Chapter Sixty Four - Third Strike?

I'd kissed Matt in front of my brother two nights ago.

Two nights ago was also the last I'd remember talking to him, and that was before I'd kissed Matt. When I'd pulled away from him, Blake was already marching back home. I'd followed him, but my steps had been too slow.

By the time I'd made it upstairs, he'd already locked himself in his room. The next morning, he did not talk to me no matter how many times I tried to bring up a conversation. He didn't even look me in the eye. It was like I'd stopped existing for him, or I'd become invisible.

"Give him some time," Nick said.

"It's been two days, Nick. Is that not enough?"

He sat down on the island stool with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "I tried talking to him. He asked me if I knew about it."

"What did you say?"

"I wasn't gonna lie to him, Becks." He shrugged slightly. "I said yes, and he asked me to leave him alone."

"I'm so sorry, Nick. I shouldn't have involved you in this."

"I involved myself when I followed you out that night. This is on me."

I looked down at my cereal bowl, mindlessly swirling my spoon in it.

"Are you waiting for it to turn soggy? Because that's sick." He frowned, sipping on his coffee.

I let out a low chuckle and started eating my breakfast. The front door opened, and Blake walked inside, his running gear drenched in sweat. He saw us, took off his earphones, and walked into the kitchen.

A ray of hope fell upon me, but all he did was grab a water bottle and start to leave without a word.

"Hey, man!" Nick called.

"Hey," he replied plainly and walked out. Exchanging a surprised look with Nick, I jumped out of my stool and followed Blake to the stairs.

"Blake," I called.

He plugged his earphones back in and darted upstairs, the sound of his bedroom door shutting echoing across the stairs. Tears pooled in my eyes, and I bit down on my quivering lip.

Deciding that I needed some air, I grabbed my backpack from the couch and started to head out.

"You haven't finished your breakfast." Nick followed me to the front door.

"I'm not hungry," I croaked out, leaving my house. I started walking towards school on foot, wanting to get as far as possible until Meera would catch up and pick me up on the way.

Wiping my tears away, I wrapped my arms around myself and kept walking until the low rumbling of an engine made me turn sideways.

"What are you doing, Nick?" I asked, annoyed.

"Get in. I'll take you wherever you want..." He looked down at his watch. "...at 6 a.m. Great!"

"I'm fine. You can go home."

"Come on, Becks. I look like a creep with my car slowed next to you like this."

"You're really stubborn and annoying."

He hit the brakes when I stopped walking, and I got in the passenger seat with a scowl.

"I don't wanna talk about anything, okay? Just drive."

"Got it."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to tell Meera she didn't have to pick me up, but there was already a text from her. Sent at 3 a.m.

Meera: Can't sleep. You up?

Rebekah: Just saw it. What's up?

My phone buzzed, and it was a call from her.

"Is your brother still mad at you?" she asked right away.

"Very mad." I sighed. "What's up with you? Did you sleep late again?"

"I barely slept at all."

"That's been happening with you a lot lately. What is going on? Are you okay?"

"Yeah... all's good."

"Yeah, you sound totally convincing. I believe you," I scoffed.

She chuckled. "We'll talk later."

"Okay. See you at school. I'm on my way to clear out my locker."

Why did our school have to reassign lockers every year? It was so annoying. Everything was so annoying.

"Okay. Bye." She hung up, and I placed my phone on my lap, realizing that Matt must have been on his way too. I decided to text him.

Rebekah: Where are you?

"Here we are. What do you even do here so early?" Nick made a face at the empty parking lot.

"Illegal stuff."

"It's nice to see your mood isn't completely dead. Wish I could say the same about your humour."

I narrowed my eyes. "Do you write those lines somewhere to use them on me later?"

"No. I'm just good with words." He gave a cocky shrug.

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of his car.

"You're welcome," he called and drove away.

I checked my phone while walking towards the building. No reply from Matt. But just as I opened my locker and began to shove my stuff in my backpack, I saw him walking up to me.

"Hey! Where were—" I stopped abruptly when I saw his face. He had a black eye, and a cut was running right under it over his cheek. "Oh my God! What happened?"

