•••

Today's the day! It's the talent show! I've decided to sing. It's the only thing I felt like I could really do. Although, I was super nervous.

Stage fright was an extremely real problem, but I attempted to bury that thought into the far recesses of my mind.

I took another deep breath, watching Chase walk onto the stage. He was doing some sort of... magic trick or something. I didn't have time to ask him.

My slid over to Leo, remote in hand. My eyebrows furrowed. Leo having an unmarked remote was not good. No, it was not good at all.

"Leo." I muttered, gently elbowing him in the side.

He glanced over at me, "What?"

"What is that remote for?"

He opened his mouth, before eventually deciding against it. All he did was shake his head.

"Don't you worry about it."

"Leo, I am literally always worried."

He shrugged, and I huffed. If he wouldn't even tell me what it was for, than this had to be worse than I thought.

My eyes found Chase again, placing my focus back on him long enough to hear the laughing. Oh no, it didn't work. Chase had finally gone up there to make his mark, to actually be proud of something...

And it was a dud.

I had half a mind to go & drag him offstage to comfort him. That might be weird though, and then he'd hate me, and I couldn't handle that thought process right now either.

My heart sunk into my chest, watching his face fall. He really deserved better than this. I bit my lip, taking another deep breath, and my eyes drifted to the floor.

That's when a deep voice cut through the laughter & my eyes shot up.

"Hey!"

Was that really Chase? No, no, it couldn't be. The voice was deep & aggressive. That wasn't Chase. At least, not the Chase I knew.

For some reason, my gaze fell to Leo for some sort of explanation for this. But alas, Leo was caught up in his own little world... and still looked terrified.

"L-Leo?"

Leo didn't seem to hear me.

"I think Spike's back!" He whispered, mostly to himself. The terror was evident on his face, and my head tilted.

"Um, who's Spike?" I asked, eyes continually switching from 'Chase' to Leo.

"If he gets angry, he turns aggressive. Not just aggressive, extremely aggressive." Leo explained quickly, "and we- my family- call him Spike."

My mouth went dry as I thought back through memories. Had this happened before? Ever?

Yes.

Yes it did.

In fact, on the very first day, Chase had gotten furious at the football players. He had questioned the entire social hierarchy. He'd... Well, he'd sprayed the entire Mission Creek football team with pudding cups.

Looking back on it now... Yes. Yes, that was weird. It didn't fit with anything I now know about Chase, so was that 'Spike' moment in disguise?

Chase, sorry... Spike, was yelling again.

"Want to see me move that chair with my head?" My body stiffened as he yanked the chair off the ground and smashed it over his head.

Yup, that... That was not my Chase.

I carefully walked onto the stage, bowing slightly, "And that's a-all, folks!"

Spike looked to me, his eyebrows furrowing, and I ignored him. After the confused applause, I dragged him offstage.

Leo looked at Spike, almost... guiltily. Oh, what did he have to do with this?

I rolled my eyes, looking back to Spike.

And I wished I had looked away.

His eyes roamed my body, and I immediately crossed my arms over my chest.

"M-My eyes are up here." I stuttered, frowning deeply. I was probably the worst shade of red right now, which did not help my case in any sort of way.

Spike lazily moved his eyes back up my body, giving me a cocky smirk in response.

Nope, not the reaction I was going for. Okay. New plan, I guess? I bit my lip as Spike smirked again.

He leaned next to me, and in one swift movement, began carrying me... bridal style...

Maybe Owen had been right about talent shows after all.

"S-Spike!" I said, trying to regain some dignity. But I had none left. My cheeks gained even more color than before, and no, I was not happy.

"Now, what's the matter Y/N?" Spike purred, all the while that stupid smirk never leaving his face. I honestly did not know whether I wanted to punch Spike or kiss him.

Instead, I did neither. I couldn't. I felt like mere putty in his hands, powerless and weak. Couldn't just be stronger?

"I-" I went to start a sentence, but utterly failed. What did I even want to say? What did I want? "I, um, uh..."

Oh no.

I obviously was falling harder for this boy every passing second, no matter what personality he had. How was this possible?

It was just supposed to be a tiny crush.

Obviously, fate did not want it to happen that way.

