Chapter 12
It was currently 5:30am on Monday morning and I was sitting hunched over in my bed, wide awake.
Now let me tell you, usually I hated waking up early, especially on Monday mornings however, today I had a very good reason to be awake.
As soon as I returned home on Saturday I pulled the book that I had purchased out of its bag and flipped open the cover, deciding to give the book a go right away. The beginning was a little bit of a let-down as the author decided to develop the characters a bit before tossing the drama into her writing. However, when I started unraveling the secrets and mysteries within the book on Sunday, I was hooked. Spending most of my day reading, I only took breaks to finish the small bits of homework I had yet to complete, as well as breaks to eat and use the washroom, I fell asleep Sunday night with the book on my nightstand, only four chapters left until the end.
That’s why I currently had the book in my lap as my eyes scanned over the words of every page, processing the conclusion of the well-written romantic mystery novel.
In the end, the lead female protagonist discovered that her brother, who had been killed a year previous, had been part of a gang she never knew existed until she met the male lead. As the signs added up in her mind, she realized that her brother had been killed in an act of revenge and love prevails, as the male lead drops out of the very same gang to be close to the one he loves, keeping both himself and her safe.
Closing the book with a ghost of a smile on my face, I only wished that I could have a boy in my life that would be as helpful, mysterious and sexy as the ones so often depicted in fiction.
But sadly, fictional boys are always more appealing than the boys in my reality.
For a split second, although it may have not even been long enough to count as a second, my mind flicked to the smiling face of Cason and how fun it had been to just hang around him on Friday, but before I could really process my train of thought, I shook any trace of those thoughts out of my mind and looked to the clock that rested on my bedside table.
My eyes shot open as I read the time; it was already a quarter after seven, meaning I only had approximately forty five minutes to get ready and eat before leaving for school.
Hopping out of bed, I hustled quickly into my en-suite, stripping out of my clothes as quick as possible as I jumped into the gentle spray of my shower. I had tied my hair up in a bun, being careful not to get it wet seeing as I didn’t exactly have time to wash and dry my hair this morning.
After doing a quick body rub with my soap and using a small amount of my tropical scented body wash, I was assured that my body was free of grease and grime as I turned off the spray and stepped out of the shower. My bathroom was temporary filled with steam as I had taken quite a warm shower, however, at the time I really didn’t mind as I dried my body quickly with my towel before going to search for an outfit.
Picking out a cute pink tank top with a set of leopard prints down the right side and a pair of black jean shorts, I grabbed a clean set of undergarments before heading back into my now steam-free bathroom to finished getting ready. After unraveling my bun, running a comb through my hair and tying it up in a sleek ponytail, I added a pink headband before starting on my teeth and makeup.
Five minutes later I had completed my morning rituals in much less time than normal and grabbed my bag from the floor beside my bed, taking one final look at myself in the mirror before heading downstairs for breakfast.
As I reached the kitchen, I dropped my bag into one of the empty seats around the table and headed straight for the cabinet, picking out a fresh box of Lucky Charms, as I wasn’t in any mood to slave and cook myself a 5-star meal.
About halfway through my overflowing bowl of cereal, which consisted of probably seventy percent milk, I heard another set of footsteps heading in my direction and, sure enough, my mom walked through the entryway a couple seconds later dressed for work.
“Hey sweetie.” she greeted with a smile and a quick kiss to my forehead before heading around the table to the other side. “I didn’t hear your alarm go off this morning; did you forget to set it?”
As she spoke, she also sat down in the seat across from me and reached for the newly opened box of Lucky Charms that I may have forgotten to put away.
I shook my head in reply to her question. “No, I was actually up really early this morning because I wanted to see how the end of my book turned out before I headed to school.” I stated, shoveling another spoonful of cereal into my mouth.
My mom shook her head in amusement at my answer. I used to stay up late and wake up early all the time when I was really invested in a novel, but since my dad died I’ve been feeling a little tired and worn out. “Well, I’m glad you’re getting invested in reading again” she replied, a response that I expected her to come out and say. “So, was this one any good?” she asked, referring to the novel I finished an hour previous.
