I was resting my head against my desk when my best friend came and sat in the seat next to me. When she pushed my chair with her foot, I raised my head and glared at her.
Why was it when I needed sleep, no one would allow it?
"Dakota, you have to try this," she pleaded.
It was too early in the morning to try to figure out what she was talking about so I asked, "Try what?"
"Well since I'm such a great friend I decided that you have to take this quiz, it's perfect for you," she said with a quick grin.
"Quiz? Shelly I hate taking those stupid quizzes; I don't care if I'm labeled the nerd or what my inner love personality is. Can't I just sleep?"
"Oh stop your whining Dakota; this quiz is perfect for you. It's from our school magazine, Maggie came up with it last week, she gave it to me to edit and as soon as I read it I thought of you," she exclaimed.
"What's so important about it?"
"It's a quiz about crushes."
I moaned in horror, "Shelly we've been through this before, I don't like anyone!"
A muffled laugh interrupted my tirade, I knew without even turning around who it would be. "You wound me Dakota Reynolds, I thought your love for me would never falter or wander. What causes these undesired feelings?"
"The only undesired feelings are full of disgust when I look at you," I countered.
He slid in the seat in front of me and turned to face my direction. "But you're love is the only strength I need to survive."
"Zach..." I whined, knowing he wouldn't stop.
Zach Witman, the man that every girl drooled over, the rebel without a cause. Well actually he wasn't a rebel; he was too good of a student to act out.
I glanced up to see what color his hair was, "I liked the blue better."
He flashed me a grin before running his hand through the bright red hair, "I needed something new," he said with a shrug.
"Well as long as you aren't planning on going Spain and become a matador than by all means keep the color." I paused, thinking about what I just said. "I take that back, go to Spain," I pleaded.
He frowned before grinning, "You have faith in me don't you? Would you tie a ribbon around my lance?"
"You're confusing your sports again," I said after rolling my eyes.
"Like you know what sports are," Marcus said from the doorway. I glanced over my shoulder to see Zach's best friend walk in.
"Are they at it again," Marcus asked, leaning against Shelly's desk.
Shelly tired pushing him off, but Marcus just grabbed her hand and kissed her. Shelly sighed as they looked into each others' eyes.
I tried making gagging noises, showing my disgust, but Zach leaned over my desk and covered my mouth with his hand.
"Their cute, leave them alone," he said, over my muffled voice.
When he moved his hand away, I said, "And here I thought it was supposed to be the guy that was turned off by the romantic gestures."
"I'm going to tell you a secret, not everyone is a cynic when it comes to love."
"I'm not a cynic," I argued in my defense.
"You're not, could have fooled me."
I glared at him and cracked my knuckles, my annoying habit that I knew Zach couldn't stand.
He stared at my hand, the look in his eyes saying that he wanted to grab it but he knew I would hit him.
"Will you take the quiz," Shelly repeated the question.
"Are we back to that again."
"Please Dakota? I want to know your opinion about it before we start selling on Friday."
I sighed in defeat and grabbed the magazine out of Shelly's hand. The magazine was already open to the quiz's page.
"This is the last one," Shelly promised, her eyes gleaming with happiness. I was too busy trying to figure out what I missed that I didn't see the look that Zach and Marcus shared.
I shrugged my shoulders and glanced down at the title of the quiz. I stared at the red bold letters, trying not to laugh.
"Is he made for you? Take the quiz and find out if you and your crush are meant to be!"
I snorted at the question, wondering why I was taking this quiz when I didn't like anyone.
Mr. Thornton walked into the room, nodding at the students as he placed his briefcase onto his desk.
"Today were having a pop quiz so put everything away," he said when everyone took their seats.
I didn't give the quiz a second thought as I placed it into my folder and shoved the folder into my book bag, all the while muttering how quizzes were evil.
I slammed my car door shut and ran across the driveway and onto the porch. I dropped my book bad onto the ground as soon as I stepped into the house. I shut the door and stared in horror at the newly painted walls. My gaze went from wall to wall taking in the two colors. My dad walked into the room as I slid to the ground. He sat down next to me, leaning against the door.
"Scary isn't it," he asked with a shudder.
I nodded my head still silent from the horror I was witnessing.
"Why," I finally croaked out.
"You know your mother. This is her latest renovation."
"But lime green and pink, what is this, a watermelon?"
My dad patted my shoulder, "Be glad I steered her away when she was looking at the yellow for your room."
My eyes widened as I stared at him. I jumped up and ran up the stairs. I swung my door opened and sighed when I saw the white walls. White was good, white was calm.
