The Heaven I Found In Hell (18 page)

I took a sip from my bottled water, before I bit into my tuna sandwich. I chewed the bread, tuna, and mayonnaise inside my mouth with etiquette, before I opened my mouth to speak.

"So Riley…are you nervous?"

She looked up from her plate of spaghetti, and sent me an indecisive smile. She knew what I was talking about. A couple of us started to whistle as we laughed, while Anthony, trying not to look so obvious, just teased Riley, making the soccer captain of the women's team blush.

"For all I know…it could be some perverted freshman…" She said, pulling out a disgusted face because of what she said.

In the middle of our conversation, which was centered on Riley, Cindy had the nerve to start flirting with Nathan, and sadly on my part, the stupid ass was actually returning her playful winks by giving her a one-arm hug. 
That was supposed to be mine!
 I shouted inside my head like a little kid.

Riley and Kendra, who had an idea about my feelings towards Nathan since we had a talk last night about it after we chatted about Riley's admirer, decided to stay quiet, and just send Cindy small friendly smiles. Realizing that hoping for the impossible was definitely impossible, I decided to continue on with the earlier conversation.

"Do you think a perverted freshman would make such a sweet poem?" I asked Riley, adding a smirk on my face.

Kendra agreed with me by teasing her soccer mate some more. Riley shook her head, the blush still on her face, before she changed the subject of our chat. Not realizing what she had gotten me into, she started asking each and every one of us about whom our partners to the dance would be. And the stupid lovebirds (a.k.a. the perfect ass and the nerdy slut) had to begin by telling the whole group about what they were planning on being.

"I told Nathan I wanted us to go as 'Romeo and Juliet'." Cindy squealed with excitement, which made me put on a gagging face.

I crossed my arms over my breasts, and mentally cursed the two for making me so jealous. I looked at Nathan, and immediately wished I hadn't. He looked so damn hot.

"It's very cliché, but I'll just do it…" Nathan answered very nonchalantly, as his arm wasn't on the blonde's shoulders anymore, but instead, it was around the waist, and my tutor, finding this as the perfect opportunity to display some public signs of affection, leaned her head on Nathan's solid chest. I was seriously getting sick...and jealous.

"Do you guys already have costumes?" I asked the both of them, while I eyed Nathan who was looking down at his plate. He looked like he was in deep thought, and I hoped he was thinking about how much of an ass he was being.

"Not yet…but we're planning to go shopping tomorrow. Right, dear?" Cindy asked.

I felt myself stiffen by the mention of the word 'dear' coming out form Cindy's mouth. 
Was she taking my place as Nathan's tease-fest partner? Possibly…
Nathan simply nodded at Cindy's question, before he decided to brighten up and talk to the guys, but apparently Riley cut his conversation with Anthony and Blake short by calling her knight's name.

"Hey Anthony!" Riley said in a booming voice, immediately catching Anthony's attention effortlessly.

The ebony-haired man turned his head to look at Riley, before he gave her a, "What?"

"Are you trying to go all-Shakespeare on me now?" My best friend asked, sounding a little ignorant of Anthony's nervousness that was enveloping the whole of him.

Riley waited for Anthony's response, as she looked at him intently. Blake and Cindy who had no idea what Riley was asking Anthony started questioning the two lovebirds-to-be. Maintaining her gaze on the guy that was crazy in love with her, Riley ignored the two nosy people, and continued the interrogation.

"Did you write the poem?" Riley asked, before she took a bite from her sandwich.

I kicked her from under the table and sent her a questioning look. She returned my glare with one of her own, and I soon figured out what she was trying to do. She was trying to act intimidating, and it was definitely working. The guy was practically dancing in his seat like he had ants in his pants.

"What poem?" Anthony returned, pretending to act dumb.

I turned my head to the side, and hoped to catch Nathan's attention by elbowing him. Slightly taken aback, he jumped in his chair, before he turned to and cocked an eyebrow up at me.

"Why'd you do that?" He said in a soft whisper, his voice sounding clueless.

I looked at him with a hard glare, before I turned my head to Anthony's direction. I was trying to show him how edgy his best friend acted.

"Help him." I then mouthed out.

"You know what I'm talking about…" Riley said in a matter-of-factly tone.

Nathan (finally) decided to be a good friend.

"What are you actually talking about?" The older one of the twin, by a couple of minutes, asked his sister, though he knew everything.

"This." She said, placing the piece of paper on the table.

I had to laugh. I didn't expect Riley to really bring the poem, and no offense, the way she was 'acting' was just hilarious. Trying to look threatening, though she pulled it off, wasn't really needed in this situation.

"What if I didn't write the poem?" Anthony asked looking apathetic, like he always does most of the time.

