The Boyfriend Project

Chapter 42

The next morning, I pulled into the school parking lot, looking for Easton's car. I wanted to walk into the school without worrying about him coming up to me, begging to talk to me. In a few days was Avery's party, and hopefully, I'd be free of Easton Alexander for good. I took one last look around the parking lot before getting out of the car. I grabbed my bag from the backseat and was about to open my car door when Blakely and Gavin pulled up beside me. Blakely was on the passenger side, and Gavin was on the driver's side. Gavin quickly turned off his car, got out, and walked around the front of his car. He had on dark blue jeans and a dark purple long-sleeved button-down shirt that he left untucked. The purple was so dark that it almost looked black. 

He opened the door. "You ready?" He held out his hand. 

"I don't know if I'm ready for today or not."

"Blakely and I have been talking. We've come up with an idea to get rid of Easton." He smiled. 

"Idea? I'm afraid to ask." I looked over at Blakely, who was getting out of her car. 

"The same way you got rid of Aaron," Blakely locked her door. "

"What?" I walked around the front of my car.

"You know the same way you got rid of Aaron," Blakely said again. 

"I'm not going to go up to some new guy. Not again! No!" I pulled my bookbag around to the front. 

"Not a new guy." Gavin smiled. 

I stopped dead in my tracks, standing there wide-eyed, staring at both of them. "Hell No! I'm not going to risk my friendship for a stupid guy. No!" 

"You won't risk our friendship. He won't know the difference. Besides, he already thinks we're somewhat of a couple. I overheard him talking. Do you want to get rid of him or not?" Gavin asked. 

"Yes." 

We started walking toward the school again. I couldn't believe I let them talk me into this crazy mess. I was trying to get out of one mess and about to find myself in the middle of another one. I was a walking disaster waiting to happen. The closer we got to the school, the more I wanted to turn around, run back to my car, jump in it, and drive away. 

Gavin headed down one hall while Blakely and I headed down a different one toward our lockers and then to English class. I used to love going to English class, but now I dreaded it because of one person whose name started with the letter "E." If he could just sit there and pretend that I wasn't in that class for one day, I might start to enjoy it again. Unfortunately, if he wasn't trying to talk to me, he was sitting there staring at me every few minutes, which was extremely creepy now. 

"Are you going to be okay, Chelsi?" Blakely whispered as we walked into English and took our seats. 

"Yeah."

"You've got just a few days before Avery's party," She said, sitting down in her chair. 

Easton was sitting in his seat off to the side of me, and I had to admit he looked hot today in his jeans and a long-sleeved knit shirt that hugged his muscular arms. He smiled at me as I turned to sit down in my seat. I couldn't help but smile back at him. 

"What are you doing?" Blakely asked me, frowning.

I lowered my head and then peeked over my shoulder at Easton. I didn't know what I was doing except making matters worse. Here lately, I have had an exceptional talent for doing that. I turned back around before Easton or Blakely could say anything to me. 

Mr. Scott walked into the classroom a few minutes later, telling us to take out our books and notebooks. I sighed in relief because I knew Easton wouldn't be able to talk to me in class for the next hour. I sat there staring at the board, trying to pay attention to what Mr. Scott was talking about, but my mind kept wandering to Easton, Gavin, and what I was going to do about everything. I didn't have to worry about Aaron anymore; he was pretty much out of the picture. He was a little easier to deal with than Easton. Nevertheless, I loathed Aaron for what he did and wanted nothing to do with him. 

Mr. Scott gave us the last few minutes of class to work quietly with the person next to us. Blakely turned her chair, facing me so we could work better; she knew I didn't get a lot of the notes written down during class. So she handed me her notebook real quick so I could copy some of the notes that I hadn't written down before the bell rang. 

I told Blakely I would see her at lunch and went to Spanish class. The good thing about Spanish class was I had to stay focused in there, which meant a nice break for my brain—not thinking about what had happened over the past couple of weeks. There would be no time to think between enunciating and practicing the alphabet for an hour. 

Blakely walked around the corner when I walked out of Spanish class. "Are you ready to head to lunch?" she asked, walking up. 

"Not really." I sighed.

"Wait up!" Gavin yelled from down the hall. 

"Isn't your class close to the cafeteria?" I asked. 

"Yeah."

"Then why are you..." My voice trailed off when my eyes met his gaze. I'd never noticed before how blue Gavin's eyes really were. 

"I thought we could walk into the lunchroom together if we're going to play this couple thing," Gavin said. 

"Oh yeah," I said. Here we go again. The voice in my head was screaming for me to run in the opposite direction without looking back. She told me that this was such a bad idea because we saw what happened the first time, and the second time wasn't going to be any better. 

The three of us took off walking toward the cafeteria, and all I could think of was how I wanted to kiss Gavin. And at that moment, I could feel the blood rush across my cheeks, and I prayed my makeup was doing its job and hiding the embarrassment that was now heating my face. He was my friend, and there was no way he'd have those kinds of feelings for me. 

Author's Notes:

Chelsi might be having some feelings for Gavin. Wonder if she will act on them. 

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