THOSE GOOD TEEN YEARS (Book 1)

Chapter Twelve: Confess

Sienna reached the cute red brick house, out of breath. She had jogged all the way from her house to Ali's because she wanted to forget that day. It helped to jog, because then she concentrated on her burning muscles. Yet, now that she had stopped in front of Ali's house, that day hit like a visceral memory. Again and again. It hurt to think about it. She hated that she ahd caught Luke off guard. She remembered his shocked expression.

No No NO, she thought. She now paid attention to  the decision she was about to make. She hoped she wouldn't regret it. She had been mulling over it, ever since she jumped Luke like the crazy bitch she was. School had been painful since then. She had been avoiding him, cutting class like crazy, skipping lunch just to stay away from him. Ali had been the first one who had noticed her crush on Luke. Maybe she'll help.

She was kind of shocked when she first heard that Ali was grounded, because Ali's mom turned a blind eye to Ali's rebellious activities. Whatever. She walked upto the door and knocked.

"Who the hell is-woah." Ali stopped. Sienna was still kind of breathing hard, and she was wearing tracks and running shoes. She didn't look like queen bee Sienna Scott now, the one with the pretty dresses and hairdo and shoes. She actually looked kind of wild, as she guessed from looking at herself from the window.

"Hey, Ali."

Ali still looked shocked, but beckoned her inside. Once inside, she looked at Sienna from head to toe.

"May I know what happened to the attire all of a sudden?" she asked.

"I...decided to...jog...wanted to...forget some...some things." she breathed heavily. Ali still looked like someone had thrown her at an electric fence.

"You decided to jog? Seriously? You ok?"

"Shut up, Ali, I need your help, OK? Just hear me out."

"Come up to my room then. Much better that way." Then she turned and went up the flight of stairs to her room.

Sienna followed. Ali's room wasn't small, exactly, but it wasn't big either. It was nice and cosy, like the rest of the house. But when Sienna entered Ali's room, she was in for a shock. Ali's room liked like a paper storm had come and disposed most of the paper in her room. In the corner was Ali's guitar.

"What the hell, Al?"

Ali grinned. "Didn't have much to do while grounded, so I decided to study. I know, it looks like a mess, but I'll clean it up. Now, what happened?"

Sienna sat down on Ali's bed with a 'poof' sound. The she lay down and stared up at Ali's ceiling, which was covered with glow in the dark stars. She thought about what she wanted to say.

"I think I'm in love with Luke." Sienna waited for Ali to reply, to curse, to whoop, anything. But Ali simply sighed and sat down beside Sienna.

"Shouldn't be surprised, really; I've been expecting it for weeks." Sienna rose up on one elbow. She remembered the day when Ali had confronted her, and how she had denied it. 

"What do you want me to do about it?" Ali asked her.

"Tell me! I can't even face him! I mean-"

"Woah. Back up. Tell me the whole story. What happened that you suddenly started skipping lunch?"

Sienna hesitated. "I..kissed him. On the lips."

"You whaaaat?"

"I kissed him. By mistake. I saw him kissing Kelly, and I got mad, and I yelled at him, but then he cut me off and started yelling at me, and then I couldn't help myself, and I kissed him."

Ali's mouth was open. Then she closed it. And thought about it.

"So why are feeling so guilty about it? You liked him, you kissed him, you realized you loved him, how is that wrong???"

"Because I just kissed without a warning!" Sienna exploded. She felt bad about yelling at Ali, but nobody seemed to get it. Actually, she hadn't really told anyone, so it was wrong. Sienna toned down her voice.

"He's going to be super confused, Al. We were sorting our differences, and then I cut in and kiss, that's not right. I atleast should have said something like I like you and then kissed him. Don't you think it was wrong?"

"No, I don't, Si. You were right. You said he was confused; now he isn't going to flirt with Kelly, nor is he going to come up to you and confess.  It's actually good. And," she said with a wicked grin, "I have a plan. Its-"

The doorbeel rang. Sienna motioned for Ali to sit down and she went herself to open the door.

It was Emma.

She looked sad, and excited all at the same time. She also smiled. Pushing past Sienna, she went upstairs to Ali's room. Sienna followed.

"Woah. What are you doing here?"

Emma smiled and said, sounding very sure of her self, "I like Peter. And he likes me, but the jerk isn't going to admit it, and I need your help to make it happen. Please."

Sienna's mouth dropped open. Wow. Maybe it was the day of declaring crushes. Ali slowly smiled.

"Sure, why not? We were just discussing the same thing. C'mon, Si. Let's get started."

They all gathered on the bed, And began to plan.

(THE END OF BOOK ONE)