"What?" Her voice was strained as if she were trying not to show the hurt. She practically just threw herself at him, and he straight out rejected her.
For the hundredth time in the past twenty four hours, I had to ask myself, ‘what is his problem?!’
"Look, I just met you! It's kind of pathetic how you threw yourself at me so quickly. I thought we were just messing around back at work." Her eyes filled up with tears, and she didn't move. It was like she was frozen.
I quickly left my hiding place and went to confront him. He immediately saw me stomping over and groaned. This kid has an attitude problem, and I'm so sick of it.
"What do you want?! What, are you stocking me now?" He glared cold and hard.
"Um, excuse me, but I was here long before you were," I said with as much venom as possible, but not sounding as confident as I thought I would have. "What the heck is your problem?! Why are you being such a jerk to everyone?" He let out a dark, low chuckle and glared at me.
"Really? That's the best you got? That I'm a jerk." He tried to mimic me when he said jerk.
"No, I also have some ice cream that I didn't eat." I walked a few feet to the left, to the frame of the swing set where we had left our now melted ice cream. Picking it up, I turned quickly, walked back over, and threw it in his face with a smile.
"What, nothing to say? It looks like you finally got that much needed attitude adjustment. Turns out you really can be sweet!" I smiled at my own lame joke and quickly took a few steps back when his hands tightened into fists. The sticky goo ran down his face and onto his shirt, giving me even more satisfaction.
"Oh, no!" I said like something was wrong. "I forgot the chocolate to go on top! Darn it!" I was still smiling, and he looked like he wanted to explode. I grabbed for the girl's hand, and she placed hers in mine gently as she laughed at Jessie. It made me happy that she had stopped crying.
"You should probably go take a shower. The ice cream seems to be sliding off, and your ugly personality is starting to show again." His face was turning so red it was on the way to going purple. I pulled the girl across the park as quickly as my feet would carry me in case he decided to come after me. She quickly dismissed herself to head in the other direction so she could get to her house, and I continued to speed walk back to mine.
I was both proud of myself and terrified that if I looked behind me, I would find him stalking after me with murderous intent.
Walking up, I noticed the two additional cars in the driveway. So, I picked the safe route and walked around to the backyard so I could sneak upstairs. Hearing the voices coming from the front room, I closed the back door silently and tiptoed up the staircase.
After a warm shower, I cuddled under to duvet and called Chris to tell her exactly what she missed.
"Oh, my god!" Chris yelled over the phone. "Jules! Do you realize that this was the first time that you were ever actually mean to someone? How did it feel?" I thought about it, and she was right. That is not who I am. It briefly crossed my mind that I needed to find him and apologize tomorrow for taking it so far. The other side of my brain was saying that he kind of deserved something like that to happen to him for the way he was treating everyone.
"No! Julie, I know what you are thinking. He deserves it! Don't feel bad! He is an asshole!" She was right, but that didn't mean that I handled that situation the right way.
"Okay, so who was the girl? Did she go to our school? I didn't recognize her." Chris asked eagerly and was quickly disappointed when I had to tell her I didn't get the girl's name and didn't know anything about her.
* * * *
The next day at school, there wasn't a second where I wasn't receiving a death glare from Jesse. At one point in math, I thought he was going to rip my head off in the middle of class, witnesses be damned. I was actually really scared, but I bit it back and plastered a smile on my face. I would have expected to get the glares from his friends too, but I think he decided not to tell them to save himself the embarrassment.
Smart move on his part. I should know. They try to embarrass me all the time, but I do my best to ignore them, which just ends up pissing them off more.
So, I had learned to just pretend to be hurt or upset when they were bullying me when in reality I couldn't care less about what they said about me. It made it easier. They get the reaction they want, and I get them to leave me alone for the rest of the day.
Jessie's badass act won't last too long in this school. Soon, he too will be ripped apart piece by piece, and he will have to find someone to 'stitch him back together'.
The bell rang, letting school finally end. I walked up to my locker to grab my homework and book bag. When I closed the metal door, I came face to face with Jessie leaning up next to my locker.
"Hello." I cleared my throat as I collected myself from the small fright he had given me. He didn't deserve to ruin my day. I was in a good mood, and I wasn't about to let him change that.
