It's been a couple weeks since Jade and Zion had hung out and it was killing him. The guys only hung out together or with their girlfriends; the gang hasn't gotten together just yet. Z's problem was not knowing whether or not Jade would want to hang around Z by himself unless it was for the project.
He pulled into a spot in the parking lot and turned off the motorcycle. He felt Jade's hands come off his waist and soon she was off the bike. Despite not being able to hang out, Zion had the pleasure of bringing the girl to school every morning for the past two weeks. While it did satisfy and make him happy to see the girl every morning, he wanted nothing more than to be alone with her for more than 5 minutes.
"Thanks for the ride Kuwonu," she took the helmet off and fixed her hair a little bit. She went to hand Zion his helmet but he didn't take it.
"You didn't look at it did you? Wow, I am hurt."
Jade furrowed her brow as she looked at the boy. Her eyes were soon redirected to the white helmet in her hands. The front looked the same as it had since she first used it the day they did the outline. She turned around and smiled. The eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg from the Great Gatsby, a prominent visual from the book and movie, were painted beautifully on the back of the helmet.
"Z. I love it."
"Good. Cause it's yours," he said fixing his backpack as the two walked towards the school.
Jade looked at the helmet and back at Z, who kept his head forward. Ever since they hung out at his house he has been acting different. He has picked her up everyone morning before school; even asking if she needed rides home if one of the others couldn't bring her or if she didn't want to walk. He was always annoying with his lame jokes and constant dancing so that hasn't changed. What she really noticed is he hasn't talked about any girls he's tried to fuck. Usually she would hear throughout school about Zion and his rep but ever since that day; nothing. Even Austin hasn't talked about messing with girls the past week. He recently went on a date with this girl named Tracey in her economics class and he hasn't stopped talking about it since.
Jade walked towards her locker and before she could even put her helmet inside, Erin, Aryana and Caroline came running towards her.
"Lemme see it! Oh honeyyyy," Aryana grabbed the helmet and brought it in front of the girls.
"Oh my gosh, it's absolutely adorable," Caroline gushed.
"I cannot believe he actually did it." Erin looked at the helmet and smiled. Aryana handed Jade the helmet back. She admired it one more time then placed it inside and closed it. They all started walking towards advisory.
"I don't get the big deal. I mean, I'm always riding with him. It was just a simple gesture. Claiming that this is my helmet now."
"Or claiming you're his," Aryana whispered to Caroline.
"Huh?"
"Nothing." Jade looked at her and kept walking.
She walked in and the guys were already in their seats. She hugged Edwin and Brandon and dabbed up Austin and did her handshake with Nick. In the past two weeks, she became closer to the group. She was so afraid that they wouldn't accept her or that she would close them off completely. Yet here she is, acting like she has known them her whole life. She looked at Zion who winked at her. She rolled her eyes. He knew she hated being winked at. The advisory teacher took attendance as the group turned to face each other. Brandon was looking at his phone as he began to speak.
"So tonight Noah's having a party."
"Who's Noah," Jade asked.
"He's Brandon's friend from West. He's the one doing our music videos for the songwriting project," Zion said looking up from his phone and over to Jade.
