[ C h a p t e r - T w e n t y - F o u r ]

Chapter 24

“Do you like me Jonah?” I questioned him as I stared into his coffee colored eyes. He slowly nodded. I watched as his dark hair fell in front of his eyes. I reached out and tried to push it away but my hand went right through his skin. I looked at my hand in confusion.

“I do," he replied and I let out a sigh of relief, ignoring the previous event with his hair and my hand.

“That’s great!” I exclaimed before I heard another female voice.

“I do,” I whipped my head around to see Waverly wearing a long white dress. She was grinning widely at Jonah who was smiling right back. I stared at the two, shaking my head. I turned around and saw a crowd of people smiling. They were seated in what looked like wedding chairs.

I saw Diane and Gregory with proud smiles on their faces. Sierra, Valerie, and Sabrina were standing a few feet away from Waverly with matching blue dresses. West, Francis, and my brother were beside Jonah. Francis turned to look at me with a loving smile on his face.

“Sit down honey, and enjoy the ceremony,” he instructed. I glanced down at my hands to see a wedding ring. I wanted to hurl.

“You may now kiss the bride," the priest announced as the smiling couple leaned towards each other.

“No! No, you can’t! Jonah, I like you! You can’t marry Waverly! Remember how she was in high school? Do you remember?” I exclaimed as their lips touched.

I immediately sat up in bed, panting heavily. What an amazing way to wake up on a Saturday morning. I ran my hands down my face before I glanced at my alarm clock. 10:19 A.M. I sighed before my head snapped up again. 10:19? I’m late for work!

I jumped out of bed and ran towards my dresser, grabbing a random pair of jeans, a random sweater, and undergarments. I raced over to my bathroom and jumped into the shower, washing and rinsing. I quickly brushed my teeth while trying to put on my pants, which was the ultimate struggle. I finally got my clothes on and I quickly put on my shoes, making sure they were on the right feet. As I yanked my hair into a bun, I grabbed my bag and keys before racing out of my room.

“You’re late,” Jeremiah sang as he sat at the kitchen table. He had a bagel in his hand while he looked at his cell phone. I stared at him, shocked. How can he be so casual? I’m late for work and he knew I had to get up at 9 in order to make it by 10:15!

“You didn’t wake me up!” I snapped as he walked over to the kitchen window and opened the curtains. Snow was falling heavily to the floor.

“I didn’t wake you up because Ms. Antoinette called and told me that you don’t have to go to work today," he responded as he sat back down at the table and continued to devour his bagel. I stood there for a minute, a frown taking over my face.

“So…I woke up for nothing?” I asked and my brother nodded. I walked back up the stairs and started changing back into my pajamas. Just as I got into bed, my phone started ringing.

I stared at the ceiling, the noise slowly silencing. As I closed my eyes, the ringing started again. I quickly answered it with an annoyed look on my face. “What?”

“Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Jonah muttered as I sat up. Try not to be awkward, be yourself. Be the person you were before you realized your feelings for Jonah.

“I thought I had to work today but no, turns out that my boss called and due to the snow, the store is closed today,” I explained.

“You’re mad because you can’t work?” Jonah asked slowly.

“No, I woke up, thinking that I was late for work, and guess what? I got ready in 8 minutes! That’s a new record! And guess what else? I raced downstairs to see Jeremiah sitting there. I assumed he let me sleep in purposely for payback about something I did a few years back but no; he knew that I didn’t have to go to work today but he let me run around my room, falling and tripping on stray articles of clothing. I could’ve been sleeping peacefully! He had to have heard me falling and slamming my face on the dresser,” I ranted.

“And just when I was about to go back to sleep, you called!” I snapped and Jonah was silent.

I thought he’d hung up for a minute but when I heard his voice, I dismissed the thought. “I want to pelt a snowball at your face."

I was quiet for a moment. “What?”

“I said: I want to hit you with a snowball. In all of my time being here, there was always snow on the ground yet I never had a snowball fight with you," he explained.

“If you hit me with a snowball, I’ll break your neck," I threatened. Even though the idea of having a snowball fight was cute, I get violent easily and I lost a few friends through snowball fights over the years.

“Will you now?” Jonah was amused. He doubted my ability to snap necks.

“Yeah, I will,” I retorted.

“You’re only 5’3”; I’m 6'1”. You’ll need a ladder to break my neck,” he laughed. Actually, I bet I can do it standing on the tips of my toes if I wear shoes with thick soles. I didn't bother correcting him that I was actually only 5'2" according to the doctor.

“I will. And guess what else I’ll do? When you’re at home with a broken neck, I’ll give Shaw your phone number and your address. He’ll go over there and end your lifel," I explained.

“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be at home with a broken neck,” he explained. “I’ll be in a hospital.”

“Then I’ll give him your hospital room number,” I stated and he was quiet.

“I’ll hire body guards," he replied.

“I’ll hire assassins to take out those body guards,” I retorted.

Jonah thought for a moment. “I’ll hire assassins to take out those assassins who took out my bodyguards.”

“I’ll woo them with my charm into letting me into the room where I’ll kill you myself,” I smirked.

Jonah scoffed. “Charm? You have absolutely no charm.”

“What? I have substantial amounts of charm!” I replied, gasping.

“You obviously have no charm because you said substantial," he explained.

“That’s the only word suited for the amounts of charm I have,” I retorted as I rolled onto my stomach.

“Give me an example of a time you used charm," he replied. “And don’t use Francis as an example because Francis is an idiot.”

