CHAPTER ELEVEN
⤷ out with the old,
in with the new
IT'S just hair, Jackie thought to herself as she stared at the pair of scissors that rested in the palm of her hand. Before she knew it, she started to chop away at her blonde hair, watching as her locks fell onto her lap and the floor. With each snip, Jackie felt a sense of tranquility wash over her. It was as though she was cutting off everything that no longer served her, including Lucas. They hadn't spoken a word to each other ever since the night Brooke found out about them and quite frankly, she didn't want to talk to him after his night with the stranger at the bar. He obviously did not have her on his mind, so why should she let him invade hers? She knew she would always have feelings for him but at this point, she was ready to put all the drama surrounding him past her.
The sound of scissors became therapeutic to her as she got lost in the moment. The weight of her emotions we lifted after each snip. She felt like she finally had control over something in her life and the feeling was nothing less than liberating. She placed the scissors down, staring back into her reflection before shaking out her hair. She smiled to herself as she fluffed and parted it different ways, instantly falling in love with her new style which stopped just at her shoulders.
She already knew she was going to shock her friends once they come back from their trip to Charlotte. Nick encouraged her to come along for the weekend but she declined, wanting to have time away from the madness. Brooke was still upset with her and she had no idea what was next for her and Lucas.
"Oh my goodness," Marie gasped, entering her daughter's room. She quickly placed the laundry basket on the floor before running her hands through Jackie's hair, "What happened?!"
"Back-to-back minor inconveniences," Jackie grinned, "Do you like it?"
"I love it, it suits you," Marie answered honestly, before holding her hands behind her back, "I came in here to show you something. But you have to promise me you won't freak out."
"Depends," Jackie eyed her, "What is it?"
Without a word, Marie flashed her left hand which was decorated with a square-shaped diamond ring. She hadn't seen her mom smile that big in a long time. Jackie's eyes grew wide, lost for words. She was happy for her mom but deep down inside, the grieving side of her wished it was a joke.
"What?" Jackie grabbed her mom's hand, analyzing the ring, "When? Where?"
"Last night at dinner," Marie placed her hand over her heart, "Oh, sweetie, it was so romantic. I didn't expect for him to ask so soon, or at all for that matter but everything just seemed so right with him I had to say yes."
"Wow, um," Jackie struggled to find her words.
"Are you okay with this?"
"Mom, of course, If you're happy then I'm happy," She reassured the older woman, "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." Her mom opened her mouth to say something else but Jackie abruptly jolted up, "You know what, I'm gonna go pick up an extra shift at the cafe. Karen and Haley are both on the trip so, I should make sure everything is going well."
"Oh," Marie was a bit taken aback by her change in attitude, "Okay, I understand. We can talk about it once you get back then."
"Great," Jackie forced a smile as she grabbed her jacket from the bed, "I'll be back later."
Jackie knew that Deb could handle the cafe on her own but she really couldn't have that conversation with her mother at the moment. The business was consistent at the cafe for a few hours before it died down. Jackie was in the middle of brewing some coffee when the door chimed, signaling a new customer.
Once she turned to greet them, a young boy, around her age, strolled up to the front counter. He had a tall, lean frame, his hair was a dark brown that could pass as black, and moles spread across his face, "Hi, what can I get you today?"
"What's good?" He asked as he took a seat, resting his palms flat on the countertop, "First time."
"I can tell, I never see you around," Jackie noticed, "We have coffee, tea, and every pastry you can think of."
"I'll have your usual," The boy ordered.
"You got it," Jackie nodded, "You're putting a lot of trust into a stranger, food is a very special thing."
"You look trustworthy," He replied quickly with a smirk. Jackie hid her smile well as she walked away to put together his order. Her usual order consisted of a chocolate croissant and cappuccino.
"Voilà," Jackie came back shortly with his order.
The boy rubbed his hands together, ready to dig on before he stopped himself, "how much do I owe you?"
Jackie shrugged him off, "I got it, first-time customer appreciation." Jackie chuckled, "So, do you have a name or do you expect me to guess it?"
He eyed her for a second before saying, "It's Alex."
"Alex," Jackie repeated, the name rolling off her tongue, "I'm Jackie." She introduced herself, " What brings you to Tree Hill?"
"What makes you think I'm a foreigner?" Alex quirked an eyebrow at her before biting into his chocolate-filled pastry.
"Small town," Jackie said simply, "I don't see many new faces around here."
"I'm living with my uncle for a while until my home situation back in South Carolina gets figured out," He informed her, taking a sip of his cappuccino.
"New school in the middle of junior year?" Jackie winched, "That's gonna suck so bad."
