Chapter 13
Two weeks. Two weeks had gone by since Cason and Evan started sitting with Olivia and I at lunch and, it seemed to me that they enjoyed our company so much; they decided to make our table their permanent lunch spot.
Since that first day, every day at lunch Olivia and I would start to eat our lunch when we would see the boys strolling towards us. Honestly, it didn’t even bother me anymore because there was nothing I could think of that would get them to leave us alone.
Also, because Olivia and I actually started being civil towards both Cason and Evan, both of us realized that most of the rumours that were floating around the school were indeed false. Sure, they didn’t always go to class on time and maybe they were caught skipping once or twice, but other than that, they didn’t have awful personalities or anger tendencies and were actually quite amusing to talk to.
All in all, Evan didn’t treat me awfully. He actually was a nice guy that treated me as a school mate, and sometimes, even as a friend.
Cason, however, was a little bit of a different story. He was friendly and mellow most of the time, but when he decided that it was time to rile up my nerves and push my buttons, he definitely did all he could to annoy me purely for amusement.
I had learned to control my annoyance after a couple of days, just choosing the simple option of ignoring Cason completely when he started up with his tactics of annoyance, usually starting up a conversation with Olivia until Cason took a hint and stopped.
It was now the middle of October and the weather in Avondale was still so strange to me. I was so used to the changing of seasons, but when it didn’t happen and the leaves on the tress remained green, I truly realized that I was in a new place. I had started over, leaving everything about my old life behind when I left.
It was currently Friday afternoon and the final bell that just rung, putting smiles on all my classmates as they were excited for their weekend to start. No worrying about school work or upcoming sport matches, just two days of complete and utter relaxation.
As I placed all my binders and textbooks neatly into my locker, I grabbed my book and lunch containers, stuffing them into my nearly empty bag before closing the locker door. As the door slammed shut, making quite a loud banging noise, a body suddenly appeared in front of me.
Jumping back in shock, I placed a hand up to my thumping heart, dropping my bag to the floor in the process. “Jesus Cason, you almost scared me half to death!” I exclaimed, taking even breaths to calm my racing heart.
Cason chuckled at my response, obviously enjoying my moment of sheer terror as he bent down and picked up my bag. “Well at least you’d only be half dead like a vampire, not fully dead.” he replied teasingly, handing over my bag with an amused smile.
I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic response; however, I also found it quite amusing as I ended up cracking a smile.
“So, is there any particular reason that you decided to hide out behind my locker door and scare me, or was that just for your amusement?” I asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
Cason rolled his eyes as he leant sideways on the locker located next to mine. “Even though it was simply amusing when you jumped at the sight of my wondrous body,” he started, making me roll my eyes at his cockiness before he continued, “I actually received quite an interesting text from my mom a couple of minutes ago.”
Still not understanding why he was here, I questioned him again. “And what does that have to do with me?”
“Well, apparently she invited your mom over for another dinner and was wondering if you were coming since she has to start dinner as soon as she gets home.” he stated.
Now it all made sense to me. I guess from some of the things that my mom had been telling me, it was safe to assume that her and Diana were getting along really well and, it only made sense to have dinner with each other once and a while.
I had only attended that first dinner with my mom, the one where Cason stupidly tossed me into his pool, and since then I haven’t really felt up for another soaking so, I hadn’t been over to the Michaels house since.
Even though I didn’t attend any of Diana’s dinners in the past month or so, that didn’t mean my mom followed my lead. In fact, I’m pretty sure she had been over there four or five times to talk and hang out with her friend.
“So, are you in?” Cason asked.
“I don’t know… am I going to have the pleasure of walking home in soaking wet clothes this time?” I asked sarcastically, bringing up my only bad experience at his house.
Cason chuckled, probably remembering the pleasure that he had when he saw me sink down into the water. “Well, as much fun as that was,” he said teasingly, causing me to send a quick glare in his direction before he continued, “I think my mom would probably ground me for a while if I was to do that again.”
“Then I think I can take the chance and come to dinner if your sure nothing is going to happen to me.” I replied with a small smile.
“I didn’t promise nothing would happen to you, I just promised that you wouldn’t go for an unexpected dip in the pool.” he replied with a smirk.
“Just tell your mom that I’ll be coming over and stop annoying me before I change my mind.” I said with a small smile, nodding towards the phone he had in his hand.
“Then I’ll see you tonight.” he said with a final nod before walking down the corridor without a care in the world.