It didn't matter to me that I was the star of the new rumor going around. It was no different than any other day. I was still getting glares and being laughed at as I walked down the hall, but I held my head up high. "What can I help you with?" I smiled at him, and he looked confused.
"Why are you being nice? I thought the dark Julie had come out to play. I was looking forward to it." He looked at me, and I tried not to laugh.
"Am I supposed to be evil or something just because I dumped melted ice cream on you? Hate to break it to you, but I'm not normally a mean person. That would be the people you hang out with." I watched amused as the crease between his eyebrows went away, and his head tilted to the side like he was trying to figure me out.
"Well, no. It's just that after the way that yesterday went, I would expect you to be as pissed at me as I am at you. Why do you keep smiling at me?" He just stayed still leaning up against the locker next to mine, not bothering to move even though I had already closed my locker and was ready to walk away.
"Why would I be mad? You were awful to several people yesterday. You deserved some sort of bad karma, but it wasn't my place to step in, and I shouldn't have dumped the ice cream on you. You were awful to me. I was awful to you. Seems like we are equal right now, so there is no point in me holding a grudge." He didn't smile or look me in the face as I spoke. For a moment, I thought he was actually taking in what I said.
Instead, he just crossed his right foot over the front of his left and crossed his arms. "Don't you even want to know why everyone in the school hates you?"
"No. Why on Earth would I care about them? I have my family and my best friend. As long as I have them, I'll be fine. You can hate me as much as you want, too. It won't be any skin off my back." He looked up as I said this, and my smile faltered by his disgusted look.
"You're so fucking weird. I can't stand it. You don't even care that the whole school is going around saying shit about you. You just walk around with a big goofy smile on your face with your one friend. Your life is a joke." My lips parted in surprise that my existence bothered him so much. How could someone hate another person for such a stupid reason?
He opened his mouth to speak again. His eyes roamed over my face before he changed his mind. Jessie snapped his jaw closed, pushed his shoulder off the lockers, and walked away without looking back.
I shook my head in shock, trying to figure out what was going through his mind before shrugging to myself. Not my problem.
"You do know who started these rumors, don't you?" Chris's music was blaring in the background, making her have to shout into the phone."If I had to guess, it would be the same assholes as always, but I don't really care. I don't even know what the rumor is this time. I'm so sick of it all." I looked down at my homework as I packed it up into my backpack so it would be ready for tomorrow. I'm finally done!"Why wouldn't you want to know? The rumors are spreading fast." I could tell that she was frowning. Her voice wasn't the normal high and happy Chris, and she turned down her music."I really don't care anymore. These people who keep starting rumors about me just to make me miserable, don't realize that they aren't hurting me. I just want to do my time and be done with it." I sighed.For a brief moment the thought actually popped into my head, 'Why does Jessie hate me so much? How can a man be proud of himself by bullying a woman he didn't even know
Why can't he understand that I am not interested?Today was my own personal Hell on Earth. No matter where I turned, I saw that horrible flyer mocking me. That, and those five flipping words were haunting me, rolling around in my head."You won't be for long."What the heck was that supposed to mean? I don't like him, I don't want him, and I never will. But, his words were like a threat... or a promise. That infuriating man. Apparently, he doesn't know what "not interested" means.Then again, with the way I hadn't been able to get him out of my head, I didn't either. It wasn't that I wanted to be attracted to him. I just was.I walked upstairs and crawled into bed. Flipping on the television, I went channel surfing. My phone vibrated on my nightstand, and I grabbed it, hoping it would be Chris."Hello?" No answer."Hello?" Why is this person not talking? Wait, what if this is the person who put out those fliers?"Hello, Julie."
