IMESSAGE
nick
hey j
jamie
nick hey!!
its been so long
nick
i know omg
i miss u so much
how's europe been
jamie
it was great!
genuinely dreading school td.
nick
about that
um
see
chris got with someone over the summer
and im not gonna say who bc you'll see
and you have full rights to get mad
jamie
wdym
nick we broke up in february
im over him fr fr
nick
its not that...
you'll see when we get to school
but i thought i should warn you
so now you have a heads up
jamie
heads up ab what...
nick
look up.
jamie looked up and towards the door of the school. after a moment, it opened and a nervous looking nick walked in and started scanning the hallway. once he spotted jamie, he grabbed matt's hand behind him and ran to her.
"hey, nick, look out!" matt yelled as he almost bumped into people. "sorry about him." he apologized to students around him. the two stopped in front of jamie and nick let out a deep breath.
"we are here for your support." he said. matt nodded beside him.
"just know, we have no part in whatever he's doing."
"guys, please." jamie laughed. "what is going..." she trailed off and her smile dropped as her gaze stopped at the door behind them. there was chris.
holding hands with her best friend, paris germaine.
"paris?" jamie faltered before her eyes welled up with tears and her expression went from confusion to hurt and anger. she walked up to the couple. "what the actual fuck?" she raised her voice slightly, causing a few heads to turn. luckily, it was still thirty minutes until the bell rang, so there aren't as much people.
"oh my god." paris stopped, her smile fading. she dropped chris' hand.
"fuck you." jamie said before she could say anything else. she turned to chris, who tried to avoid her eyes. "you both can go to hell." she turned on her heel and stormed off, pushing past the small crowd of students that was starting to form.
"jamie!" paris ran after her, catching up to her around the corner. "jamie, hear me out."
"are you kidding me?" jamie turned around. "paris, i trusted you. you're my best friend. and you got with the same guy who had me devastated for months."
"i know, and i'm sorry. i swear we didn't mean-"
"you didn't mean to get together with my ex. we dated for four years paris. it took me months to get over him. you knew that and you still..." jamie trailed off, trying hard not to let the tears fall. "i have to get to class." she said.
"jamie, please." paris' eyes held a look of pleading. jamie scoffed.
"leave me alone." she looked over paris' shoulder and saw chris with a concerned look on his face. his eyes held a look of guilt when they met jamie's. she shook her head and turned around, leaving both teens feeling terrible.
about twenty minutes later, jamie was sitting against the wall, near her first class, drawing in her sketchbook. she hated having to start the day with creative writing. her brain is never working this early in the day and especially since the whole thing this morning, her mind was still spinning.
"you okay?" she heard a voice and felt someone sit beside her. she looked up and saw isaiah riskin, a boy she's known since middle school, but never actually had a conversation with. all she knew about him was that he was good friends with nick. "i saw what happened this morning. i know you and paris were really close, so it was fucked up what chris did."
"yeah." jamie replied, bitterly. "really fucked up. she was like a sister to me, too."
"um, paris was that close of a friend to you, she would care more about your friendship than her relationship with chris."
"you think so?" jamie asked. "but they've been dating for almost a month now. they got together while i was in europe."
"oh. that's fucked."
"yeah." jamie replied. she turned back to her sketchbook. it was a sketch of an eye that she had been working on for a couple days. she was just coloring it in now, the tip of her periwinkle colored pencil was getting dull and she didn't have her sharpener on her.
"that's a cool eye. any specific person's?" isaiah asked. jamie shook her head.
"no, i just... love blue eyes." she lied through her teeth. they were his eyes. chris' eyes. isaiah opened his mouth to respond before the bell rang and more students started walking towards the classroom. both teens stood up.
"it was nice talking to you." jamie smiled at him, weakly. "i'll see you later?"
"yeah!" isaiah smiled back. they waved at each other before walking into adjacent classrooms.
as jamie stepped into the classroom, she scanned the room for classmates and hoped she would recognize at least one person. she sighed before taking a seat in the middle of the room. the teacher walks in a couple moments later.
"hey everyone! welcome to creative writing 101 for college credit. i'm mrs.hadley. i know most of you guys are in your seats already, but don't get too comfortable because i'm going to be seating you in alphabetical order in just a couple minutes." collective groans were heard across the classroom. miss hadley shook her head. "i know it sucks, but it's just temporary. this makes it easier for me to remember everyone's names. and once i know you guys, you can sit wherever you want for the rest of the year."
students started shuffling around, getting out of their seats. once the bell rang, mrs.hadley started calling out students' names. jamie zoned out, as her name begins with an s.
"jamie stember?" mrs.hadley called out after five minutes. jamie snapped back to reality and moved to the first seat of the last row. she was glad to be in a corner of the classroom, rather than surrounded by too many people she didn't know. and her desk was right against the wall, so she could easily lean against it. she sat down lazily with her back slumped agains the wall and took out her sketchbook again to work on another sketch of her little sister, maya.
"christopher sturniolo?" jamie's head shot up from her sketchbook in a panic. she had completely forgotten that the two had signed up to take this class together. before they broke up. she felt the stare of a couple kids who witnessed the scene earlier this morning and tried to ignore them as she looked around the room. chris wasn't there.
"christopher?" mrs. hadley repeated, this time looking around herself. as if on cue, someone knocked on the classroom door. mrs. hadley went to open the door. "are you christopher sturniolo?"