As I watched him leave, I shook my head at his calm and collected walk of confidence before following his lead and heading towards the front entrance of the school, ready to start my weekend.
The walk home didn’t take all that long, about ten minutes at most, and it wasn’t extremely hot outside this afternoon, making me smile as I didn’t have to worry about my straightened hair expanding to look like run over tumbleweeds.
Entering my house, I knew I didn’t have any plans until my mom got home and we headed over to the Michaels for dinner so, I simply walked into the living room and sank into the couch, deciding to spend my free time catching up on an episode or two of Gilmore Girls.
An hour and a half later, just as the credits were rolling for the second episode of Gilmore Girls, my mom walked through the door looking slightly exhausted after a hard week of work.
“Hey mom.” I greeted with a smile, grabbing the remote in my hand flicking the television off.
“Hey sweetie.” she replied. “So, I hear you’re coming to the Michaels tonight for dinner.”
I nodded as my mom sat down beside me on the couch and smiled. “Yea, I told Cason that I’d go tonight because I don’t feel like cooking.” I replied, partially telling a little white lie. “But are you sure that you’re up for it tonight mom? I mean, you look a little overworked.”
My mom smiled and shook her head, dismissing my accusation. “I’m fine sweetie, I just had a tough day at work because one of the kids in my class fell off the play structure at recess and ended up breaking her arm.” she replied with a sad smile, showing me that she genuinely cared about the little children in her class, which of course, I already knew.
“Is she okay?” I asked, slightly worried for the little girl and the pain she must be feeling at the moment.
I had broken my arm when I was ten. My mom and dad took me roller-skating for the first time and I ended up falling down in a way that bend my arm back, cracking my ulna in two different places, and trust me, that hurt tremendously.
My mom nodded in response. “She’ll be fine. Her mother came in and picked her up right away to take her to the hospital. She will probably have a cast on her arm for a month or two, but eventually she’ll be good as new.”
I nodded, glancing at the clock quickly to see that it was approaching five ‘o’clock. “So, what time did Diana say that she wanted us to come over at?” I asked, wondering how long I would have to wait around the house doing absolutely nothing until it was time to leave.
My mom took a quick peek at the watch on her right hand to see what time it was. I saw her smile quickly as she read the time and, I knew the exact reason that brought it on. My mom had received her watch from my dad on their tenth anniversary and, even though the wrist watch brand had gone slightly out of style, my mom still wore it every day to show how much she appreciate my dad and everything he did for her.
“Actually, she just told me to come over whenever we wanted, so let me just change out of my work clothes and then we’ll start walking.” she replied, looking up from her watch and standing up at the same time.
I nodded, sinking back into the comfort of the couch cushions as my mom scurried up the stairs towards her bedroom.
A couple minutes had passed and I was currently humming the graceful tune of Fix You by Coldplay when I heard a set of footsteps ascend down the staircase. Craning my neck slightly, I saw that my mom had changed into a cute pair of jean capris and a cute, but simple white peplum tank top.
“You ready to go?” my mom asked as she slid a couple of dollars, along with her phone, into her jean pockets.
I nodded, pushing myself up quite easily from the couch into a standing position.
Both my mom and I decided on a matching pair of brown gladiators for shoes, smiling at each other before we walked out the door and down the street towards the Michaels’ residence.
As we headed down the road, we basically just talked about how my day had gone at school, but I skipped over the part about me and Cason eating lunch together. I still hadn’t told my mom that Cason and I were on a very rocky road to becoming friends because I had a strange feeling she would end up overreacting, assuming that I must be developing a crush if I was suddenly deciding to spend an ounce more time with him.
We were suddenly walking up the driveway of the Michaels’ when the front door opened at out strolled Cason, a simple and serene expression on his face.
As Cason spotted me and my mom walking up to the front door, he stopped in front of us, sending both of us a smile before turning to my mom. “Hey Mrs. Hartley, my mom’s in the back barbequing the burgers that we’re having tonight if you just wanted to head back there through the side gate.” he mentioned politely.
My mom nodded at Cason and smiled. “Sure, are you coming Jessalyn?” she asked, nodding towards the gate located beside the house that was slightly ajar.
Before I could nod my head and reply in a positive manor, Cason interjected and started to talk. “Actually Mrs. Hartley,” he started, but didn’t get very far before my mom cut him off.