I nodded enthusiastically as the events of the storyline still whirled around inside my mind. “It was really good, interesting too. It was a perfectly written teen mystery novel with a good amount of romance to keep any girl interested.” I explained with a smile on my face.
“Well, would I be able to borrow it and see for myself?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she took her first bite of her own breakfast.
I shrugged my shoulders, not really caring if she borrowed a novel from me. Some mothers shared their clothes with their daughters, but we shared out books. “I don’t see why not.” I replied, shoveling the last of my cereal and milk into my mouth before continuing. “It’s on my bedside table if you want to grab it.”
My mom smiled at me and nodded. “Okay, I’ll be sure to grab it before I leave to work.” she stated, eating more of her breakfast herself. I saw her take a glance at the kitchen clock before she turned back to me. “Shouldn’t you have left for school a couple of minutes ago?”
My eyes widened as I took a look at the clock myself, seeing that it was already ten minutes after eight and school would be starting in just over ten minutes. “Oh shit!” I exclaimed, the swear coming out of my mouth before I really had time to process it.
“Language.” my mom stated with a smirk on her face, telling me that she didn’t really care if a swear word came out of my mouth every once and a while.
I shook my head as I started running around the kitchen like a headless horse. I picked up my bowl and spoon quickly, putting them in the sink delicately enough so that they wouldn’t shatter. I was about to start putting away the cereal and milk in their respective spots however, my mom intervened.
“I’ll do the rest of the cleaning up Jessalyn, just hurry up and get to school.” she said with a smile, nodding her head towards the door so I would get the message to leave.
Some, if only a little, of the worry in my brain melted as I sent a quick, but grateful smile towards my mom. “Thanks.” I said, kissing her quickly on the side of the head before grabbing my bag and rushing towards the door.
As I slipped on a pair of flip-flops that were lying on the mat, I turned around and yelled as quick I love you to my mom, but I wasn’t able to hear her reply as I had already thrown myself out the door, slamming it behind me.
I wasn’t all that great at running and, I knew that if I attempted to run to school I would end up being even later as I would collapse on the side of the road about halfway to my destination so, my only option left was trying for a fast walk.
If any of my newly acquired neighbours decided to look out their front windows at this moment in time I’m pretty sure they would be able to give themselves a pretty good laugh in my expense; I no doubt looked absolutely ridiculous moving my legs and arms in a relatively fast motion.
After turning the corner to my street, I knew that I had only gone about a block but I was already getting tired and slightly winded. It was quite embarrassing that I could barely speed walk a block without all of the oxygen in my lungs decided to take a vacation.
I was about to stop my insanely crazy walking, but before I could, a familiar car came to a halt beside me on the road, making me jump in fright.
As the driver rolled down the passenger’s side window, I saw the face of a highly amused Cason. “So, are you training your body for the Olympics or something? Trying to win a gold in fast walking?” he questioned with a teasing intent.
His questions, no matter how stupid they were, made ignited a small flame beneath the skin of my face and I knew that he had succeeded in making me blush.
Crossing my arms across my chest, I scowled at him. “Oh shut up, I’m running a little late and I didn’t feel like running all the way to school.” I stated.
“So basically, instead of running or simply being late for probably the first time in your life, you decided to go for crazy and fast walk you way to the school?” he asked rhetorically, but I thought his idiotic question deserved a response.
“Yup.” I replied, popping the ‘p’.
Cason rolled his eyes at me before relaxing back into his seat and nodding to the open seat beside him. “Hop in.” he said with a smirk, although the smirk kind of seemed friendly.
I raised an eyebrow at his thoughtfulness, but quickly came back down to reality and realized he must have some ulterior motive. “And what’s the catch if I accept the ride?” I asked with curiosity, torn between accepting the ride and making the bell or just carry on with a walk and receive my first tardy of the year.
Cason shrugged indifferently, but I could see that there was something he would ask for or do. Whatever it was could be seen in his eyes and it was giving him away. “Nothing, can’t I just be friendly towards my new best bud?”
