[36]

                                    

                                          
           
                          
Why did his eyes change colors all the time? Why was he so persistent on gaining friendship even though he was nearly always the reason it was so messed up? Why was he so jealous over Wes? Why did he saw it was a set up? Why did I care?
                          
Questions upon questions kept echoing in my mind the entire weekend and just when I thought I tuned them out, they returned when I caught Chase staring at me whenever he could at school.
                          
"You're piercing a hole on the side of my head with your staring," I commented as my head rested in my hand as I wrote in English. 
                          
"Sorry," I heard Chase mutter. From my peripheral vision I saw him shake it off and go back to writing in his journal. My curiosity got the best of him and I tried to see what he was writing, but then Wes poked my side. I gave him a confused look and he wrote on my journal page's corner.
                          
Just talk to him.
                          
I gave him a rude look meaning 'hell no.' He returned it with another stubborn look.
                          
"I rather you not try and get her to talk to me," Chase mumbled while still writing, as if he knew what Wes wrote. He finally looked up at me. "Or is that too offensive to say?" I meant to say no, but I was captured in his eyes that I couldn't really read. All I could do was shake my head, which caused him to look at least a fraction more composed than previously. "Good. Because I wouldn't want you to think that I don't want you to talk to me at all," he said before shutting his journal and standing up as if he knew the bell would ring right when he did that. Eli gave me an apologetic look as he and Mason left. Wes stayed with me.
                          
"You cannot seriously say you don't see how he's acting and still think I should just be forgiving and begging at his feet," I said. He shrugged.
                          
"He's entitled to his reactions, but what's he supposed to do if you won't even let him apologize or explain?" Wes figured. I smacked his shoulder and scoffed. "What? I'm telling you the truth..."
                          
"He deserved it. He was being an asshole."
                          
"How?"
                          
"He's playing with my emotions," I answered.
                          
"So what? I've hurt you too," Wes reminded. 
                          
"It's different," I dismissed.
                          
"How?" he asked. "Because I was justified because I had a mate I was trying to forget?"
                          
"Because you're you and he's him!" I altered. 
                          
"That's not an answer," Wes commented. 
                          
"Whatever," I grumbled. 
                          
"What's the honest and true reason you won't give him a chance?" he asked. 
                          
"I don't know," I shrugged. "Why do you care?"
                          
He grabbed my waist and placed me against the wall like he did so many times before. The only difference was that this time it was a friend trying to restrict an even more stubborn friend.
                          
"If you hadn't gone out with me, you and him wouldn't be this complicated," he said as his eyes searched my face. 
                          
"What's that supposed to mean?" I whispered. It means that maybe Chase was right about it being set up. 
                          
"Ask him," he answered as he backed away from me. I walked to my last class, thinking about that. And right when Chase started to walk into history as I sat in the back, I bit my lip and grabbed his arm. He looked down at me as if my touch pained him. 
                          
"What do you want?" he hissed down to me. 
                          
"To talk." The truth escaped my lips faster than I even got to think about what to say. His eyes softened, but then he blinked and got the same mad yet confused look from before.