"Eh," He shrugged, "It won't be, I already made a new friend." He pointed out, gesturing towards the blonde, "I say I'm off to a pretty good start."
"Charming," Jackie offered him a soft smile before checking back on one of her other customers. Alex didn't stay much longer since he had a specific time to report back to his Uncle but the two assumed that it wouldn't be the last time that they would see each other. Once Jackie returned home, she was more than happy to find out her mom was called into the hospital, thus, pushing their engagement conversation back.
Once Monday rolled around, Jackie was back to trying her hardest to ignore the current reality surrounding her relationships in Tree Hill. Luckily for her, she expected to have a lot of fun at the Annual Boy Toy charity auction along with Peyton and Haley after school. It was the one night a year when girls around Tree Hill place the highest bids on boys they would like to spend the night with, which always ends in a special midnight kiss.
Jackie joined Peyton, Haley, and the rest of the cheerleading team on the floor of the school gym. They formed a large group as they waited for the next boy to get on the stage, "See anything you like?" Haley addressed both of them.
"Oh, I'm seeing everything I like," Peyton answered with a laugh, "But I think I'm going to bid on Jake."
Jackie eyed her, a little suspiciously as she thought back to Nick's concerns with Peyton and Jake, "What about Nick?" Unfortunately, Nick couldn't participate this year since he was out sick after his trip weekend trip to Charlotte with the team.
"I get him for free," She winked, "Besides, Jake and I are becoming really good friends, he could use a hangout after all the stress he's going through right now."
"Right," Jackie didn't question her decision any further, she just hoped Nick doesn't let it get to him if he finds out.
"I get you," Haley agreed with Peyton, "I'm bidding on Lucas, I haven't gotten a chance to spend time with him much lately, is that okay, Jack?"
"Yeah, Of course," Jackie waved him off, "I wasn't planning on bidding on anyone, just wanted to watch the boys humiliate themselves," Jackie turned back to the stage to see Tim stride out, "Speaking of which..."
"Oh no," Peyton and Haley groaned in unison.
Tim walked down the stage confidently as he shrugged off his jacket, swinging it around before dropping it. Jackie used her hand to hide her laughter as he danced ridiculously. The longer he danced, the stronger Jackie felt the secondhand embarrassment, "Do I hear thirty dollars?" Whitley asked in the mic as Tim swayed his backside to the crowd, "How about twenty? Can I get a ten spot?"
"Eight dollars?" Deb pulled out some dollar bills from her purse.
"Sold!" Whitey banged the gavel on the podium. The girls laughed as Tim gave Deb an intense, almost scary, stare.
"Jake's up next," Haley informed the girls as she read off the paper, looking over to Peyton, "How much money do you have?"
"Eighty-seven dollars and fifty-three cents."
Jackie instantly started smiling as Jake came through in a Ravens mascot costume with his jersey thrown over it. He smoothly took off the headpiece and handed it over to Whitey as the crowd cheered, "Twenty dollars!" Peyton yelled over the crowd.
"I have a bid for twenty dollars!" Whitey announced, "Do I hear thirty?"
"Thirty!" A voice yelled over to Whitey.
"Thirty dollars!" Whitey repeated, "Forty?"
Peyton and random girls in the crowd went head to head with their bids. Peyton ended up bidding all of her money but it still was not enough with someone bidding a hundred dollars. Jackie looked down at her paper to see who was next in the lineup. She let out a breath as she read Lucas' name.
The crowd immediately cheered as soon as he stepped foot on the stage. As awkward as he was, the girls still loved him, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous as the girls immediately started bidding. The two of them locked eyes for a moment and she was the first to break the contact, "one fifteen!" Haley out bided the girls, winning Lucas for the night.
Next up, Nathan popped out from behind the curtain, winning over the crowd. He tossed his sunglasses over to Mouth who worked as the DJ for the event. The crowd grew wilder as he strolled further down the stage.
Jackie's eyes widen and she immediately covered them as he pulled off his pants, relieved to notice he had basketball shorts under them, "Eighty Five!" A blonde girl bided right before he ripped open his shirt to reveal the words BOY TOY written in blue across his chest.
"How much money do you have?" Haley turned to Peyton again, knowing Jackie wasn't participating in the bids.
"Well, with the five you have me, ninety-two dollars and fifty-three cents."
"Okay, bid it!"
"What?!" Peyton and Jackie both looked at the girl as if she was insane.
"You have to bid it," Haley encouraged, "I want you to buy Nathan to keep him away from them," She tilted her head, signaling over to the screaming girls, "Please!"
"Ninety-two dollars and fifty-three cents!" Peyton bided.
