My Secret Obsession

Crawling around on the ground in front of my crushes house wasn't weird, right? It's not weird if I'm squatting underneath his window right now, binoculars in my hand, about to climb up into the tree that- when you sit on a specific branch in a specific spot- gives me a complete view of not only him, but his whole room? It's not weird that it's midnight, or that it's dark, or that he doesn't know that I know where he lives, is it?

It's not weird that I brought my friends too, right?

"Are you sure he won't be able to see us?" one of my friends- Kate- asked as I scaled the tree- a tree that I knew much too well.

"I'm sure" I told her, "I've been up here too many times to know if he would be able to see me or not."

…

I can't believe I just told her that.

She snickered as she attempted to climb the tree as well, slipping a bit as she moved upward. I'll admit that it took me a few tries to get up this tree, many of which I've fallen from a branch 10 feet up and landed flat on my back.

One time I broke my leg when I fell from his tree. I dragged myself back to my house and told my parents I'd fallen down the stairs. They- knowing that I was a klutz- believed me. I've been more careful after that.

I reached the top and moved my way through the branches; at ease because I was familiar with the tree and the way it was shaped. My friend was having a bit of an issue though, rustling tree branches and swearing as she got scratched by the splintering bark.

I sat down on the branch that I normally went too and made room for my friend. We were squished and kept bumping into each other, but we both had view of his room.

"Oh my god!" Kate whispered, grabbing the binoculars from my hands and pressing them against her eyes, "He has friends over!"

I rolled my eyes; of course he has friends over. I wouldn't have brought her here just so she could stare at my crush. There had to be other eye candy here for her to gawk at while I stared my crush.

One of these pieces of eye candy just so happened to be her crush.

"Oh my god, Alicia! Alicia!" she whisper-yelled down to our other friend who was still waiting on the ground.

I glanced over at Alicia who was pacing nervously around the trunk of the tree. Her fumbling fingers were picking at her nails, her normally big blue eyes were small and shifty with fright, and her shoulders were slumped over, making her look like she had a hunched back.

Alicia looked up and bit her thumbnail, mouthing, 'what?'

I smiled at her and whispered tauntingly, "Mike is here!"

That sparked her interest, and her face turned bright red with recognition. She flailed her arms and ran around in a circle, unsure or what to do. Should she come up? Should she stay down? She really liked Mike, and a free chance to stare at him… well she just couldn't pass down that opportunity. In fact, Alicia was about to start climbing the tree when I heard one of the boys say something,

"Let's go outside."

Dear god, no. No! Why must the world be cruel to me on this day? Why not another day? Alicia isn't a strong enough climber to get up this tree fast enough, and there is no way she'll be able to run away to the little strip of woods fast enough without the boys either coming out first or seeing her.

"Alicia!" Kate whispered, frantically waving at her to climb up the tree.

"NO!" my hoarse whisper came out cracked, like it always did when I was under stress, "Go hide! Hide!" I gestured to the bushes that sat outlining the house, "In the bushes!"

Alicia suppressed a small squeak and dove into the bushes as the boys stomped down the stairs. She had just barely covered herself in the leaves and branches of the bushes when the boys came thundering out the door.

I could feel Kate shaking next to me and I gripped her hand, watching as the boys grabbed glow sticks and a football. I glanced down to where Alicia was lying and I could see her squirming underneath the plants. I hoped the boys didn't notice the bushes shaking.

They had divided up into teams, the color of the glow sticks they wore determining which team they were on, and had begun throwing the ball around. Kate and I watched them throw the ball around to each other, sadly enjoying every minute of it.

When the boys decided then to play man-hunt, we got worried. I wasn't worried about Kate and I being discovered, but rather poor Alicia, who was squatting in a bush this very moment.

Time was running out because they had just decided the teams. I could hear Kate whispering, "Dear God no" over and over again under her breath, and I was getting antsy myself. Stupid boys, going outside at midnight to play a game.

