Exactly three days from now, I had to go back to school.

To say I didn't feel like going to school would be an understatement.

But could I do anything about it?No.

So I sucked it up and started looking for my books and other school stuff.

"Hey, Ashley?" I heard Amanda call my name.

She'd come back two days ago, and everything was normal.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go shopping."

And has any girl ever said no to that?

We went to the mall and the first store Amanda and I walked into was one I usually bought my clothes from.

I didn't really need anything in particular, but one simply does not walk into such an awesome store and walk out without buying anything. At least, not girls.

I ended up buying five tops and a skirt. What? They were really appealing.

Amanda dragged me to, like five other stores before I finally decided she had shopped enough for the day.Which was the understatement of the century. She was a total shopaholic. She'd bought enough clothes to last her a few years.Well, not really,but you get the point.

"Right, it's food time!" I announced, dragging her towards the food court.

"I think I want to have Chinese."

"Works for me," I said.

I was absolutely starving.

We ended up eating Sushi, which by the way, didn't really taste that good and we immediately regretted not going with our original plan.

As we were about to leave, Amanda' s phone started ringing.

She answered it. "Hello? Yeah.No, we're still at the mall. See you, loser," she said and hung up.

That last word she said told me she had been talking with her brother.

"Aaron's coming," she confirmed.

Ten minutes later, Aaron was with us.

We decided to have ice cream after that. I got myself two humongous scoops of chocolate and strawberry ice cream. It tasted like heaven.

Amanda just took one scoop of vanilla making me feel like a pig but when I looked at what Aaron was having,I immediately felt better.

He was having five scoops of ice cream. I kid you not.

I literally failed to understand how he was that fit. He ate more than an elephant.

"Let's watch a movie," Aaron suggested.

Amanda and I both agreed.We decided to go for a scary movie.

"You'll pee your pants," Aaron laughed at Amanda.

"Shut up,Aaron," she glared at him.

" No,really. You'll be scared to death."

"No one asked you," she scowled, giving him the finger.

That only made him laugh harder.

"This should be fun," he said to me with an amused look on his face.

The movie was okay, I mean it was kind of scary but since I was so used to watching horror movies, I didn't find it super scary.

Aaron on the other hand, was stuffing his face with popcorn laughing his ass off at Amanda's reactions.

To say Amanda freaked out would be an understatement. She was terrified.

It probably sounds like a very horrible thing to do, but I found myself laughing with Aaron.

When we got out of the theatre, Amanda was fuming.

"Assholes!" she yelled at us.

We both laughed.

I felt guilty about laughing, but her reactions were priceless.

" Right,that's enough. I'm leaving."

We spent the rest of the day trying to make her forgive us.

"She is so fucking stubborn,"Aaron rolled his eyes after Amanda had still not talked to us. "I feel sorry for James."

" James?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

" Her boyfriend," he rolled his eyes again and threw himself on the bed.

" Jake, you mean," I rolled my eyes.

He turned his head towards me."Do I look like I give a shit about his name?"

He didn't.

"No."

"Exactly. "

A few minutes passed." I have an idea!"

***

Aaron very, very reluctantly called Jake up and told him the plan.

We'd made a reservation for one of Amanda's favourite restaurant (according to Aaron), for her and Jake.

That was bound to make her happy.

The doorbell rang and I figured it was Jake.

I ran down the stairs, with Aaron behind me and opened the door.

"Hey Ja-"

I stopped mid sentence when I saw who it was.

Aaron's dad.

"Hey Mr.Woods," I offered him a polite smile.

"Hello,how are you?" he replied.

At least he didn't ignore me this time.

"I'm good,thanks," I sounded awkward, even to my own ears.

He gave me a small smile and entered the house.

"Aaron," I heard him call out.

I had a feeling this was not going to go well.

"Hi," Aaron replied dryly.

"How have-"

"Dad!" Amanda exclaimed, suddenly appearing on the stairs.

"Hi sweety. How have you been?" he asked warmly as they were hugging.

So, he was her step dad, but her relationship with him was better than Aaron's with his own father.

I suddenly felt really bad for Aaron, just like I had yesterday. I could tell how much it hurt him that his parents didn't care about him but now that his dad was here he was just ignoring him.

I frowned, wishing there was something I could do.

