JESS

CHAPTER 3: Part I

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Jess

I’m totally freaking out right now. As in, I can’t stop thinking about it. When I slammed the book shut and practically tripped out of the hallway, I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s like my mind was blank, apart from my focus of HIM. I was not about to let him see the picture. That would’ve been embarrassing. What would I have even said, “Oh, yea, by the way, I draw pictures of you in my free time!” or “Oh, those eyes? Those are yours! Cute, huh?” Then I’d practically look like an obsessed, psychotic freak. Or a stalker. So I couldn’t let him see. And I didn't want to talk to him. I'd just look like an idiot.

After class, I hurried out and shoved the main doors open, head whipping left and right. Phew! No Dre. I loped down the steps and walk-jogged across the street. Which was a total mistake, because driving down the street at ten thousand miles an hour was Dre. In a hot, red, shiny convertible. Spoiled. For a minute, I thought I was dead – he was steering straight towards me. He pulled over with a screech.

“Jess! Hey, about earlier…” his dark hair rustled slightly in the light breeze. He was SO attractive when that happened. But I was so embarrassed, I just kept walking. He was saying something, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

“Jess! Hey! Wait!” I glanced back just in time to see him swing over the side of his car (very charmingly, I might add). He started to walk towards me, and so I turned and ran. Haha, well, I tried to. It’s hard. Especially with ten freaking textbooks in your flipping backpack. Teachers. Ugh. Anyway, I kept on until I reached it – the shortcut to my freedom. I dodged down a dirt path that ran one end of the block to the other, sneakers pounding clouds of dust off of the ground. I could hear him yelling my name. And for a moment, I wondered why I was running. I was running from HIM -  The attractive, funny guy that was yelling my name and trying to apologize. How dumb could I get? But I was too afraid. When he looked at me, words caught in my throat. When he talked, I could hear his voice. His deep, alluring voice. But I couldn’t actually tell anything that he was saying. I was too happy. That he was talking to me, I mean. So I couldn’t focus because all I could think was “He’s talking to me!”

I snapped back into reality and glanced back. He was nowhere in sight, so I slowed to a walk. Basically, I was huffing and puffing, and about to blow something down. I’d never run like that before in my life. I meandered and kind of wandered around, and my eyes started tearing up. Stupid. Why does this always happen? I needed more sleep or something. Through my tears, I saw my place. Not “my place”, as in my house, “my place” as in, my haven. Grandpa’s barn. Gramps and I used to come here. The memories came flooding back: the time he first brought me to see the horses, when he showed me constellations while we sat, feet swinging out the loft doors. Then, Gramps died. And Gramma had to sell. Since then, I’d ignored the fact it was someone else’s barn. They never used it. So I came here. It was my place to think. And draw. And listen to my music. And, I imagined that someday I’d share it with someone special. We’d look at the constellations and I’d show them my artwork, and it would be amazing. I ran over, swung the door open, and dropped my backpack to the floor. The smell was musty, still slightly of “fertilizer”, if you will, and a little more of hay.

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Dre

The next time I saw her in the hallway, she acted sort of awkward. I smiled, said hello, and she just looked at me and whispered a, "Hello."

It was almost worse in class. We sit a couple rows away, but she didn't even look at me. 

I opened my locker and pulled out my history textbook. I don't know what I did, but she probably hates me. She won't even glance at me. I looked to my right, and there she was, sitting in the corner, drawing. Her eyes slowly came up, danced around the hallway, and landed on me. She turned bright red, looked at the ground, and packed up her stuff. I slammed my locker shut, and chased after her. But she was lost in the crowd of students. Darn it.

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I’d been waiting in my car for half an hour, waiting for her to walk out. I‘d even skipped last period (which my mother was going to kill me for).  I just didn’t want to miss Jess, because I wanted to apologize. Girls’ have this thing where they make you feel awful, even if you didn’t do anything. Anyway, I had to talk to her. I couldn’t let her stay mad at me, or whatever she was. So I waited.

The leather of the seats was hot, almost burning, and the radio was turned low. Sun glinted glaringly off the windshield, so I pulled my shades out of the jockey box and put them on. As I leaned to turn up the radio, I saw her. How did I miss her? I cranked the key in the ignition and sped out of the parking lot as fast as I could accelerate. When I came close, I pulled over and called her name. She was looking at me like I was there to arrest her or something, and then, in a burst of speed that I was NOT expecting, she ran down the block and onto a dirt path. My instincts said follow, so I jumped out of the car and chased her. When I came to the path, she was nowhere in sight. Panting, I stood at the edge and thought it out. Should I follow her? No… that’d be too creepy. Slightly too stalk-ish, if you ask me. And, she looked upset, and I’d learned not to mess with angry girls.

The feeling to follow her was tugging at my gut. I wanted to apologize, to hug her until she calmed down a little. It was cheesy, but I really wanted to. Like in the movies. But usually, you only hugged someone that was in love with you.  Apparently, she wasn’t really into me. I got back in the car and started it. But I didn’t feel like driving. I stared at the dull leather of the steering wheel, wondering about what I should do. But before I could think too hard, Jake and Kyle bounded across the street.

“Hey, man, come to Kyle’s.”

“Yeah, we’re planning.” Jake looked mischievously at Kyle. His lips pursed slightly and he cocked his head away from me, “Let’s go.”

“Okay,” I sighed. At least it would get my mind off of the drama of this morning.