Her Guarded Heart

Chapter 27 - His Jersey

Scarlett

"And he didn't kiss you?!" Cassidy whisper-screamed as we walked to our next class together.

"No! Of course not, Cass. We're just friends," I reassured her.

She rolled her eyes. "Friends don't casually shower together."

"You should have seen the scratches and bruises on his chest and back. I felt bad after what his stepdad did, so of course I was going to help him."

"Damn, even I can feel the sexual tension," she said.

I nudged her arm. "Cassidy, stop! There was no sexual tension."

"Mhm, whatever you say." She wasn't convinced.

As we were walking to class, we kept getting- well, I kept getting stared at by all the other students.

"Why is everyone staring at you?" Cassidy asked me.

I looked down at my shirt. "Probably because I'm wearing James's shirt. Mine got wet last night and I didn't have time to go home and change since I slept over."

This morning, James gave me his football jersey which had his last name on the back, so obviously people were going to stare. He has a bunch more regular shirts he could have given me, but I think he gave me his jersey to give people a message.

"Oh no," Cassidy sighed, "look who it is."

I sighed as well when Juliet approached us with her minions.

She looked me up and down. "Hi, Scarlett."

I nodded, signaling a hi back.

"Nice outfit, where did you get it from?" The tone in her voice gave away the jealousy.

"Long story," was all I said in return.

She put her hands on her hips. "I have time."

"Well, I don't." I tried to walk past her but she grabbed onto my arm.

"Why are you wearing his jersey?" Juliet growled in my ear.

I shifted in her grasp. "Let go of me, it hurts."

She dug her nails into my skin. "Tell me!"

Cassidy was about to intervene when someone got in her way.

"Let go of her arm, Juliet." I could feel the fury in James's voice. James huffed in anger when he saw her hold on me.

When Juliet noticed him, her attitude completely changed from mean chihuahua into a sweet girl.

"James, hi!" She smiled brightly at him, showing off her pearly white teeth.

I couldn't even look at him, I was so upset and so embarrassed at the same time.

Grabbing onto Cassidy's hand, I pulled her away from them and we walked outside to the parking lot.

"I can't take this," I exclaimed, pacing back and forth.

"Take what?"

"I can't handle Juliet! It's obvious she's in love with James and that's completely fine, but there's no reason she needs to take her jealousy out on me!" I was stressed and annoyed that she bullied me all the time because of James.

"Juliet does this to you because she knows he doesn't like her, Scar. I will do whatever you want me to in order to get her away from you. It hurts me to see her do this to you. I just wanna punch her in the face! Do you want me to talk to James?"

I shook me head. "No, please don't."

She nodded. "We should get to class."

"Can you tell the teacher I'm going to be late? I can't go in right now," I told Cassidy.

"Of course, Scarlett." She walked away and I was alone in the parking lot until the second to last person I wanted to see came outside.

I rolled my eyes. "This is your fault, you know," I reminded James.

"How is it my-''

I cut him off. "I'm going home and changing. I can't take the stares and all the people whispering about me as I walk down the hall. I can't take the fact that Juliet absolutely hates my guts because of you. I just...leave me alone."

He took a step closer. "I'm not going to leave you alone."

"Why didn't you just give me a regular shirt that didn't have your name on it? I wouldn't be getting harassed right now if it wasn't for that!"

He looked down in sorrow. "I'm sorry, Scarlett. I just really wanted to see you wear my jersey. I know it was a mistake and I should have known people were going to gossip about it."

"I overheard people in the hallways assume that we are dating, James. We will never date, okay?! I don't want people assuming that."

When I said the word 'never', I saw the light in his eyes flicker. He looked defeated.

"You know how I feel about you, James, so why would you give me your jersey?"

"No, I don't know how you feel actually. You say we're only friends, but friends wouldn't do the things we did last night."

"We didn't do anything bad," I retorted.

He cocked his head. "Oh really? So you're saying we weren't intimate?"

My cheeks flushed red. "N-No. We weren't."

He didn't respond to that. Instead, he looked over at my car, then back at me. "Go home and change if that's what you really want to do. You can give me back my shirt the next time you come to babysit Thomas."

"Okay, I will."

"Let me just ask you one question. How do you feel when you wear my jersey? You don't feel proud?"

"No, I don't." I was honest.

He took a step closer. "Then what does it make you feel?"

I looked him dead in the eye. "Embarrassed."

The light in his eyes that was once flickering finally died. They were dark and cold. "You know, you might think Juliet and you are not alike at all. But you are. You both know how to make people hurt."

Before I could say anything, he walked away.

"James-'' I didn't know what to say.

I turned around to see Ian standing near his car. I realized he heard all of our argument and he was smiling. It's almost as if watching James and I fight gave him joy.

He walked up to me. "What was that all about?"

I watched as James stormed back into the school. "It's a long story, Ian."

"Okay, well I'm here to talk if you need me."

I smiled at him. "Thanks."

People don't know the truth; they don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I realized how easy it was for people to assume lies.

When it came to James, I concluded that I didn't even know what to believe.