Recap: I was busy searching the crowd so much so that I didn't even see the ball coming towards me.

All I heard was ,"Watch out" before I slammed into a wall.

With my head already going round and round, I had no idea what happened in a matter of seconds. I looked up to see Candy glaring at the ball that had almost hit me.

So it was not a wall.

Well, since we are talking about six-pack abs here, they hurt no less than slamming into a wall.

The grip of his hand on my forearm was quite tight too.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Candy started questioning while examining my face for any injuries.

I was about to reply when I noticed everyone in the gym go silent and stare at Candy in a disbelieving way.

My eyes widened and I snatched my arm away. He looked confused and a bit hurt at my sudden behaviour. But when I gave a quick glance at the crowd and back at him, he understood and the earlier emotions were replaced by a blank look.

"Who are you to ask me that when your girlfriend is responsible for all of this?" I accused, sending a fake glare towards him.

But honestly, the accusation was somewhat real.

"I couldn't let my girlfriend have all the fun. Now could I? I had to make sure that you weren't hurt much 'cause that would ruin the other plans," he stated in a cold voice. He was shooting daggers at me with his eyes. I could tell that the glare was real.

And I knew why.

He was basically murdering me with his eyes because I reminded him about his pig face of a girlfriend humiliating me. And I knew that he was not going to leave this topic alone.

"Go to hell," I stomped my foot and exited the gym without waiting for his reply.

I kept on walking till I reached the end of the hallway and let out a long breath I was holding. I was going to go further down the hallway when I realised something.

I just ditched my only ride back.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

I leaned on the nearest locker. I didn't want to think because my head was already throbbing as if everyone decided to play drums on it.

I closed my eyes and put all of my weight on the locker.

Suddenly I heard footsteps. They came to a halt after sometime.

"Muffin?" I heard Candy ask.

I turned around slowly to face him. The moment I faced him, he pulled me into a tight hug. My tense body relaxed in his arms as I wrapped mine around his torso.

"You scared the shit out of me in the cafe!" he said, "and you stink of sauce mixed with oranges."

Of course he had to ruin the moment. I rolled my eyes and let go of him. I was too tired to respond. Thinking of the laughter still brought tears into my eyes.

"Please take me home," I replied weakly. My voice was giving out what I was feeling. And I didn't want him to know how weak I felt.

Because if he did, he would know why I was affected by Shelly's prank.

He studied my face suspiciously but complied. I tried to avoid his eyes as much as possible. One look, just one look of weakness would give me away.

I knew that despite my lies about being fine and moving on from the incident, Candy hadn't believed me even once that time. But he had let go. And I was scared that after witnessing my panic attack, he would know it.

Heck, who am I kidding?

I bet he is already considering it. Now I just have to wait for him to drop the bomb.

Candy led me to his car without any further delay.

The ride to home was silent. Candy kept on giving me side glances to check if I was alright or not. Honestly, I felt like crap. But I wasn't going to tell him that.

I quietly watched the trees pass by.

We stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank. While Candy filled up the tank, I spotted a group of people about my age. The was a girl with black wavy hair that went past her shoulders. She was getting a piggy back ride by some guy. The guy was cute and had short blond hair. They were shrieking with laughter and their group was snickering and laughing along with them.

I smiled a bit at them.

As I sat back, I felt the need to eat something sweet. By sweet I mean my favourite: candy.

I got off the car and went into the shop beside it.

After a while of mental debating, I picked out two packets of skittles, a packet of gummy bears, three different Hershey bars and a packet of sour gummies.

Don't look at me like that! Today was a bitter day!

I took all of these to the counter. The lady there looked at me, surprised. She gave me a soft smile and quickly created a bill.

"That would be $24.75," she informed.

I dug my pockets for some money and found a twenty and a ten dollar bill in a crumpled state. I handed it to the lady with a sheepish smile. She waved off my embarrassment and handed me the change. I was looking around to see if I needed anything else, When the girl and the boy entered the shop. They were laughing and enjoying themselves.

I looked around for some other things I might need while Candy was busy checking the car's tyres for air and stuff.

"No, you leave your shaving cream. I am buying this lip balm no matter what!" I heard a voice. I turned around to see the same girl with the blond boy.

"Oh come on! Your lip balm isn't as important as my shaving cream," he whined.

The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head," You should've carried your wallet. Plus I found this money by chance," she countered.

The banter between the two actually made me smile. It was so much like I and Candy's regular arguments on the most idiotic things that could ever exist.

I don't know what came over me, but I went towards them.

"Can I help you guys in anything?" I had no idea why I did this but it felt nice.

"Thank god! Now there is at least someone to back me up. Now please try to enlighten the idiot standing in front of us that lip balm is more important than an idiotic shaving cream," she said pointing towards the blond boy.

"Uh-," was all I could say when he interrupted me.

"Oh please. Your lips can survive without some lip balm for days but I can't survive without the cream for days," he countered.

And that led to another argument. I shook my head, smiling. I looked between both of them as they continued to argue. That's when the light bulb in my head flickered on.

I quietly went towards the sales lady who was looking as amused as me at their fighting and asked her what the amount was.

