Chapter Six: The Setup

~Kena~

As soon as we arrived, Paul and I dismounted his bike in front of the house where the party was being held. There were a lot of students running, shouting, and spinning to the deafening music blasting from two large speakers on either side of the massive building; whoever lived here was also part of the circle of stuck-up wealthy lifestyles like my intolerable family. I had yet to meet a moderately wealthy person who could persuade me to reconsider the wealthy. Paul was different though.

I looked around the environment and I was already bored. "So, tell me the truth, what exactly are we doing here?" I made sure he felt the suspicion in my voice while I locked a glare on him.

"What are you talking about?" can't a guy invite his best friend to party with secondary school delinquents without being hanged for it?" Paul cried and shook his head at me, attempting to fake a hurt look but failing miserably because I could see the mischievous glint in his stunning jewel eyes.

"Don't walk away from me, Paul; I'm not done questioning you!" I yelled over the loud music as Paul began walking away and towards the large house. He came to a complete stop, turned around, walked back to me, grabbed my hand, and began pulling me into the building.

"Let go of me and just tell me what we're doing here!" I yelled above the din of music.

"Jeez! Please be quiet and come quietly. Do you realize how much you talk?" He mumbled the last bit as he dragged me into the crowded house.

"I talk too much?!" My mouth gasped open in disbelief as I yelled.

"Are you serious?" He didn't say anything, instead concentrated on navigating his way through a crowd of jittery, sweaty teenagers who were too buzzed and high on illegal drugs to think about anything else. I scoffed. "That's rich coming from a guy who hasn't stopped talking since I met him, and probably since he left his mother's womb; for all I know, he might have talked his mother's intestines to death, which is why he was kicked out of the womb too fast! To think about it..."

My voice became trapped as I abruptly came to a halt in the middle of the living room at the sight of Owen Philips, a well-known jock at our school, and everything immediately made sense.

Allow me to elaborate. Owen was one of the first people Paul and I got a thumbs up from when we first came out as friends, and he was extremely sweet to us; shortly after, whenever Paul and I were alone, he would always bring up Owen and praise him for his niceness and "beauty." I didn't give it much thought at first until Paul asked me a question that ripped my heart from its sockets.

"Don't you think it would be fantastic if you and Owen started dating?"

I figured he was joking at first because I could never imagine my best friend being that blind to my clear feelings for him. Anyone who had eyes could clearly see that for the two years that Paul Williams and I had been friends, I was absolutely head over heels in love with him. But it was obvious soon enough when I looked into his eyes and saw the joy of finding the right person for me twinkling in them that I had come to the painful realization that anyone else but Paul could see my true feelings for him. It hurt even more when I realized Paul didn't call me "dude" as a term of endearment, but rather because he didn't see me as a woman (or maybe he did see me as a woman for other guys but didn't see me as a woman for him).

Despite my stern warnings to reframe from that part, Paul had made it his life's goal to bring Owen and me together ever since that day.

Let us now return to the present moment. "Seriously?! I yelled at Paul when he turned to see why I had stopped the two of us from going any further.

"Come on, dude, give him a chance." Trying to hide my sadness and desire to cry, I glared daggers at him, unable to speak for fear that my tears would betray me.

"Please Kena, don't give me that look; he likes you and has been bugging me for days to help him get to know you better, so I'd be happy if you go on a date with him. Please, dude, have mercy on the poor guy; he came all the way here to meet you; at the very least, talk to him." I turned around to leave his dumb self behind, choking on my tears, but he refused to let go of my hand, instead, he pulled me into his firm chest and whispered slowly into my ears, "will you please do this for me?" And just like that, my determination disappeared, leaving behind a lovesick puppy ready to go to any length to please her owner, and before I knew it, I was nodding helplessly in agreement.

The blissful moment in his arms was short-lived because as soon as I agreed to his wishes, he snatched me out of his embrace and started dragging me to where Owen and his friends stood chatting and drinking.

"Owen's face lit up when he saw me arrive, and I gave him a small smile. "Howdy, fellas!" Paul greeted everyone before turning to Owen and giving him a big smile as if to say, "I delivered on my word," and I felt embarrassed of my shoddy resolutions.

