My Undercover Life

Episode 21

I literally couldn’t breathe. I literally couldn’t move. All I could do was stare after Bradlee. The way he moved, the way he walked, and even the way he swung his legs over his motorcycle was hypnotic to the eye, and I didn’t understand why. Was it the lighting? The mood? Or maybe it was just my emotions running wild?

Getting rid of that thought in my head—knowing that I needed to stop thinking about him, I saw my cousin’s van pulling up slowly down the road as they parked next to the curb, stopping a second later. Seeing the window rolled down a crack, Demitri ushered me to hurry up. Obeying, I ran towards their car as quickly as I could wanting nothing but to get out of this freezing weather. Once I was close enough, I could make out the huge smiles on their faces. If I didn’t know any better, they were way too overly joyful about something. And that something most likely meant me hanging out with Bradlee tonight.

Pulling the door opened, I climbed into the back seat, shutting the door. Leaning forward, I eyed them suspiciously. “What?”

They glanced at each other before looking at me. “We got Bradlee’s number.”

My eyebrow arched down in confusion. That’s it? That’s what they’re happy about. “And?”
“And, we can track his movements now,” Skylar said waving an old fashion model phone in his hand. Eyeing the phone a bit closer, I noticed it was one of those burner phones. The ones that keep your personal number private.

“Now you just need Ian’s number.” Demitri smiled. “Make sure to get it on Monday.”
I nodded, not exactly in the mood to argue with him. Demitri’s smile widened even further before he turned around, and told Skylar to floor it. Once we were back on the road, I slowly took out my phone. Running my hand over the screen, I debated if I should turn it on or not. After going through the pros and cons, I decided to turn it on and get it over with.
When the screen loaded, I saw the thirty missed calls, the fifty text messages, and the twenty-five voice messages. I rolled my eyes when I saw the name that once made my heart fluttered, and skip a beat. But now all I saw was rage and disappointment. Disappointment that I didn’t see this sooner; that I didn’t listen to Megan. She was right. John was right. Heck, everyone was right.
My eyes cut, deleting everything that once had to do with Dennis. The pictures, his number, our anniversary date, and every single one of his messages he’d left me. Once I was done, I locked my phone, shoving it back inside my pocket, pushing him back to the back of my mind. Even though it’s going to take time, I will forget about him. I will stop loving him, and I will move on once and for all, even if it takes me years.

---

As soon as I stepped foot into Woodway Prep on Monday morning I was greeted by a loud screech. I barely had time to register what was happening before I was engulfed into a pair of strong arms. Getting a whiff of cinnamon, I awkwardly stood there, lightly patting his back as my arms dangled on his sides.
“Avery!” Ian cried, pushing my face further into his chest. “I missed you so much over the weekend!”
“I missed you too,” I mumbled back even though it probably sounded like gibberish to anyone in a hearing distance.
“How was your weekend?” he asked, putting some distance between us. Before I could even answer his question, he leaned his face closer towards mine, cutting whatever I was going to say off. “Mine was amazing!” he shouted, the smile on his face prominent. “I went on a road trip!” His eyes were wide with cheerfulness.
“Really?” I asked, as I saw Megan mouthing the words, “I’ll see you later,” in the corner of my eyes before rushing off towards class. I laughed quietly under my breath, knowing that Megan really liked being extra early to class. Darting my attention back towards Ian, I saw him nodding enthusiastically at my response.
“Yeah!” he exclaimed, his voice a lot louder. “My sister and I went down to Pennsylvania to visit some of my cousins.”
“Oh nice,” I said vaguely remembering the fact that he even had a sister. I made a mental note to re-read those profiles Skylar and Demitri gave me about him. “I’m guessing you had fun?”

“Of course!” He smiled, his eyes lighting up. I couldn’t help but smile at that; he really was happy all the time. “Well,” he continued saying, his tone less excited, “that was until she decided she wanted to go to some club at half past midnight.”
“Wait—how old is she?”

“Sixteen,” he said with a groan, “and let’s just say she had a lot more than she could handle.”

I laughed hearing the clear annoyance in his tone. “Well, hopefully your parents won’t find out,” I joked, giggling a little. My smile dropped seeing the smile completely wiped off his face at the clear mention of his parents. My eyes widened a fraction of an inch seeing his usual happy-go-lucky-self disappeared.
“Trust me,” he said, his voice strained, “they won’t.”