My mom came up behind me and handed me my book bag, "You left this downstairs, honey."
"Thanks mom."
"You know I was thinking that your room could use some color—" before she could say anything else I pushed her outside.
"Mom I have a lot of homework to do, a quiz to take…a project to work on," I said quickly, just as my cell phone rang. "That's probably my partner now."
My mom nodded and left as I answered the phone.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you; I could kiss you right now but that might be a problem."
"Well I could always come over and provide my lips."
I dropped the phone and stared at the caller id—I knew I should have started paying attention to that.
My mom walked back in. "Be sure to invite your friend for dinner," she said loudly, staring at me and the phone that was still on the ground.
I smiled and picked up the phone. "Do you want to come over for dinner," I muttered. My mom smiled and walked away again. I got up and shut my door, I didn't need another interruption.
Silence.
"Zach, are you there?"
I was praying that I would hear the dial tone but he said, "Yeah I'm here, just shocked that you wanted me to come over."
"It's a once in a life time deal, it's never going to happen again."
I sat down on my bed and grinned. I could picture him now, running his hand through his red hair, puzzled at the turn of events.
"Well I have homework to do, so I'll see around six."
"Yeah that's fine."
I was about to hang up when I asked, "Why'd you call in the first place?"
"I'll tell you about it when I see you," he said quickly and hung up.
I shrugged, "Might as well start on homework."
One creative essay, a bunch of math problems, and a smoothie—I was thirsty—later I took out my folder. I might as well start the quiz.
QUESTION 1: This is the simple question to get you to admit your feelings, even the ones that you haven't told your best friend. Do you have that secret crush or a guy that you've been thinking about lately?
I snorted when I read the question. Secret crush? I stared at my choices, skipping over the first and second answer, before stopping at C.
That answer was perfect.
C. the only guy that I'm crushing over is Wentworth Miller, like half the female population in this world.
Below the first question were three steps each leading to different questions depending on the answer picked. Since I chose C I was supposed to go to Question 4.
Question 4: Not ready to admit your feelings yet? Well that's okay but I'm going to ask again, is there a guy—a regular Joe this time—that makes your palms sweaty and your heart start to race?
A. Well yeah, but he's just a friend. I don't like him.
B. Darling, I like girls—so maybe I shouldn't take this quiz
C. Like I said before I DON'T LIKE ANYONE! DO I NEED TO GET THAT TATTOOED ONTO MY FORHEAD?
I grinned at the last answer it was perfect, something that I would say. I circled the C and went to Question 7.
QUESTION 7: You're a hard girl to break, but since you don't want to admit your feelings, I guess it would be worthless to ask this question—but I'm still going to—don't you love me for that (Wait I forgot that you didn't circle B)
Check each line that fits:
Though I haven't found love, I know that there is someone out there for me.
Argh, why is that everyone wants love? Love's a fickle emotion that comes and goes.
I believe in the fairytale romance
Yeah right, one day my prince charming will come, but in this tale the dragon will kill him. Go dragons!
Romance, does that even exist? Romance is a guy trying hard enough to get into a girl's pants, nothing more, nothing less.
And people call me cynical…
Crushes come and go, but its real friendship that lasts forever
So that wasn't that bad. I placed a check on that line.
Of course, there are times when I believe that the friendship can develop into something more.
I knew that there was a catch. I frowned at the words and stuck my tongue out, "I'm not going to check that line."
My notebook is covered in my name and my crush/Significant other's name.
My notebook is covered with doodles, not names.
Right now, I'm not in the mood for a relationship with anyone. (If you checked this line, read the last paragraph…it's made for you!)
Finally something I can relate to.
I checked that line, glad that this quiz was over with. I saw some words following what paragraph I had to read, but they were too tiny to read.
"Can't be that important," I muttered, already skimming to the last paragraph.
I started to read out loud, "You're the tough cookie that can fall under to categories. You really don't want a relationship at the moment or you don't want to admit the truth. You're probably rolling your eyes as you read this, wondering why I can't seem to understand. You don't like anyone; you've made your point. But I have few questions; can you really deny the fact that you haven't felt that rush when you were with someone? If you could rewind past your thoughts, you wouldn't see that you thought that guy who you considered a friend to have some boyfriend qualities? Are you scared of a commitment, worried that he won't like you? Are you afraid that your feelings for him are too strong so instead of admitting them you toss them aside as if it were yesterday's garbage? Do you really deny the fact that you eyes light up when he enters the room, or you feel down when you weren't able to talk to him? You know what; I dare you to take a risk and ask Zach on a date!"
