There's a thin line between love and hate. I've heard that been said many times before. I used to never believe it, because I always thought that it was impossible to love someone you used to hate or hate someone you used to love, but I've always been kind of naïve.
When people ask me who my first love was, I can never give them an answer because I honestly didn't know myself. But if they were ever to ask me who my first hate was, then that would have been a very, very easy question to answer.
"Shut it!" AJ hissed loudly at me, a little too loud for someone who was worrying about getting in trouble. "You're going to get us caught!"
"Hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City?" I sang a little louder and more obnoxiously, just to annoy her. I knew it was working just by the look she gave me, and I almost burst out laughing. It was always so much fun messing with her when we were doing things like this. Actually, it was always so much fun messing with all of them. But what are best friends for?
"Jordan!"
"Man, you're no fun, AJ."
AJ rolled her eyes at me, and I finally kept quiet. I knew that she thought that I was going to get us caught one of these days, but that didn't mean I was going to stop anytime soon. But I was even sure myself that I was going to get us caught one of these days, too. We always seemed to get really close to it when I opened my mouth. But I liked the rush that I felt whenever we were close to being caught.
I normally wasn't a loud person; I was actually pretty quiet when I wasn't around my friends, but when it came to pranking the idiotic boys from Cambridge Institute, I always got more excited. How could I not be loud and happy? We were getting them back for pranking us!
We usually only ever pranked them for revenge, since they were the ones that always started it. But after four years of doing this to each other, it was kind of hard to decipher who started it. But most of the time they did, and we were just pranking them to get back at them.
I had always been the type of person that loved revenge; it was like I got an adrenaline rush or something, like I was hyped up on sugar whenever we were going to prank them back. I sounded like a child, but hey, it was the truth. At least I wasn't lying like Lexi always did when we were pranking.
She said she hated doing it, but I knew that she loved it just as much as me. She was always stubborn like that... but she probably got all that stubbornness from me.
The girls said that I was probably the smartest person they had ever met, but then again, I was definitely the most stubborn. I had to agree with them, since I knew that I was pretty stubborn. And I knew that I was smart, but I didn't know if I was the smartest person they ever met. I wasn't going to be self-absorbed and say I was smarter than them or anything, but I was sure smarter than a lot of other people.
I was planning on going to Yale after we finished high school, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. They always said that it was pretty amazing how smart I was, but I didn't really see it. Yeah, I was the top of our class and the smartest girl at our school, but... I just really didn't like being labeled as "the smart girl" by pretty much everyone in town.
We continued our way across the field silently, the net clutched in our hands tightly. This wasn't exactly the best prank we'd ever played on them or anything, but it would teach the Cambridge boys a lesson for taping the underwear of all the girls in the school to the side of the school.
I still didn't understand how they even got them, which was definitely the creepiest part out of it all. They had one pair from each girl, like we had given them to them or something. Which we didn't, let me assure you, because we definitely weren't like that. Well... as least most of us weren't. I unfortunately knew a few girls that would willingly give them their underwear...
I started to wonder how many girls willingly gave their underwear to the creeps of Cambridge. Ugh, I didn't even want to know. The students of Cambridge Institute for Boys were freaks, and I really didn't want to know how they so easily got them all.
But this was definitely going to piss them off. Some of those idiots actually cherished the dumb soccer net we were carrying like it was a God or something, which was stupid. I mean, come on! It was just a stupid soccer net! Who cherished a net like it was the creator of life or something?
Who actually thought that some stupid net was special? It was supposedly their "lucky net," and they won every game that they ever played with it. It was just ridiculous and didn't make any sense. They would have won with any other net, and I couldn't wait for the day when they lost with the stupid net that we were carrying. I could just imagine their faces, and I knew that it would be pretty amusing.
But they continued to think that they would always win with that net... That just shows how crazy they were.
