⏪Notice!⏩

i have recently been informed that some users couldn't find chapter 10. I think there might have been a glitch with wattpad but i've reuploaded this chapter! 😊

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I called Hailee today. I was afraid she wouldn't pick up. Fortunately, she did. I thought about my behavior towards Hailee the day I was sick. It was sickening. The irony. Must've been karma. I had been so selfish.

"I understand. Priorities—it's about Mila. I get it. Go." she had said.

And what did I say? Thank you? Guilt was all over me. I didn't know how to even start the call. "Hey." I let my voice crack a bit. I took a breath to calm myself down as her now hoarse voice echoed through my ears.

"Hi." her unenthusiastic voice greeted mine.

"I'm really sorry. I was an asshole to you." I choked the words out, imagining all the pain I must've caused her. She came to me to talk about her parents—and I ditched on her.

"So.." I continued, "I'll be at your place in ten. I'll make it up to you. I promise. I'm really sorry, Hailee. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay," she finally spoke. "see you in ten."

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I jogged across half of our neighborhood and as expected, Hailee was waiting at her porch wearing a loose sweater and some pajamas.

"You're exactly one minute late."

I smirked, "I intended to arrive way later than this. I like to be fashionably late. You're lucky, you know?" Yeah, that was lame. But I tried my best to lighten up the atmosphere. She chuckled, "Whatever. Sit.", she patted her hand beside her. I rolled my eyes, "So now I'm a dog."

"An idiotic dog." she raised her bow still chuckling. "Then what are you? Einstein's pup?"

I guess it worked a bit. We worked things out after. I apologized and offered to stay the night since both of her parents are away for the week. They were to go back to the town they got married in to file the divorce.

"You really gonna be okay, Hailee?" I asked, genuinely concerned, "I'm always gonna be here for you as a friend. I got you."

"I'll be fine. Thanks, Shawn." she smiled back. "C-can I just lean on your shoulder tonight?"

That caught me by surprise, "Y-yeah. It's alright."

We talked for hours and we managed to clear things out. I like Mila, she likes me—things aren't going to work out with that going on. So we set out a plan:

I was going to set her up with Cam.

Yes, you read that right. Why? Definitely not what you are thinking. No. I'm not doing this for my benefit. Actually, this is for Hailee's benefit (well, according to her it is). I was against this at first but this was what Hailee wanted—to change Cam and maybe even make him fall for her.

This was risky though.

"What if you fall for him and he ends up shattering your heart?" I argued.

"But I won't." she arrogantly raised her head up and smirked at me.

"What if you did?" I raised an eyebrow.

"But I won't." she assured me.

"You're not Cupid."

"I don't care. Even if love doesn't choose anyone I know—I'm sure I won't fall for him. Cam and I—we used to be like you and Mila. But he transferred and then you two became close, then he ditched you for the cooler crowd and now? He's ditching them. He's planning on being the Alpha of our school, Shawn. And I'm not going to let that happen. Ever."

My thoughts swirled and I seemed to be at a lost for words. I bit my lip and tried to stop the laugh from escaping my lips. "Are you serious? It sounded like you just wanted to mess with me. It sounded like something from a cliché book you read somewhere off the internet. Don't tell me he's a werewolf next." I joked.

"Oh, he is. That's why I'd have to de-werewolf-fy him." Hailee snorted, "The look on your face! I should've snapped a photo. Mendes, I didn't make anything up. Okay, sure he didn't want to be an Alpha because well, that would mean that he is a werewolf. And he isn't one. He's just like Regina from Mean Girls but the boy version. He wants to be at the very top of the social ladder. So to be at the very top, he has to pull those on the top right now, down."

I processed the information slowly. It was a lot to digest.

She continued, "He gets close to the popular crowd, gains influence, somehow surpasses them every time, and then ditches them. And who knows when the cycle will end. It's like he's afraid to be an outcast; to be a nobody. He's afraid of getting hurt so he hurts others. He's afraid of being heartbroken so he breaks them. He's afraid to be left out so he ditches his friends. Shawn, he's just afraid. I have to show him that it's okay to get your heart broken, to get rejected, and to be at the bottom of the social ladder. It's through pain, rejection, do we get our experiences. And through experience, we learn. He has to learn."

"Plus," Hailee added, "I wouldn't fall for such an obnoxious guy as Cam. When the time comes and he changes then we're gonna have a problem. But 'till then, I've got everything in control."

What Hailee just said was right and wrong. Right, he has to change. Cam has to learn. But she's also wrong in so many other ways that if I had to state them one by one, I'll never end. So I agreed...reluctantly. "Well... "

"So you'll help me?"her eyes twinkled.

"No." I brushed it off coldly. "In fact, to be honest, I'm contradicting what you just said."

"Oh so now you're Einstein.", she rolled her eyes playfully, "Please?"

"Ugh, okay I'm going to help you—"

"Omg, thank you so much, Shawn!", she giggled and jumped around in excitement.

"I'm not yet done, Einstein." I teased. "I'm going to help you but I'm not exactly in agreement with your 'idea'" I finished.

"At least you're going to help." she brightly smiled. "Thanks."

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I sit back and stared off into my laptop screen. It's 2am and all I have is a blank word file.

Word Count : 0

We had to summarize our own personal experience with Mr. Cupid in less than a hundred and fifty words. How can I possibly say everything I need to in 150 words max?

I started typing...

I didn't know what I was writing—but isn't it just like love? Sometimes you don't understand at all. You don't understand what she means. You don't understand what she's thinking.

And that was it, I had my summary.

«

You don't understand love. It doesn't need to be understood because when the love is truly real, you won't have to question it—you won't even have to doubt it.

Loving someone is hard—but loving your best friend's harder. You watch her fall in love with people who aren't you. You listen to her stories—stories like how he holds her hand, how he makes her feel special, how she had her first kiss with him, all knowing that this should've been you.

All these years it should've been you. You were supposed to be her first kiss, her first dance, her boyfriend. It should've been you...it should have been me. But here's my advice for you guys out there who are in the same situation as I currently am: Tell her. Tell her before she falls in love with someone else. Tell her before it's too late.

»

Hi guys! I really love you and without you TYB would have never reached this far. And no, I'm sorry but I don't think I'm ready to enter this in the Watty Awards yet. I'm not yet that good of a writer but thank you to those who believes I'm worthy! You know who you are! You guys made my day! 😀 So to all those reading, may your Christmas be filled with moments of fun and laughter with the ones you love❤ and may you have a safe and happy holiday. Merry Christmas!🎄