The Guy I Am Totally Into

Chapter two

I made my way down the hallway purposefully, flashing empty smiles at people who pretended to know me. Sometimes my whole face would ache after a long day of fake grinning. Being popular was exhausting, but better than being friendless and alone.

"Jake!"

I turned to see who had called my name and instantly regretted it.

"Hi, Chloe..." I responded, trying not to look too nervous.

Chloe Valentine was a heartless, selfish, cruel girl who pretended to care about me and my past. In reality she turned to me for hookups, nothing more. She used and abused every guy and girl she could get her hands on. Including sweet, perfect Jeremy, which I could never forgive. Putting it lightly, Chloe was a mega-bitch.

"What are you doing tonight?" She asked in a soft voice, getting uncomfortably close to me.

"Not you." I responded harshly, pushing past her. My skin crawled where it met hers and I shuddered, disgusted.

"I control you, Dillinger." There was a poison in her voice now, a bitter edge that cut through me.

"Get the hell away from me..." I said, feeling hot tears of fear prick my eyes.

"Are you crying?" Chloe teased, popping an obnoxiously loud bubble of gum.

"Fuck off, Chloe." Rich said, seemingly appearing from nowhere. To be fair, the kid was pretty damn short. Maybe he'd been there the whole time.

Thank god for Rich! I thought, blinking back my tears. I threw him a grateful smile, feeling a lot more confident.

"Let's get to class." He said, pulling me away from the devil herself.

"Thanks man," I whispered meekly. "I owe you one." Rich smiled sympathetically.

"Don't mention it." He responded. "What class is this? English?" I rolled my eyes, pointing to the huge, multicolored posters full of algebra equations.

"No dude, I think it's American History." I said sarcastically.

"Right, right." Rich answered, obviously not catching on and pulling out his history notebook.

"Oh my god..." I muttered, chuckling softly. Rich looked up, realized his mistake and grinned sheepishly.

"My bad, bro." He said, pulling out his math binder.

As the teacher droned on and on and on about formulas and letters (which in my personal opinion should stay in the damn alphabet), I couldn't help but daydream.

Jeremy and I were outside the school, talking casually. He smiled at a joke I told, and reached for my hand. I took it, interlocking our fingers. His hand fit perfectly in mine. He looked up at me with trust and love in his breathtakingly blue eyes and glanced at my mouth. I leaned forward, aching to feel his pink, soft lips on mine. I could feel his breath on my face and see all the freckles on his perfect nose. I closed my eyes and-

"Dillinger!"

Fuck

I looked up to see everyone staring at me. Quickly I leaned back in my chair, smiling like I didn't have a care in the world.

"Yeah?" I asked casually, earning a few chuckles from my classmates. The teacher was not as amused.

"Number seventy-three." She said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, right." I scanned the board, having literally no clue. "Now...I know the answer, but just to be clear that you do, I think you should probably tell us all how to solve it."

The class erupted into suppressed giggles, and I ran my hand through my gelled hair, grinning. Rich nudged me, reminding me to keep it under control. I nodded a thanks to him.

"Jacob Dillinger, if you paid attention for once, you wouldn't be on the brink of failing my class." She snapped.

"Point is, I'm not failing." I retorted. Grades were a sore spot for me, Chloe always called me stupid because I never really understood academics. I just wasn't 'school smart.' But I needed the grades to keep me on the football team, so I studied the best I could.

The bell rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. I stood up and shoved my things back into my bag, throwing it over my shoulder.

Next class was chemistry.

With Jeremy.

God, help me.