"I've got to get out of here, guys!" Paul shouted to the guys and Owen over the loud music, and they said their goodbyes, but before he left, he came close to me and whispered into my ear,

"I'll see you in two hours so we can go do the other business. Try to have fun," he continued, smiling. "I promise you, he is a really nice guy, and I want the best for my best friend." With that, he kissed my forehead and vanished into the sea of sweaty teenagers, leaving me nervously alone with a lot of strangers and a guy I didn't like.

Why did I let him hug and talk me into this messed-up situation in the first place?

*****

I'm sure you've heard the popular adage, "If you work hard, you will succeed in life." Please, I need you to do something for me. If you ever find the idiot who made up that statement, punch them in the face for me, will you?

Remember when I mentioned something about "underground work"?

Well, when I saw my best friend leave me at a party with some guy he convinced himself would be perfect for me, I knew right then and there that all that "work" was complete nonsense.

Have you ever had to stalk someone on Facebook who you truly believe is the only one for you? Not only that, but have you ever checked their chats, Instagram DMs, latest posts, what they like, what they share, who they follow, and who follows them back?

Did you ever join a gymnastics club to impress a guy because you overheard him telling someone that he liked girls who did those kinds of things, even though you knew you were the most clumsy person on the planet, and then you had to endure hours and hours of pain just so he looked your way?

Have you ever stalked someone for five days straight just to find out where he hangs out the most and then pretend to run into them there, claiming it's your favourite place to visit as well?

Do I really need to go on?

Remember how I said he followed me everywhere after that encounter in the hallway? Yeah, that only happened after my underground works were fully operational, and he became convinced that we had a lot in common.

I bet you are probably thinking that because he asked for my number first that day, it means he already liked me and had plans to spend time with me, and that all of the things I did weren't really necessary. Well, I'll strongly disagree with you there because Paul would have become another Ethan in my life if I hadn't done all of that.

Remember Ethan? Yeah, the guy who tripped me in class. When Ethan first arrived at Greenwealth Secondary, I was one of the first people he met and became friends with, but after hearing my full gist from pretty much everyone in school, Ethan quickly decided that I wasn't worth his friendship, and he quickly joined my long list of tormentors.

I didn't want Paul to look at me like Ethan did. I wanted him to see that I could be up to his standard, and even if I couldn't do it financially, I could still do it the only way I could afford which was stalking. And don't come at me with the honesty nonsense because I learned a long time ago that that kind of nonsense didn't cut it for Greenwealth.

Anyway, I realized as I watched him leave, that after two years of friendship all I had gained from all that hard work was a best friend who took it upon himself to find me a life partner who wasn't him.

I wish I could say I blamed him, but I couldn't because, just like me, he was a sucker for Jessica, and in that regard, I knew I did always come second to her.

*****

The date with Owen was cancelled because I told him honestly that I was in love with someone else and wouldn't be able to like him the way he desired. He wasn't happy about it, but he wasn't angry either; he just nodded and wished me luck with the person I wanted, and then I left him to find Paul.

As I navigated through the sea of sweaty teenagers, I reflected on what I said to Owen, how honest I was with him and how well he took it, and then I told myself that this little setup wasn't going to derail my earlier resolve, that today had to be the last, this stressful bundle of feelings had to end. I had to tell Paul how I felt about him once and for all before I lost him to Jessica forever.

After a long search, I finally found Paul in a massive kitchen with Eddie, a guy from school, and I walked over to them with my heart on my sleeve.

"Dude?" Paul's eyes widened as he noticed me and he dropped the can of beer he was holding on the kitchen counter.

"What are you doing here?" "Weren't you suppose to be with Owen?" He added as he waited for an answer from me.

Eddie turned to face me, and his face immediately turned frowny. "I'll catch you later, dude." He quickly said to Paul before walking past me and out of the kitchen without looking back.

"What's the matter? Did Owen offend you in any way?" Paul approached me, took my hands in his, and stared at me with such intensity spilling from his brown eyes, patiently waiting for me to say something to him.

"We need to talk, Paul."

His gaze never left mine. "O-okay?"

"I don't like Owen and will never like him." His gaze remained intense, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw something cross his eyes as he replied,

"That's fine; you don't have to date him if you don't want to; we can find you someone else and even..."

"I'm madly in love with you."

These were the words I had always been afraid to say to him. And in that intense moment, when his gaze locked on mine, I knew I'd been right to worry.