The Boy With The Jacket

Chapter 4

Boy POV

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I glanced towards her, wondering if she'd be coming over to talk to me. I felt bad about bailing on her... again. I just wished she knew that I didn't really want to turn her down. She was pretty and extremely funny. I kept thinking maybe I made a huge mistake first trimester. She looked at me and stuck her tongue out at me while winking. I shook my head and laughed. That's what made her so original. The movie started and I looked towards the screen, trying to forget about last night. I heard flouncy steps coming towards me and I knew she would be here in three seconds.

Three, two, one.

"Britton!" she exclaimed, plopping down next to my chair. I smiled. This girl made my day.

"Hello Miss James!" I said. She smiled wider. She grabbed my backpack and hugged it. I stifled a laugh. Of course. She always did that. Still, even though she always did it, I felt like going into beast mode. My backpack was my backpack. Period. No one else touched it. I'd learned to somehow magically tolerate Britnee touching it though. She was the one exception.

"What's up?" she asked, positivity ringing in her voice. Hard to think just five months ago she was in serious depression. She had texted me all the time and talked to me to get advice on how to overcome it. I was glad I could be the one to give her hope. I was the one to know how to overcome it though. I had been depressed 3rd through 6th grades. So if anyone knew how to overcome it and help her, it was me.

"Well.... Watching the movie," I replied smiling. She looked at the screen and then back at me.

"NO WAY! ME, TOO!" She smiled and we both laughed. I waited a minute as she dug through my backpack like she always did. She pulled out my calculator and turned it on. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the glowing screen she had messed with multiple times before. Easily entertained and easily distracted, that's for sure, but I could look past that. Sometimes I had the attention span of a fly.

"Hey..." I finally managed out. I wondered if I should dare touch on the topic. She couldn't possibly still be mad. She, after all, had only enough anger to fit in a squirrel... Which wasn't much really, considering how small they were.

She glanced up at me, a grin on her face. "Yeah?" she asked pressing random buttons on the calculator without looking.

"About Captain America..." I drawled. Her smile started to fade.

"What about it?" she almost snapped.

"I'm sorry I can't come..." I'm sorry I bailed on you for... What is it? The seventh time now? I thought.

She tensed up and her face hardened. "It's cool," she said emotionlessly.

"Are you sure? You don't seem to think it's okay," I inquired. She looked down at the calculator.

"It's fine. Really. Don't stress about it." I couldn't tell if she was actually fine or not.

"Are you positive?" I asked pressing her to be honest.

She looked up at me and I could've sworn I saw tears in her eyes. "Positively, positively positive." She blinked and smiled at me, but her eyes remained slightly gloomy and dark. I'd seen that look before... When she was depressed. She couldn't still be, could she?

"Okay. Cool," I said looking back at the movie. I heard her turn to her friend Alyssa and grab her phone. They argued for a minute, like always, but then they stopped. I glanced back at her and she was typing something on her friend's phone. I smiled and looked at her curiously. "Whatcha doin ba... Britnee?" I caught myself as I was about to say babe. That would've been awkward.

"Nothing." I noticed that some of her excitement was drained. She passed the phone back to her friend and she read it. I wondered what they were talking about.

"Oh really?" I asked raising my eyebrows. She smiled, but I felt like I'd known that smile, like I'd seen it before.

"Yes," she said almost shyly. I may not have known Britnee James perfectly, but I knew when she was talking about me, and she was now.

"Are you sure? Cause I think that you are talking about me." She blushed and it sent a jolt through me.

"No!" she defended herself. She hugged the backpack like a teddy bear. "You're a dork! Hallucination!" She put her hand in front of my face. Abigail came running over to us from her spot where they were earlier.

"Britnee! Alyssa! It's punch Jarom day!!!" They looked at each other and stood up.

"Sorry Jake... But we have to go punch Jarom!" Alyssa and Abigail ran off towards their usual table, but Britnee stayed behind for a minute. "Bye Jake babe!" I smirked. Babe. She just called you babe. She blushed. "Sorry! Bad, bad habit!" She turned around and walked off, talking to herself on the way.

"Stupid! Uh!!! Babe? Really? You're an idiot!" I heard her mumble.

I looked back at the movie and smiled. She was an interesting one. I really wished I didn't have to turn her down, but I knew that I'd mess up somehow if I said yes. I was going to run out of excuses one day. And she has already informed me I owe her.

*Wella! Do any of you have that one friend that always knows what you are thinking without you actually telling them? I know I do! IM READY TO GOOOOOOOOO! (Ready To Go by Panic! At The Disco.) I was listening to that song while writing this. I suggest you all look it up. Like really. If you haven't looked any of the others I have suggested..... Look up this one. ❤️/Mona Lisa*