"Oh, nothing!" He waved his hand dismissively. "I fell over some furniture."

"Did that furniture have hands? Because that definitely looks like the outcome of a punch."

He pressed his lips together and looked away for a second.

"Did Sean do this to you?"

He let out a laugh in disbelief. "You think he can even touch my face?"

"Then who?"

He smiled slightly with a shrug like I already knew the answer.

"Blake?" I blinked.

"I went to talk to him—"

"You what?"

"Relax, okay? I went to apologize."

A wave of irritation washed over me. "For what? For being with me?"

"What? Of course, not! For bullying him all those years ago."

"Oh! That makes more sense. What did he say?"

"First, he said, 'Get out of my face' and shoved me. Then, I said, 'Look, man! We're both grown-ups. Let's settle this like men.' Then he gave me this." He ran a finger over the scratch. "And I said, 'I'm sorry about middle school, but come on. You can do better than that.' And then he punched me."

I should not have laughed at that, but it was the way Matt dictated it all with a straight face that I burst out laughing and clamped my hand over my mouth the moment his eyes narrowed playfully.

"Is my misery amusing to you?"

"Sorry!" I wheezed.

"On second thought, keep that up. I haven't seen you like this in days."

My laugh slowly subsided, and I took in a deep breath, running my fingers over his face. "And you didn't fight back?"

"And make things worse? I went to settle it, Becks. I think he might be feeling a little better after punching me."

"I'm so sorry. Come on. Let's get you some ice for that."

"I got it from home and used it all the way here. It's much better now. Now, whenever you're done clearing out your locker..." He pulled me into his chest and rubbed his nose against mine, making me chuckle. "...how about a strawberry milkshake?"

"Can I ever say no to that?"

He gripped my chin, and just as he was about to claim my lips, somebody cleared their throat loudly on purpose.

We pulled apart, and my eyes widened at the sight of Principal Miller walking past us with narrowed eyes.

Oh, no! Third Strike?

But she kept walking, and once her back was to us, I saw her cheeks pulling back into what could've been a smile. I tilted my head in confusion, smiling myself.

*****

Maybe Matt could tell that the whole situation with my brother was bothering me more than I was letting on. So, he'd suddenly become extra cheerful to do stuff together in hopes of lifting my mood. He'd even offered to host a movie date in his room, reasoning that even though Blake was mad about us, there was nothing he could do about it now, so he just had to suck it up and accept it. I'd agreed with that reasoning but had still denied the movie date.

I didn't want my brother to think his opinion meant absolutely nothing to me. The least I could do for his sake was keep my relationship with his enemy subtle.

The next morning, I groggily marched downstairs at around 8 a.m. and the sight at the dinner table made me choke on thin air mid-yawn.

"You're just being kind," Mrs. Brooke said with a chuckle.

"I'm telling you, I haven't had pancakes like these in forever. You're amazing," Matt complimented, and I gaped at the sight of him at the table eating pancakes and Mrs. Brooke beside him with a bright face, offering more.

I cleared my throat, and they both looked up, Matt still chewing.

"Hey, Rebekah," Mrs. Brooke greeted me with a smile. "Are you okay with pancakes? I made some for Matt."

"Oh, you made some for—" I cut myself off, looking around nervously. "Yeah, no. I'm good. I'm not hungry right now."

Had Blake seen him yet? There was no way our house hadn't turned into a war zone if he had.

"He's out," Matt said.

"What?"

"Your brother's out running a marathon."

My brows pulled together. "How did you know that?"

"You're welcome." Nick stepped out of the kitchen, yawning lazily as he munched on an apple he'd probably just fetched from there.

Matt stared at him with narrowed eyes. I didn't get why he didn't like him. Okay, I take that back. I did get why. Until recently, I hadn't been a fan of Nick either. I still wasn't, but he was just enough bearable now.

"What?" Nick returned his glare.

"You wanna wear a shirt, maybe?"

That was when I realized Nick was shirtless and only in sweatpants, revealing his muscles when he'd lifted his arms to stretch them.

A devilish smirk curled across his lips. "You've got nothing to worry about, Williams. She's only got eyes for you, and besides, she's not my type."

I only scoffed. I wasn't even going to argue.

