The Pearl of the of Sea

Chapter 28

A few days later the next semester starts at Brick Memorial High School and some of the students have a different lunch period. Tom, Neenah, Jeff, and Annemarie still have the same lunch period and they all sit at the same table. Tom is looking around and observing the new faces in the cafeteria, he then sees Angela, "Oh, great my ex-girlfriend has my lunch period now, but she looks like she put on some weight."

Jeff laughs, "That's funny, I take-off weight and she puts on weight!"

Annemarie puts her arm around Tom, "Yeah, that's karma for you!"

Jeremy comes into the cafeteria and plops himself down at the table, "Hey, guys!"

Jeff smiles, "Hey, buddy! I haven't really got to talk to you in a long time!"

"Yeah, I know, I have been working at the movies like a dog, they're short-staffed so I have been working overtime, but hey at least I get extra money!"

"I know it sucks, I miss spending time with you." Jeff then points to Annemarie, "Oh, yeah this is Tom's new girlfriend, she's really cool, and get this she actually lets us be friends with Tom!"

Jeremy looks over at Annemarie, "Oh so that's the girl you're paying Tom to go out with?"

Annemarie's jaw drops, "What!? What do you mean Tom is getting paid to go out with me!?"

Tom shakes his head, "No, it's not true!"

Jeremy crosses his arms, "Yes, it is, Jeff is paying Tom to date you because he refused to date you because he said you're a creepy stalker."

Annemarie looks at Tom in disgust, "Tom, you don't really like me!?"

Tom grabs Annemarie's hand, "No, I love you, he doesn't know what he's talking about!"

Annemarie gets up, and pulls her hand away, "I can't believe I had feelings for you, my parents were right, you are just a horse faced jackass." She then runs out.

Tom watches as she runs out of the cafeteria, "Annemarie! Come back!" he then rolls over to Jeremy and hits him on the head, "You nincompoop!" he then rolls out of the cafeteria to chase down Annemarie.

Jeremy shrugs his shoulders, "What did I do!?"

Jeff and Neenah shake their heads. Jeff then puts his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, "I told you not to tell Annemarie about this!"

Annemarie is running down the hallway and Tom is trying to roll up to her as fast as he can, "Annemarie! Come back!" he is finally able to catch up to her as she runs out of breath so he grabs her, "I need to talk to you."

Annemarie frees herself from Tom's grip, "About what!? About how you only dated me for money!?"

Tom shakes his head, "No, it's not what you think, yes I was getting paid to go out with you, but-"

"Oh, so you admit to getting paid? So it's true, that you really didn't like me that you just thought of me as this creepy stalker." Annemarie then walks away, "You're just like the other boys, they're all the same, they all expect girls to be perfect!"

Just as Tom buries his face into his hands, Angela walks by and laughs, "Well, well, well, looks like you got dumped again Tommy boy."

Tom smacks her away from him, "Shut up, slut!"

Angela grabs his shirt collar, "You better watch it, boy, you don't want to wind up in hot water again, I'll report you to the cops and have your crippled ass arrested!"

Tom rips her hand off his shirt, "Fine, report me!" he then rolls closer to her and points at her, "And just so you know, I no longer have feelings for you, because all you care about is money. I was a fool to have ever fallen for you and you know what? I'm in love with Annemarie!"

Angela walks away, "Good because Jesse and I are now engaged to be married." She then turns around, "Oh and we're getting married on July 7!"

Tom turns around and goes back in the cafeteria, when he almost runs over Jeff's feet, "Whoa! Jeff, I didn't see you there!"

Jeff puts his hand on Tom's shoulder, "I'm really sorry about this, I should have never told Jeremy. I should have just kept this between you and I."

Tom then rolls back into the cafeteria, "It's alright, I guess I wasn't meant to be happy."

Jeff watches as Tom goes back into the cafeteria. Jeff walks around the school and sees Annemarie sitting on the floor next to the girls' locker room. Jeff then sits next to her, "You know Tom really likes you."

Annemarie crosses her arms, "Jeff, you're paying him to go out with me so of course you're going to say that."

Jeff shakes his head, "I stopped paying him months ago, he even gave me the money back." He then pats her on the back, "And just to let you know, he originally did it to help his dad pay the rent so he didn't even do it for himself, he did it for someone else."

The bell rings and Annemarie gets up to go into the locker room, "I got to go to the gym now, bye." She then walks into the locker room.

Jeff chases after her and all the girls stare as he enters the girls' locker room. The locker room has an office with big windows by the door and past the office is a bunch of beat-up lockers with showers across from them. Jeff grabs Annemarie, "I'm serious, Tom is madly in love with you!"

One of the female gym teachers grabs Jeff and drags him out of the locker room, "Come on Jeffery let's go, you're not a girl."

Jeff tries to think of an excuse to not to get kicked out, "But, Ms. Johnson, I have gender-fluid, I'm allowed to use any locker room!"

"Jeffery, you don't even know what that is, stop it!" She then places Jeff in the hallway and slams the locker room doors shut.

Jeff pulls out a bottle of water, "Look, see this bottle contains gender fluid!" He then, looks at the bottle, "Oh, man, I guess she didn't fall for it."