Chapter 8

Halfway home, I changed directions and started off towards the park. Whenever I or Josh had been worried or angry about something we would go there. I had to think of someway to still get back Josh. I couldn’t prank Tiffany and her cronies anymore. But how could I talk to Josh?

Once I got to the park, it was dark because I had been in that little abandoned house with Tiffany for a while and I had walked slowly. I started to walk over to the swings, ready to sit there for a while and just think about things, when I saw a familiar figure already sitting there.

As I got closer I realized who it was. It was tempting to just turn around and walk away, but I was done. I was ready to talk to Josh about everything. Josh turned, saw me, and then looked away.

I sat down on the swing next to his and said nothing. After a bit he said, “’Ello, what are you doing here?”

I waited a second before everything started to pour out. I told him what happened with Tiffany and Halloween and the pranks. Every so often, he would interrupt with a question or two and I would answer them. When I was done, he stood and, for a moment, I was afraid he was going to leave. But then, he walked over to me and hugged me.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I nodded against his shoulder and then a question popped into my head. “Why are you going out with Tiffany? Please, tell me the truth. I know the first you time you told me, you were lying.”

He sighed and pulled away from me. Then he mumbled something. “What?” I asked.

He sighed again, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then said, “In a way…she kinda…reminds me of you…”

Woah. What? “Huh?”

He shook his head with a little laugh. “I really, really care for you, Faye. I really like you…”

I stared at him. “So you went out with her because of that?”

He bit his lip and looked up at me with large puppy-dog eyes. Oh no… “I’m sorry,” he whined in a soft voice.

I couldn’t hold back the smile that curved my lips. “Jeez, if you keep your face like that long enough, it’s gonna get stuck like that.” He smiled and wrapped me in another hug.

The next day, Josh was back to sitting with us and laughing like the old times. His arm was wrapped around me and every once in a while his lips would brush my cheek. Tiffany stomped over to us, her face flushed an unpleasant red.

“What the hell are you doing over here Josh!” she screeched.

He smirked -a cocky, arrogant, smirk- and said, “Sorry, babe, but it’s over between us.”

She sputtered and he said, “I’ve found someone else.” Then he pulled me in for a deep kiss. But he pulled away too soon for my liking.

She glared at Josh and me and screamed, “I will get you for this!”

And really, you know, she tried. According to Jesse, Tiffany went to their father and asked if he demanded that he expel us. But daddy dearest wasn’t as compliant as Tiffany had made him out be. He had just gotten back from some important business trip and had expected Jesse and Tiffany to be good little girls, who would do nothing wrong while he was away. Of course that was true while he was away, but Jesse had said that he expected them to be that way when he had gotten back too. He hadn’t expected his eldest daughter to demand that several students get expelled.

And he didn’t like how Tiffany turned out to be. So, he transferred her to a prestigious girls’ school where she would get the rest of her education and several etiquette lessons. Eventually, Michelle and Samantha went back to being somewhat normal and stopped trying to take Tiffany’s place.

The rest of the school year was finished in peace and I and Josh stayed together for all that and more.