“I know there’s a catch so, why don’t you just tell me and we’ll be that much closer to me answering your question.”
Cason rolled his eyes at my statement, but didn’t deny an ulterior motive. “Fine, I wasn’t exactly going to tell you this, it was really meant to be a surprise…” he said, trailing off.
“Any day now please.” I stated, tapping my foot impatiently.
“Fine.” Cason stated, sighing in mock defeat. “Evan and I are joining you and your friend for lunch today.”
It took a couple of seconds for his words of confusion to register clearly in my brain before I let out a groan of annoyance. “And why on earth would you two want to do that?” I asked.
“Because you, my friend, are just that… my new friend.” he said sarcastically, although, I suspected that his statement held a small amount of truth for him.
“Whatever, do as you please.” I replied, beyond the point of caring at this point in time. If there was a way to make Cason change his mind, I would gladly put that unknown technique to work, but as of now, I was stuck with the confusing human being that is Cason Michaels.
“So, are you gonna hop into the passenger seat any time soon or am I pulling away from the curb without you, leaving my wonderful new buddy to her first tardy on her transcript?” he asked, loading on some heavy sarcasm at the end of his question.
I rolled my eyes, deciding to ignore his sarcasm as I stepped up to the car and opened the passenger door, sliding into the seat. The second I slammed the door shut was also the second Cason put the car back into drive and slammed on the gas.
“Are you crazy?” I asked, pulling on the seatbelt, making sure it was secure before letting out a breath I had been holding.
He slowed down on the acceleration as he came up to a stop sign, pulling the car to a halt for a second or two before pressing his foot down on the gas pedal once again, this time keeping an acceptable speed.
“What, do you not enjoy my driving?” he asked with a small smirk gracing his face once again. It seemed that every time he glanced in my direction or spoke to me he was wearing a smirk on his face.
I glared at the side of his head as he kept his eyes on the road. “I’ve been driving with you before, Friday actually, and you weren’t driving anywhere near that speed.” I stated.
“Oh look at you, you’re capable of being smart.” he replied sarcastically. “And by the way, I just went that fast to freak you out, and it worked.”
I glared at him for a second more before turning to face the window, not speaking him again until we pulled into the parking lot of the school.
Since school was about a minute away from starting, most of the students had already headed inside the building and were busying themselves in there; however, the few stragglers were giving both me and Cason strange and confused looks as we clambered out of the car.
“Why exactly are these people staring at us?” I asked nervously, wondering if I had some Lucky Charms in my teeth or a leaf in my hair.
Cason looked around for a second, obviously noticing the looks as well, before looking back down at me. “Well, this is just a guess, but it might be because you turned up in my car and nobody around here has ever seen me give a girl a ride to school.”
“Really?” I questioned in disbelief. “You’ve never given a girl a ride to school after a night of hot, sexy passion?” I asked with heavy sarcasm.
Cason let out a chuckle at my question and shook his head slightly in amusement. “Do you really think that little of me Jessa?” he asked. “Have you ever taken a good look at most of the girls at this school?”
“Umm… yea, and most of them are beautiful.” I stated dumbly, not getting what I was missing.
“More like beautifully slutty. Everybody here is either too dumb, has their head in the cloud, or dressed like a hooker on a city street corner thinking that they’ll get some attention from the small amount of teenage guys in this town.” he stated, enlightening me on what I failed to notice.
“So you’re not attracted to anybody at this school?” I asked, and he nodded. “Are you sure you’re not just gay? You know homosexuality is common now a days; you won’t be ridiculed because of it.” I stated teasingly.
Cason rolled his eyes at me. “I’m not gay Jessa, trust me.” he stated as we entered the building, the doors shutting behind us as they blocked the strange stares that were aimed at the both of us.
Deciding not to reply, I just shook my head in amusement before hurrying my way down the hall towards my locker, determined to grab my books quickly and make it to class on time.
