"Oh my God! I don't care if he hit me with the door. That man is still so cute!" Chrissie whispered in awe as she peeked around the girl in front of her to look at Jessie. Go figure, he just had to be in another one of my classes.
"Jules! Do you know what this means! I mean, I haven't seen him talk to any other girl all day, just you. That has to mean something!" She repeated for what I believe to be the tenth time. Well, I mean she worded it differently each time, but she was dead set on the fact that after our stare down, he had to be interested in me. But I mean, we didn't actually talk. We just passed a note.
"Chrissie, sweetie, you need to breathe. I mean... yeah, he is kind of cute, but I don't think he is worth it with his attitude. I'll stick to my little bubble, of which, he is not a part of." He was sitting only two seats in front of me, so we had to be quiet to prevent him from overhearing us.
"Jules, I love you and everything but sometime soon, that bubble needs to get bigger. The only people in it are me, your sister, and your mom. You're in high school. Sooner or later, that bubble has got to go." She was grinning like a little kid, probably proud of herself for that little speech.
"Well, what about your bubble Chrissie? The only people in it are your brother, me, your parents, and Cole." Cole was just like us, except he was in love with Chris, but she never noticed. He doesn't talk to me when she is around. All he does is stare at Chris. I'm pretty sure I caught him drooling at one point.
"Ms. Sanders!" I looked up to the teacher's cold hard stare. "Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?" Oh great, first Jessie comes to my school, and now I'm getting in trouble because of him. Well, it wasn't really his fault, but we were talking about him, so I'm going to blame him.
"No ma'am." I sank down in my chair and let my hair cover my face.
"Then zip it!" She turned back to the board, and I lifted my head a little bit to see Jessie grinning back at me. Ugh. What an ass. He turned back to his desk, and Chris nudged my arm.
I turned towards her.
"What?" I mouthed.
She just nodded her head in his direction and winked back to me. She won't let this go, will she?
Throughout the rest of the day, I couldn't walk by anyone without hearing his name out of their mouth, well the girl's mouths anyway. It was like he was the shiny new toy that everyone wanted to play with, and I don't mean that in the PG sense.
We ended up having four classes together! The day was so long because of it, and my temper rose every time I saw him.
During lunch he sat with the group of guys who liked to make my life hell. They didn’t just torment me. There was a handful of us that they would target. After I saw them all looking at me while Jessie was talking to them, I was sure nothing good would come of it.
When I finally got home, I walked up to my room and cleaned up my now trashed closet.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" My sister burst into my room. "I was trying to be nice! I took the time this morning to go through your shit. I had two nice piles of the stuff you should keep and the shit you should throw away! It was just taking up room and making it impossible to find anything."
She turned and walked away. I knew exactly which pile was which. The pile with all of my favorite things was the pile she was going to throw away, and the pile of stuff I never wear was the pile that she was going to make me keep so she could wear it.
My phone started to vibrate, so I leaned over and picked it up.
"Hello?" I knew exactly who it was. A picture of me and Chrissie had illuminated the screen.
"Hey, Jules! You should come down to The Ice cream shack with me. I've been craving it all day." She said cheerfully. I pursed my lips as I debated, but the sound of my sister stomping back up the stairs made up my mind for me. I just needed to get out of the house.
"Yeah. Okay, that sounds good. What time?" I asked as I walked into the bathroom to brush my hair.
"In maybe 10 minutes?"
"Sounds great. I'll be there." I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen. When I couldn't find anyone, I called out, "Mom?!" I looked in the living room, the office, and the kitchen.
"I'm out here sweetie!" I followed her voice to the open door that led to the backyard, where she sat in a recliner chair with a drink in hand.
"Hey, I'm going to go meet Chris at The Ice Cream Shack. Can I please have some money?" I feel bad asking her for money, but I don't do it often, so I think I'm okay. My mom makes a lot of money, and we got a good sum from my father's life insurance after his car accident too.
"Take a twenty out of my wallet on the counter. See you later, but do me a favor and don't come back until late tonight. I have plans." Of course, she was trying to get rid of me. It was fairly common that she would have friends or coworkers over and ask me to go stay at Chris's house.
It was not as common for her to have a date over, but it still happened from time to time. I wasn't mad about it. It actually saved me from having to spend my time listening to them gossip or from having to share small talk with any of her visitors. The worst was when I had to overhear her and her dates, and I'm not talking about a conversation here, either.
I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a twenty out of her wallet and left.
'You here yet?' I read off of my phone and replied with a yes.
I walked in and saw her sitting there with Cole.
"Hey, Jules!" Chris got up and ran over to me. "Oh my god! I have been craving ice cream for like ever!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the counter to order.
"Um, I think… we have… a customer. We need… to stop!" A girl said from the back, giggling the whole time. The girl walked forward, and she was fixing her shirt. She looked to Chris.
"What can I get you?" Chris took a second, looking at the menu. I let out a breath of relief that she wasn’t touching my ice cream.
"Yeah, can I have a scoop of the brownie mix blizzard?" She smiled at Chrissie.
"Yes, one moment, please. I need to get more brownie mix from the freezer." She turned and walked away.
I heard her talking to whoever was back there, and began to scan the menu knowing they would be taking my order next. "Okay, I'm already serving the brown-haired girl. You can serve the chick with black hair while I get the brownie mix from the freezer." I heard an annoyed groan followed by footsteps as they came our way.
"Welcome to The Shack! What can I get for you?" I looked away from the menu and right into the face of Jessie. Good for him for having an afterschool job, but did it have to be here? Plus, whatever he was doing in the back with the other server was definitely a violation of the health code.He stopped walking a couple feet away from the counter, a look of irritation when he realized it was me."What do you want?" His voice was flat and cold. Nothing unusual, but it was starting to irk me that he was so rude all of the time."Ice cream. What do you think? This is an ice cream shack." I looked up at their menu and then back down at him. "I want a scoop of The Reese's Runaway." Giving him a small smile, I quickly added, "Please.""Why would I get you anything after what happened today?" He just stared at me dumbfounded as if he actually thought I was the one in the wrong. He was the one who hit Chrissie with the door and then refused to apologize. He was als
What did he say to her? Why the heck is she so sad?"So, do you guys want to go to the park or something?" She forced out. I watched as she swallowed hard to bite back the tears that lined her eyes.Should I ask her why she is upset? Most of the time, she liked to take a minute to calm herself before we talked about anything emotional. If she didn’t she wouldn’t be able to contain herself and she hated crying in front of people."I think that would be fun." I scooted back in my chair and stood up. Cole walked around to Chris's seat and pulled it out for her. Awe. He likes her so much. It's so cute.We walked down the street slowly, enjoying our ice cream. Cole was on one side of Chris, and I was on the other."So, what were you and Jessie talking about?" Cole asked. I wasn't sure if she was ready to answer, but it seemed like she was no longer on the verge of crying. She turned towards Cole."Do you mind if I talk to Julie alone
"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
"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