"One hundred nine dollars and forty cents!"
Jackie's eyes widen, "Jesus! Here," Jackie handed Haley over a twenty dollar bill, who handed it over to Peyton thankfully.
"One hundred twelve dollars and fifty-three cents!"
"Sold!" Whitey banged the gravel. The three girls cheered together, "Now, we have one special guest." Whitey told the crowd, everyone looked at their peers in confusion.
"Special guest?" Jackie looked down at her paper, not seeing any other name below Nathan's.
"This will be our last boy of the night so loosen up your purses, pucker up those lips, and remember, this is for a good cause," Whitey points toward the curtain, "Come on out, Fresh Meat!"
A tall boy popped out from the curtain with his head down, shades, and a black hoodie covering his head. Mouth played Hot In Here by Nelly, the boy waiting for the perfect moment to start unmasking himself along with the beat, throwing his accessories into the crowd, "Alex?!" Jackie exclaimed with a laugh.
"Who?" Peyton and Haley looked toward the blonde.
"He just moved here," Jackie informed, not looking away from him as he strolled down the stage, stopping over at some of the girls to shamelessly flirt by winking or grabbing their hands. The crowd went insane for him, even more than for Nathan and the rest of the boys.
"Forty dollars!" Jackie bided, surprising herself as well as her friends. Alex noticed with a small smirk, which she returned.
"What happened to not biding?" Haley teased, nudging her.
"A girl can't change her mind?" Jackie smirked as another girl raised her bid, "Seventy dollars!"
"Ninety-five dollars!"
"A hundred!"
"A hundred twenty and..." Jackie counted her coins carefully, "eighty-six cents!"
"Going once...going twice...Sold!" Whitey banged the gavel one last time.
"Ha!" Jackie celebrated causing the boy, as well as her friends, to laugh.
After the auction, the girls all coupled up with their boys for the night. Jackie ended up bringing Alex to her favorite arcade to start their night together. As they walked through the door, the sound of laughter and video games filled their ears and their eyes dilated at the flashing lights. The two were about to start a game of air hockey before Alex thought of something, "Every time a person scores, they get to ask the other person a question."
"Fine by me," Jackie agreed, "Just be prepared to do a lot of talking."
The two spent the first few minutes trashing each other before Alex successfully scored on her, "So, tell me the general stuff about you first."
"My full name is Jacqueline, I'm an April Taurus, I love baking, I'm ambidextrous, and I'm currently avoiding my not-so-much of an "ex"-boyfriend. He's technically not an ex but we will just go with that."
Alex chuckled, "This not so much on ex-boyfriend wouldn't mind me spending time with you would he?"
Jackie smirked, getting ready to continue the game, "Even if he did, who cares?"
They focused on the game once more, but this time Jackie scored. She thought of her question for a second, "Were you excited when I bid on you?"
"Honest?" He asked and Jackie nodded, "I was hoping you had at least fifty cents more than the other girl." He admitted, making her laugh.
The two spent a good bit of time hopping from game to game. By the end of the night, Alex mustered up more tickets than her but he ended up giving them all to her. She redeemed the tickets getting a large stuffed teddy bear and a few pieces of candy.
"I cannot believe you saw me at school today and failed to mention that you were gonna be a part of the auction."
"Eh, they threw me in last minute," He shrugged, "They needed an extra body since some guy got sick, plus they thought it would be entertaining to see someone new."
"That some guy would be my best friend," Jackie laughed, "You filled in for Nick."
"Ah," He snapped, "Yeah, that was the name. I met the other guys back there too. Nathan, Jake, and, uh..." He trailed off waiting for her to remind him.
"Lucas," She said, he could feel her energy changing.
"Oh," He instantly put two and two together, "Is he the...yeah, we're going to need some food in order to talk about this."
Alex dragged her over to the bar, ordering an order of nachos and some drinks to share, "Lay it on me."
"I don't think I should, I'm getting over it now," Jackie ran a hand through her hair, "Besides, I need to learn more about you new boy. Tell me something that I wouldn't assume just by looking at you."
Alex thought for a minute, "I'm into blondes."
Jackie side-eyed him before laughing, "C'mon be serious."
"Okay, well," He rubbed his hands together, "I love photography, I own a good bit of cameras, I can play the guitar, and in middle school, I had a crush on this girl who was Puerto Rican so I spent my entire summer learning Spanish to impress her."
"You're joking!"
"Desearía serlo, pero no lo soy."
"You're ridiculous," Jackie laughed along with him, "So, photography? That's nice, maybe you can show me some of your work."
"Only if you bake me something," Alex offered the deal.