"Ow!" Chelsea suddenly whispered loudly, clutching her ankle and hopping around for a few seconds. She fell into Lexi, who then fell into me, her blonde hair blinding me for a moment. When we all were settled after that display was finished, I rolled my brown eyes at Chelsea. But we then continued on our way when she finally stopped hopping around.
It wasn't anything new with Chelsea; we were used to it. She was such a klutz, yet she danced beautifully. You could tell that she had passion for ballet, even though she was super clumsy all the time.
"Do you have tape, Lexi?" AJ asked, peering at her through the darkness.
"When do I not have tape?"
"Point taken."
Lexi Lightle was the queen of tape, as weird as that sounds. She always had rolls of tape with her, always brightly colored as well. She said it was because she was an artist, and she would spontaneously be working on something new with her duct tape at such random times that it was almost funny.
The boys of Cambridge always made fun of her for it, even though I thought that it was really cool and funny. She was really into arts and crafts, and she was always making something, which usually ended up under her bed back in her room. She always had rolls of her brightly colored duct tape around her arms, as if they were bracelets. And to her, I was sure that they were.
Lexi and AJ held the net up against the wall as high as they could, and it looked like they were having some trouble with it. Chelsea then pulled a roll of bright pink duct tape out of Lexi's bag and started to tear it off, and I helped her tape the net to the wall.
"Don't get any in your hair," I warned Chelsea, half serious and half joking. "You don't want to have to get your hair chopped off again..."
She stuck her tongue out at me, wagging her head around to show me that she didn't care what I said, she'd do what she wanted anyway.
Chelsea, being the total klutz, got things stuck in her hair all the time. Once when we were in sophomore year, she had actually gotten a lollipop and gum stuck in her hair on the same day. We were able to get the lollipop out with only discarding a few long strands of her golden dirty blonde hair, but she had to chop some of her hair off when it came to the gum.
"Ah, crap," she suddenly cursed under her breath after a few moments of silence, and I looked over at her and smirked when I saw her trying to yank the bright pink monstrosity from her hair.
"Need any help?" I asked innocently, biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. I was sure that it wasn't as bad as the gum in her hair, but it still looked like it would hurt to pull out.
"No," she answered, still yanking. "I'm fine."
"Just leave it in there," AJ hissed, looking over her shoulder at us as she and Lexi both continued to hold up the net. "We'll get it out when we get back to Jordan's house. Just hurry up, my arms are falling asleep."
"So are mine," Lexi agreed.
Forgetting about the tape that continued to stay snug in her hair, Chelsea and I began to rip more tape off the roll, spreading it over the net so it would stay securely on the wall.
"This was so much easier with five people," I muttered, not intending for any of them to hear me. But they did, of course, since I was always so much louder than usual when we were pranking the boys of Cambridge Institute. It was just always so much fun. But I really, really wished that they hadn't heard what I had said... At least, I wished that AJ hadn't heard me.
I could see that AJ was now frowning as she must have remembered how much easier pranking was when we had five people and not just four. And remembering that we had five people really wasn't a good thing when it was AJ thinking about it...
Chelsea also noticed her frown, which caused her eyebrows to furrow as she continued to play with the tape bunched up in her hair. "Don't be upset, AJ," she told her, now standing on her toes as Lexi yanked the net up as she slapped a piece of tape down. "It's better that she isn't here right now with us."
"Yeah," I agreed, shaking my head as I ripped another piece of tape off the roll before handing it to Chelsea. "She's a total bitch. After what she did to Lexi and the rest of us, she shouldn't ever show her face ever again. But she will, I'm sure. That's just the type of person she is... It was such a low-life thing for her to do..."
What we were talking about was the fight that we had just had with our friend Aimee Dennett a few weeks before. Aimee was the type of person... Well, how do I put this? She was the type of person that would give the boys of Cambridge Institute her underwear willingly... And I was pretty sure that she did...