Just then the bell rang again. Since I was still standing right beside the door, I quickly opened it. This time it was Jake.

" Hi,you mus-" he, like me, stopped mid sentence when he spotted Amanda's dad.

They exchanged a very quick and awkward hello and Amanda quickly left after that.

"Aaron,we need to talk,"Mr.Woods said after Amanda had left.

I looked at Aaron.He looked pissed already.

"I need to go somewhere," Aaron said ,obviously trying to avoid talking to his father.

"Do not walk out like that."

The air was thick with tension.

I could tell Aaron was trying hard not to snap at his father.

"Look, I'm leaving again tomorrow morning. I just wanted to talk to you.", his father sighed.

Aaron looked at me and I gave him a reassuring nod.He let out a deep breath and looked at his father.

" Let's talk."

***

Amanda came back from the date looking extremely happy.

"It was perfect!" she exclaimed the minute she saw me.

"Thank you guys so much, really.I love you," she said pulling both me and Aaron into a hug.

"Whoa, chill!" Aaron exclaimed.

She pulled back then and smacked his head.

"Oh and you guys are totally forgiven," she grinned.

"We figured as much from the life threatening hug you just gave us," Aaron rolled his eyes receiving another smack on the head.

"What is wrong with you?" he yelled.

She gave him a sarcastic smile before turning to me.

"It was amazing, Ashley. We had dinner and then he kissed me and I ki-"

"Gross," I said the same time Aaron said,"Shut up."

"Oh, come on you guys!" she rolled her eyes.

"We really do not want details," Aaron told her, making gagging sounds.

"Whatever,"she said, sticking her tongue out. "See you two later," she said and left.

Half an hour later, I was sprawled across one couch and Aaron on another one, doing absolutely nothing.

"What are you two doing at home? Go out!Have fun!" Joanna exclaimed.

She had just returned early this morning. I'd missed her a lot. And her food, of course.

"Got nothing to do," I said, shrugging.

" What she said,"Aaron said.

She shook her head,realizing there it was useless trying to convince us.

"Do you want coffee or something?I baked a cake."

"Yes!" Aaron and I exclaimed.

Then I remembered we'd just ordered food.

"We can have that for dinner," Aaron said, as if reading my thoughts.

"Cool."

After some time, things started to get fun. Aaron and I were sitting on the couch, playing UNO and having hot chocolate with the delicious cake Joanna had made.

We'd told her to join us too, but she said she had to go shopping.She needed to refill the fridge.

"You cheated!" I yelled at Aaron.

"I did not!"

" You did!"

"No, I-"

"You did!"

"Fine, let's start over," he finally said.

"So you admit you cheated?"

"No."

He was impossible.

"I don't want to play anymore,"I crossed my arms across my chest like a kid.

"Whatever."

We put away the cards. It was quiet for a while.

"So?"

I raised an eyebrow."So what?"

"What have you done about the bet?",l Aaron asked with a smirk.

"Nothing."

"Knew it," he gave me a smug look.

"Don't look so smug. We start from tomorrow. "

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And who said that? "

"I did."

"And who said that matters?"

"I did."

"You're crazy."

I pounced on him,violently so I was on his chest."What'd you say?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"I said," he moved his face closer to mine so that I could feel his breath on my face. "You're..." he paused before moving his mouth towards my ears and whispering,"absolutely..."

He was about to say something else but I tilted my face so our lips almost touched.

I took in a shaky breath as he stared at me with those hazel eyes. I stared right back.

He was cute, but now that I was seeing him up close he looked even more gorgeous.

The way his eyelashes almost touched his cheekbones, a few freckles around his nose, his perfectly sculpted face and his lips...

Maybe Trent was right. We'd be great together. Because, let's admit it-We both were five year olds stuck inside the bodies of 16 year olds.

Did I like him?

Yes.

Fuck. I did like him.

Just then, a voice called out,"I'm home!"

I jumped off him as fast as I could and ended up falling on my butt.

"Ow!" I winced .

A few seconds passed and then the expected happened. Aaron started laughing.

This boy, I tell you.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" Joanna's worried voice asked.

" Yes," I muttered.

She gave me a nod and headed to the kitchen with her arms full of the bags.

Aaron continued to laugh his ass off beside me.

I sure knew how to pick them.

***