“I’ll see you at lunch best buddy!” I heard Cason shout down the hall in amusement, but I didn’t look back at him, instead I just kept walking.
By the time lunch rolled around, I was starving. My stomach had been grumbling for the last twenty minutes in chemistry and I was getting a bunch of strange glances, as if people thought I was harbouring a troll in my bag or something.
Grabbing my lunch out of my locker quickly, I shut the door with a small bang and saw Olivia heading my way with her own lunch tucked safely in her hand.
“Hey, you ready for lunch?” she asked, as she approached me and we headed towards the back of the school like we normally did at this point in the day.
“Yes, I’m starving.” I stated, rubbing my stomach in circles. “My stomach was grumbling so loud in chemistry that I’m pretty sure the people on the other side of the classroom were able to hear the sounds clearly.”
Olivia giggled slightly at my embarrassment. “Oh come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Oh, it was definitely that bad.” I said as we opened the doors to the courtyard at the exact second my stomach let out another nasty rumble.
Olivia giggled once again, and I knew full well that she had heard the noise. “Well then, let’s get some food in you so you don’t sound like a dying walrus anymore.” she stated.
For some odd reason, as we approached are regular picnic table today, I ended up sitting on the side where my back was facing the school building as Olivia took the seat across from me, giving herself a clear view of the school and the rest of the courtyard.
As I unpacked my lunch and took a bite of the roasted turkey sandwich I had made the night before, I let out a moan of satisfaction.
“I take it your lunch will be enough to curb your hunger?” Olivia asked, withholding yet another giggle.
“Definitely.” I replied with a smile before taking another bite of my delicious sandwich.
Across the table, I saw Olivia about to take a bite of her own sandwich, which looked strangely like peanut butter and banana, when she looked up at me and froze; her sandwich paused right in front of her mouth.
Putting the sandwich back down on the picnic table, her eyes were wide open as they stared at something behind me. “Umm… Jessalyn, would you please explain to me why Cason and Evan are making their way over here?” she asked in a hushed, but worried tone.
Glancing behind me, I indeed saw both of the guys strolling along towards us, looking as if they didn’t have a care in the world as they chatted. Turning back to Olivia, I gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry; I must have forgotten to tell you. Cason drove me to school this morning because I was running late and he said that because he was driving me and being so nice, we had to let him and Evan eat with us.” I explained. “Actually, I’m pretty sure they were planning on coming to sit with us anyways, but he just used the ride as an excuse.” I added as an afterthought.
“You couldn’t have mentioned this when you walked into class this morning?” she asked quietly, looking a little bit frantic.
“I’m sorry.” I mouthed, apologizing for the last time as the next second; the boys arrived at our table.
“Talking about me again?” Cason asked smugly, plopping down beside me with his signature smirk on his face.
I rolled my eyes at him as I saw Evan take a seat beside Olivia, leaving a considerable amount of distance between them. “Of course I was because you’re just so interesting I have to waste my spare time talking about you.” I replied with the highest amount of sarcasm I could muster.
Cason, who took my comment literally, smirked at me. “There you go Jessa, the first step to accepting an infatuation is admitting you have a problem.” he replied smartly, before receiving a well-aimed elbow to the gut on my behalf.
“I hope you enjoyed that.” I said as he clutched at his stomach in pain. Turning back to face the other two people at our table, I smiled at Evan. “Hey Evan, how are you doing?”
Evan raised an eyebrow at me as I took another bite of my sub, probably wondering what had made me talk to him. “I’m doing quite well, what about you?” he asked with a small smile.
“Oh I’m doing just fabulous, an idiot decided to sit with me and my friend at lunch today and, he even brought along one of his friends.” I stated sarcastically. “Oh wait, I meant to say he brought along his only friend.”
Evan let out a throaty chuckle at my response as Cason, who looked like he had pretty much recovered from the elbow to the stomach, shook his head in amusement. “Come on, you know you don’t really mind my company.” Cason stated, raising one of his eyebrows challengingly.
