No Matter What

Chapter Four

Misty:

Like they’d done the year before, they walked to school together when fifth grade arrived. When Misty stepped out the front door on the first day of school and saw him standing there, still in his blue cast, she offered him a smile.

“Now, Jase, I’m gonna make sure and take care of you ’til the cast comes off.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I’m not gonna follow you around or anything,” she promised. “I’m just gonna make sure you don’t have to carry stuff, and I’ll help you with your work if you need it.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks, Miss,” Jason said, and Misty widened the smile she was giving him.

When they got to school and their friends spotted them, everyone wanted to know what had happened to his arm. Misty stood quietly by as he told them about hitting the pot hole and falling off his bike and how he’d gone to the hospital. Caitlyn and Mimi were looking mournfully at him as he talked while the boys looked nothing short of admiring.

“You poor baby,” Caitlyn said. “I’ll bet it was horrible pain.”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Jason said and shrugged.

“Well, I’ll make sure you get all the help you need,” Caitlyn continued. “We’re in Miss Johnson’s class together.”

“That’s okay. Miss is gonna help me,” Jason said, and the boys gave him odd looks.

“She can’t since her and Mimi are in Miss Byrd’s class,” Caitlyn informed them as she smiled at Jason.

“What?” Jason didn’t bother to hide his shock, and Misty was secretly pleased.

“See for yourself,” Caitlyn suggested.

“Thanks for not telling them I cried at the hospital,” Jason whispered in Misty’s ear as the two of them made their way to where the class listings hung.

“I promised,” Misty reminded him.

“You’re not mad I didn’t tell them I hugged you and stuff, are you?”

“I’m not mad. Caitlyn’s right though. We’re in different classes.”

“It’s okay. You’re still my friend.”

“I guess you won’t need me to help you with your work though.”

Until they’d found out they weren’t going to be in the same class, Misty realized she’d assumed they wouldn’t be separated. The thought of Caitlyn getting close to him in the way she was made her more than a little jealous, but she hoped it didn’t show.

It turned out that Jason didn’t need much help in school. Writing was the one thing he had the most trouble with, but Miss Johnson let him take all of his tests orally until the cast came off. At night, Misty wrote out all the answers for his homework, but she didn’t do it for him. He told her the answer, and she wrote what he said, even if she knew it was the wrong answer. Somehow she thought correcting his work would’ve been cheating.

Jason didn’t even let his broken arm get in the way of playing sports with the other boys during recess. It reminded her again of how tough he was. If she had a broken arm, there was no way she would’ve been playing any sports. Because she was sure his mother would’ve been sick with worry if she knew Jason was still playing sports, Misty didn’t say anything about it when she was around.

While Jason and the other boys played sports at recess, Misty and her friends would walk laps around the school yard, talking as they did. By then, the girls were starting to discuss which boys were the cutest. The rankings were always the same: Jason, Blake, John and then David. All of her friends seemed to think Misty was extremely lucky. Not only did she live next door to Jason, but they always did things together.

Her friends always begged her to tell them everything she knew about him. They wanted to know what he was like outside of school, but she never knew what to tell them. It was hard for her to think of him the way they did. Misty liked Jason; he was a good friend, almost like another brother for her, but not a boy that she could like.