Stupid us, for being so boy-crazy that we actually went to one of their houses to spy on them.

A group of boys ran underneath the tree, and my breath caught in my throat. They were seriously going to find Alicia.

I did the sign of the cross and said my goodbyes to my friend who was going to be found by a bunch of hot guys when suddenly…

My phone started to ring.

LOVE by Ashlee Simpson starting blasting from my front pocket, and Kate looked at me in horror.

LO LO LO LO-V-E LO LO LO

OH DID YOU HEAR ME SAY?

Please tell me you didn't hear me say it. Please tell me you didn't hear my phone's ringtone playing, too.

LO LO LO LO-V-E LO LO

I'M TALKING 'BOUT LOVE

Oh dear God, please, no. Some of the boys stopped running because they heard stupid Ashlee Simpson singing.

SAY YOU'LL BE MY

Don't say it.

GIRLS FOR LIFE

GIRLS FOR LIFE

Too bad we're going to die, right here, right now.

HOLD UP

I NEED ANOTHER ONE

Grab me one while you're at it, will you?

I THINK YOU,

YOU DO TOO

One of the boys called out to the others to be quiet and listen, and soon everyone could hear it. I smacked myself in the forehead for not turning my phone on silent before we came here.

GOT MY BAG

GOT MY OWN MONEY

DON'T NEED ANY MAN

IN THIS ROOM

My crush, Alex, started to laugh and asked whose phone was ringing. He obviously thought it was one of his friend's phones going off.

Oh Alex, if only you knew.

MY BOYFRIEND

HE'LL BE CALLING

ME NOW ANYTIME

It's not my boyfriend calling me, I checked caller I.D., and it said unknown caller.

Crap.

I NEED ALL MY GIRLS

TO KEEP HIM OFF MY MIND

SO HOLD UP

WE NEED ANOTHER ONE

And then it stopped.

I looked at my phone, and 1 missed call read on the screen. The boys started laughing at the coward among them that wouldn't fess up to the girly ringtone and by some stroke of luck, decided that they wanted to go back inside.

But then it started again.

LO LO LO LO-V-E LO LO

OH DID YOU HEAR ME SAY?

I answered the phone, but no one was on the other line. Gar. But, we were alive.

I smiled to Kate and sighed with relief, because we weren't dead yet. We had actually survived. I scurried down the tree and landed on the ground with a thud before making way for a stumbling Kate. She fell to the ground and landed on her butt while I pulled Alicia up from the ground.

We sprinted across the road and back to my house.

…***…

Monday at school, I was pretending to put things into my book bag so I could stare at Alex, who's locker was so very close to mine.

I grabbed a binder and shoved it into my backpack when my phone started to go off.

LO LO LO LO-V-E LO LO

OH DID YOU HEAR ME SAY?

I grabbed my phone and answered it, standing up and asking, "Hello?" before I turned and saw Alex. His mouth open, his eyes wide, and he was staring at me.

Oh crap.

"It was you?" he asked, taking a step closer to me.

I felt my face flush and I turned away from him, pretending to talk to someone on my phone, since the person that had called was trying to sell something.

"It was you?" He asked again, coming closer to me. I back up, still talking to the imaginary person. Then I ran away from him, hanging up the phone as I sprinted down the halls, my embarrassment drowning me as I went.

He ran after me, but I was a bit faster than him, so I managed to escape to the girls bathroom before he had time to question me.

So I sat in the bathroom for the longest time. If you asked me to name how long I was in there, I couldn't tell you. So, when I thought it was safe, I left the sanctuary of the girls room.

And he was waiting for me.

"I uh- I gotta-" but he cut me off with a kiss. –something I wasn't expecting.

"What?" I asked, utterly confused, but he just laughed. Then he dialed someone's number on his phone, clicked the 'send' button, and waited. Suddenly, my phone started to go off, and he said,

"I"

LO LO LO LO-V-E-

"you"