"Trust me, step three is the best and most interesting step," Kaleb barged into my room Sunday morning.

I gasped and grabbed my lotion, throwing it at him, "How can you just barge in like that? What if I was completely naked?!"

He rubbed his chest where the lotion had hit, rolling his eyes, "Well, you weren't?"

"Well, what if?" I retorted.

He started laughing, "Hey, remember when we were eleven?"

The memory of what he was referring to filled my head and I joined him in laughter.

Here's what went down.

So, we were still in middle school. I was up in Kaleb's room when I started feeling sick. I was running a temperature so Kaleb went to tell Phoebe. By the time he got back with his mom, I'd thrown up. Phoebe was so worried and without thinking, she stripped me down to my panties. I couldn't do anything about it because I felt so ill, but Kaleb had snickered. It wasn't until we were 13 that Kaleb brought that day up and we laughed our butts off. Lord, my chest was as flat as a wall then.

Kaleb sat on my bed now, running my comb through his hair and then I remembered my history test.

"Hey Kaleb, can I read out my history text to you later?"

"Oh yeah, there is a test tomorrow," he muttered before saying out loud, "Why do you want to read it out to me, though?"

I sighed and sat beside him, "If you've noticed, I haven't been complaining about tests anymore."

He thought for a while, "Yeah, recently."

"Well, all thanks to River. He made me start reading out my text to him, and I realized that when writing the rest, I would remember what I'd read to him."

"Whoa, that's quite a technique."

"Mhm," I nodded. "And now that we're not exactly speaking, I figured I could just read out to you."

"If you ask me Rae, I think River likes you."

"Let's not -"

"Forget that he has a girlfriend for a minute. It's only someone who likes and cares about you that'll want to see you do well. Not just that, but also help you discover new things about yourself."

I swallowed. I realized that each time I spent with River, I discovered something new about myself.

"And that's exactly why the plan to make him jealous will work. It's quite glaring that just maybe he has feelings for you. To make him jealous, it won't just be about me all the time."

I nodded. "So what?"

"Good. Now, you would try to stay busy. He likes you. He'll still want you to make time for him, kinda like how you've been spending time with him after work, but that has stopped from creating distance, so that's no problem. Stay busy and once on a while let him think you're having a good time. That will get to him."

I locked my lower lip, "Got it. What else?"

"Flirt with another guy, that is, me."

I raised a hand to my forehead, "I can't flirt. You know that."

Kaleb laughed, throwing his head back, "I know. Remember that day at La Taqueira."

"Oh please, don't remind me," I rolled my eyes.

"It's no problem, though. Leave the flirting aspect to me, you'll catch on these things. I got you. Though later on you might have to learn how to. You're 16 and can't flirt. That's sad."

I rolled my eyes, "What else?"

"Try ignoring him lightly. But don't be rude or ignore him completely. If he talks to you, like I said before talk to him. If he ever texts, don't text back immediately. Talk to him when you can, but don't go out of your way to talk to him. Once in a while, subtly mention my name in a conversation. Oh, that'll get him real good," Kaleb laughed.

"Oh God, how are you a guy, Kaleb?" I chuckled.

"I wonder, but moving on, you shouldn't be a total jerk, really. Just keep your convo quick. Second to the last and more importantly, you like this guy, alright, so don't try to make him jealous for too long. The goal is to let him realise he wants you, so we'll keep this on for two weeks."

I nodded. "Two weeks, alright."

"And last but most importantly, don't make all these too obvious. Don't go too far out of your way to let him know you don't exactly need him which isn't true. Also, over doing it can be a turn off. Do it all subtly," he let out a breath. "Got it?'

I hugged him tightly.

After the repeat history test the next day, I turned to look at Harper who was grinning.

"What's got you so excited, you rabbit?" I asked her.

She tucked some strands of hair behind her ear, still smiling. "Okay, I know you saw me Friday night."

"In the room with that guy? Yeah, she did," I nodded.

"That guy? That was Jace."

My eyes widened, "Really?"

"Yes!" She squealed. "You look so surprised."

"Well, yeah. I mean, I'm not exactly surprised, it's just that I didn't know you were together or anything because last I remember, you didn't even have the courage to walk up to him."

"Actually, we kinda got off talking on Friday."

My eyebrows furrowed. They got off talking on Friday and ended up in a room making out on Friday? Oh wow. I kept my thought to myself, but only voiced out, "Wow."

"He says we should hang out," she had such a wide smile on her face, I had to smile.

"Really?" Could he really like her? If he did then I was genuinely happy for her.

"Yep, and he says I'm really cute."

"He isn't lying," I said.

She sighed dreamily and then said, "So, what did you get up to that night?"

I shrugged, "Not much. I didn't feel like being at the party so I ended up on the stairs."

She looked surprised, "Through out?!"

"No," I chuckled. "I had Logan to talk to."

"Speaking of Logan, I think he likes you."

No shit Sherlock.

We walked down the hallway few minutes later and Harper turned to me, "Do you want to do something after school?"

"I'd love to, but you know, work and all."

"What do you do at this work of yours?"

"I'm mostly behind the counter. It's a pretty decent job."

She shrugged, "I've never really had a job. Except the one I had for a day."

"This one's my first job," I said then laughed, "And how on earth did you work only for a day?"

"I may or may not have mixed up a lot of orders, which by the way, wasn't entirely my fault. We weren't allowed to use notepads or anything. I was only 14."

"Whoa, why did you have to work at such a young age?"

She shrugged again, "Things were quite hard for me and my mom for a while. I wanted to help in a way."

"What of your dad?" I threw a quick glance at her.

"Heaven knows."

"I'm sorry about it," I said quietly.

She chuckled then waved a hand in the air, "It's not your fault. Quite honestly, I'm happy he's not with them. How about your family?"

"My dad and mom live not too far from here, but I live with my brother."

"Really? Is he in this school?"

"No, he's out of university, in fact."

"I bet he's hot."

I chuckled, "Shut up."

"Oh, you can kiss my ass," I said to Kaleb as I got down from his car.

He laughed, "Have a good day at work, Rae."

"You're not coming with me?" I asked him.

"For what?"

"Well, we have a plan?" I rolled my eyes.

"You opened up to River on Friday, which kinda leaves a hint that you like him, then you show up on Monday with another guy. How does that sound to you?"

"Ooh," I said in realisation.

"Exactly. So go in, try to stay busy and don't forget the other stuff I told you."

"Yeah, okay," I nodded.

"So, what are you still waiting for?" He had an eyebrow raised.

"Shut up, you douche."

Then I turned, letting out a breath. I had to do this.

●