I opened my locker and sighed. People were still putting those stupid flipping fliers in my locker. Really?I truly hoped that people would be over this. Apparently, the people at my stuck-up school are just that immature. I took them out along with the English book. Closing my locker, I walked down the hall in search of a trash can. The fliers fluttered down into the first one I found.I made sure all of the fliers were in the bin before I turned and began to walk back to class. A smile stretched across my face, and my bad mood lifted away when I was stopped by Chrissie."Oh my God! Jules, what happened? Did you get the mysterious phone call? Who was it? What did they say? Are you okay?" She must have had a little too much sugar this morning."Yeah, I got the phone call. It was Jessie. He is the one who did the fliers. He said it was a dare and then hung up on me. Jack left my mom last night. I think I'm okay. Wait, did I answer all of your
By the time I found my car keys, I had ended up destroying my room, just to find it in my sister's. Okay, she can take my clothes or my stuff, but NO ONE can touch my baby but me! I walked outside and instantly put my hood up to protect my impending frizzy hair from the rain.After locking the door, I walked out to my car. It was nothing special, but it was mine.As I pulled up to The Shack, I could already see the nervous look on her face through the window from where she sat. I got out and locked my car. Sucking in a deep breath, I walked into The Shack and sat down with Chrissie, not bothering to go to the counter to get some ice cream."So, how was the rest of your day Chrissie?" I forced a painted smile on my face."It was really good. During sixth hour Mrs. Bough partnered me up with Cole, so at least now I know that I don't have to do the project by myself and have some stupid jock take half of the credit. Then, during seventh period,
After a very long and confusing class, I went straight to my locker. Every time I caught Jessie staring at me, he would revert back to his usual glare and then look away. It wasn't unusual for him per se, but I thought we had reached an agreement of sorts that we could be civil to one another."So, how did it go?" I jumped back, and my hand flew up to my chest. Air was forced into my lungs at a rapid pace as I looked up to see my best friend standing behind me. I was still a little touchy about going to my locker after the angry mob incident."Jesus, Chrissie! Are you trying to scare me to death?" She was laughing hysterically at my reaction, resulting in a glare from me."Dude! You should have seen your face!" She gasped for air and laughed out the rest, "It was so priceless!" She caught her breath but looked excited."So now tell me what happened. Did you guys talk? Did he flirt with you again?" I shook my head, and her face dropped. "Well, then what ha
"Mom!" I screamed through the front door, "Mom! I'm home!" I looked into the kitchen, but she wasn't there. The text I received from her was nerve-racking. It said, 'Come home immediately after school'. That was never a good thing. It was like when the significant other says, 'We need to talk.'I heard a noise coming from the living room, so I walked that way. She was sitting on the couch, legs crossed, arms folded, and eyes glaring. What did I do now?"Sit!" I did what she said instantly without thinking about it. "Now, I better get a damn good explanation on why one of your teachers called me and told me that you were sent to the principal's office again!" Of course, that stupid teacher just had to tell my mother as payback for me sitting on his couch.I sucked in a deep breath and began speaking without a break or stop. "I was sitting down. This girl, Jessica, walked up to me and told me to move because she wanted my seat, but this guy Jessie stood up and tol
By third hour, I guess that Mr. Streeter hadn't forgiven me yet because he had ignored me and was extremely mean the entire hour. He even used yellow caution tape to tape off his couch. I sat down in my seat ignoring Jessica who was standing on the other side of it. I guess she was planning on sitting here. Oh, well."Move freak!" I sucked in a deep breath remembering what Jessie had said. 'Next time, grow a dick too and stand up for yourself.' I looked up at Jessica."No, I think I'm good. Go find a different seat. I was here first, and I'm staying." I opened up my math book to the unit we were on while I could feel her hard, cold glare. I looked up at her, "Are you having issues walking, or do you not speak English?" I held my breath. I didn't move, I didn't blink, and I didn't want to see her facial expression so I looked back down to my textbook. I heard a giggle come from Chrissie. I turned, and she was looking at Jessica, trying to hold back laughter.I st
"Hey, so do you want to go to my house and hang out?" I looked over at an excited and jumping Chris."Sure, it sounds fun. We should walk. It's really nice out." I looked up at the sky. There was a slight breeze in the air, but it was still warm enough to get away with short sleeve shirts. There were light, fluffy clouds in the sky that left a shallow covering to block a small portion of the sun."Yeah, it really is something." She sounded like she was looking at the love of her life when she said that. I smiled at her, and she looked down at me.We began our walk slowly enjoying the nice white clouds as they started to thicken and get darker."I know life seems shitty sometimes, but I want you to know that I'll always be here for you if you ever need someone to talk to... or backup." She looked at me, and I smiled at her. The corner of my lips twitched as I held back a laugh at the thought of her fighting someone. She would be like a vicious Chihuahua.