Lost With You

Chapter Five

The seemingly long week has passed and it was Sunday. I was now regretting the desire of wanting to attend daily classes and having weekly homework and occasional projects. Why did I even have such thoughts of wanting to go back to the dreaded studying every day and waking up whenever I didn't want to? Sure I was feeling bored at home alone, but it was way better than having to be up so early in the morning to listen to a teacher's blabbering on a certain subject.
    Moreover, I had enough of Jonathan's attempt of trying to educate me on what he had learned. I might have promised Dad to ask Jonathan to tutor me but Dad probably knew that I wouldn't listen to him. He had probably requested Jonathan to approach me first.
    When I asked Jonathan if he did, he acted as if he hadn't had a clue about my question. His acting was way too obvious that it seemed to be on purpose just to annoy me and hint at me that, yes, Dad had instructed him to drill subject topics into my head before I had a chance of entering my new school.
    Of course, it wasn't Jonathan's explaining that was the issue for my lack of understanding but rather the fact that I just decided to zone out whenever I had the chance to. Jonathan would catch me at times but I got away with majority of it. Fortunately, he would only ask if I understood the words that were flying out of his mouth without needing an explanation or an example of what he had explained to me.
    I thought I would be able to escape his lectures and procrastinate my studying until school started for me. But when Jonathan handed out a practice paper for me today regarding Math, I had to come clean to him as to why I wasn't able to even write a single thing on the sheet of paper lying in front of me.
    "You're meaning to tell me the whole week while I was trying to teach you stuff, you got distracted on purpose to hold off your learning process?" He folded his arms in disappointment and let out a big sigh. "What am I supposed to tell your dad when he asks me if you're doing fine?"
    "Cover for me, duh," I pouted at him as if it wasn't obvious enough what his actions should be.
    He raised a brow. "Jeremy, I know we're friends and all, but if your dad finds out I'm lying, we're both getting in trouble, and I don't want that."
    "Pleeeeeease," I begged with my hands clasped as I stared at him with big droopy eyes and my bottom lip still protruding to mimic a puppy's sad look.
    "Sorry, Jere. You'll just have to pray that your dad won't approach both of us about this." He patted my head playfully with an innocent smile, treating me ironically like a dog to match with my whiny expression.
    I groaned, leaning my head back to stare at the ceiling as my hands now rested on my flat tummy over one another. From my peripheral vision, I could see Jonathan slipping the sheet of paper into the pages of his mathematic textbook, shifting it away to the side along with his stationary case and his mathematical equipment. He then rested his elbow on the table and leaned his cheek into his palm in a lazy manner with a small smirk.
    "By the way, that was my homework," he simply stated.
    I shot up into a proper sitting position, back flat against the chair and hands clutched on my lap. "What!" I exclaimed before my brows furrowed in frustration. "All this time while you were trying to teach me, you were plotting for me to do your homework?!"
    "Sadly, it backfired," he feigned a miserable sigh before grinning at me. "Sorry, Jeremy."
    "You—" I halted myself from cussing out at Jonathan who wore a smug smile at me as if his initial plan hadn't failed at all. It seemed that, to him, it didn't matter whether I'd fallen for his trick or not, he just wanted to fool around to get a priceless reaction out of me—which he did. And of course, knowing that only now got me more irritated that he still got what he wanted out of his sick joke.
    "Like father, like son, huh?" I mumbled and stood up hastily. I stomped my way to my bed and yanked the white pillow which sat where my head laid. Even though Jonathan didn't move an inch or stray away from his seat, he managed to dodge the flying pillow which I hurled without thought off target from where he sat. Yes, he missed—well, I missed, but I wasn't done trying to toss things in his direction yet.
    I balled up my blanket which sprawled messily over the bed and threw it at him. However, he caught it easily with one hand and laughed at me. "You suck at throwing things."
    "You're cruel for trying to get me to finish your stupid assignment!"
    "I'm just preparing you for what's coming. How is that being cruel?"
    "Screw you."
    I slid down onto the floor in front of where my bed stood and laid my back uncomfortably against the wooden leg, lacking care about the discomfort I was feeling. I pulled my knees toward my chest and buried my face in them while I pitifully embraced them. I felt irresistibly cheated that Jonathan tried to make me do his homework. I thought he was a good guy, I thought, feeling all dramatically angsty like a teenager who had lost their phone because of a dense mistake.
    "Oh, come on, Jeremy. Don't act like a kid," Jonathan chuckled.
    My ears picked up on the sound of movements and it seemed that Jonathan had gotten off his chair and was now approaching me. Since I had my face shielded, stranding my vision in darkness, I was still slightly unaware—until something softly landed itself onto my head and soothingly stroked my head.
    There he goes again with the irony, I complained to myself mentally. I couldn't deny the fact that it did make me feel at least a tad bit better than before. I never knew that such a small motion commonly used on pets and children would have the same impact on others. Heck, the last time Dad patted me on the head and praised me for doing a good job was years ago.
    "All right, all right. Let's go to the mall. I'll make it up to you," Jonathan promised.
    I lifted my head and glared at him. He only smiled back at me playfully from where he kneeled.
    "So stop crying already."
    I punched his arm playfully and slapped the hand on my head away in a joking manner. "Who's crying, dumb-ass," I stated before pouting at him.
    "Ow, that actually hurts." Despite that, his reaction showed the complete opposite. He just laughed. "I'm sorry, okay? Come on, on your feet."
    He grabbed my arm and pulled me up along with him before dragging me out of the room. I flailed my other arm which was out of his grasp and stretched it out in the direction of my room as if I was able to reach what I wanted from inside. "Wait. My wallet."
