Pray (That She Loves Me)[A Justin Bieber Story]

Chapter 23

"He almost kissed you?!" Skylar echoed as I nodded, trying to work on my homework. "That son of a bitch!"

My shoulders sagged. "He was so close, Sky..."

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed. "Justin wouldn't have let that happen, though."

I looked at her, confused. "What'd you mean?"

Her sly smile made me uneasy. "Oh, nothing..."

Yeah, right...

"Let's go see if you got the part!" Chaz encouraged.

I stared at the space in front of me. "I-I can't...!' I looked up at my little group. "Can one of you go check?"

Skylar, Justin, and Chaz glanced at Ryan. Seeing as he was outnumbered, he sighed and stood up. He then proceeded to the bulletin where the casting list was up. A minute later he came back, frowning.

"I didn't get it," I groaned, placing my face in my hands.

"No, you got it alright," Ryan started.

All of us looked up at him. "I-I did?"

He nodded grimly. "But guess who got the male lead?"

My face fell almost instantly. Everyone around me shifted tensely. I heard Justin growl, "Eric."

Skylar frowned. "You know, Nina, you can't let what Eric does affect you..."

I looked over at her, a bit shcoked. "He almost kissed me." And secretly, I wished he did... But not even Skylar knew; I didn't even realize it 'till this morning, when I realized I was thinking about it. "I can't just let that slide."

"Nina," Skylar bent over so she was looking at me at eye-level, "Eric almost kissed you. You need to get over it and him. It's scary seeing how much you've changed."

Staring at her, I asked quietly, "Changed."

"You have a lot more sudden mood swings, you've gotten lazy, it's harder to make you smile, you're so much more quiet than usual..." she began to list, ticking off fingers as she did so.

"You lost your passion for the things you love doing..." Justin added softly. I stared at them, getting a sickening sinking feeling.

You were so happy to be ignorant in love...

Somewhere... Somewhere that's not here...

Don't you realize I'm trying to forget you?!

This is out of character, Nina...

I did not get a black eye just to have you push me away!

There are other, bright futures; other chances at the mystery of the heart and it's wants...

Words from the last three weeks came back and bit me in the ass. Hell; even my own written words demanded that I grow up from this... crush!

Something snapped.

Tears quickly prickled the back of my eyelids. With shaky hands I hid my face from everyone. I was literally at my all-time low. Not even my confession to Eric seemed so important as I realized my complete attitude change. This wasn't me and I'm ashamed I let a single person create such a drastic effect. "W-why am I such an idiot...?"

"You're not an idiot," Chaz argued. "Eric is."

"Obviously he doesn't know when enough is enough," Justin added, his tone sharp. I couldn't help but flinch at the accusation.

An arm was wrapped around my shoulder. "I know it hurts, Nina... Trust me, I do..." Skylar's voice started with a bittered laugh. "I've been in more situations than you have... But it's only goin' to hurt the more you think about it." There was a questionable silence as I let the words of wisdom sink in.

"...When... When does it stop hurting?" I asked weakly, ready to start reverting back to my normal self.

"When? I can't answer that," Skylar replied back instantly. "But I can tell you the pain will go away. It will."

~*~*~

A/N: Omgoshhhhhh, guys, I'm so sorry I haven't updated!!!!!!!!! It's been pretty hetic and I'm been busy with my soccer season... But now it's ended and I'm slowly rolling back on track.

Yes, which means I'll try to get back into the pace of updating.

On another note, this is the rising action of the last climax guys! Eeps! With that, things can only go downhill from here... for a while. ;)

Also, whoever correctly guesses which chapter(s) the italicized quotes are from, I'll dedicate this chapter to you! Whoever does that and answers who (or what~ ;P) said or thought the quotes will have a dedication to whatever chapter they want that hasn't been dedicated to yet~! Beware guys; I've been in a contest mood. Mini-dedication-rewarded contests will appear in several chapters.

So, as usual, please read, comment, vote, and fan!!!!

Thank you guys for being so patient with me!

~TNT