Tongue Tied *UNDERGOING EDITING*

4. Luke

Luke's POV
Ariel Lewis. That's a new one. I can't believe I never noticed her before. After all, she fits my type description perfectly: dark hair, bright eyes, nice body.... But besides that, she has a mysterious look to her, aside from being a total nerd. And now were project partners. She must think I'm a total douche, the way she looks at me and the way she talks to me...Like I'm not good enough for her. Which I'm probably not.

Anyways, she wanted to let me off the hook this morning on our project, and at first I wanted to accept, but it felt like one of those guilt things that Alyssa always pulls.

We worked together in the library on the project a little, and she was nice and supportive of my ideas. But I was really holding back. I actually love to read, but I haven't been blessed with the skill of writing a worthy paper. But I didn't want Ariel to know that. Not even my closest friends, Dylan and Tyler, know. But Ariel's pretty good when it comes to writing. While I sketched out a simple idea for a cover, she wrote out her entire introduction paragraph. Then she read it out loud. It was pretty good, and for a minute I was jealous. Of her.

Anyway, I texted Alyssa to meet me at my locker after about an hour and a half. She texted me that I was late which is why I jumped up and left so quickly. A part of me felt bad for leaving like that, but I didn't feel the need to apologize to Ariel. She had to understand. And while Alyssa and I were leaving through the main office, she spotted Ariel leaving the school building. She told me to wait there while she clicked her way over to her. She spoke to Ariel, but I don't know what she was saying. Afterwards though, Ariel looked kind of upset and Alyssa looked almost happy. Alyssa never told me what she said to Ariel. I don't really care though. She was probably just being the clingy, overprotective girl that I've always known. I actually feel bad for her sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Alyssa. I actually think I love her.

This morning, I saw Ariel at her locker, talking to someone. Now her I've definitely seen before. I think her name is Zoey. I don't know what made me walk up to them, but something inside urged me to. I watch as Zoey whispers to Ariel with an urgent look on her face and then goes completely silent when I'm in earshot. Ariel turns to face me. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I finished To Kill A Mockingbird last night." I say. "Awesome. I only have, like, two more chapters to read." she says in a kind of monotone way. I nod my head and walk away. That was dumb. I'm being dumb.

"Hey babe." Alyssa says. I didn't realize she was walking next to me. "Hi." I reply, focusing on one point directly in front of me. "You ok?" she asks waving her hand in front of my face. "Yeah, I just spaced out a little." I say. I don't feel like talking to her right now. I don't feel like talking to anyone right now. In fact, all I do feel like doing is working on my project...with Ariel. And I don't even know why. Its pretty obvious that she doesn't like me. Maybe thats what attracts me to her: the fact that she doesn't want me when usually every other girl does.

The day goes by very slowly, but next thing I know I'm at my locker getting ready to go home when I feel a tap on my left shoulder. I turn around, expecting to see Alyssa or a nervous freshman, but instead come face to face with Ariel. "Oh, hey." I say, playing it as cool as I can. "Hey. Um, I was wondering if you...um..." she stutters. She seems nervous. And it sounds like she's asking me out. "Just spit it out, babe." I say smirking. She stops what she's saying, shakes her head, and looks me straight in the eye. "Don't call me babe." she hisses.

I laugh. That seems to make her angrier.

"Whatever you say, babe." I say to her. She clenches her jaw tightly and grits her teeth. "Whatever. That's not important. I was trying to ask you if you wanted to come over to my house this afternoon." she says. "Um..." I start, unsure of why she invited me over to her house. "I'm not into you like that. Actually, for that matter, I don't think I could ever be into you." I say. Wait, that came out wrong. Fuck that sounded really bad. I can tell what I've said hurts her by the look on her face.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like-" I start to defend my words but she cuts me off. "You know what? Never mind, just forget it. Don't bother. With anything. I knew you were an asshole, but your an even bigger one than I thought." she says, and with that, she storms off.