Wait, what?
I reread the last line, wondering if me eyes were playing a game.
"It really does say Zach," I muttered.
"You called?"
I jumped and stared at the man in question who was leaning against my door. He had his 'you can't resist me' smirk on.
"What the hell is this garbage?"
"Garbage? I'll have you know that last selling racked in $750 dollars, which is a good thing, because the stupid printing company raised their prices once again."
"You actually made two thousand copies of this magazine?"
He walked into my room and sat down on my bed, facing me.
"Why? Is there something wrong with the quiz," he innocently asked.
I glared at him, "Yes there's something wrong with this quiz. It's horrible."
"Really? Maggie will be so disappointed, she put a lot of work in coming up with the questions. You try thinking of seven questions that focus on love."
"Did you read the last paragraph?"
He tilted his head to the side, "Is the last paragraph titled 'Denying Truth?'"
I glanced down and nodded my head.
"Then yes I did read it, though in my honest opinion I thought 'Go Get 'Em' was so much better," he said, moving to sit Indian style.
"Why? I thought that you would be preening over the fact that your name was once again in the magazine."
"I'm the Editor-in-Chief my name is always in the magazine," he stated.
I rolled my eyes. "This is a game right?"
He looked at me with confusion. "Dakota are you feeling okay? I could always leave and let you get some rest."
"No, I'm fine. It's just…I don't even know."
He grabbed the quiz, swatting my hand out of the way while saying, "I want to know what has you so befuddled."
"Bufuddled?"
"Isn't it a fun word to say," he asked with a cheeky grin.
I laughed, that's Zach for you.
He skimmed through the questions and answers. I watched as he stopped and stared at the magazine with bewilderment.
"Um…Dakota, do you realize what you checked?"
"Which one," I asked, trying to think of what could cause him to look at me with wide eyes.
"The last one," he answered stiffly.
I grabbed the magazine out of his hand and stared at the last line. "There's nothing wrong with it."
"Did you read the fine print?"
I squinted and leaned forward. "So I might not admit this freely, so why not use fine print! I like Zach Witman."
I dropped the magazine and glanced up to see him smirking.
"I didn't know you felt that way about me."
"Zach…"
His grin faded as he said, "Didn't read the fine print did you?"
I shook my head, biting my lip.
"Damn, we were really hoping that you would finally realize," he said so softly that I had to lean forward to hear him.
"We?"
"Well Shelly wanted you to admit your feelings that she was so sure you had and I was confused because there were moments when I thought you liked me more than you let on, so we thought…"
"You could trap me into admitting I liked you?"
"Do you," he asked hopefully.
"Zach you're a good friend—"
He interrupted before I could say anything else, "If you're going to play the friend card, can I leave?"
I pushed him, not realizing how close he was to the edge of the bed. I watched as he fell over, hearing the loud thump echo in the room. I looked at the empty space in horror as I crawled across my bed.
"Zach, are you okay," I asked leaning over the side of the bed.
Before I knew it his lips were against mine. I pushed him back again, watching as he fell back down.
"I couldn't be better."
I tossed him a glare, while thinking about his kiss that he just gave me.
I couldn't really like Zach could I?
He's a friend, my sparring buddy, the guy I turn to when I want to rant. He's the only one that I know who could make me laugh when I want to cry.
I stared at him, taking in his tousled red hair, his blue eyes, the dimple that was only in his right cheek. I found myself wondering if his lips were really as soft as they appeared—yes he kissed me, but it was brief and my imagination was already wandering. I wondered if his hands would be soft or calloused, or if his hair was smooth as it seemed.
I started to smile, wondering what his reaction was about to be. I watched as he looked at me with suspicion.
"I don't trust that look Dakota."
"Get used to it," I said, leaping off my bed. I landed on top of him, hearing the slight woosh that he let out.
"Warning would have been nice," he said a few seconds later.
"But this is so much better," I whispered against his lips before kissing him.
Who knew those stupid quizzes I hated would actually come in handy?
"Did you really make two thousand copies of this magazine?"
He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist, "No, we actually printed that off of our colored paper and had the office bind it for us."
I rolled my eyes and asked, "Glad I took a risk?"
"Risk? You call dating me a risk? I think the color of your living room is a ri—."
I kissed him again.
At least I found a new way to shut him up and if I had fun in the process well that's even better.
So
this will only be a one-shot...nothing really important but I had fun
writing it. You can tell me how crappy it is when you review :)
PLEASE REVIEW!!!
Cynically Amused