-Chapter Seven-

My mouth went dry again as a million thoughts ran through my mind. 

Should I say yes?

Should I say no?

Should I even be talking to a stranger?

Should I have even continued talking with a stranger!?

"Alex? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that... I... Uh, had to feed my goldfish." Gosh, I suck at lying.

I heard Jake chuckle at me, probably knowing that I was lying, and just laughing at my lame excuse. "So do you want to Skype?" A few seconds went by and I still didn't reply. "If you don't want to, then that's fine. I can kind of unders—"

"No, I want to." I've made up my mind. And as Peyton always blabs about... Y.O.L.O.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes. Now are you going to give me your username or are you going to make me wait longer?"

"Sorry. My username is SmileyFacesAreAwesome123."

"Only you, Jake... Only you..." I mumbled as I typed in his username. When the page was done loading, I saw his user. I clicked on it and sent him a friend request.

"Im_Sexi_And_I_Know_It_143?" Jake asked. "Is that you?"

I nodded my head, but then felt stupid. He can't see me.

"Yep! I'm guessing you got the request?"

In reply, the Skype video chat ringtone started to play. Making sure the camera was off first, I clicked on 'Answer'. I looked down at my phone. He hung up on me.

My forehead started to sweat as it loaded. I was about to see Jake for the first time. My palms followed suit and began to sweat too. Stupid sweat glands!

The picture finally loaded completely! I was confused when I didn't see anyone sitting there, waiting like I was. All I saw was an empty desk chair with a bed in the background. I'm guessing this is Jake's empty room...?

Where is he?

Maybe he is an old guy...

I sent a message through Skype's IM. 

"Jake? Ya there?" 

No one replied. About five minutes later, I heard voices coming from the distance through my speakers. They were coming closer. 

"Yeah, I wonder what she looks like on Skype."

A figure sat down in the chair and began spinning around in it. I knew it was Jake, but I couldn't see his face from the spinning.

"Did she pick u—" Another person came up behind the one who was spinning around. It was a girl, so I'm guessing it's Lily?

"Oh my gosh! She did! Jake, look!" Lily pointed to the screen of the computer, and Jake stopped spinning abruptly.

"I can't see. Too dizzy!" Jake said loudly. I quickly plugged my earphones into my laptop and put them into my ear. 

That's when I finally looked at Jake. He was.... Amazingly hot.

Yes, that is my description of him. He gave me a brief description of what he looked like a couple days ago, but I had no idea he was. . . just, wow. My breath hitched, and a dry lump formed in my throat. I had been talking to a Greek god this whole time?

Jake's green eyes contrasted nicely with his light brown hair and his tan complexion. From what I could see, he was wearing a somewhat tight-fitting black tee shirt. It looked really good on him. It made him look even sexier. Whoa, I just said Jake was sexy... Oh well, I don't regret it. No need to regret the truth, right?

"Aw.. Her camera's not on! ALEX PUT YOUR CAMERA ON!" Lily shouted, snapping me out of my trance.

"That hurt. A lot," I stated, referring to how loud the volume was turned up. I did mention that I had earphones in, right?

"Whoops. Sorry!" she apologized. Lily was really pretty. At the moment, she was wearing a light blue shirt with jellybeans on it, and a pair of Soffees. Her hair dark brown hair was braided off to the side. She had light brown eyes filled with excitement. 

If I didn't know better, I'd think Lily and Jake were related.  

"Yeah, Alex. Put your camera on! I want to see you!" Jake whined.

"You already saw me, though."

"That was a picture!" they said in unison.

"Whatever." I sighed, and braided my bangs that were too long back, clipping them with a bobby-pin.  I ran my hands over it, making sure it was neat. "You guys ready?" 

"Yes! A million times yes!" they both yelled.

I ignored the pain ringing through my ears, and counted down from three. "Three, two, one!" On one, I pressed the camera icon, and the light next to the built-in video camera turned green, letting me know it was on. 

I stared at their faces as they watched excitedly as the picture loaded. When it did load, they stared at the screen. Was I that pretty? No, that can't be it.

"What?" I drawled. "Is there something on my face? Why are you guys staring at me like that?"

"She's even prettier now!" Lily squealed. 

"Uh, thank you? And I'm not even that pretty. Lily, you're prettier than I am!" I replied. I was shocked that she even thought so!

"Are you kidding me!?" Lily asked. Her eyes were as round as saucers.

"No..." I suddenly found my fingers very interesting, and began playing with them.

"Alex, you're not ugly, if that's what you're thinking. Trust me, you are very far from that. I would say something, but Lily keeps telling me not to," Jake said after a while of staring. 

I felt the familiar heat build up in my cheeks. What was he going to say earlier anyways? That I was hot? Ha, I highly doubt that one!

"Aww... Look, she's blushing!" Lily said. Thanks for pointing that out. I looked up from my fingers to The screen to see Jake and Lily smiling at me. 

