The Girl Who Feared Men (SAMPLE)

Chapter 18: Deja Vu

Song:

Grace VanderWaal- Moonlight

Khalid ft Marshmellow- Silence

Grace VanderWaal- So Much More Than This

--

Chase

"Alright, class dismissed!" Ms. Xu says after the bell rings for last period. Chatter erupts from the students in the classroom and everyone hurriedly packs their things to go home.

In the corner of my eye, I see Cole put his books in his bag at lightning speed. He run-walks over to where Ellie is standing. Ellie is saying goodbye to Kiara and I barely get a glance at Julianna before she dashes out of the room.

"Hey, Ellie," Cole says a little too loudly. His voice makes Ellie jump a little. She puts her hand on her chest and laughs before saying hey. I roll my eyes and walk over to them. Apparently, Cole seeing Ellie dressed up like Cleopatra at the Halloween dance was equivalent to cupid shooting him in the face 3 times. Ever since the Halloween dance, Cole has been following Ellie around like a lost puppy. It's ridiculous. It's like he's never seen a pretty girl in his entire life which is not true because Westprep is filled with them.

"So, you guys have tutoring today right?" Cole asks.

Ha. As if he hasn't memorized the days and time I tutor Ellie.

Ellie slings her bag over her shoulder before walking towards the door and into the hallway. Cole follows her and in order to ensure he doesn't make a fool of himself, I follow Cole.

"Yeah, but that's happening a little later, I have therapy and Chase has rehearsal," Ellie says.

"Oh..." Cole says, not even remotely trying to hide his disappointment. "Well, I could wait with Cha-"

"Alright. Ellie. Me and Cole gotta go. I'll talk to you later." I say before grabbing Cole by his shirt and dragging him with me to my locker. After the Halloween dance, I confronted him about his little crush on Ellie and after denying it a million times, he finally admitted that he likes her. I then went on to explain how stupid it is for him to have feelings for someone who is physically and emotionally unavailable. Long story short, I made him promise he'd keep his feelings to himself.

A promise that he's blatantly choosing to break.

"Cole, I thought you said you'd be discreet about your feelings for her." I open my locker and grab the sheet music I need for rehearsal.

"What are you talking about? That was discreet." Cole replied.

I narrow my eyes at him. "Cole, you basically confessed your love to her in ten different languages. Either Ellie already knows and is just being polite or she's the densest person on this planet."

"Wait you think she knows?" Cole's eyebrows shoot up.

I close my locker. "Cole, I think the whole world knows."

Cole heaves a sigh and follows me to rehearsal. "Remind me again why it's such a bad idea to let Ellie know I like her?" He asks.

"Because she has a phobia of men and unless there's something you're not telling me, you fall into that category."

"Oh. Right."

When we get to the auditorium, we sit in the audience and we watch the actors get on stage and do blocking.

"I don't see what the big deal is." I look over at Cole. "You were able to hide your feelings before, what's so different now."

"The difference is her," he says. "She's not like anyone I've ever met in my entire life. And not just physically but mentally. You should have heard the stuff she was saying the other day, it was deep, intellectual stuff. And she's funny, like genuinely funny. Add all that to the fact that she's also drop dead gorgeous..." He pauses as he plays with the zipper on his jacket.