Spike continued to carry me, against my constant protests, and all I could do was think. I originally tried to think of a solution to the situation, but my mind wandered. Is this his way of flirting? Could this even be considered flirting? No, no...

Right?

I was trying to even out my breath again when Perry emerged from the gym.

The rat's out of the cage.

Spike set me down (surprising gently) and I looked back to Principal Perry.

Oh no. She was planning to jump on top of Spike. Spike could probably handle it, but Spike shared a body with Chase. Chase would be in pain, and I didn't want to see that.

I shoved Spike out of the way, taking Perry for myself. She landed on top of my back, and I just groaned. Yup, definitely made the right call there.

She just brushed herself off without a word, and I stood up. I blinked a couple times. Luckily, I came back to the image of Chase's concerned face.

Oh, I knew those eyes anywhere.

"Y/N?"

"Hello to you too, Chase." I smiled softly as his lips pulled into a small frown. I had to admit, he looked kind of cute when he was concerned.

"Come over to my house."

"My, so forward." I chuckled to myself, as he shook his head.

"No, please, to recover."

"I have my own house, you know? Most people do. They live there."

Chase just shook his head, "Please?"

"Fine." I mumbled, texting Audrey again. I think she was in the audience actually. She was here to... see me perform.

Yikes.

'Audrey, hey! Could you pick me up again? There's a lot of stuff going on and I'm going to Cha'

I backspaced.

'I'm going to Bree's to sort it out.'

It took a couple minutes, but she sent me a message back.

'Sure kiddo. Please be safe <3'

'Will do'

•••

It had been a slow and silent car ride to Chase's house.

But hey, I had survived. Thad had to count for something, right?

I was currently sitting on the couch, trying to sort through all the events of the previous hour. I got pretty far, but was interrupted by Chase. He silently held out an ice pack.

"Thanks." I said softly, taking it and holding it to the bruise on my arm. Perry hadn't done any major damage, luckily. One bruise was nothing.

Chase sat on the couch next to me, and I tensed slightly.

No, no, he wasn't Spike. I could relax.

A moment of silence passed between us before, as usual, Chase spoke up.

"Thanks for saving me from Principle Perry."

I shook my head, "It's no problem, really."

We stared at each other for a bit, subtle smiles on both of our faces. I felt a sort of... contentment with him. It was nice. I didn't get that feeling with many people... And I was getting caught up in my mind again.

Adam and Bree walked through the door, and I stiffened again. I liked the silence. I liked alone time with Chase. But it couldn't last.

Nothing ever did.

Chase exchanged a few words with Adam & Bree while I zoned out again. When I blinked back to reality, they had left to their bedrooms. I grabbed my bag, texting Audrey about my ride. I stood up from the couch, pausing.

I heard approaching footsteps & my eyes shot up. Who was it? Chase? Bree? What if... What if Spike was back?

No, no, that was ridiculous.

I felt a gentle grip on my arm, making me jump.

"It's just me." Chase mumbled, and I took his hand off my arm.

"Dude, you somehow managed to grab my bruise." I chuckled, and Chase quickly started apologizing.

"No, no, it's fine. I promise. It doesn't even hurt that bad."

This time, the silence was tense. Now, I had the urge to kiss Chase again. But it was different this time. Spike and Chase were so utterly different, and I... liked it.

"Chase."

"Y/N."

Our voices were quiet, but my heart was loud.

I began to lean in, and I could feel Chase lean in too. We were close, we were so close, and I could feel his breath on my lips. But we both stopped leaning in.

It was too quiet. I liked silence, but not like this. Someone had to make a move. You needed to make a move, someone needed to make a move.

I held my breath, before shaking my head and taking a step back. He wanted me to kiss him. Did... I... No, no, it was too soon. We couldn't do this yet. It would either screw everything up, or drag me deeper than I wanted to go. Oh, would he be angry?

I blinked a couple times, taking a few more steps back. My eyes flickered around the room, not daring to look at Chase. 

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

There was a honk from outside, and I knew it was Audrey. Looks like my savior from the situation had arrived. Hallelujah.

"I'm sorry." I whispered again, rushing out the door before Chase could say a word to me. I didn't want to hear it.

"Rough night?"

"That's an understatement."

: Here's a little angst for your day. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading. xoxo