“I’ve told you plenty of times to simply call me Wendy.” my mom stated before signalling for Cason to continue what he was about to state earlier.
Cason shook his head in amusement and smiled. “Of course Wendy.” he replied politely, before continuing on. “Anyways, I was just going to say that I was on my way to the corner store to pick up some hamburger buns because we seem to be out and, I was just going to ask Jessa if she wanted to come.”
My eyes widened slightly at his words for two reasons and both of them involved the look that my mom was currently giving me. She had her eyebrows raised slightly as if to say two things; the first being ‘since when are you two friendly?’ and the second being ‘you let him call you Jessa?’
I shook my head discreetly at my mom, begging her not to speak her inner thoughts while also hoping that she said I should stay here instead of going with Cason.
However, my wishes weren’t answered because my mom immediately smirked at me as she saw my head move back and forth and, she turned to face Cason once more. “Actually, I think that’s a great idea. You kids have fun while I go help Diana with dinner.” she said with an over cheery voice, not letting me get one word in before she turned and walked into the backyard.
I shook my head, touching the bridge of my nose in annoyance before looking up at Cason, only to see him smirking in amusement.
“Why would you look at that? Your mom seems to be thrilled that I invited you along to go pick up some buns.” Cason stated mockingly.
I just sent a glare in his direction for a second before dropping my annoyed face and nodding towards the road. “Well you wanted to walk, so walk.” I said smartly.
Cason rolled his eyes at my statement but didn’t protest as he started down the driveway, turning right onto the street as I followed closely behind.
By the time we arrived at the store five minutes later, Cason had already tried to trip me twice and I was already annoyed.
Throwing open the door to the store, I didn’t even smile at the cheerful ding that sounded it opened as I stomped angrily into the store.
“Whoa there Jessa, you might want to turn off your super strength before you hurt something, or more importantly, someone.” Cason said teasingly, following close behind me into the store.
“Well if you didn’t have to annoy me every couple of minutes I wouldn’t have to be worrying about putting anything or anybody in risk of being injured, but right now, I think you’re on the top of that list.” I replied, glaring at the annoying specimen as I crossed my arms across my chest.
“Oh come on, you know I’m just poking fun.” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders, defending his bothersome behaviour.
I rolled my eyes at his try at defending himself. “Well, while you get whatever we came here for, I’ll be by the counter, far away from you.” I said, turning away from immediately and stalking towards the front counter.
Not looking up, I arrived at the front of the store and my eyes immediately latched onto the very delicious looking array of chocolate and other sweets that had been hung up in front of the counter. As I browsed the selection of sweets, my eyes kept going back to a particularly good looking Kit-Kat bar that was calling out to me, however, I sighed as I remembered I didn’t have any money.
“So, was that guy bothering you or something?” a fairly deep voice asked me, making me snap my head up immediately at the question.
My eyes widened as my eyes latched onto the person working the counter. As I heard the deep voice I thought that it would be a middle-aged man running the store, however, that was not the case. The male specimen that stood behind the counter looked to be around my age, maybe a year or two older, and he was talking to me.
As mentioned before, I am not good at conversing with people my age, which was the reason I had zero to no friends at my old school. I just wasn’t good at socializing.
“Umm… no…. he umm, I came with umm… yea.” I mumbled, not able to form a full and complete sentence in front of this guy.
“Okay…” he replied, trailing off as I ducked my head in embarrassment and my cheeks lit up in a dark pink blush. “So, are you new around here? I haven’t seen you around this town before and I’ve lived here pretty much my whole life.” he continued, giving it another chance at talking to me.
I knew that I would just embarrass myself if I opened my mouth again and attempted replying so, to stop any further embarrassment that may be upon me, I just turned around and scurried towards the door and headed outside, not looking back to see the confused expression on the guys face.
I leaned my back against the side of the store and shook my head with my eyes closed. I didn’t know why this happened to me so often but I just couldn’t gather up the confidence or the courage to talk to strangers, let alone most of the people in my school.
Wallowing in my embarrassment, a minute or two later I heard the delicate ding of the bell above the door ring and opened my eyes to see Cason coming towards me with an amused smile plastered onto his face.
“So…” he said in a questioning voice as he approached me with a white plastic bag hanging from his left hand. “Are you gonna tell me what happened in there?” he asked.
I groaned as I pushed myself off the store wall and started walking back towards the Michaels’ house with Cason.