She had cheated with Lexi's boyfriend, and completely stole him from her. Lexi claimed to be in love with Bruce Wilkins, but I could never fully understand why. He was a complete idiot; absolutely stupid. Almost ridiculously stupid, if you asked me. I didn't understand why he was such a good football player when he was such an idiot. But he was fantastic at football, and I didn't think I'd ever understand why.
He was the blonde football player type that all the girls went after, and when he asked Lexi out, she was completely thrilled. I hadn't ever seen her happier before, and it even made me happy to see her that way. Lexi got picked on a lot for her outgoing wardrobe and personality, but when Bruce asked her out over the summer, she started to think more highly of herself.
But after she had found out that he was cheating on her with Aimee, she balled her eyes out and was completely heartbroken. She still thought highly of herself, but not as much as she had when she was going out with that stupid idiot.
Out of all of us, AJ was the one who had took it the worst, even though it probably should have been Lexi. Lexi did take it pretty bad, but not because she missed Aimee or anything, like AJ did. The fight didn't bother me very much, but I was definitely mad at her. But who wouldn't be?
AJ was Aimee's best friend, and they pretty much told each other everything. But then again, we all kind of told each other everything. But after what Aimee did, no one else in our group except for AJ wanted anything to do with her. It had been about two weeks since what had happened, and we hadn't talked to Aimee since then. And I was sure hoping that we'd never have to talk to her again.
What she did was probably the worst thing a girl could do to her friend. Or to anyone, if you ask me. AJ definitely wanted to forgive her, but the rest us didn't want to at all. AJ would have forgiven her if Lexi, Chelsea, and I had let her. But we thought what Aimee did was way too much to be forgiven. She didn't deserve to be forgiven at all.
It was a bad thing that Aimee did, and I knew that AJ knew that, but she still wanted to be friends with her. They had been friends, best friends, for so long, and she didn't want the friendship to end. But Lexi, Chelsea, and I didn't want to be friends with her anymore, and Aimee left the group.
I didn't know if Aimee was still with Bruce or not, but I kind of hoped that she wasn't, because that would make Lexi feel better, and Lexi was pretty much my best friend. But then again, part of me hoped that she was still with Bruce, because then she wouldn't ever join the group again.
"Yeah, but..." AJ trailed off, letting out a long sigh. She didn't finish what she was going to say, though, because Chelsea then placed her hands on AJ's shoulders, shaking her a little, as if she wasn't paying attention, which was actually kind of possible. When AJ thought about Aimee, she kind of zoned out.
"Annabelle Jo Crow," she said, looking her dead in the eye. I would have been kind of scared if I was AJ, because Chelsea's green eyes pretty much pierced through your soul. "We're better off without Aimee. She's mean. Just forget about her, okay? It'll be the best for all of us."
I didn't allow AJ to answer, though, because I then let out a very satisfied breath as I put my hands on my hips and looked up at the net that was now covered in bright pink duct tape against the wall. I thought that it looked pretty good, if I can say so myself.
"Sharpie," I demanded, sticking my hand out toward Lexi. I felt the permanent marker in my hand only seconds after, and I jumped up onto my toes to write the message on the tape for the boys that were going to find it the next morning after they woke up.
I hoped they cried. That actually seemed very possible, what with their crazy obsession with this net...
I cleanly wrote "SUCK IT" on the tape before standing back on my heels and looking up at the wall in satisfaction. I did a pretty good job, I think. My handwriting was actually pretty good, which it usually wasn't when I was making things like this.
This was going to piss them off so much, and I just couldn't wait. They totally deserved this. That's what they got for taping our underwear to the wall of our school!
What they did seemed so much worse. It was, in a way, because it wasn't like we were taping their boxers up to the wall or anything. That would be way too gross. I didn't want to touch any of their boxers. Who knew where they had been? Well, I knew one place they had been...
Ick. That would just be disgusting.
"There," I sighed, handing the sharpie back to Lexi. "Complete."