"You're not her type either. But that's not my point. What kind of house guest just walks around the house half naked?"

"You're the guest here."

"Yeah, and you don't see me marching in half naked."

"Because you don't live here."

"Neither do you."

"It's my best buddy's house, and I am staying here."

"It's my girlfriend's house, and I can visit whenever the hell I want. What is your point and where the fuck is your shirt?"

"Really, guys?" I brought my hands to my hips, shaking my head at them.

Nick took another bite of his apple, provoking Matt with another smirk as he started to head upstairs.

Once he was gone, I asked Matt, "What are you doing here?"

His sharp eyes fell on mine and instantly softened. "I came to get you for our movie date when Mrs. Brooke offered me pancakes. They looked really tempting and I couldn't resist." He shrugged.

"It's 8 a.m."

"Yes, and we have three hours until your brother's back. So, pick a nice movie."

"I don't know." I scratched my head awkwardly. "I don't know if I wanna go behind his back anymore, Matt. Maybe all this sneaking around hurt him more than the actual relationship."

"I don't mean to bring this up when you've been in such a lousy mood since these past couple of days but none of this sneaking would have happened if you'd just told him when he'd arrived."

I licked my lips. "I know."

I flopped down in a chair, and with a faint sigh, he sat down next to me. And a moment later, he offered me a bite from his plate. Smiling, I ate it. As he offered me more and I slowly chewed on my food, I noticed his appearance. He'd showered already as I could tell by a semi-wet strand brushing over his forehead. He was in a dark blue t-shirt and gray sweatpants.

We didn't have school, and he was all showered and ready at 8 a.m. Who knew how much effort he'd put into our movie date? Maybe made a list of movies and arranged snacks in his room? And I was turning him down because of problems between me and my brother. How was this fair to Matt?

Once I'd finished all the food in his plate and declined when he'd asked if I'd wanted more, he went to the kitchen to place the plate with the dirty dishes and when he came back, he looked ready to leave.

And he didn't even look mad or even remotely disappointed in me—the fact that he was probably used to it by now made me feel bad—as he gave me a little nod.

"I'll see you lat—"

"Will you watch whatever I pick?" I asked pensively.

He blinked for a moment, then nodded slowly, a spark lighting up his eyes.

"Okay, then. Let's go. I have something in mind."

It barely took us five minutes to go across the street and end up in his room. I was right. He had arranged snacks and sodas, but that wasn't it. His room looked different. He'd changed his curtains to the ones that were thick enough to block the sunlight from outside. There were several candles in the room, and there was a very cozy blanket sitting on his bed, waiting to engulf us.

"Wow," I breathed.

"It's not much. I didn't find out about the marathon until last night."

"This is more than enough. It's so beautiful. It doesn't even look like your room."

"Ouch."

My jaw dropped, and I let out a chuckle. "That's not what I meant. I just meant your room is very minimalist, and this is..."

He drew the curtains and dimmed the lights. A soft orange glow illuminated the room as he threw me sly look over his shoulder. "This is?"

I slipped under the blanket and patted the spot right next to me with a grin. "Romantic."

Victory flashed in his eyes. "That's what I was going for."

He got under the blanket too and pulled me closer with one arm while holding out the remote for me with his other hand. "Pick whatever you want."

"With pleasure." After browsing for thirty seconds, I settled for the movie I'd originally had in mind and grinned at his clueless face.

"Cartoon movie?" He frowned.

"This isn't cartoon. This is Disney."

"Aren't they the same?"

"I think not."

"Wait!" He narrowed his eyes at the screen when the title came up, and then his brows instantly eased up. "Oh, it's that Rapunzel movie."

"You know Rapunzel?" I blinked in disbelief.

"Who doesn't?" He leaned against the backrest and pulled me along as I shoved a few chips into my mouth and drank my soda.

An hour into the movie, my head lazily dropped against his shoulder. I loved that movie, but I'd watched it a bit too many times, and I was even past the point where I narrated the dialogues along in my head.

I didn't realize when I fell asleep right there on his shoulder, but when I stirred to consciousness, the movie was still playing, and his eyes were glued to the screen.

"How long was I out?"

