Player

Four - Problems

"Come here." I hear a voice from behind me and I slowly turn around to find Jake. His eyes are sad, just like today. This will not be a good day, I know it. I make my way towards Jake and he wraps his big arms around me, covering my whole body with a tingling heat. I don't care if we get any weird looks or stares. Right now, this isn't about the agreement, it's about everything else. Every single crappy thing that has happened over the past few days. It's about Ana and Willow.

"I'm okay," I whisper, pulling out of the hug and peering up at Jake's face. His green eyes are dark and depressing. I don't know if it's about Willow or because he knows something.

"I know." He answers. Jake leads me back to the group and Ana stares at us, stabbing threats from her eyes at me. Chuck doesn't make a big deal out of Jake and me, he just keeps his arm around Ana's shoulders.

"Are you guys...?" Ana doesn't finish her sentence, fearing the wrong answer. My eyes get wide and I shake my head.

"No." I gasp, not needing rumors to spread. I am not into Jake Cross, this is strictly business. Sure, I guess we can be considered friends, but I'm not in love with him!

Ana tilts her head back, relieved. She blows air our from her nostrils dramatically and blows her cheeks up.

"Hey!" Jake complains about her response, glaring at her. "I'm not that bad!"

Ana just turns back to Chuck, a 'yeah right' look on her face. I laugh at them. Ana and Jake never got along, just like how I never got along with him. It's girl code. It's mandatory to hate the same people.

"Class starts in a few minutes," Chuck says, pulling Ana away and towards the double doors in the front of the school. Jake and I follow behind.

Just as we step into the warm building, Jake grabs my hand and doesn't let go. Half of the hallway turns and stares, Jake being part of the main focus here at HHS. They're probably wondering what the most popular and badass boy is holding hands with that one girl who's face is known, but who's name is a mystery. I am invisible. Always have been, but now Jake is jeopardizing everything.

I try to grab my hand back, but he just wraps his fingers tighter around mine. My face becomes a crimson red as Ana and Chuck disappear down the hallway and I'm stuck with all of HHS's eyes focused on me. They stare, whispering things as Jake practically drags me through the hallway, forcing everyone to see his hand weaved through mine.

"Giselle is going to freak." He leans down by my ear and whispers, sending more drama through the halls.

"Jake..." I growl, needing him to let go. "If you don't stop touching me I will cut you."

He just peers down at my smaller frame, smirking. He thinks that it's funny. Jake Cross thinks that me falling apart from humiliation is comical. It isn't, it's rude and foolish.

He marches me down through the hallways towards the math wing of the school. People's eyes stay glued to our hands as if it's a bomb that's about to go off. I just can't imagine what's going to happen when Giselle sees us. She's the popular type. Rude, listens to techno, and drinks during the weekends with her hundreds of friends. Ana used to force me to go to parties that Giselle would host at her house, but she stopped going after some guy almost drowned in her pool. It's 'bad luck'.

Finally, we make it to Mr. Adams classroom. About a dozen kids are already sat in their seats and have opened their notebooks to a specific page, ready for their assignment. Giselle is nowhere to be found just yet, but I'm sure that news has already spread quickly and she'll be barging in soon.

"What the hell?" I hear a girl with dirty blond hair whisper. She's got on circular 70's glasses on and a lacy tank top that shows off too much cleavage than allowed by the dress code. Jake's head spun in her direction and she quickly pretended to have her nose stuck in a book.