    He let out another chuckle as if I was foolish enough for making such a statement. "Didn't I say that I'll make it up to you?"
    "True, but I still have to pay for myself, you know—in case we get more than expected."
    "Just forget it, man. I got this."
    I stopped in my tracks, preventing Jonathan from pulling me any further toward the main entrance of the house. "No, you don't," I said with a raised brow. "You're paying for two people."
    "Okay . . ." he said with a shrug and a simple smile before digging his hand into his pocket and pulling out his own brown leather wallet. He then suddenly tossed the wallet at me after releasing my wrist which he had quite a tight grip on. My eyes widened at his uncalled action before catching awkwardly by launching my arms out to hug it when it hit my chest.
    I gave Jonathan a questionable look and he only nodded his head, urging me to open it. I did just as he wanted, and there seemed to be more than enough for a day's worth of spending, like, it was excessively more than required for solely food and study tools. I didn't calculate the total amount available, but I did see a few 20s and a couple of 50s which almost hid a single $2 note squished between the bigger notes.
    "W-why do you even have so much in here?" I struggled to ask as I returned the gold mine of a teenager's allowance back to its owner.
    He shrugged. "My dad has no control when it comes to giving me my couple weeks of allowance. Even I question the total I receive from him at times."
    "Huh," I replied before folding my arms and on the verge of rolling my eyes. "I don't even get half of that for a month."
    "At least your dad knows conservation," he joked and shoved his wallet back into the stuffy dark pit of his pocket. "Now, let's go."
    I knew that the nearest mall would be a 30-minute walk since it was a 10-minute walk from where Jonathan studied at, so I thought we would have taken a cab there since it was quite far away and since we had plenty of money on us. However, Jonathan insisted that we could just walk the whole way to our location, which I would have been against if I was on the trip all alone.
    Sure, I did try to persuade him to get a ride in a cab instead, but he was persistent about walking since, in his own words, it would be awkward to take a cab since we wouldn't be able to speak to one another. I didn't think there was anything we needed to talk about at all, but I did learn some facts about Jonathan and vice versa on our way. It wasn't a boring walk after all, and the conversation distracted me from dreading the seemingly tiring walk there.
    In the end, we still ended up having what seemed to be limitless topics to chat about even when we entered the mall. Discussions about what to do, what to eat, the duration of time that we could spend here and of course, usual jokes among us. I even had the thought that maybe Jonathan could buy me something at the game store—and I intended on paying him back once we get home.
    He did agree that we could look around in the game shop but he didn't promise about purchasing any items there in which I only replied with a sheepish smile as I knew I had been caught daydreaming about getting a game, despite what I have promised to Dad.
    We were now on our way to a fast-food outlet to eat since we were famished. Though, we were the only ones to blame for our lack of intake of food as we'd skipped breakfast and lunch despite being warned not to countless of times by our dads. It definitely wasn't healthy to do such things, but both Jonathan and I woke up way too late to even catch our daily breakfast. Our dads were busy and also expected us to take care of ourselves since we were old enough. And so, there was no breakfast waiting for us in the dining room—not even a sandwich.
    Jonathan was at fault for missing lunch, however, since he wanted badly to finish studying with me first before eating. We took longer than expected to end our session and that was the reason why we were now hunting for food.
   Jonathan was talking about something relating to his childhood, but his words were a blur to me alike when he was explaining some science related topic hours before. I was distracted by the loud noises of chattering from the public, the different and vibrant shops and the place itself as I had never been to this mall before.
    Nothing as unique as the woman with her back faced in our direction in a clothing store, checking out different fancy dresses, locked in sight. The woman had a familiar curly styled hair which was dyed in a pleasing strawberry blond color. Only one person was in my mind, and that was Ms. Harrison.
    I started to panic a bit, thinking that it might be her and that if she spotted me, I would be in a serious problem. To ease my anxiety, I glanced back at Jonathan who was oblivious to the fact that I hadn't been paying attention to what he was saying and tried to focus on what he was talking about. I just wished that I could block out the constant, irritating heart beat that filled my ears.
    For some odd reason, I decided to look back at the woman who struck fear in me only to fill myself with relief once I realized it wasn't the last person who I wanted to see here. I accidentally let out a sigh of relief at the retracting uneasiness, earning a strange look on Jonathan's face.
    Crap, I cursed to myself.
    "Are you okay?" he asked in concern.
    I quickly nodded my head with a nervous smile that didn't at all help the situation. Jonathan only looked at me with a raised brow before slowly nodding back at me and then putting an arm around my shoulders out of the blue which caused me to jolt slightly. He snorted at my reaction and I only stuck a tongue out at him with a playful mean look to counter his silent mockery.
    "Say, what was the funniest thing you've witnessed?" he asked, slightly tilting his head to the side in curiosity.
    I smirked, seeing his expression twist into gradual realization, promptly regretting his question. "Your face."
    He let out a groan and chuckled at the incoming joke. "The moment I saw your face, I knew you were gonna make fun of me."
    I shrugged with a proud smile. "Serves you right for tricking me."
    "Okay, okay. Fine. I deserve it, you're right."
    A part of me could tell that Jonathan was a tad bit worried about my reaction earlier and probably asked such a silly question to bring me away from my anxiousness even though I was already grateful for the fact that I didn't bump into her. Though, I was also thankful for Jonathan who tried to cheer me up as well. So, all in all, our trip to the mall ended with us getting told off from Dad, but I still had fun hanging out with Jonathan—and not to mention, I got to see him grumble about his forgotten homework the moment he saw his textbook on my desk.
    Today was a good day after all.