“Are you saying that the only person that I can attract is Francis and that I’m ugly and stupid?” I over-exaggerated.

Jonah sounded shocked. “What? I never even said that!”

“Yes, you did!” I sobbed. I should be an actor, right?

“I-I didn’t. You’re not ugly or stupid,” he stated and I smirked.

“I’m only kidding, Jonah,” I laughed and Jonah started stuttering.

“Don’t do stuff like that!” he breathed. "I thought you were crying or something."

“Why? Were you a scared little saltine?” I asked.

Jonah groaned. “Shut up.”

“Well, the smart and pretty girl has to go make breakfast because the smart and pretty girl is hungry,” I stated before hanging up the phone. I didn’t bother to listen to his response.

~~~

After I ate breakfast, Jeremiah and I decided to play Monopoly. I was a bit nervous to play because Jeremiah likes to get angry if anybody is doing better than him. He also gets angry if you take the small dog piece. He claimed that as his player the day we bought the game.

The snow was still going strong at noon and Jeremiah and I were still playing the game. “You’re cheating, Jer!”

“I’m not! I’m the banker so whatever I say goes!” he snapped as he took a couple of hundred bills from the bank. I glared at him.

“No, that’s not the case! You can’t randomly take money out of the bank!” I snapped.

He gave me a ‘duh’ look. “I know! It’s called a loan! Besides, I’ll pay it back.” He retorted as he continued playing.

I smacked his hand as he reached for more money. “How much money did you take from the bank?” I asked and he looked at his pile of money. He was stacking more bills than the bank was! The doorbell rang and I cautiously stood up while eyeing my brother. “Put the money back.”

I walked towards the door and the bell was rung again. “Hold your horses; I’m coming!”

I opened the door and a boy stood there with a group of his friends behind him. They all had shovels and I raised an eyebrow. They had hats and gloves on, along with snow suits. I wasn’t dressed any better. Way to look pretty with your sweatpants and Tinkerbell shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

“How may I help you?” I asked. Maybe they’re Jer’s friends. Who am I kidding? Jer doesn’t have any friends.

The boy in the front took off his hat and I immediately recognized him. “Caleb.”

“Hey, Savannah; I didn’t think you’d remember me,” he grinned and I nodded. Although I remember him, it doesn’t explain why he’s at my house with a group of boys and a couple of shovels. “We’re here to see if you need your walkway shoveled.”

I stared at them. “Uh, no, it’s fine. That’s my brother’s job whenever it snows,” I replied casually.

“Okay," he turned around before turning back with a teasing smile on his face. “You never called me, by the way.”

Although he had a flirtatious tone to his voice, I felt guilty. I racked my brain for an excuse. “I looked for you at school but I couldn’t find you.”

“I just got back from vacation. My family went out of the country for New Year’s. We got back a few days ago. I stayed home because of jet-lag…and I didn’t finish the work I got before vacation," he explained with a sheepish expression on his face. I frowned.

“Didn’t your birthday pass?” I asked awkwardly and he nodded. His friends started walking away, growing impatient.

“Yeah, and yours is coming up," he smiled and I nodded my head, kicking the snow off of my porch.

“Happy belated birthday; I’m sorry I couldn’t say it on the day," I apologized.

“It’s no biggie," he scraped the shovel against the soft snow, making a pile at the bottom of the stairs. He smiled up at me. “Anyway, if you want to…you can repay me with a date.”

I bit my lip. Lie, lie, lie, lie. “Actually, Caleb…I have a boyfriend,” I lied. I felt so guilty but relieved.

“Who? Francis?” he asked with furrowed eyebrows and I bit my lip as I shook my head. So he’d heard about what happened, probably from his friends.

“He goes to our school,” I feigned a smile. “You probably don’t know him.”

“Show me him on Monday…at lunch. I'd love to meet the lucky guy,” he smiled as he slowly walked away. I nodded my head.

“Will do,” I replied as I closed my door. I…will do no such thing!

“You lying liar, you don’t have a boyfriend!” my brother snapped once I closed the door. I jumped from surprise and glanced at my brother who had his hands on his hips in a parent-like manner.

“What was I supposed to do? Let him take me on a date?” I asked.

“No, because that’s so crazy! Who even does that? Nobody goes on dates anymore,” my brother sarcastically retorted. “You should have just told him you weren’t interested.”

“It’s not that easy!” I replied as I walked past him into the living room.

“What’s so hard about it? ‘Sorry, Caleb, I’m just not into you," my brother mocked as he followed me into the living room. “Who are you going to pretend your boyfriend is? You already said it wasn’t going to be Fra-.”

My brother paused mid-sentence and I turned around to face him. “Are you dating Jonah?”

I shook my head. “Do you like Jonah?”

I was quiet as I stared at my brother. “You like Jonah! Finally, you admit it! What are you going to do? Are you going to tell him?” He sounds just like Mere when I told her!

“I’m not going to do anything. I’m going to wait until my feelings for him pass!” I replied as he stared at me. I sure hope they pass soon.

“You’re going to pretend he’s your boyfriend, right?” my brother asked and I shook my head. “Yes, you are!”

“No, I’m not!” I exclaimed as I shook my head again.

“At least ask him to do it," my brother replied. “It wouldn’t be for long, just a day.”

“No, I will do no such thing,” I crossed my arms over my chest in a stubborn manner. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to go search the yearbook for a potential rent-a-boyfriend. Okay? Thank you.”

I walked up the stairs and face palmed. Why did I have to lie? What did I get myself into?