticed the brunette sitting on the other seat. She tilted her head and her eyes met mine. She had a pale complexion that went well with her verdant eyes. Her nose wasn't as pointy, but her lips were quite plump. Her outfit was matched; a sky-blue colored, full-sleeved shirt, paired with white tights and white shoes. Her bag was sky blue, as well. The color suited her pretty well and brought out her striking eyes. She rolled her eyes at me, much to my confusion.

"Autumn," Dad uttered, earning my full attention. "This is Scarlet Conwell, Octavia's wonderful daughter. And, Scarlet, this is Autumn Reeves." Conwell was my dad's last name, which Octavia had adopted after the wedding.

Scarlet stood up and stepped up to me. "Hi, Autumn."

I nodded with a faint smile. "Hey."

"Alright, thank you very much, Ms. Willow. I'm going to trust you to take over," Dad told the old lady sitting by her desk. "Autumn," he said and looked back at me. "I'm going to go, now. See you later."

After Dad left, Ms. Willow smiled at me. "Autumn, you're going to show Scarlet around the school and escort her to all of her classes, okay?" She scribbled down a late pass for me and handed it over. "Here's your late pass. Good luck, Scarlet, welcome to Midwest High School."

I only had to attend half of chemistry, and, thankfully, Scarlet had the same class. Once the bell rang for lunch, I waited for Scarlet to assemble her belongings.

"Hey, darling," Riley winked at Scarlet. Well, at least I wouldn't be bothered anymore.

She rolled her eyes, swinging her bag on her shoulder. "I've got standards," she rubbed into his face, as we both made our way to my locker. I couldn't help but notice the way she walked. Her hips shook both ways like she was a part of a catwalk.

"Uh," I began nervously, "do you know your locker number?"

Scarlet exhaled out of apathy. "Yeah, I believe it was hundred-one."

I pointed at the locker next to mine, as we came to a halt. "That's yours."

"Hey, Autumn," Candice came by, standing on the other side of my locker, since that was hers, and noticing Scarlet next to me. "Who's your friend?"

I smiled at Candice. "This is Scarlet Conwell."

She nodded at me after realizing who that was. "Hi, Scarlet," Candice muttered to her, holding her hand out so Scarlet could shake it.

"No offense, but if I'm going to make friends here, I'm looking for ones that match my standards," Scarlet crossed her arms across her chest, trudging away with Candice's hand still held out.

Candice looked at me and withdrew her hand. Her mouth was still agape in shock. "That prick!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but got cut off by Caden, who had just tromped up to me. "Hey," he said to Candice.

"Hi, what's up?" I inquired, as Candice simply waved at him.

He sighed. "I have soccer practice after school. Why don't you head home, and come over at my place around five?"

I shrugged. "Alright."

"Great," Caden was about to leave, but stopped and turned to me. "And, is everything okay with you? You seem upset."

That got me. Caden O'Connor noticed there was something wrong with me. "At least you noticed," I smiled at him. "And just... Family issues."

He nodded, understanding. "I hope whatever it is gets sorted out soon. I like you better when you're happy."

"Aw," Candice gushed, nudging my arm. "That's too sweet."

Caden chuckled. "I'll see you later, Autumn."

It seemed like Candice forgot all about what Scarlet said to her, because, as soon as Caden left, she draped her arm around my shoulder and began to tease me about him. "It's working, Autumn!"

I couldn't help but agree. "Yes, it is."

***

When I arrived home that afternoon, I was greeted by Mom, sitting by the coffee table, fuming. I couldn't exactly understand why, so I quietly muttered a greeting to her, and started to tip-toe upstairs. I didn't really like speaking to Mom when she was angry; it usually ended up with either one of us crying.

"Autumn."

I cringed, stopping an inch away from the stairs. "Yeah?"

She sighed. "Come here, please."

Tentatively, I plodded over to the couch across from Mom's, flopping down and waiting for her to speak up. Mom clenched her fists, peering up at me with the gloomiest expression. Her eyes were red and glossy, indicating that she had been crying. I gulped, realizing this was going to be a long and serious conversation.

"You spoke to your dad?" she questioned, her voice on the verge of cracking.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "No? Of course not. Mom, I'd never—"

Mom shot up from her seat. "Don't you dare lie to me!" she screeched, startling me. "Octavia called just after you left this morning. She said Gerard was heading to school with Scarlet, and he's looking forward to seeing you after so long. But, when I told her you left already, she hung up immediately."

"Oh."

She groaned, falling back on the couch, hopeless. "Autumn, do you not understand your dad's not worth going back to?"

I scoffed. "Mom, I wasn't thinking about going back to him. I—"

"Of course you weren't. Why else would you speak to him?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because he wanted me to show Scarlet around school, Mom. I would never dare to leave you for him. Never."

Mom's anger died down a bit. "You promise?" she whimpered, tears streaming down her eyes.

"I promise," I reassured her.

That evening, when I headed to Caden's house, I was greeted by Willa, opening the door. She had a warm smile on her face, standing off to the side so I could enter. The next person I saw, was a man—presumably Caden's dad.

He was seated on one of the sofas in the living room, reading a newspaper. His hair was grayish, but straight. The man had a tan complexion, with a pointy nose. His eyes—which I noticed once he peered at me—were green, slightly darker than Caden's eye color. He was dressed in his office clothes; a formal, navy blue shirt paired with dark gray dress pants.

"Hello," he greeted with a polite smile.

I returned the smile. "Hi."

Caden stepped out of his room, at that exact moment. "Oh, hey." He said to me before looking over at his dad, and grinning back at me. "Autumn, this is my dad, Philip O'Connor. And, Dad, this is Autumn Reeves, a friend of mine."

My heart stopped when I heard him. I contemplated pinching myself, so I could make sure I wasn't dreaming. Exactly four days ago, when Caden introduced me to Alfonso, he said I was just his tutor. But now, he introduced me to his dad as his friend... I, literally, had to keep myself from squealing out loud.

"It's a pleasure, miss Reeves."

I nodded, "same here, sir."

Caden motioned for me to come with him. "Let's go."

Once we were in his room, he informed me he was scared for our upcoming geometry test. Instantly, I began to review the chapters from this unit with him. After revising for about two hours, Caden was starting to get frustrated. I'd explained three whole chapters and made him practice some of the problems, but he wasn't getting anywhere close to understanding the gist. So, after a few more minutes, he'd exploded, much to my surprise.

"This is ridiculous! I can't do this for the life of me. This is so stupid!" he yelled, slamming the textbook onto his table.

I gulped in worry, since I hadn't really seen this side to Caden. He'd always been so composed, like nothing in this entire world could bother him. But now, seeing him like this was a whole new experience for me.

"Caden—" I tried to speak.

He cut me off. "I'm sorry, Autumn, but this is just not going to work... I can't do this!"

I sighed, pondering intently for just a split second about what I should say to him. "You can, Caden. This will only work if you have faith in yourself—if you have faith in your ability to do this... That's the only way this'll work."

"Well, I don't have faith in myself," Caden placed without even a bit of hesitation.

I smiled, shaking my head. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have asked me to tutor you. You wouldn't have tried in the first place."

He shrugged. "I tried and I failed. As simple as that."

"Caden," I pushed, placing my hand on his. "Just because you failed once doesn't mean you'll fail again. To fail once means to take the first step towards success. And to try again means to have the wish to succeed."

Caden took in a deep breath, staring at me, and I spotted hope taking on his eyes. "Fine," he gave in. "But only because I have faith in you."

I chuckled, finding humor in his words. "Well, if that's the case then, soon enough, you'll learn how to have faith in yourself. I promise you that."