"We can arrange something," Jackie took a sip of her drink. She looked up at him confused as she rose from his stool, holding out his hand, "Where are you going?"
"I meant right now."
"Now?" Jackie furrowed her brows.
"Yes, now, c'mon," He urged, "We have a few hours until midnight."
Jackie reluctantly took his hand as she lead the way out of the building and back to her car. He lead the way to his Uncle's house which surprisingly wasn't too far from her own. His room was filled with unpacked boxes and other miscellaneous items, "Sorry for the mess," He excused himself, taking out a huge box filled with pictures, "These are all the ones I've taken from the past year."
Jackie looked through the box, analyzing each of the pictures carefully. The first stack was photographs of different places across the U.S. and pieces of nature through microlens. The second stack consisted of models, around their age, conveying different emotions and mental struggles. The third stack was the same but this time, it was only one subject, "Who's this?"
The girl had smooth, brown skin with dark, tight curls. Her eyes were a dark brown, there was something sensual and alluring about them, almost like a siren. The girl was beautiful, to say the least.
Alex leaned over to see the stack to see, "That's my not so of an ex-girlfriend, Marissa, " He mocked the blonde, causing her to laugh, "Thankfully, it wasn't messy. We just moved on to different things, plus I moved so," He sighed, "Yeah."
"Do you miss her?"
"We're still friends, she calls now and then."
"But do you miss her like, romantically?" She rephrased her question when he grew quiet, she changed the subject, "Your work is amazing, I mean, they all tell a unique story. It's great really, you have talent! When did you get into photography?"
"Thank you," He smiled, before he thought, "When I was fifteen, I joined my school's photography club just for fun but then I found it really interesting, started to branch out and get my own equipment to mess around with. Then, I fell in love."
"Do you have a Polaroid?"
Alex didn't say anything as he searched through one of his boxes, pulling out the camera and giving it to her, "How could I not?" Jackie got a nice grip on the camera before raising it to her eye level, pointing it toward Alex, "What are you doing?"
"C'mon, when was the last time you had your picture taken?" Jackie asked, "Let's go." Alex started to do some silly poses and faces, making the girl laugh wholeheartedly. He grabbed the camera from her and turned it to face her, "Your turn, work the camera," He instructed.
Jackie copied him with the funny faces and poses, throwing in some serious ones, every now and then before suggesting they take some together. Since Alex was taller, he held the camera above them, taking a few selfies with different poses. By the end of their session, polaroids of themselves were scattered along the bed.
With a few hours to spare, the duo headed over to the Ellis' residence to allow Jackie to show off her baking skills. Alex sat at the kitchen island as Jackie threw on her apron and placed her now short hair behind her ears, "What's on the menu?"
"The best homemade chocolate chip cookies of your life served with your choice of whatever ice cream I have in the freezer."
"Yeah, right," Alex scoffed, "Only one person has the best homemade chocolate chip cookies, and that's Grandma Miller."
"We'll see," She took on the challenge and began to prepare the dessert. Alex watched her in awe for a few moments before he spoke, "When did you get into baking?"
"Not too long ago," Jackie remained focused, "I'm still learning. Every new recipe is trial and error, you know? But I do enjoy it."
"Do you think you'll continue with it when you're older?"
Jackie slowed down her whisking, "I haven't thought about that. Maybe, who knows? I don't really think I'll be able to make a living off it so I never made any preparations."
"Who says you can't?" Alex waited for her answer but she didn't respond, "Exactly, if you love it then why not?"
"It's not like it would be that simple."
"Nothing in life is."
Jackie hummed in agreement, "You have a point."
The two didn't mind the comfortable silence between them while Jackie worked her magic, after about thirty minutes of preparation and cooking time, the cookies were hot and ready. She let them cool a little bit before serving them with Vanilla bean ice cream. She watched expectantly as Alex took a bite out of one of the cookies and then the ice cream.
Alex hid his facial expression, "Meh," He shrugged cooly. Jackie playfully hit him with the towel that draped over her shoulder, the two let out a laugh, "I'm just joking, these are amazing really. Don't tell my grandma but you might have one upped her with this recipe."
Jackie let out a cheer before digging into the dessert herself. After a few minutes of enjoying the cookies and a little small talk. The clock hit midnight, Alex helped her clean up the mess before she walked him toward the door, "I think you owe me something," He grinned.
Jackie playfully rolled her eyes before pulling him by his shirt, closing the gap between them. The kiss was short and sweet but no less than electrifying, Jackie's eyelashes flutter as she pulled away. With a smile, Alex pulled open the front door to reveal Lucas standing there mid-knock.
DYLAN O'BRIEN
as ALEX MILLER