Sixty

I told Jade that we would talk when I got back. I left her alone and followed Ella. We had been walking for 10 minutes already, and I had no idea where she was taking me.

"Where are we going?" I asked, curious.

"Wait, we're almost there," she said, smiling. She pointed to an ice cream shop in the city. "There it is."

"I haven't been here in a while," she said, as we approached the shop.

I went inside and ordered two ice creams. One vanilla for Ella, and one strawberry for me.

"Hello, can I have a vanilla and a strawberry ice cream, please?" I asked the merchant.

"Yes, of course," he said, handing me the ice creams.

"How much will that be, please?" I asked.

"Four jewels," he said.

I gave him the money and then went to find Ella. She was waiting for me outside.

"Here, I bought you an ice cream," I said, giving her the vanilla one.

"Oh, thank you. And you remembered that my favorite flavor is vanilla," she said, gratefully.

"Don't worry, it's nothing. Come on, let's go to the park now," I said, leading the way.

We went to the park, which was not far from the shop. The park was beautiful, with a water fountain, several benches, and a small field with sand and swings. There were not many people around, just some children playing on the swings.

We sat on the grass to eat our ice creams.

"Be careful, your ice cream is melting," Ella warned me.

"Don't worry, I'll manage to finish it before it melts," I said, eating my ice cream very quickly. I ended up with a brain freeze, which made Ella laugh.

"I really enjoy spending time with you. It's like before, when we finished school, we always bought an ice cream and came here to eat it," I said, nostalgically.

"Yes, you're just as funny. And you got ice cream all over your face," she said, taking a handkerchief to wipe the ice cream from my face.

I let her do it, but I was thinking something else. This girl is stupid. She is part of my plan to get my revenge and hurt Jade like she hurt Eloise. I pretended to be nice to her, but I was actually using her.

"Let's say the last one to get to the swings gets a dare," she said, suddenly.

"I see you are not afraid of losing," I said, smirking.

"I'll never lose. You'll lose," she said, confidently.

"On your marks, get set, go!" she shouted, and we both started to run towards the swings.

I pushed her as we ran, making her stumble. I arrived first next to the swings.

"Yes, I'm too strong. I won," I said, triumphantly.

Ella got up and came to my side.

"No, you didn't win. You cheated. You pushed me," she said, accusingly.

"Yes, but there were no rules, so every move was allowed," I said, proudly.

She sighed.

"You're such a child," she said.

"Yes, I know. But I won, and you're going to get a dare," I said, eagerly.

"With you, I'm sure I have to expect the worst," she said, nervously.

"I'll tell you your dare when we get back to school," I said, mysteriously.

"If you want. But in the meantime, what are we going to do?" she asked, changing the topic.

"I suggest we play with the swings. You go up, and I'll push you," I said, innocently.

"Why not?" she said, shrugging.

She got on the swing, and I got behind her.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that now I have much more strength than before," I said, slyly.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt me," she said, bravely.

"Oh, I warned you," I said, and pushed the swing with all my strength.

Instead of the swing just going in an arc, it went in circles. It spun really hard, until I stopped the swing. Ella's head was spinning, and she got off the swing and fell to the ground.

"Wow, that was great. Help me, please. I can't get up anymore," she said, dizzy.

I laughed, but ended up helping her to get on her feet.

"Do you want to do it again?" I asked, teasingly.

"Yes, I'm sure that after this, I won't be afraid of anything," she said, determined.

She got on the swing again, and I pushed her again. She fell down again.

After that I had a great afternoon with Ella. It was so much fun that we didn't see the time go by. We started to go home as the sun was going down.

"Honestly, today I can say I had a good day," I said, smiling.

"Why is that?" Ella asked, curious.

"Because you were with me," I said, looking into her eyes.

"What, just for that?" she said, blushing.

"Wow, yes. It's been a long time since I've spent time with you," I said, pretending to be sincere.

"Yes, but it's time to go to your room," she said, pointing to my door.

"Yes, let's go, princess," I said, teasing her.

"I'm not a princess," she said, shaking her head.

"You are to me. You are my princess," I said, winking at her.

She giggled.

"Well, stop your nonsense. Now we've arrived," she said, as we reached my door.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten your dare," I said, reminding her of our game.

"Yes, see you tomorrow," she said, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She then left, all red.

I didn't expect that. But now it was time to go back to my room. I wasn't really hungry, so I thought I would just go and practice. I opened the door and found Jade sitting on my bed.

"We need to talk!" she said, angrily.