"Thirty minutes."

"The movie's still on?"

"Gothel's a bitch," he said without looking away from the TV, then his jaw dropped. "Did she just stab him? Isn't that illegal on Disney? Isn't it for kids?"

I held back a smile. "The kids have been just fine. Are you gonna be alright, Matt?"

He rolled his eyes, then a second later, they grew wide. "What the fuck? He chopped her hair? He couldn't have done that after she'd healed him? What crap!"

"Uh uh! Hold on."

More intense staring at the screen.

"Ha! Served her right. Good job, Pascal. Drop that—oh! She fell to her death. What is wrong with Disney?"

I shrugged at him.

Then after another minute or so, "can she stop crying over the dead dude's face—oh great! Magic tears. Of course."

"I'm never showing you a Disney movie again," I said once it was over and turned the TV off.

"You slept through it yourself," he scoffed.

"Because I've seen it many times," I reasoned.

"Sure."

I opened my mouth to argue further but he cut me off.

"You look like her, by the way. Just different eye colour."

"Oh," I smiled, blushing. Rapunzel was one of my favourite Disney characters so I loved that comparison. "I'll take that compliment."

"But if I just..." He fetched something from his side, and before I knew it, he'd placed something like a green plushie toy on my shoulder. "... yeah. Now you totally look the part."

I turned my head to look at it and my jaw dropped. It was a Pascal plushie from Tangled!

"How long was I out again? When did you get that?" I grabbed the adorable smiling chameleon toy from my shoulder and chuckled until I realized something and stared up at him with wide eyes.

He had a knowing smile playing on his lips.

"You'd wanted to watch Tangled all along," I gasped.

"Ever since you'd mentioned it on the stage that day, I was intrigued by it, but obviously, I wasn't going to watch a Disney movie. I forgot about it. Then, about three weeks ago, I was looking for something to watch and came across it. We hadn't been talking back then because of all the misunderstandings and your brother, but the movie immediately made me think of you. I just knew that I had to watch it with you someday."

Aw, my heart! Damn you, Matthew Williams.

"How the hell did I get so lucky?" I muttered under my breath and threw my arms around his neck, kissing him leisurely.

I felt his smile against my lips but just as he began to kiss me back, a loud hiss startled me and we pulled apart to find all three kittens sprinting out from under his study table and fighting amongst themselves.

"What the hell are you guys doing here? I put you in Aiden's room."

"And Aiden put us back here because we're your cats, and we scratch him," I replied in a low mimicking voice, ending it with a meow, and Matt pulled a poker face at me.

I burst out laughing while stepping out of bed. "I should probably head home. Blake's gonna be back anytime now."

He gave a reluctant nod and got out of bed.

"Wait, I should probably help you clean up first." I started to gather the empty soda cans lying on his bed.

"Becks, I can manage throwing soda cans and an empty chips bag in the trash. It's fine. Go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. Bye, Matt. And bye, Cheeto. Bye, K1 and K2." I petted them once they'd calmed down and raised a brow at my boyfriend. "If that's what we're still going with."

"Nope. That's Scribble."

"Is he?" I smiled brightly at him. "And this one?"

He shrugged, but I caught his little smile.

"What?" I blinked.

"It wasn't that bad and... she liked it." He pointed at the kitten.

I stared at him in confusion until it dawned, and I gasped out loud. "No, you didn't."

"Of course I did."

"Did you really name her Lola?"

"Yes."

"Oh my God!" A huge grin spread across my lips, recalling the attitude he'd given me when I'd suggested that name during our first singing lesson at his house. And he'd ended up naming his kitten just that.

"You're welcome," I sang. "Next time you have to name someone or something, feel free to ask me. As you've noticed, I'll do much better than Soap."

He pressed his lips together, hiding a smile as he narrowed his eyes. I gave him a quick peck on the lips, which made that smile break free, but I gave him no time to react because I was already on my way out.

"Goodbye, Lola." I winked at the kitten before leaving the room with a wide smile on my face.

*****

Deciding that I'd given Blake enough time to cool off, I knocked on his bedroom door the next morning.

"Come in."

I poked my head inside first. He was typing something on his laptop when he looked up at me, held my gaze for two seconds before going right back to typing.

