Chapter 12: Bad Boy or Best Friend

I stared at the ceiling for thirty minutes before I decided to get out of bed. I needed to play it cool when I saw him today. I didn't want him to think I had been gushing about it all night, even though I had. 'Play it cool, Aria. You can do this.' Fumbling through my available uniforms, I remembered I was down one. I would need to explain that to Mom eventually but not yet. I was at the locker, not even concerned with Courtney and her crew, even after what they did to me. "Hey, you're back!" I shouted when I saw Hannah walking across the courtyard to my locker. She waved and hit me with a smile. She leaned against the lockers, making a clanking sound. "Yes, I am, in the flesh." She twirled and looked off to the side. "I guess that's my cue to leave." She pointed and took off. I turned around to see what she was pointing at, and I bumped into Chase. "Hey," he said and grinned. I took a few books out of my bag and swapped them with ones in my locker. "Hey there." I tried to respond without grinning too big. "So, what does this guy have that I don't?" He lifted one of my romance books from my locker, a book I just put in there. I laughed. The particular book he grabbed had a very tan, muscular guy on it. However, that wasn't something I would dispute he did or did not have because it was obvious. Chase was hot, but the guys in my novels were more than hot. They were sweet, charming, and everything a girl could ask for. They were fictional, after all. "You're probably not going to handle it well," I said. "Try me. I want to know. I think I could take him." Chase flexed. Now I knew he wouldn't understand. "My man right here," I tapped on the cover, "is generous. He thinks of others and is always there when you need him." "Does he have a motorcycle?" he asked as if that was the line that was drawn in the sand. "Not this particular one but that doesn't mean anything," I replied. "Can he do this?" He flexed one arm at a time and then both, making me laugh and roll my eyes. "So he's a goody-good?" He laughed and plopped the book back in my locker. I chuckled and pulled it back out. "No! Quite the opposite. Are you kidding?" I asked, bewildered. His eyebrow went up and a look of amusement crossed his face. "No?" he questioned. "Just because someone is nice and caring doesn't mean they can't have a bad side to them." I tapped the back cover. "Read!" He skimmed the back, nodded, and handed it back to me. I put it back in my locker and closed it. "So, is he a jack of all trades? Sounds unreasonable." He shrugged. Chase pretended to draw squiggles on my arm with his finger, almost making me blush. "Who would you say is considered more of a bad boy, him or me?" he asked, looking genuinely curious. It seemed as if the answer to this question could change everything, although, in reality, it wouldn't. "I want to say him, but I'm going with you." I poked him in the chest. He smiled as if this is a win, a trophy he could collect. "Is he your perfect vision of a man?" he asked. "You could say that he is almost the perfect man." I sighed. "What is he missing that would make him the complete package?" he asked. "If he were real." I turned to walk away, leaving him in my dust. I wouldn't be late for class, even for a bad boy like him. A few classes later, I slumped into my seat at lunch across from Hannah. She was playing with her food, just spinning and spinning her fork in circles. I almost wondered if she was not feeling well enough to be at school, then I wondered if she was at all jealous that my interactions with Chase were more than theirs were. "Hannah, are you okay?" I asked, opening my bottle of water and taking a swig. "Do you think maybe you might be moving a little fast with Chase?" she asked, not looking up from her over-twirled food. Her question caught me off guard and caused me to worry a bit. Was it possible she lied to me when she said she had no interest in him? "No, no, I don't. We aren't dating or anything. Hannah, do you like him? If you do, just say the word and I'll be done trying to talk to him. Me and fake me." I whispered the last part just in case anyone was within earshot. She nodded and scoffed, which wasn't enough for me to figure out the answer. "Hannah? Look at me. What's upsetting you?" I set my hand on her arm, and she stopped twirling her fork. She sighed and finally made eye contact with me. "Okay, look, this sounds stupid, so stupid. I am worried you are getting close to him in a short amount of time. I just think you should slow it down. At first, it was fun, but things suddenly seem to be changing fast. Doesn't that make you uncomfortable?" she asked. I couldn't deny that she was right. Things had been moving fast with Chase, but I told myself that we weren't dating. Plus, I still hadn't completely gotten over the embarrassment in the hall and the party he took me to the other night. "Yes and no. Look, I know this started as just a fun way to blow off some steam. But he seems like a cool guy. I like getting to know him, and believe me, that part is going slow. Hannah, if that's it, then okay, we can talk more about it, but you would let me know if you had feelings for him, right?" I asked, genuinely worrying about her answer. She laughed and shook her head, looking at me with a slight smirk. "Oh, Aria! You don't have to worry about that! I'm not into Chase, truly. I just feel like he gets more of your time than I do," she responded lightheartedly. "Okay, good, you had me worried there. I thought I crossed the lines of girl code," I said, pretending to wipe off forehead sweat. "No, not at all. Although, I would like more friend time with you," she pointed at me. "Absolutely! Let's do something extra fun for Halloween break!" I practically shouted. This was an exciting thought. I loved Halloween and time with my new best friend. My last friend hated the holiday. She nodded and grabbed my hand. "Thank you," she mouthed. She picked up her fork and ended up eating the food that she had twirled to death. The rest of the day went by quickly, which made me a happy camper because mentally I was done with school this week. I was keeping up with all of my classes and life was good. After getting home, I said hi and bye to my mom before I ran up to my room. She was on the phone with a new friend from work, and I didn't want to bother her. "Where's my green sweater?" I asked myself as I started to dig in my closet before I found what I was looking for and slipped it on. I was cold and loved this sweater. I stretched out on my bed in full comfort mode. It had been a bit since I logged into the fake account. My mind whirled. I wondered if he had sent this fake girl any more messages. How could I have not checked it until now? I pulled it out and logged in. "Hey, gorgeous." "What are you up to?" These were missed messages, so I typed a response back quickly. 'What would edgy me say?' "Hey, been busy. How about you?" I hit send, and the dots came up. He was typing. Part of me was hoping he would not have messaged this fake account. Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised. "Let's video chat. I have a few ideas," he replied with a smiley face and a wink face. "What kind of ideas?" I asked, actually curious about this one, even though video chatting was not an option. "I'm bored. Let's have video sex." His words send me whirling. How did you have video sex? I hadn't even had regular sex. Wasn't that an upgrade? Maybe it was a downgrade. I didn't know. Even so, he couldn't know this fake person was me. That would have been weird. I wondered if I should ask Hannah, but then I decided against it. She was already feeling vulnerable about our friendship. I needed to figure out an excuse. I couldn't video him. That much was obvious. I started to type back.