Apparently both of them were short of five dollars. I simply took out my change and handed it to her and in return she handed me both of their stuff. I turned back only to find them still arguing.

"Here is your lip balm and here is your shaving cream," I said handing them their articles.

Both of them looked at me with wide expressions.

Finally after what looked like two minutes, the girl spoke up," You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah. I was this close to my victory," the blonde one said bringing the tips of his thumb and index finger close to each other.

"Yeah right! As if I was going to let that happen," the girl retorted and that, ladies and gentlemen led to another argument.

"Hey. Hey!" I yelled, making them stop mid way through their argument. They both gave me sheepish looks," It's okay. I had change so I gave it to the sales lady. No big deal. Now stop arguing!"

"you didn't have to do that," the girl said.

"I don't think your argument would've stopped if I didn't butt in. So enjoy your lip balm!"

"Thanks a lot! I owe you! By the way, I'm Vanessa and this," she said pointing towards the blonde," is Luke"

"Alyssa." I said nodding my head in acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you Alyssa," the blon- I mean Luke spoke up this time," Would it be too much if I hugged you right now?"

I was caught off guard with his question but his gleaming eyes and a sheepish look told me that he actually meant the question.

I smiled," But I was just covered in spaghetti sauce and orange juice a while ago, so I may not be an ideal person for a hug," I replied.

At this, Luke shrugged and wrapped his arms around me. I was again caught off guard by this. To be honest, Luke was good looking with quite an appreciable body structure and mesmerising hazel eyes.

"Let her go, you oaf! It's my turn," Vanessa pulled him away and stepped forward to give me a hug. I mentally thanked whoever took the time to clean me up a little. At least I looked a bit decent.

"It was nice meeting you," Vanessa said as she let go of me.

"Ditto," I replied, smiling.

"See you around?" she asked.

"Definitely," I replied grinning.

This short meeting just made me forget about whatever happened today. It was really nice.

I was smiling by the time I reached the car.

"What's got yo all smiley smiley now?" Candy asked, looking at me suspiciously.

I shrugged and gave him a huge smile.

He raised an eyebrow and started the car. I looked out of the window to see Luke and Vanessa waving at me. I waved back.

"I saw that guy hugging you in the shop. What was that all about?" Aaron asked with a pout.

"Oooh. Is someone jealous?" I asked with a cheeky grin.

"J-Jealous? Of him? Not at all. Nope. Nada!" he replied shaking his head vigorously.

I laughed.

"I was NOT jealous! I was just wondering what he did to make you all smiley face while just five minutes ago you were all teary faced," he defended.

"Jealous! Jealous! Candy was jealous!" I kept on chanting.

"Can you stop with that stupid nickname of yours?" he said changing the subject.

"It is NOT stupid ," I pouted.

"Yes it is!" He countered.

"Okay. I'll call you by your name," I said grinning evilly.

At this his face brightened.

"But on one condition," I continued.

He groaned. "I knew it was too good to be true. Okay. What is the condition?"

"You have to admit that you were jealous!" I grinned.

It was a trick question. If he didn't admit it, it would mean that he agrees that he was jealous but will not say it loud. But if he admits....well what's better than that?

He seemed to think for a moment.

"If I admit that I was supposedly jealous, would you give up the nickname totally?"

I nodded, grinning.

"Okay. I was a teensy weensy bit jea- I mean irritated."

"Aww," I felt nice to know that," don't worry. No one can or will ever replace you," I said hugging him from the passenger seat. I pecked his cheek and let go.

"Now I don't feel irritated anymore," he replied cheekily.

I laughed at his antics.

We reached my house within two minutes. I unbuckled me seatbelt and got off when Ca- I mean Aaron held me by wrist, stopping me from getting out.

I turned back to look at him in a questioning way.

I saw his face soften a bit," Today, I mean what happened with Shelly, was it because...because of the incident?"

I knew that he was going to ask me this someday, but I didn't expect it to be so soon.

I looked at him with widened eyes. I didn't even have the time to cook up a convincing lie to hide it.

"Hey, it's okay. You know you can tell me," he spoke gently.

I don't know what came over me, because the next thing I knew, I was on the ground with my head in my hands and tears streaming down my face.

I was ashamed. Ashamed to admit how that pathetic little incident still haunted me. Ashamed to say it out loud that I was keeping Aaron from revealing our friendship for my own selfish reasons. Ashamed to portray how pathetic I actually was.

I was so busy in my own thoughts that I didn't even realise that I was sobbing into Aaron's chest. He was holding me tightly against his chest while I cried pathetically.

"Hey. Shush. I'm right here. And stop calling yourself pathetic 'cause if I hear that one more time, I am going to smack you in the head. Hard," he said, making me let out a weak smile.

"Sorry. I just feel really stupid because I can't control these stupid panic attacks I get from attention,"I blurted.

At this, Aaron let his grip go loose, just enough to have a good look at my face.

"What panic attacks?" he asked.

Oops?

"P-Panic attacks? What do you mean?" I tried sounding clueless.

"Alyssa, what panic attacks are you talking about?" he asked, his face dead serious as he held me close to him.

Uh-oh. He just called me by my full name.

No Ali, no muffin.

Just one word: Shit!

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Hope you enjoyed!

Sam to the side---->>

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