I Can’t Say No, If you Ask Me - B.N. (book series for 10 year olds .TXT) 📗

I Can’t Say No, If you

Ask Me
Prologue
“I can’t!” I cry out, because it’s the truth. Through all he’s put me through I still can’t say the words he’s practically begging me to say. “Please, say it…for me” he pleads, his golden brown eyes darkening with sadness. I hurriedly wipe away a tear, before he sees it. Then I take in a steadying breath and say what he wants to hear. “I hate you” I whisper shakily. And the tears come; blurring my vision and making me feel weak. I hear him take a deep breath then I feel his arms around me. “I know” is all he whispers. And I find it odd that, for the first time, I want him to go away.
Chapter one
Mahogany. I think of wooden floors, when the word comes to mind. That’s the color of my hair. A deep dark red but personally, I think its closer to brown than anything else. It’s plenty curly, which I despise, and right at this moment I’m pulling it up into a ponytail.
I’m late, as usual, for school and have no time to do anything more to it. I grab my book bag and an apple on my way out to my car. I toss my book bag in the passenger’s seat and wait for my car to heat up as I eat my apple. Sooner than I would like, I’m pulling into the student parking lot. I scrunch my nose as I hurry to the schools entrance. I wasn’t hurrying because I was late; I was hurrying because it was deathly cold. I stopped by my locker and grabbed my English book and headed towards my English class. I had no intention on going to the front office and getting a tardy slip, I’ve had enough of those to sustain me a lifetime. So, when I came to room one hundred fourteen I crept in as quietly as possible. The odds of Mr. Hans already taking attendance, was slim. He seemed to always prolong it for some reason. When I tip toed in, I slid in my seat in the back barely noticed. Since Mr. Hans had all of the desk faced towards the board, the backs towards the door, I was able to easily sneak in.
“Reedley Ellings” Mr. Hans calls my name and I raise my hand to let him know I’m present. Almost everyone in my class turns in their seats and most glare at me, because I have gotten away with sneaking into class once again…not that it always works. As Mr. Hans continues the attendance, my desk neighbor Brad Hymen, whispers in my direction. “Finn was looking for you this morning” he tells me. I nod and try to seem like I don’t care…but I do.
Finn Jacoby and I have a weird relationship. Well, I have a weird relationship with him. We have been close friends since kindergarten and now, as seniors, we have developed an unspoken agreement. We ignore each other unless one of us acknowledges the other first. So far, I have barley spoken to him so it’s a little surprising to find out he was looking for me this morning. The weird part of the friendship is…I don’t want to be his friend. He’s a bit of a jerk and uses girls like they’re disposable; the worst part of it all is that I’m pretty sure I love him. I’m not in love with him, that would just be plain out dumb of me, but I do have a tinny winy crush on him. Not that I could help it. The boy is handsome, which is something I would never tell him. From the way he carelessly flaunts his messily tousled brown hair to the way he dresses, all the girls at school loved him. I sighed and wish I could have stayed home in bed, but my dad would have flipped out.
I live with my dad, who is divorced from my mom, in a snug three bedroom brick house. I had to practically get down on my hands and knees to get my mom to allow me to live with my dad. My mom and I have never really ‘gotten’ each other. So when they decided that they no longer loved each other, I took the opportunity to live with my dad. I’ve been living with him since tenth grade and it’s been, more or less, great. I get more freedom with him.
The bell rang and I made my way to algebra two, my most hated class. To my surprise the day goes by quickly and before I know it I’m headed to lunch. I sit with my best friend, Charlotte, and her boyfriend Zachary. Though it can sometimes get awkward and make me feel like a third wheel, which I am. I sigh and pray that they aren’t going to make out today. As I’m walking down the hall, someone grabs my wrist and tugs me onto one of the dark deserted halls. I try to yank my wrist away, with a scowl on my face. “Let go of me!” I demand. I hear a chuckle before my eyes settle on the golden brown eyes and tousled brown hair of Finn. My stomach flutters a little and I try to ignore the warmth in my cheeks. I smack his chest and frown at him. “What do you want?” I ask, trying to sound annoyed. He smiles, which is part charming and part teasing.
