Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 41

Um...okay. I have no idea why, but yesterday I couldn't get on to wattpad at all for some reason. I tried to get on again when I got home and it worked, obviously, and the home page said something about having an outage. So yeah. I am going to post the next chapter for this story later tonight, if I can, and tomorrow I will post I 'Effin Love You Too and then Sunday I'll post Just another r and j. If I can get on, that is. We'll see.

I moodily led Jake into the dining room where Joyce and the others were sitting and enjoying their Christmas dinner. If only I could enjoy it like they were. Joyce looked away from Mrs. James to me and her jaw dropped.

"Jake?" she asked in a surprised tone, looking at his arm around my shoulder.

"Joyce, good to see you," he replied.

"How...do you two know each other?" she asked both of us.

"Well, we met in school last week," he said. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and gag. We made a deal, we made a deal.

"Really?" Joyce asked, squinting her eyes at me. "Hayley never mentioned you before."

"Well...that's because I was more preoccupied with...with Damon," I said. "And uh...yesterday...um...Jake called me and he...he snuck in my room while Aliyah was sleeping and we just talked. He comforted me and he was just there for me and...yeah." I did not sound convincing at all. At least I didn't think so. Joyce nodded slowly, deciding if she should believe the lie or not while my friends stared and glared Jake down.

"She just fell for me all the way last night," Jake said, stepping behind me and wrapping both arms around me. I fake smiled at Joyce and held his arms away from my throat.

"I...I had no idea that you had moved on from Damon that quickly," Joyce said.

"Well we aren't official just yet," Jake said. "But we're getting there." He kissed the top of my head. If I could make someone dead with my mind, it would be him. I wanted so badly to scream, punch him again, kick him where the sun don't shine, or even just wrench myself out of his grasp. Unfortuantely, he had Damon to threaten me with.

"I see," Joyce nodded. "Well, I'm glad to see you happy again Hayley." Did she seriously believe...why?! I didn't think I was NEARLY as convincing as she seemed to think I was being. I couldn't believe that she actually thought that I had moved on from Damon that quickly. Did she NOT see me crying my eyes out the other day? Well she didn't the whole time, but she did for a small portion of that day! It wasn't fair how easy this all was for Jake and how hard it was for me. It just wasn't fair. Joyce smiled and returned to her dinner while I pulled up a chair for Jake to sit in. After I sat down, he moved his chair closer and closer to mine until they were right up against each other. He took my hand under the table and gave it a warning squeeze as to say 'don't do anything you'll regret.' A warning which I took very seriously. Aliyah sat tensely in her seat while Jordan and Seth glared daggers at Jake.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer," Jake said to them.

"I'd rather burn the real thing than the picture," Seth muttered, earning a dirty look from Jake and a snicker from Jordan. Aliyah stared at him with wide eyes as though he had just grown another head. I bit my lip to hide my smile from Jake. Dinner went by painfully slow and after I was done helping Joyce. Mrs. Parker. and Mrs. James with the dishes, under the supervision of Jake of course- like he was going to leave me alone with anyone for two seconds- we all sat around the Christmas tree.

"I want you guys to get my present first," Joyce said. "I had both Hayley and Aliyah be patient all day for these things."

"Go ahead and give them to them," Mr. James smiled. Jordan, Seth, Aliyah, and I all exchanged confused glances and tried to figure out what she had. She pulled out a wrapped box from under the tree and handed it to me. I opened it quickly, impatience taking over, and gasped along with my best friends. Under the wrapping paper was a lunch box we had specially made in seventh grade. It had our initials J.A.S.H and pictures of us in a superhero stance.