It took Riley a few seconds to figure out her one-word answer, and I didn't really think that that kind of answer needed too much thinking. It was just a simple, "Okay..."

"But what if he did?" Nathan asked immediately, right after Riley talked since he knew that his friend wasn't going to ask what he asked. Anthony, sometimes and no offense could be just a pushover.

Riley answered quickly.

"If he did…then I'll be looking forward to the dance." She answered with a small playful smile that I'm sure made Anthony's heart flip and flop a dozen times.

I had to turn to Nathan, and good thing he was looking back at me with the same Cheshire-cat-like smile I was wearing, and I immediately felt that the annoyance we had towards each other was absolute gone. I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself for such shallowness we had.

"How did you know it was me?" Anthony asked surprised.

"So it's you?"

Before Anthony even got the chance to open his mouth to answer, the bell rang. 
Very bad timing.
 I thought. The lot of us stood up immediately, grabbed our bags, and headed our separate ways to our different classes. I left the cafeteria thinking about what was going to happen later. I couldn't wait any longer.

…

"You're watching soccer practice?" Riley asked Cindy and me, while she played with her soccer ball.

Right after school ended, I found myself being pulled by the wrist and into a bathroom with Cindy being my kidnapper. She immediately asked me for some gossip, specifically about the whole Anthony-liking-Riley thing. I told her that Anthony wrote a poem for Riley, but skipped the part where Nathan and I both helped the guy get the girl of his dreams. I couldn't handle any more drama. What was happening was more than enough already, and I didn't need a catfight with Cindy to make my high school days more memorable.

"Anything wrong?" I asked Riley, putting on a small innocent smile.

She looked at me with a raised brow, before she mouthed out an 'Okay,' and ran over to where her soccer mates were. Cindy and I, excited of what was going to happen, continued giggling while we mindlessly watched the soccer team practice.

…

Anthony exhaled repeatedly. He didn't know why he was feeling so nervous. It was just an invitation to go to a dance…that's all this was about, but he couldn't stop the butterflies in his stomach from dancing. He felt like he was going to barf anytime soon, and it was all because of Riley.

"How could she make me feel like this?" He asked himself, but it was Nathan who answered the question.

"Maybe because you love her?" The brown-haired guy spoke out.

"But I loved before…why do I only feel this now?" Anthony asked, apathetic of how mushy he sounded.

Blake, who was against a wall, laughed light-heartedly at his pal before he told him to just simply relax. He told Anthony that if he continued acting like this, he might just end up messing all of this up, and what he worked hard was just going to be worthless.

"You don't know how I feel…" Anthony said to his de-flowering friend. "I'm sorry, but I just don't sleep around with girls. I just don't do that."

Blake sighed. "You're right. I really don't know how you feel like."

Nathan who had been silent for a good few minutes decided to speak.

"I think I do."

…

Anthony called out Riley's name while she was busy doing push-ups. In acknowledgement, the girl stood up from where she lied down on the grass, and turned her attention to him.

"What?" She screamed out. "Can't you see I still have training?"

Anthony nodded at her, before he kicked the ball he held over to where Riley stood. She stopped it from rolling with her feet, and picked it up. She laughed at him.

"Why'd you write on it?" She asked, and the guy simply grinned in returned. "You're wasting ink and this ball."

"Asking you to dance with me isn't a waste."

Riley read what Anthony had written down. 
Dance with me? 
She nodded her head repeatedly, probably looking like an idiot, before she ran to him, and hugged him. He returned her embrace with a very tight one of his own, before he asked her again, now…without a poem…without a soccer ball and a marker…without any of his friends' help.

"Dance with me?" He asked, taking her hands, and covering them with his own.

He waited for her response, and when she gave it, he couldn't help but kiss her. Even though it was just a simple peck on the lips, it meant a lot to her and to him to finally get the weight off the guy's chest. They remained looking at each other compassionately, getting a lot of weird stares from onlookers, while the others, those who knew what was going on, applauded and cheered the two for doing something that was incredibly thoughtful and sweet.

Cindy was jumping for joy, by the sight of the two most innocent people in their group liking each other. She felt extremely happy that they had feelings for each other since she knew they'd make a cute couple. She also realized how good they looked together, and how well they fit each other. Riley and Anthony were noisy at some times, and shy in other instances, and Cindy couldn't wait to watch their relationship progress in front of her eyes since they were just in the same clique...

...Blake who was getting amused with the two, curved his lips up into a smirk. He realized that Anthony was growing up, and was probably going to learn things he, himself, hadn't experienced yet. Even though he enjoyed watching the two acting all lovey-dovey with each other, he was still going to be the same. Blake wasn't Anthony, and vice versa. One didn't know what true love meant, while the other was dying to figure it out and feel it...