-BOOK 1/4 IN SERIES- Getting Even (YouTube FanFic)

[Chapter 7] Trust Me

-Ian's POV-

There was a full blown war between Melanie, Kalel, Anthony, and me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Toby, Joey, Rachael, and Natalie were pulled into it too. Pictures and posts were being uploaded non-stop about either Kalel and Joey, Melanie and Toby, me and Natalie, Rachael and Anthony, the four of us, or the four of them. People were divided between the two groups, and we got all sorts of feedback.

I slammed down the laptop screen down and ran my fingers through my hair, "Anthony, this is getting to be too much!" I exclaimed, turning around to see him plop down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn.

"How? We're just uploading pictures and posts! It's super easy," He replied, shoving his mouth full of popcorn. He looked over at me, "And anyways, this should blow over soon, I mean, supposedly Kalel and Melanie are really pissed at Rach and Nat."

I stood up and joined him, digging my hand into the bowl, "Yeah...but we caused the drop in subscribers for Nachael's channel. I feel bad."

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, now Natalie and Rachael's YouTube was being affected because of this war too. Their subscribers began to plummet; the reason being that they couldn't believe they would go behind Melanie's and Kalel's backs and date their boyfriend/fiance. Luckily, Rachael and Natalie were nice enough to say to Anthony's and my faces that they really could care less about that, but deep down, I think they're upset.

"They said it was fine," He detested, glancing over at me, "They told us themselves."

"Yeah, but they were lying," I remarked, turning on the TV and putting on some shark movie on Sy Fy, "I could tell it in their tones."

"So what, Ian? They'll gain 'em back when this is all over with, just like we will..."

"But what if it never ends?" I suggested, turning toward him, "I mean, so far, neither of us have shown any signs of backing down. It just keeps going and going and going! Getting worst and worst and worst!"

He glared at me, "It's going to end. Trust me."

Just then, his phone went off. He looked at it and stood up, spilling the buttery kernels and popcorn pieces all over the floor.

"What? Who is it?" I asked, beginning to pick up Anthony's mess off the floor.

Instead of answering me, he picked up the call and rushed into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. I sat back on my heels and sighed.

-Kalel's POV-

I was sitting on the couch with Corin and Melanie sitting on opposite sides of me.

"Guys, I don't want to do this!" I cried, holding my hand over the speaker of the cell phone. It was ringing, but he hadn't picked up yet.

"Just do as I said," Corin reminded me, "Everything will work out. Trust me."

I rolled my eyes and put the phone back up to my ear, "Anthony? Hello?"

"Kalel! Hey!" He responded in a casual tone, "What's up?"

I gulped, "Uh...Melanie and I were wondering if you and Ian would like to come and have dinner with us this weekend. We really want to, you know...keep our friendships...even if we are dating different people," I looked at Melanie for assistance, but she was focused on some game on her phone. I turned to Corin, but she was doing the same thing.

"Oh. That sounds cool! Do you think we could bring our girlfriends? I'm sure they'd love to come along with us," Anthony added.

I slammed the phone down on my lap, picked up a pillow behind Melanie, and screamed into it.

"Whoa! What happened?" Melanie asked me, putting her phone down.

I threw the pillow to the floor and glared at her, "They want to bring Rachael and Natalie."

"No! Don't agree to it! I hate them! Especially Natalie...she's dating Ian!" She retorted.

"What do I say? They can't bring them? Then they won't come...and we can't shove it in their faces that we're happier than them..."

"Well by the look of their pictures on Instagram and Facebook, they seem to be doing just fine," Melanie stated, starting to examine her nails.

I rolled my eyes, "Sure. You can bring them," I answered.

"Great! What are the details?"

I sighed, "Come to the house you and I used to live in at around six o'clock Saturday. We're going to be having Chinese and probably dessert."

"Okay, see you then! Bye, Kalel!" And he hung up.

I turned off my phone and sighed, "There, I did it. Now I don't want to do any more of this shit," I remarked, standing up and walking away.

"Wait! Kalel, what you mean?" Melanie inquired, catching up to me.

I stopped in my tracks, "This is the most stupid thing I've ever done. I should've never broken up with him. Big whoop. He missed one...really, really important day in our relationship, but he made a mistake! And now I'm getting revenge for something I did? It doesn't make sense! I want this to stop, Melanie."

"No!" She begged, grabbing my hands in hers, "Can you just hold out till this dinner? You don't have to do any more posts or pictures with Joey. Just, do this dinner for me. We can skip the quadruple dates and everything. Go straight to the getting back together. Please, Kalel."

I slipped my hands out of her hold and crossed my arms over my chest.

-Rachael's POV-

I was checking the status on our YouTube channel. Two million more subscribers lost overnight. And five million yesterday. I rested my elbows on the desk and buried my head into my arms.

I was finally living my dream, being with Anthony (though it wasn't real, it was all an act). And I didn't feel the way I should. I should be happy, right? No. Instead, I'm miserable.

Doing this whole "fake girlfriend" thing is a lot of work. I mean, Anthony's asking me to take pictures with him almost every hour. He's always uploading these posts saying we're doing things like going to the park together when I'm really at home in my pajamas editing videos. And the same goes for Ian and Natalie. But I don't know if she's as irritated as I am...she's more easygoing than me.

"Hey, I just got a call from Anthony," Natalie told me, walking into the office, "Well, you technically did. He called your phone, but I just picked up. He had some news I think you'll like to hear."

"Anthony and Kalel got back together!?!" I jumped to my feet and began to bounce up and down with the sudden burst of energy I had.

"What? No. Why would you like that news anyways?" She questioned, giving me a confused look. I calmed down as she continued, "Anthony told me that we have to go to a dinner with them. The dinner's at Kalel and Anthony's old place Saturday. I guess we're having Chinese."

"Oh, joy..." I said. I didn't like going to people's houses. For anything really. I doesn't matter who it is (unless it was people I knew personally, like family or family friends), or what they wanted, or when it was. Everyone and everything else just felt awkward for me.

She smacked my shoulder.

"Ouch!" I gripped my shoulder even though she didn't hit me all that hard.

"Be a little more enthusiastic. Anthony told me that he wants to talk to you before you go with him there. Something about maybe kissing him...!?!" She told me, a smile growing on her face.

I loosened up a little, excitement filling up inside of me. But she's got to be kidding, right? Right?

She started to walk out of the office, "He said to call him soon, it's important and he wants to talk to you about it over some coffee or something."

I bolted past her and into the front room where my phone was on the charger. I dialed his number quickly and tried to calm down the best I could. My heart was racing and the butterflies were back. I wonder what he wanted to talk about...