Forbidden Secret

Ch.3. The Artists of Flirtation

The Flutter Friends had no idea how to ask a guy out. The girls knew that they didn't know but they still went along with the idea. Phrases such as 'Go with the flow' and 'We're the artists of flirtation' may have been said for encouragement, much to Delilah's dismay. When they met in the morning to walk to school, they hadn't dared to say anything but the tension was heavy with the responsibility they were about to behold. Flirtation was a delicate balance and the girls hadn't even learnt to crawl yet much less walk the thin line between too cheesy and too creepy. But as Fiona has said, "Oh well."

The words hadn't stuck to her head as she started to walk over to Jasper. Fiona had a rough idea about what she wanted to say but the moment she saw Joe, the mental script in her mind had vanished. She was about to turn and walk away but he saw her and started to come over to her.

"Hey Jasper, can I talk to you in private?" Fiona asked, and Jasper dramatically looked around to their crowd of non-existent viewers.

"Is this private enough?" Jasper chuckled lowly and Fiona blushed slightly. This was not how she had planned things to go in her head. "So, what's up?"

"Well, as you know the Winter Ball is coming up soon, so would you-"

"Yes, I would love to," interrupted Jasper. Fiona understood how it felt to be cut off by her friends but this was just a random boy so her mouth went on autopilot before she could process what she was saying.

"Thank you so much, you don't need to bring anything but a pencil or pen, I guess."

"What are you talking about? Aren't we going to the Winter Ball together?"

"Oh. I was just asking if you wanted to help out with ideas for the Winter Ball, 'cause you signed up for the Winter Ball Orginisation Committee." Fiona refrained from saying 'you would've known that if you hadn't interrupted me' but that was a lie. Jasper just blushed and scratched the back of his neck.

"So, would you like to go out with me to the Winter Ball?"

"Yes, I would love to," replied Fiona. She could feel herself heating up and she didn't understand why so when she walked away from him, a sense of giddiness arose within her. Her thoughts kept replaying the way he was nervous and it made her want to giggle. What was going on with her?

☾☾☾

Noah was with his friends when Annabelle begun to walk over to him. Her strategy was slightly different to Fiona's much more casual approach to asking someone out.

The plan begun the moment she accidentally slipped and accidentally fell into the arms of Noah. As a Charming Lad, he had played it off smoothly and flashed her a dazzling smile that may have, quite literally, glistened in the sunlight. His friends were all gone then and the arrogance radiated off of him so much that it made it is easy for Annabelle to accidentally give him a paper cut.

"Oh no!" Annabelle gasped. She took a step back to assess the damage done to his hand with fake concern. "We have to go to the First Aid Room immediately, Noah, oh, how sorry I am."

Annabelle continued to ramble apologies to Noah as she dragged him to the First Aid Room and he just complied silently. When they arrived, she forced him onto bed and Noah was taken surprise by the action. She then went to the drawer labelled 'Plasters'.

"Cars or Princesses?"

"Cars."

"'kay."

Annabelle sat on the bed next to Noah and applied the plaster on his hand. When she looked up, she noticed he was staring at her deeply with his deep, brown eyes. In that moment she forgot how breathing felt, how anything but his stare felt. And... she liked it.