"Can I come inside?"

All he did was nod, and I trod inside carefully and settled on the edge of his bed, watching him in silence.

"What?" he finally asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

"The music competition is today. At 2 p.m. I'd really like it if you could be there for me."

He directed a frown at the screen and resumed his typing again. He didn't respond. Pressing my lips together, I got up and left.

My phone buzzed with a text.

Matt: Ready for today?

I felt the butterflies in my stomach. I was really nervous about the competition.

Rebekah: I am.

I went up to my room and put on a nice top with jeans, grabbed my bag, looked in the mirror, and told myself, "You've got this."

"Good luck, Becks." Nick smiled from the living room when I went downstairs.

"Thanks, Nick. Will you be there?"

"Of course. I'll try to bring Blake along as well."

"No, you won't. I wanna see if he shows up when I call him."

"Sentiments," he said under his breath, shaking his head. "Fine."

I left for the coffeeshop with Matt. We spent the rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon there. The moment we got back into his car and he started driving towards the school, my stress unfolded a hundred times as I tapped my knee nervously.

"Relax, okay? You're gonna be great."

"It's Rebecca. She's such a good singer."

"Hey!" He placed his hand on mine and squeezed. "So are you. And if it makes you feel any better, let me remind you never even wanted to do this. So, you've got nothing to lose, okay? Just do it to have fun like you sang with us for the first time. That's it."

I smiled slightly, leaning back in my seat.

Despite the pep talk, the moment I stepped inside the building, I got cold feet.

"We've got you, Becks." Meera patted my shoulder, and we started making our way towards the auditorium. I silently prayed for no one to show up. That way, we could've just laughed the entire thing off.

But boy, was my prayer unheard! The auditorium was packed.

"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" I said under my breath.

"Relax! There were just as many people when you first sang." Matt wrapped an arm around me.

"Who's in charge of the spotlight? I need you to tell them to shine that thing on my face. Blind me, I don't care. Anything to not see all that crowd."

He let out a laugh. "Breathe, okay?"

As Rebecca showed up backstage in all her fake glory, I found my nerves slowly settling. It was just her. I was up against her. A girl I'd known all my life. It was okay.

I looked into the crowd, hoping to see my brother or Nick. But they weren't there. I'd started to turn away disappointed when my eyes caught them in the second last row and my face lit up. I waved at them.

Only Nick waved back. Blake just sat there with a straight face, eyes fixed on the stage.

"He did show up," I muttered to Matt.

"Of course he did," he scoffed. "I bet half his anger vanished the moment he punched me in the eye."

I squished his cheeks and gave him a peck. "Thank you. Wish me luck."

"You're welcome? Good luck."

Releasing his hand, I walked on the stage just as Rebecca walked from the other side with a little smirk playing on her lips. There wasn't a hint of nervousness in her eyes, and that unnerved me.

Breathe, Becks. You've got this.

Rebecca sang first. Then I did. Then we shared the stage and had a sing off. Both of us only knew what songs we were going to sing and our parts. We'd never sung together before.

The crowd went crazy after the performance ended, and when I walked backstage, I felt my nerves picking up again because now it was time for everyone to vote.

I anxiously waited backstage. Parker came up to me and gave me a giant hug. "Thank you so much for doing this for us, Becks."

"It's alright, Parker. But we don't know if I've won yet."

"It really doesn't matter, okay? You gave us six months of your junior year. Just know that even if you don't win, we're very grateful."

That shouldn't have made me emotional. Nope. Definitely my nerves.

I patted him on the back and pulled away. "Thank you, Parker. That means a lot."

"Hey! They said they've counted the votes. It's time to announce," Will called, and Parker ran right back to where he'd come from as he disappeared among the people backstage.

I stood there, squeezing Matt's hand as I watched Parker walk on the stage with another senior.

"Okay! We have the results!" Parker waved the small folded piece of paper in the air and opened it, a frown forming on his lips. "And the winner is...."

"...Rebekah..."

Say Andrews! Say Andrews! Please say Andrews!

I dug my nails in my palms in anticipation. The entire room was silent as the next word left Parker's mouth.