“Why do I have to want something? Can’t I just want to see how you’re doing?” he asks, releasing my wrist. “No” I answer flatly, starting to walk away. He grabs me by the wrist again and pulls me to him. I look up at him, surprised. He ignores my curious eyes while he tucks a wisp of hair, which managed to free itself from my ponytail, behind my ear. “Don’t you miss me?” he asks, his golden brown eyes locking with my chocolate brown ones. This surprises me and for a moment I can’t say anything. I look away, down the dark empty hall. Yes, I have missed him but I didn’t want him to know that.
I swallow before I decide what to say. “Have you missed me?” I end up asking and I’m annoyed to find that I sound breathless. His smile this time is more sincere, because no one is around, its warmth radiates through me. “Yes” he simply answers. I eye his boyishly handsome face and find no humor there. But I still can’t bring myself to admitting that I have missed him. I pull away. “Charlotte’s going to be wondering where I am” I say, knowing that was a lame excuse. I start to walk away when I hear him follow behind, soon he was beside me.
He slings his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. My breathing increases and I swear my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. “At least let me walk you to lunch” he says near my ear. His cool breath brushes across my face and I fight a shiver. I don’t pull away, which I know he’s probably expecting. He’s up to something, I just don’t know what. I’m not use to him being so…‘close’ to me. Usually the closest thing to touching I did to him is when I smack or punch him in the arm for saying something perverted. I mean, sure, every once in awhile something would happen like he would brush my hair out of my face and his hand would linger on my face sometimes even my neck but I try not to think about it too often.
When we get to the cafeteria doors, I pause. “Why where you looking for me this morning?” I ask, looking up at him. He smiles. “Like I said earlier…I miss you” he shrugs. I narrow my eyes at him. He was definitely up to something. “Whatever” I mumble. I pull away and open the door to the cafeteria. “Wait, I do have to ask you something” he admits, leaning against the door I was trying to open. Finally. I knew he had wanted something. “What is it?” I ask, curious. He eyes my face for a couple of seconds. “I’m having this party tonight, and I wanted to invite you” he says nonchalantly. This is surprising. Him inviting me to his party. He never invited me before, what was different now? I perch my lips. “I’ll think about it” I shrug. He pushes himself off the door and opens it for me. “Don’t take too long, sweetheart” he grins. I give him a small smile as I head towards Charlotte and Zachary, who decided to go against my prayers and make out. I sit in front of them and clear my throat.
“Where have you been?” Charlotte asks, pulling away from Zach. I bite my lip and look down at the table. “Talking to Finn” I mumble. I look up in time to see Charlotte grinning. “Hmm, about what?” she asks, as she runs her hand through her long unnaturally blonde hair. I don’t answer right away. “He wants me to come to his party tonight” I answer. Her hazel eyes brighten at the word party. “You have to go!” she urges. I shake my head. “No way, you know I hate parties” I answer. “It’s senior year! Stop being so boring” Zachary interrupts. I stick my tongue out at him. “Just check it out and if you don’t like it, then leave” Charlotte insists. “Fine!” I answer, exasperated. They both smile at me, as I sneer my nose up at them.
Chapter two
I pulled into Finn’s drive way and wondered why there wasn’t many cars here yet. This was the first time since ninth grade that I’ve been here. I made a small groaning noise and made my way to the front door. Finn’s house was decent sized, his family was well off and he was pretty spoiled. I debated on knocking or just walking in. I didn’t get the chance to decide. The door swung open, revealing a grinning Finn. I gave him a shy smile and followed him in. “Hey there, sweetheart” he greeted me. I roll my eyes at him.
He lead me to the living room where I spot Brad, from English class, Melissa Givens, who had the hugest crush on Brad, two underclassmen, who I didn’t know of and of course, Eli Lawrence. I tried to look else where when I felt his eyes on me. I’ve always had the feeling that he liked me but since he and Finn were close, he’s always stayed at a distance. “Reedley!” someone squealed from the corner of the room. My eyes searched for the annoyingly girly voice. My eyes rested on Tamara Motley with her bleach blonde hair, curvy body, and bright baby blue eyes. I couldn’t stand the girl.
Since Finn was on the football team and she was a cheerleader, she got the idea in her head that they belong together. What bothered me most is every time she saw me she pretended that she was my best friend, especially in front of Finn. I gave her a small wave and tacked on a phony smile. “Finn, you