The Cliche Gone Wrong

Chapter Thirty-six

I nearly float into my room, a stupid smile on my face as I drift down the hallway. 

She actually showed up.

I mean, today during school she was nearly indifferent to me, sitting next to that asshole during lunch and whispering almost the entire time. But every once in a while she would look over and catch me staring at her; and she would smile at me. Just a small tilt of the corners of her lips, but that was enough.

And now she came over to my house. That has to mean something right?

I walk into my room to find Alan glowering on my bed, angrily scrolling though his phone as Chi yaps at his feet.

"When did you get a dog?" Alan asks, not even looking up to acknowledge me.

"Yesterday," I shrug, smiling even harder as Chi runs over to me and starts barking happily. I scoop her into my arms scratching her little head as I walk over to my desk chair and plop down on it. Chi settles down somewhat comfortable there, her head resting on my knee as she watches Alan on the bed.

"What made you do that?" He asks, still refusing to look up from his phone.

I shrug my response, hesitant to tell him the real reason why. After a couple seconds he looks up at me, his scrutinizing gaze making me frown too.

"Jude, what're you doing?" He asks, finally putting his phone down. "Is this about that stupid bet you made with that freshman a couple weeks ago?"

I roll my eyes as his assumption, stroking Chi's head.

"Don't roll your eyes dude. What is it with Killer?" Alan's foot jiggles repeatedly, the squeak of his shoe echoing throughout the room. "Just last month you were just as ruthless as Connor when you made fun of her and now, what? You want to get into her pants?"

"It's not like that," I snap at him.

He ignores my response, blazing forward with his accusations. "Dozens of girls throw themselves at you on a daily basis. Why go for this one?"

"She's not like the dozens of other girls."

Just then Connor walks into the room, his confident swagger carrying him to the bed as he crashes down onto the mattress.

"Bruh, I just saw Killer driving down the street!" He laughs, looking from me to Alan. "I almost yelled out the window at her, but I didn't want to risk her crashing into me doing top speed!"

Neither Alan nor I laugh, causing the devious grin to disappear from Connor's freckled face as he looks back and forth between us. "What'd I miss?"

"Jude's in love with Killer," Alan says matter-of-factly as he pushes his brown hair off of his forehead.

My eyes nearly bug out of their sockets as Connor laughs in surprise. "You're fucking kidding."

"I'm not in love with her!" I gasp. Chi jumps at my sudden explosion, leaping from my lap and starting to wonder around the room again.

"Where'd the dog come from?" Connor asks as he tries to get Chi's attention, apparently more interested in the puppy than what Alan just said.

"You're right. Maybe its not love. Maybe you're just fascinated by the challenge of convincing the one person at school who hated your guts to fall in love with you." Alan shrugs as he leans back on his arms, his green eyes staring at me challengingly. "And its not like this hasn't happened before. As soon as she stops resisting you'll move on like always."

"Yeah, remember Sarah in 7th grade?" Connor chimes in, scooping Chi into his arms.

"And Elena the summer before high school," Alan adds.

"And uh, shit what was her name? Tana? Winter break Sophomore year?" Connor smiles, a far away look in his eyes as he absentmindedly rubs her back. "Damn that was a wild break."

"This isn't like any of those times." I butt in, a fury coursing through my veins and making my fists clench. "I'm not looking for a challenge! She's dif—"

"That's what you said each and every time." Alan interrupts. "But you're right. This isn't going to be like those other times. Because you're not going to get involved with Killer."

"Yeah I kind of gotta agree with Captain on this one." Connor looks at me apologetically. "I mean, Killer's fucking hot, don't get me wrong, but she's bad news. And I don't know if I'm going to be around long enough to pull you out of another slump like you fell into after Tana."

"Yeah and I don't want to spend my last summer before college and the first few months of my freshman year babysitting your self-inflicted broken heart," Alan says, prompting a laugh from Connor.

"I know what I'm doing, guys." I refuse to look at either of them, unable to see the similarities between those other girls and Killer. "Thanks for looking out for me and everything but I can take care of myself. I'm not asking for your help and I don't want your advice."

"Look, the school year's almost over." Alan says, his voice softening as he tries to take a different approach. "We're graduating in 3 months. What're you going to do when we leave for college? Do you really think this relationship can last while we're at Yale?"

"Yeah, you don't want to be tied down at the start of college." Connor agrees, setting Chi back down on the ground. "You can't enjoy the pond if you're stuck with one fish, you feel me?"

I look away, realizing I hadn't even thought about what would happen after we graduated. I don't even know where she's going to college, or if she's even going at all. Would she still want to be with me when I'm 500 miles away?

I don't say anything to either of them, silently rethinking this whole situation and how much of what they said is true. Did this all really start because of the bet? No, I could have sworn I liked her before that. Am I doing the same thing now that I did all those other times? No, she's different. I just know it. Am I making a mistake?

I don't have an answer to that question.

The silence in the room stretches out for a few minutes too long before Connor tries to lighten the mood like he always does.

"Just forget about Killer, man." I can hear the smile in his voice along with the ruffling of my comforter as he stands up from the bed. "Let's just go downstairs and play 2K, yeah?"

I nod quietly, standing up and moving to follow Connor out of the room. But before I make it across the threshold Alan places a hand gently on my shoulder, stopping me from walking into the hallway.

"I'm just looking out for you, Jude," he says, squeezing my shoulder lightly. "These last few months'll be over with before you know it. And then we'll be living it up as the most sought after freshman at Yale."

I force a smile onto my face, hoping that it is believable enough to fool him. I pull away from him as I walk out the door and follow Connor down the hallway. "Yeah, a couple months and this'll all be over with."

A/N Uh oh! What the hell happened?? Why are Connor and Alan trying to convince Shills to stay away from Killer? Do you think that's the right call? Do you think he's going to do it? What do you think he should do?

Thankfully I was able to post another chapter for y'all, but with the way things are going in the story maybe it would have been left unwritten! But, here's a foreshadowing question that I want to leave y'all with: How do you think the title is going to come into play? What do you think the cliche is, and how is it going to go wrong?

Comment below and let me know! I'd love to hear your guesses! 

And a special shout out to @NathalieMubalama and @itzVickiLou for commenting regularly!I love reading your comments after each chapter, and if I'm being honest you've more than helped craft the direction in which this story is heading! Thank you for your support!!!

Much Love,

Naomi