"You seem pretty proud of yourself, Emery," a new voice said, causing me to jump forward. There was no way that that deep voice belonged to a girl. And I knew this voice too well. Too, too well...
He always had to call me by my last name, which I really didn't understand. But that caused me to call him by his last name, so I guess I couldn't really talk.
The girls spun around quickly, looking terrified at the boy that stood before us. I knew that they weren't scared of him, but of the thought of getting caught. I rolled my eyes, slowly turning away from the net and toward Jesse Jacobsen, probably my worst enemy. He attended Cambridge, and he always pranked us along with his stupid buddies. But I didn't understand why he was out so late...
"But, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't you supposed to suck it?" he asked, an eyebrow rising as he smirked. "I mean, you are the girl, aren't you?"
My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to figure out what he was saying, but when I finally did, I felt my hands clench into fists at my sides.
"You're such a pig," I snapped, my eyes narrowing at him.
"I'm not the one who wrote suck it on bright pink tape that's sticking a net to a wall."
"It was just a stupid prank!"
Jesse chuckled, his brown hair shaking as he did so. I found myself glaring at him even more, not really knowing what else to do. Now that we had been caught, I didn't know what we were supposed to do. The girls looked absolutely terrified, and I was practically fuming as Jesse continued to smirk at me.
"I was surprised at first when I was able to see you in this darkness," Jesse started, confusing me greatly. Where was he going with this? "But then I realized why I could see you better than the rest of your friends. It's because of how pale you are."
My eyes widened and my eyebrows furrowed in anger. Yeah, I was pale, but so what? I didn't feel like getting skin cancer from staying out in the sun for too long... Or a sunburn, for that matter. Sunscreen never helped me, so I didn't see the point. I couldn't swim anyway, so it didn't really matter.
Jesse burst out laughing before I could say anything, and I only stood there and glared at him. He had some faults, too. Like being a gigantic jackass...
"Just because I'm pale doesn't mean you'd be able to see me better in the dark, you idiot," I finally informed him, crossing my arms over my chest as I continued to glare.
Jesse only chuckled, shaking his head at me. "Yeah, I know that, Emery. I just knew that it'd annoy you if I said that. It'd actually be harder to see you at night because your hair's so dark."
Now I knew he was just saying these things to annoy me, and it didn't have to do with seeing me or not seeing me in the dark at all. He knew I hated being pale and having brown hair so dark it was almost black, but of course he had to tease me about it.
Ignoring him now, I only shook my head as I tried to think of something to say. Not being able to think of a good comeback, all I could think of to say was, "Go to hell, Jacobsen."
Jesse only laughed, ignoring my comment. "Well, what are you going to do now, Emery?" he asked, sounding a lot more amused than he should have been. He drove me so insane...
"I don't know, Jacobsen," I snapped, impatient now as I crossed my arms over my chest. "What should I do?"
"Well, I know exactly what you should do," he said, crossing his own arms as he leaned up against the other wall. "It involves you, me, and what you wrote on the wall just now..."
My cheeks turned bright red, and I felt my eyes widen. "What the hell? No way, you sick pervert!"
Jesse started laughing, shaking his head as well. "Of course you wouldn't do it," he laughed, clapping his hands together. "I just wanted to see your reaction."
My eyebrows furrowed even more as I glared at him. The stupid bastard.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I asked, now moving my hands to my hips. "Like, your bed, maybe?"
"I'll only go to bed if you join me, Emery."
"Pervert!"
I could see that Chelsea was very amused, like she usually was when Jesse and I bickered, which was every time we saw each other, but AJ and Lexi still looked terrified. I didn't blame them; Jesse could be a really scary person when he wanted to be. But I still wasn't scared of him, no matter what he was going to do, because he just wasn't scary to me.
Jesse started laughing again, and I couldn't help but glare at him even more. He had always been a perverted moron who didn't care about anyone but himself, ever since I had met him when we were in freshman year, when the whole prank war started. But now we were seniors, and he was even more annoying than he used to be. And that was definitely saying something.