"I am not blushing!" I protested. 

"Yeah, you were totes blushing," Jake said, trying (but failing miserably) to imitate a girl. His voice was falsetto and sounded absolutely nothing like a girl.

“Whatever.” 

“Sooo….” Lily stretched out the word. “What shall we do now?”

“I don’t know. Alex? Have any ideas?” Jake asked, turning to me. 

“Uh…. Truth or Dare..?”

The two of them stared at me, then glanced at each other, and back at me. “That is a… Great idea!” Lily exclaimed.

Really? Was it actually a great idea? I smiled at the two. 

“Okay, the order is: Alex, Lily, then me,” Jake said, pointing to us as he called our names.

Lily slapped his arm. “Hey, no fair! Especially to Alex! I’ll go first, then you, then Alex.”

Nodding my head, I replied, “Sounds good to me!”

“Okay, Jake, truth or dare?” Lily asked, facing Jake.

“Dare, of course.”

“ I dare you to go stick your head in the toilet,” I said.

Lily’s eyes widened, as she cheered. “Good one, Alex! Yes, Jake, we dare you to dip your head in the toilet.”

“Ugh, that’s disgusting.” He grunted in distaste. “But I guess a dare is a dare.” He faced me. “You have to pay me back for this, young lady.”

I smiled as they got up, and Lily held their laptop in her hands and followed Jake to the nearest bathroom. Jake hesitated before getting down on his knees in front of the toilet bowl and lifting up the lid.

“Oh, that’s gross,” Lily commented.

Jake dipped his head in and came back up, face wet. That is before he went up to Lily and shook his hair onto her. He also got a few drops of water on the camera. 

“Eww! Gross!!” Lily squealed.

“Uh, can you wipe off the camera? I can’t see anything!”

“Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that.” Soon the camera lens was nice and clean… The way I preferred it.

“Okay, Jake, it’s your turn!” I told him. 

“Yep! It seems that way. Okay, um… Alex, I dare you to go into your parents’ room and scream at the top of your lungs. Then come back here and get in bed before they can catch you.”

“No! Why would I do that?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Then I guess you’re not as awesome as I am. I stuck my head in a toilet because of you! Do you know who has used that?”

“You.”

“Exactly. Wait! No, that’s not what I meant. Ugh, the point is, you have to do this dare! So go do it. Now!”

“Does she have to take the laptop?” Lily asked.

“Hum…No, because that would be a source of night, showing her face. That is if they wake up in time to catch her,” Jake replied.

“Okay, then how will you know I did the dare?” I mused.

“I’ll hear you scream.” He smiled at me, showing off those freaking amazing dimples of his. 

“Okay then. Give me a few minutes. I’ll be right back.” I grunted and stood up, walking out of my room.

Once I was at my parents’ door, I pushed it open carefully and looked inside. Pitch black. I left the door ajar so I could have a better chance of escaping. 

I counted to three mentally, then screamed at the top of my lungs. I could hear the stirring as they slowly woke up followed by a loud thump on the floor. I bet it was my dad.

Then I remembered: I need to get out of here!

I scampered out of the room, down the hall, and into my own bedroom. I stopped momentarily at my laptop. “Okay, I did it. They should be in here soon, so I’ll have to come back when they leave—” I heard a pair of feet coming down the hall. “I have to go!” 

Basically closing my laptop most of the way, turning off the lights, and attempting to climb in my bed as quietly as possible in a matter of seconds, I succeeded and pulled the covers up to my shoulders. 

The door opened, followed by the lights switching on. “Alex? Are you awake?” Mom’s tired voice asked as she walked over to me. She shook my shoulder. “Honey, wake up!”

“Yes, Mom?” I tried my best to sound at least a little bit tired. I think I was pretty convincing. 

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“It was like a scream or something…. Are you sure you didn’t hear that?”

“All I heard was  a loud thud. But I didn’t think too much of it. You should go back to bed, Mom.”

“Okay. Good night, sweetie.” She kissed my forehead and made her way back out of the door. 

I sighed. I barely made it! After a few minutes had passed, when I thought my parents were pack in bed, I got out of bed and went back to my laptop.

“Guys, I think I’m going to go now. I have school tomorrow,” I said.

“Why? It’s only ten—”

“Three hour time difference, Lily. It’s one o-five here. I have to go to bed. And if I don’t make it to school, I’m blaming you two!” I grimaced at them and let put a long yawn. 

“Aww… Okay. Good night, Alex!” Lily said. 

“Good night, Alex,” Jake told me with a heart-stopping smile. 

“Good night!”

Hey guys! I don't know exactly how long this is, but I hope it's long enough! That's all I have to say >.< It's 11:34 PM here, so good night... I guess. First person to comment gets this chapter dedicated to them!

              ~Storylover11~