“H-how come?” My voice broke, seeing the clear anguish in those once happy filled eyes of his. Crap. Did I say something I shouldn’t have?
“Reasons,” was his short reply, void of emotions. An awkward silence passed between us—the sounds of students’ feet hitting the ground was the only thing keeping me from bolting. “Anyways!” Ian shouted, scaring the living s–t out of me. My body jolted forward as I eyed him warily. “I’m glad I saw you! I’d been meaning to ask if we could hang out? Maybe over the weekend or something?” Seeing the joy back in his eyes, I bit my lips not even knowing what to make out of this situation. On one hand, he just totally gave me the perfect excuse to ask for his number like my cousins wanted me to, but on the other hand I’m pretty sure Ian’s bipolar or something.
“Ah . . .” I uttered, clearing my throat. “Sure!” I said, making sure my voice sounded just as cheerful as he was, erasing whatever just happened out of my head. “Here.” I snatched my phone out of my back pocket and set it down on his palm, “just add your number and I’ll text you later.”
“Okay!” he shouted, grabbing it. Programming his number quickly, he handled it back to me. Seeing Ian Lynch, I quickly sent him a text before I locked it, putting it away. “I’ll see you during lunch! Bye Avery!” He quickly waved goodbye, before skipping down the hall, whistling some happy tone. I stared at the back of his head, shaking my head at him. Yup. He’s definitely bipolar.

Turning around, I headed towards Mr. Meyer’s classroom knowing that if I didn’t leave now, I’ll end up late. When I saw the familiar door in the near distance and the familiar figure outside his classroom, I smiled.
“Good morning Mr. Meyer,” I greeted, running over.

He turned his head in the direction of my voice. When he saw that it was me, his smile widened. “Good morning Avery.”
I lowered my head in a nod, smiling back, before bypassing him and walking into the classroom. I didn’t get very far before the smile dropped from my face. The girl with really long hair—Kimberly, was standing next to Bradlee, practicing shoving her boobs in his face. I could tell she was flirting with him as she twirled her golden locks in between his fingers, touching his chest whenever she could. Feeling the pang of jealously in the pit of my stomach, I was about to look away when Bradlee’s eyes snapped up.
Seeing the clear discomfort in his eyes, and the utter plead to help him, I headed towards them, passing a couple of students I was still learning the name of. When I was right in front of Kimberly, she pretended not to see me and continued to rub her chest against his arm. Even when Bradlee started to obviously lean away from her, she giggled softly to herself, mumbling something like, “cute” under her breath.
I cleared my throat, quietly at first, but then louder when she totally ignored me. “Excuse me,” I decided to voice calmly, even though I was feeling anything but calm.

She rolled her eyes at me, clicking her tongue. “What?” she snapped, her dislike for me apparent. “Can’t you see I’m busy with Bradlee?”

I pointed at him slowly inching away from her. “It doesn’t look like he likes you very much.”
“Yeah?” she bit back, clutching his arm against her body. “And how would you know?”
“Because he’s practically running away from you.”

“He’s just playing hard to get,” she said smugly, tipping her chin up. “I know he likes me.”
“Right.” I nodded, dragging the last syllabus out. “I’m sure he does,” I said sarcastically.
“He does!” she shouted, practically yelling it in my face. “Isn’t that right, sweetie?” she asked, lowering her voice in an attempt to be seductive but failed miserably. He decided not to answer, and ended up giving her a look that practically screamed “crazy b—h”.
“See!” She squeaked, waving her finger at him. “He didn’t say anything! That means he’s so love with me that he can’t even speak!” she said happily, gushing like a imbecile.
“Your stupidity is getting on my nerves!” I groaned in frustration, causing her to snap her neck towards me. “Could you please just leave?”
“Excuse me!?” she blared, her anger drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Did you just call me stupid?” Hearing a bunch of ‘oohs’ in the background, I heard an intake a breath, as everyone went silent in anticipation.
“Maybe I did—” I paused, shrugging, “—maybe I didn’t.”
Seeing her eyes flash red, she rounded the desk, jabbing her finger at me. “Don’t you dare—”
“—Kimberly go back to your seat,” Mr. Meyer interrupted in a strict tone. “Avery, don’t tempt her. You know better than that.”
“Sorry Mr. Meyer,” we both said simultaneously. Hearing Kimberly curse under her breath for getting in trouble—she walked away but not before glaring at me one last time.
Turning back towards Bradlee, I saw that he was halfway from getting up from his seat. A ghost of smile appeared on my face when I realized he was getting up to protect me from Kimberly, even though I didn’t need it. She was a stick compared to the other people I’d beaten before in Jiu Jitsu.
“Thanks.”
He nodded as he started typing something on his phone. Once he was done, he pushed his phone towards me.

Thanks for saving me from her. And if I wasn’t clear enough, I DON’T like her.
I laughed, seeing that he capitalized don’t in his text message for extra emphasis. Grabbing his phone from the table, I texted: I know ? before sliding the phone back towards him.
Bending down a notch, I pulled my chair out from underneath the lab table before taking the seat across from him. Looking up, I saw the crack of a smile before his fingers glided across the screen. Sliding it back towards me a second later, I glanced down seeing his phone number and the words, I don’t usually do this but . . . here’s my number. I hope you save it, Av c: underneath it.

My eyes widened when I literally heard my heart pumping against my ribcage at the sight of that nickname. S–t. I can’t like him, can I?