The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter forty-four: A bump in the road

James

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"See you around, okay?" I told Hyland as we said goodbye outside the food court.

She nodded; then, to my surprise, she wrapped me in a hug. I gave her a genuine hug back.

She pulled away then gave me a light peck on the cheek.

"See you around, 'friend,'" she said, smiling then went on her way.

I ran a hand through my hair, dumbfounded by the kiss.

Hyland truly was a good friend.

As I headed away from the food court, I glanced across the mall to see someone staring at me.

But not just any someone.

It was just the someone I wanted to see.

Harlee was walking out of UltraViolet Accessories with Rachel by her side.

Once she and I made eye contact, though, she looked away from me.

Okay, I thought.

Now is my chance to finally make things right.

She could ignore my texts, my calls, and even me coming to her door, but surely she wouldn't just brush me off if we ran into one another.

At least, I hoped she wouldn't.

But before I could make my way over to her, I noticed someone else

grabbed her attention.

Unfortunately, it was the last someone on earth I wanted to.

Jasper and Mike had just exited a video game store and were sauntering towards Rachel and Harlee. My anxiousness reached a new height when I remembered what he'd said earlier about asking her out.

Hurriedly, I pushed my way through the crowds of people to try to get to Harlee before Jasper could. But as I did, he noticed me rushing over to her and picked up his pace to race me there.

I huffed angrily. He and Harlee were on the same side of the mall; therefore, he had an advantage. Not to mention, he was much faster than I was. I made it to the side of the mall that they were on quickly but still managed to lose the race.

He ran up to Harlee just a few seconds before I could and said,

"Hey, Harlee, what's up?"

I skidded to a stop a few feet behind him and Mike.

The girls stopped walking, and Harlee folded her arms.

"What do you want, Jasper?" she asked, sounding exasperated.

Okay, she's being hostile toward him; that's a good sign, I told myself mentally.

It is also probably a good thing that she didn't notice our race over here.

"I had just wanted to ask you something," he replied.

"I'm not in the mood to fight with you today," she told him.

"No, I wasn't gonna start anything."

He took a step forward, and I took one too.

Just then, Rachel noticed my presence there. She nudged Harlee in the arm to look over at me.

Harlee's eyes met mine, and she gave me a death glare. Then she turned back to Jasper, and her entire demeanor changed.

"Ask me what?" she said, giving him a friendly smile.