Should Have Known Better

Should Have Known Better 12

            On Monday, Juliet was feeling much better. Or rather, she had pushed the unpleasantness of Ryford out of her mind successfully after a hilarious day with Ryan and Noah on Sunday. A trip to the early afternoon show at the cinema only ended around eleven in the evening, and then only because Juliet had insisted they all needed sleep before school the next morning.

            She arrived at school early – much earlier than she, or anyone else, usually did. Jules thought she’d surprise Jay when he came running in five minutes before the rest of the students and half an hour later than he should have been, so she sat down on the floor of the corridor outside his classroom. To her surprise, she hadn’t been there for three minutes when Jake Bayer came wandering around the corner. He stopped a few feet away when he noticed her sitting there.

            “Hey,” Jules said awkwardly.

            Jake answered with something in between the word ‘hey’ and a grunt. She didn’t dignify it with a response, and just looked uncomfortably up and down the corridor. Jake scuffed the floor absently with the toe of his shoe. “What are you doing here so early?”

            Juliet shrugged. “Didn’t read the clock correctly this morning, so I arrived way before I meant to. Didn’t get enough sleep last night. You?”

            “I wanted to talk to a teacher about an exam grade, and I’d prefer to do it before everyone else gets here.”

            Jules bit back a smile. The cool jock didn’t want his friends to know that he actually cared enough about his schoolwork to discuss an exam with a teacher. She thought it was sweet, in an almost pathetic sort of way.

            “How’ve you been?” Jake asked before she could respond to his admission.

          She shrugged. “I’m fine when I’m not in school.” It was the truth and Juliet saw no reason to hide the fact that his friends were making her miserable at Ryford.

           Jake glanced down the corridor to make sure no one else was around. “I really-“. Suddenly some keys jangled somewhere close and a door banged open. Jake jumped. “That’s probably Mr. Jeffries. I’ve got to go.”

            Jules nodded goodbye, curious what Jake had been about to say. Apologize? He truly was a nice guy when he was apart from the Ryford crowd, when he wasn’t playing up some image of himself. She shook her head, trying to forget about it.

           The day progressed without much incident. It wasn’t until lunchtime in the cafeteria that Jules heard the latest whispers from the table where Jake was sitting with Darren, who had been at Ryan’s house that weekend. When they wandered past where Jules was sitting Jake stopped and grinned maliciously.

            “Someone was busy this weekend, I hear.”

            Juliet looked up uninterestedly. “What?”

            “Ryan Montgomery?” Darren jumped in with a leer.

             “What about him?”

         Another girl decided to join in. “I saw him at a house party on Friday night until 3 in the morning. He was dancing with some girl all night.”

            “But then Saturday morning you wake up in his bed,” Darren finished. Jules closed her eyes in disbelief. This was like a bad choreography.

             “So you answer booty calls?” Jake asked. “I’ve handed out your number to a bunch of guys.”

             Jules jumped to her feet and grabbed her bag from the chair next to her. “Go to hell!” She took a few steps towards the door, but stopped short, her fists clenching in anger, and reconsidered. She couldn’t just walk away this time.