023

  Jenna Brooks's POV

  "No!" I replied blandly.

The smile on Liam's face suddenly disappeared, "I understand if you're too scared of losing."

"What? No. I'm confident you'll never be able to pull it off."

"Then our deal is on?"

"Deal." I replied.

He brought his face a bit closer to mine and whispered, "Good girl." then my breathing seemed to stop entirely when one of his hands moved from above my head, traveling hesitantly down to stroke over my hair. As soon as I felt him take a strand between his fingers, shivers broke out over my body and butterflies swooped around my stomach.

Oh my God, Jenna. What is this new feeling? You need to make it stop.

"Aren't you going inside?" I heard that familiar voice say. It was undoubtedly Conrad, standing there and watching us. Had he been there the whole time? Liam dropped his hand and I nervously walked into the club room to avoiding any questions. 

Luckily, first rehearsals were mainly table reading and talking. Our scripts were handed out to us and a lot was said—a lot I didn't pay much attention to because I was busy running my eyes through the fourty plus students in the room to fish out Pstar7.

Mr Moustash, the man who was there when I did my audition, cleared his throat, statling me.

His gaze swept across the room before it finally landed on me. "So are you excited to be in the legendary school play?" Mr Moustash asked. 

Legendary school play? Oh, please!

"Sure." I replied.

"Sure? That's it?"

"No, of course I'm excited. I'm so excited." I said with more enthusiasm.

"Good. 'Cuz I could give the role to anyone, you know. But I didn't choose anyone. I chose you."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, I chose you because you're talented."

I was confused. He just said he could choose anyone, which made me feel not

special and now he was saying he chose me because I was talented, which made me feel special again. I take a sip of the water on my table as I watch his attention swiftly turn to Conrad. 

Finally, rehearsals were over and it was time for Liam to play the piano. He started off smoothly and no one noticed he wasn't the one playing the piano. But I knew he was bound to make a mistake before he finished. 

I didn't realize how badly I lost the bet until the whole room erupted in a thunderous clap. How the fuck do they not know it was a fad? I mean, it's impossible to be that good at playing the piano. 

While the juniors surrounded him, I tried to leave so we wouldn't have to talk about the deal we made earlier but the cornered me just outside the club room. 

"We made a deal, Jenna. You're not trying to go back on your words, are you?"

"What? No. I would never do that."

"Great. it's a Friday tomorrow and I don't think I'll be in school, my football team has a match in another state. So, I guess I'll see you Saturday night??"

"Ye…yeah." I replied sheepishly.

"Cool, I gotta go now. Bye," he stroked my hair one last time and ran off.

I took a deep breath, leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. It's just a date, Jenna. Don't overthink it. Think of it as two buddies hanging out. 

"Hey," I heard Conrad's voice and I immediately opened my eyes and stood up straight.

"Hi…" I trailed off.

"You guys seem really close."

"Who? Liam and I?"

"Yeah, I saw him stroking your hair earlier," he bit his lower lip and waited for me to answer.

I was right, he did saw us, I wonder if he heard what we talked about.

"Yes…it's normal for friends to stroke each other's hair," I replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Then, I guess I can do…this…" he trailed off.

He reached over and stroked my hair. My eyes suddenly shut tight as his finger felt gentle on my scalp and I shivered once. "Why are your eyes closed?" he whispered to me, still stroking my hair and I immediately opened my eyes.

"I…" I said lowering my eyes so I wouldn't look at him. "Liam and I are going on a date this weekend…" 

God, why did I say that? Why do I keep running my mouth? I literally ruined the moment.

He stopped stroking my hair and his hand dropped to his side. I tried not to lift my gaze because I was afraid of seeing the way he was looking at me right now.

The silence between us was deafening until he finally spoke and when he did, it was slow and haltingly. "Really? That's…nice."

Taking this as my cue to leave so I could avoid the awkward situation, I met his gaze and forced a smile. "Yeah, I…I should probably go now." I quickly turned and headed to the already awaiting car.

For the first time in a while, Conrad rode home with us. 'Why didn't he take his bike?' I wondered. Even though he was looking out the window through the ride, I couldn't shake off the feeling that something had shifted.

On arriving home, I slept for about three hours and after dinner, went back to my room to practice my lines. So far, I hadn't read past the first three pages of my script because I wanted to learn them first.

As I practiced my lines, my phone screen lit up and I immediately grabbed it. It was a text from Pstar7. Excited, I tossed my script aside and read it.

Pstar7: You didn't say much during the table reading today.

He knew I didn't say anything during the table reading which only meant one thing, he was in the club room during that time. I tried to recollect the faces of those present during the table reading but I couldn't because we were about fourty in number.

Me: 'I'm not really into plays. I joined because of you.'

For the rest of the night, he didn't reply my text. I dropped my phone and went back to reading my script. When I felt the room was becoming too stuffy, I decided to go rehearse on the rooftop and maybe deep down, I hoped to find Conrad there.

Lucky for me, he was on the rooftop, leaning on the railings. I cleared my throat to get his attention.

"I had no idea you were here," I said as he turned to me.

He laughed as his lips stuck out and his face wrinkled up. He had pretty lips; they were really full and lush pink. "What are you doing up here?" he asked.

I walked to his side and also leaned on the railings, "To practice my lines." I replied.

"Alright. Help yourself."

I practiced my lines half heartedly because half my attention was on him. The way the wind blew his hair into messy waves and the way his eyes twitched whenever it did.

"You know, it's rude to stare at someone for too long." he said suddenly and I immediately dropped my gaze back to my script.

I cleared my throat, too loudly, "What? I wasn't staring at you."

"You weren't?"

"Yes,"

"Okay." he stopped, searching my gaze. When our eyes finally locked, he continued, "Did Tiffany tell you about the kiss at the last scene of the play?"

Immediately, my gaze dropped again. What kiss scene? No one told me about adding a kiss scene to the play.

"What kiss scene?"

"It's in your script? You haven't read it up to that point?" he asked and he seemed unfazed.

I gasped for air at the thought of kissing Conrad in front of the entire school. Although I would sometimes fantasize about kissing him, I didn't want it to be like this. I wanted our kiss to be a real kiss, not a kiss for a school play.

"I haven't read the full script."

"And you didn't hear Tiffany say it during the table reading?" how could I have heard her? My eyes was busy watching everyone like an hawk so I could fish out who Pstar7 was.

"I had no idea." I replied truthfully but there was this knowing glint in Conrad's eyes. Did he think I was lying? "I'm serious."

"Well, now you know." he said, his lips suddenly curling into a smile as his eyes remained locked on mine. Then his gaze dropped to my lips and I felt my breath hitch in my throat. 

"Conrad…" I said. He swallowed and stared at me.

"What?" he said. I saw him lean in, but I thought I must be confused. He couldn't be about to kiss me. Then he turned his face to the side, his nose brushed along my cheek and I could feel his breath on my face as I closed my eyes shut.