"This is a pretty amateur prank," Jesse informed me, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he turned toward my handiwork. "This is revenge for us taping your underwear to the side of your school? That's kind of pathetic, Emery. Well, not kind of. It's really pathetic."
I felt my blood boiling as my face grew hot from anger. Why did he have to be such a jerk all the time? Ever since that one time in freshman year, he'd always been a jerk to me... I'd never forgive him for what he had done to me those four years before.
"Jordan," Lexi whispered, tugging on my sleeve a little. "I think we should go back to your house now. It's almost four in the morning, and if your parents somehow find out that we're not there—"
"That's right, go on home, Emery," Jesse waved away, taking a few steps back away from us. I didn't get how one person could be so annoying. I just didn't understand. Was it even possible? It sure didn't feel like it. It was like he just couldn't control his mouth or something and he just had to say something annoying every time I saw him. Man, I hated him so much. "I'm sure Headmaster Solomon would love to hear about how you guys taped the lucky net to the wall..."
"No!" Lexi cried, now turning toward me, looking absolutely horrified, which kind of scared me a little. "Jordan, if Headmistress Belladonna finds out that we're still pranking them, we'll get in serious trouble! You'll get in even more trouble than all of us, since she thinks that you always start it. Don't you remember what she said? You'll get expelled! And then no Yale!"
I felt my eyes widen even more as what she said registered in my head. I almost completely forgot about what Headmistress Belladonna said! If I remembered, there was absolutely no way I would have gone out and pranked them!
I couldn't believe I did this. No Yale, no future. That's pretty much what it meant to me. Yale was my dream school, where I wanted to go ever since I was a little kid. I had studied and worked so hard for it. And I wasn't going to let Jesse ruin my life all because I wrote suck it on a wall.
"Jesse, please," I said, actually using his name, which was kind of weird to say. I had been calling him Jacobsen for so long; it felt weird to actually call him Jesse, as if that wasn't even his name. I knew that I wasn't going to be calling him that very often. "I need to go to Yale."
I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't.
I couldn't believe that I was actually begging him. I was actually begging Jesse Jacobsen to not ruin my future. It was practically in his hands now, in a way, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do to get him to keep quiet and not tell the headmaster of his school. If he told his headmaster, his headmaster would call Headmistress Belladonna and my future would be ruined.
I didn't want one stupid prank to ruin everything that I had worked for. I wasn't going to let everything go crashing down all because of some idiot that had caught us doing a prank that was just for some revenge. Jesse had told on us to his headmaster or our headmistress so many times...
This prank wasn't worth it. Revenge wasn't worth it.
They totally started it, though. They shouldn't have taped our underwear to the wall. If they didn't do that, I wouldn't be standing there in front of Jesse, practically begging on my knees.
If he heard me say that, he'd tell me to get down on my knees for a completely different reason. He was such a pervert...
Jesse looked at me for a moment, as if he was thinking and taking in my desperate face that was begging him to not tell. He then scoffed, stepping back even more, and I felt my eyes widen as I tried to think of something to say. There had to be something I could say!
"Whatever," Jesse scoffed again, taking more and more steps back, away from me. "I'll do what I want, Emery. Have fun flipping burgers for the rest of your life."
That was not going to happen, even if I did get expelled. I was going to Yale, no matter what, and I wasn't about to let Jesse Jacobsen ruin it for me. I wasn't going to let him ruin the most important thing to me again... Not like he had done in the past.
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This story used to be Girls vs. Boys. So if you see a comment or anything with the name Girls vs. Boys or Boys vs. Girls, that's why. :)
Shane Dawson used to play Jesse, but I changed him to Matt Lanter. So if you see any comments about Shane Dawson, you'll know why. xD
If you've read Hey There, Delilah, you probably notice that one of the characters has the same last name as a character from Hey There, Delilah... Yeah, they're related. ;)
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!