Before I could reply, Evan disregarded Cason’s comment as he continued to talk to me. “You know, you’re actually quite funny, I can see why Cason has been hanging around you lately.” he stated, plopping a grease filled fry into his mouth, which he had bought from the cafeteria.
“Thanks.” I replied with a smile, accepting the small compliment as I tried not to grimace at the sight of the dirty cafeteria food that Evan and Cason both seemed to be eating. I turned to Cason a second later as Evan turned to talk to Olivia. “And I’m pretty sure I mind quite a bit.”
“Oh really?” he asked sceptically, and I nodded, taking another bite of my delicious sandwich. “Then why would you willingly come to the aquarium and diner with me on Friday, as well as accept a ride from me this morning. You also never really minded talking to me when you came over for dinner that night, well, before I tossed you into the pool.” he stated smugly, as if he had acquired sufficient evidence to fight his side of this argument.
Again, before I could reply to Cason’s remarks, Evan paused at the beginning of his conversation with Olivia and turned to Cason with a slightly shocked expression. “You brought her out there? To the aquarium and everything?” he asked.
Cason rolled his eyes. Obviously he hadn’t talked to his best friend about Friday like I had talked to Olivia. “Yea why?” he asked, looking a little bit confused.
“Well… it’s just umm…. I never really knew you went out there when you weren’t with me and Fizzy.” he said, scratching the back of his neck.
Cason shrugged. “I go out there by myself sometimes, the meadows behind there can be pretty peaceful, plus the arcade and candy shop are the only ones around here, quality places those are.” he stated.
“Oh, well you never brought a girl out there before her, right?” Evan asked, giving Cason a pointed look as Olivia and I sat eating our own lunches, slightly confused about the boy’s conversation.
“Nooo.” Cason said, drawling out the ‘o’.
At his response, Evan and Cason started to have a silent conversation with their eyes and, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what they were talking about.
Olivia and I started a conversation of our own as the guys kept with their silent conversations; however, we each gave the boys weird glances every now and then, wondering how they could keep up a silent conversation for so long.
After a couple minutes, they finally finished their conversation of the eyes and joined in on our conversations and, strangely enough, we were all civil towards each other, beside the couple of sarcastic remarks that were tossed around throughout the conversation.
When the bell that signalled the end of lunch rang a while later, Olivia and I immediately stood up, collecting our lunch and trash, but Evan and Cason stayed seated, continuing to eat their lunch that had yet to be finished.
“Aren’t you guys going to class?” Olivia questioned.
Evan shrugged. “We’ll see, but we’re definitely finishing our lunch before we head to class.” he replied, stuffing another fry into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes. “Oooh, what bad asses you are.” I said sarcastically, waving my hands mockingly.
Cason rolled his eyes and nodded towards the school building behind him. “Shouldn’t you guys be heading in there, I mean, class starts in about two minutes; we wouldn’t want you two to receive a tardy, now would we?” Cason said mockingly.
I rolled my eyes at him, waving a quick goodbye as I turned towards the school with Olivia. I did not need a tardy on my transcript; I had a clean and spotless record so far and I didn’t exactly want that to change.
As we reached the doors, I heard Cason yell something back at me. “By the way, see you in English Jessa!”
I turned my head back to look over my shoulder to see him giving me a satisfied smirk. The only thing I could do was send him a small amused smile before turning back to face forward and head into the school.
As I riffled through my locker quickly, throwing back my lunch and grabbing my afternoon books, I wondered how it was possible that we, all four of us, had gotten through a lunch together without a major problem or annoyance arising.
If we could get along for one lunch period, maybe, just maybe, we could get along for the rest of the year.
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And it’s done! I worked since five ‘o’clock to crank this chapter out, and I’d say I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as there is a bit of everything here. Also, a massive thank you goes out to all of my fans, and even those who aren’t my fans, as I’ve passed 300,000 reads and have gotten about two-thirds of them in the past week and a half! So thank you all and hope you continue with all of your support!
Just a reminder, please point out any grammatical, spelling, or story line errors in this chapter, as well as the other chapters, as it is greatly appreciated x
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