“That’s just who I am.” I replied, sticking my hands into my pockets as I continued to walk. “Or at least it’s who I used to be.” I continued, mumbling the last part.
“What do you mean who you used to be?” Cason asked, obviously having heard the part of my statement that was meant to stay silent.
I sighed before replying. “Back in my old school I didn’t really interact with anybody really. I stayed in on weekends with my parents, ate in the library at lunch, and worked on all assigned group projects solo because nobody wanted to be paired with the girl who wouldn’t talk.”
Cason had his eyebrows scrunched up as I glanced up at his reaction. “But here, you talk to me, you talk to Evan, and you talk to Olivia.” he stated.
“No… really?” I asked dryly, before taking a deep breath and continuing. “Sorry about that, it’s just, I guess Olivia seemed nice and quiet and, she was just like me before I got here; reserved, not many friends, and loved to dive head first into a great work of literature.”
“And what about me and Evan?” he asked, interested now in what I was saying.
“Well I don’t actually know the answer to that, but I think it was something to do with the first time I met you. I bumped into you in the office at school and you were an ass right away, without even knowing anything about me or my past. I guess I just wanted a new start here and with you pushing me around, I wouldn’t get that, so I stood up to you.” I replied. “And then I guess once I started talking to you, I guess Evan just seemed like the same person because he was supposedly just like you.”
Cason nodded, taking in everything I had just relayed to him. “You do know that guy in there was trying to flirt with you right?” he asked, clearly entertained at my behaviour in the store.
However, I was actually glad that he wasn’t pushing me for more detail about my old life. It made me smile on the inside.
Groaning, I ducked my head as I answered. “Oh god, please don’t tell me you saw everything in there.” I begged.
“Jessa… I saw and heard everything.” he stated, making my cheeks grow hot as I became flustered and blushed. “By the way, it was quite an amusing little scene if I do say so myself.”
I shook my head, warding off traces of my blush as I looked up at Cason, who had an unmistaken grin on his face. “I’m just not good with talking to people, or socializing in general.” I replied, feeling quite stupid as I explained it.
“Well, what if I told you I could help you with that little problem.” Cason proposed, raising his eyebrow as he awaited my answer.
I halted my steps and turned towards Cason, who had also stopped on the side of the road. “What do you mean?” I asked with a confused tone.
“Well, I’ll help you become more confident and social, however, there is only one condition.” he explained.
“What’s the condition?” I asked, slightly worried about what it could be.
There were endless possibilities about what he could want from me; I could have to embarrass myself, agree to be his slave, or even make his lunches for the rest of the school years. That was why, when he finally replied with his answer, I was shocked.
“We start over.”
“We start over?” I repeated as a question, wondering why we had chosen that.
Cason nodded his head with an embarrassed smile. “Yea, you forget about how annoying I’ve been and I forget about all the stuff I’ve done to you. We start over and put everything that’s happened between us behind us.” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, as if I would laugh at his request.
As I thought about, I didn’t really mind his condition. Sure, we’ve had some bumpy times, but overall, we’ve basically learned to get along over the course of a month and a half.
Smiling up at him shyly, I nodded. “Yea, I think I can do that.”
A small grin became visible on Cason’s face as he processed my reply. “Great.” he chirped, reaching his right hand into the plastic bag he had got from the corner store, obviously looking for something.
When he pulled his hand out of the bag, his palm revealed the very Kit-Kat bar that I had been eyeing on the chocolate stand.
He extended the chocolate bar towards me with a smile. “That’s for you.” Cason said, smiling lazily at me as my eyes lit up in happiness when I grabbed the chocolate bar from him.
“But why?” I asked, holding the Kit-Kat bar in my hands delicately as I looked up at Cason with a questioning gaze.
Cason shrugged. “Consider it the first thing that happened after we started over.” he stated. “I saw you eyeing it in the store and decided to just buy it; what’s ninety nine cents anyway?”
“Thank you.” I stated, smiling at him.
“Not a problem.” he replied, in a relatively calm tone.
Not another word was said about the matter as we both started heading to Cason’s. Dinner would be ready any moment and we obviously needed to be there.
As we walked I wondered if this agreement could really work. Could Cason really help me?
I guess only time would tell.
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My biology test was postponed until after March Break so, I decided to write this and upload today!
In the past five or six days I have gone from 300,000 reads to more than 700,000 reads! Thank you so much for the continuous support in my writing and I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
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