emotions, jack gilinsky

16

amara rahman

"i'm having a party on friday, by the way." cj announces, approaching our usual table and taking a seat beside ravyn.

"urgh." bri mutters, setting her head on the table. "i'm still hungover from saturday."

"me too." ravyn admits, "it was a good one, amara."

"well, it was worth not going to. i'd rather miss out on a party than get an ass whooping by my parents." i defend, shrugging.

"easy. tell your parents you're sleeping over." cj suggests.

"have you just met her?" bri scoffs, "her parents would never let her spend the night at a guys house."

"then, tell them you're sleeping over at ravyn's today. because if you tell them on thursday, they'll be more suspicious."

"sounds like too much work." i admit, "besides, i don't want to go to your party, anyway."

"suit yourself." he sasses, but i knew i hit a nerve. he gets up and leaves.

"i'm gonna go, first period is starting soon." ravyn informs, standing from her spot as well and walking off the same way as cj.

bri turns to me, "you and cj would look so good together..and it's so obvious that he likes you, amara. what's stopping you? i thought he turned you down."

"..it still hurt me."

"enough to not like him anymore?"

i shrug, looking away. "i guess."

"you're lying." she senses. "come on! i'm a good matchmaker, you know this.
i can easily put you two together."

"i don't like him anymore." i state, more sternly.

"then why are you still mad at him?!" she exclaims, throwing her hands up.

i gather my things, slipping my backpack on. "i gotta go."

+

"i'm glad my daughter can help you." my dad smiles warmly, giving jack a casual pat on the back before grabbing his coat. "amara, close up, please."

"okay." i reply, "bye, dad."

"bye!"

"your dad's cooler than i thought." jack informs, sitting back down.

"cooler than my mom, that's for sure." i respond, sitting across from him. "alright, listen. in exchange for tutoring you, you need to help me clean up this place after closing time."

"deal." he smirks, "i'm good at cleaning."

i raise an eyebrow, "is that so?"

he nods confidently, "for sure."

i shrug, opening up the algebra 2 textbook. "trigonometry? shit."

"what?" he chuckles, "finally discover your weak spot?"

"no." i scoff, "i'm good at it."

"then what's the trouble?"

"nothing." i mutter, looking at a few problems that i definitely didn't understand. "let's focus on another unit. we'll do trig tomorrow."

after a good two hour session, we finally close the books. "that was exhausting." he sighs, stretching as he stands.

i smirk, throwing him a rag. "not done just yet."

he catches it, smirking back at me and wiping down the table we'd just used.

for a while, we were both quiet, busy cleaning each table.

"..my sister broke her leg." he tells me calmly.

"oh. how old is she?" i remember seeing her at a game once.

"eight."

"what happened?"

he sighs, "my parents never let her walk home, because there's this small bridge that just gets over this pond. it's broken, though. so, you have to go around and go through these rocks." he explains. "on saturday, she was walking home from school because they were having this little face paint thing, or whatever. my mom never even told me she took her, nor did she ask me to pick her up. so she walked home. and obviously, she tripped on the rocks and broke her leg. now, i've got two family members in the hospital." he bitterly chuckles.

"i'm sorry." i tell him, turning towards him and slightly touching his shoulder, watching them tense and slowly relax.

"it felt good to vent." he admits, giving me a shy smile.

i grin, patting his shoulder before turning back around and continuing to clean. "it always feels good to vent."

after we finish, it was around 11pm. jack follows me out the door and i close it, shoving the key in and twisting it to the side.

i follow him to his car and we get in. "i can't wait to get my own car." i murmur as he starts it up.

"why don't you have one yet?"

"i'm supposed to be sharing with my brother, but he eventually just took it for himself."

"that sucks." he says, "my parents took my keys away for the last two days, just gave them back to me this morning."

"how are they?" i ask sincerely, "with everything going on?"

he tenses, "they're uh, okay."

i nod at his lack of description, turning away.

"..no, no they're not." he corrects himself. "they're terrible, actually. started out strong, but they've just gotten so mean over the last week or so. and..i'm trying to understand. it's hard, though."

"i get it." i nod. "but they shouldn't be mean to you."

he sighs, followed by a shrug. "guess not."

he arrives at my house, and stops the car. "well, here you go."

i give him a grateful smile, "thanks. i'd probably die walking out in this cold weather."

he smiles warmly at me as i get out, about to close the door. "..goodnight, amara."

i bite my lip, my heart rate increasing. "goodnight, jack."

i close the door, walking towards my front door. feeling tempted, i turn back around, where he stayed put in his car, looking back at me.

i give him one last quick smile before heading inside, closing the door behind me and letting out a sigh of relief.

avoiding my family, i jog upstairs, heading into my room and closing the door. i throw my backpack to the ground and flop on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and feeling my cheeks getting sore from the big smile on my face.

+++
i don't feel confident in my writing at all..i'm sorry if it's shitty