"yes ma'am." chris responded sheepishly. "i'm sorry, i was in the bathroom and then i got lost." a couple kids let out laughs. mrs. hadley dismissed it.
"don't worry about it. you'll sit over there behind..." she points to jamie and looks down at her clipboard. "jamie." chris looked at her and jamie immediately back down. the last thing she wanted was interaction with him. chris walked over and sat at the desk directly behind her. in the way jamie was seated against the wall, she could see him in her peripheral vision. he was looking at her.
"is that maya?" he asked. the class had forgotten about them and mrs. hadley was finishing the names on her list.
"no." jamie answered sarcastically. she continued to work without looking up at him. chris sighed and took his own notebook out of his backpack. he opened it up to the first page, where he had already started writing something. he ripped the paper out of the notebook and crumpled it into a ball before setting it on the edge of his desk. jamie tried not to let her curiosity get the better of her. she knew that chris enjoyed writing more than anything. that's why she agreed to take the class with him.
this made her remember that he had also agreed to take art with her. she froze, trying to process the fact that she had to see him again, at the end of the day.
"jamie?" chris frowned. he hated seeing her anxious. even though he was the one causing it. jamie ignored him, instead focusing on mrs. hadley, who had just started to give an introduction to the class.
the fifty-five minutes bore on, with jamie getting more and more restless. she needed to get out of this class. she needed to be away from him before the memories of the last four years start coming back to her and she breaks down in the middle of mrs. hadley's rant about her summer trip to texas.
the minute the bell rang, everyone started getting out of their seats. jamie shot up from her desk, accidentally knocking into chris' desk. she picked her backpack from the ground and zipped it up before leaving as she could. she didn't look back towards chris as she hurried out of the classroom and into the nearest bathroom. jamie placed her backpack on a small counter away from the sinks, but by another mirror. she got up and sat on the counter, bringing her knees to her chest and leaning her head against the mirror behind her. she closed her eyes, trying not to let the tears escape as she thought about chris and everything that had happened between them. she hadn't thought about him in a while. at least not in the relationship aspect. she thought she was over him.
jamie opened her backpack and started looking for her phone. her hand brushed against a ball of paper. finding the cell phone, she takes out both items. she recognizes it as the paper chris left on his desk. he meant to throw it out, but it probably fell into her open backpack when she bumped into his desk as she got up. hesitantly, jamie opened the sheet of paper. from outside, she heard the bell ring. she was officially late to her second period on the first day of school, but she couldn't care less about that right now. her eyes welled up with tears as she read chris' messy handwriting. there was no title and most of the piece was mostly scribbled out and erased, but jamie could make out just one sentence.
everything comes back to you.
that was when the tears started to fall. "this town" by niall horan was her favorite song. her and chris had danced to it back when they were fourteen, the day he asked her to be his girlfriend.
jamie cleared her throat and shook herself out of the daydream. she checked the time on her phone. six minutes late to calculus. she wiped her eyes and saw mascara smudges on her hands. she gets off the counter and grabs a paper towel before wiping her eyes and using the mirror to get the excess makeup off. jamie faked a smile in the mirror before sniffling. it was obvious she had been crying. she contemplated skipping class but then again, it's the first day of school. jamie took a deep breath before nodding to herself and grabbing her backpack off the counter. she saw the wrinkled paper still sitting on the counter and stared at it for a moment before folding it up and putting it in the pocket of her jeans as she left the restroom.
the hallways were empty. jamie navigated her way to her class and knocked on the door. her teacher opened it for her.
"jamie?" he asked. jamie nodded. "you're fifteen minutes late."
"i'm sorry, sir." she apologized. "i really don't have an excuse, i was just in the bathroom." the teacher looked at her. he noticed the slight redness in her eyes and his eyes softened before nodding.
"just make sure it doesn't happen again. you can sit over there." he points to a seat in the back of the class. jamie thanks him before avoiding the eyes of her classmates as she sat in her seat. she recognized one or two from her first period. they definitely know why she was late.
"you alright?" jamie looked up to see isaiah sitting next to her. she nodded.
"i'm fine."
she spent the rest of the class trying not to think about the paper and chris and everything that happened this morning. she felt a soft buzz in her jacket pocket from her phone. looking up at the teacher, whose name was mr. lopez as she learned from the white board, she made sure he wasn't looking toward her as she took her phone out and hid it under her desk.
new imessage notification!
from: nick
OPEN , IGNORE
nick
jamie.
are u okay?
jamie
no
i just came into math 15 mins late
mr lopez was nice ab it tho
he could tell i was crying so he let me go
nick
YOU WERE CRYING????
jamieyeah.
nick
why
jamie
bc of chris LOL
i forgot i have creative writing w him
nick
OH MY GOD I FORGOT
IM SO SORRY
wait
doesnt that mean u guys also have art tg.
jamie
yes!!
but thats last period tho
so i dont have to think about it much until then
nick
good
anyway i was gonna ask
where are we meeting for lunch
jamie
uhhh
whats easier for u.
nick
well me and carol have lopez 3rd
jamie
i have gov&econ then
with matt i think
nick
kk we can meet by our table from last year?
jamie
perfect
nick
ALSO
can isaiah join us for lunch
he and austin broke up last week so
he can't sit with their group anymore
jamie
omg yeah ofc
im in class with him rn
nick
TELL HIM I SAY HI
jamie
are um
they going be joining us for lunch
nick
actually no
carol was super pissed ab the whole thing
she and paris had a big fight ab it and don't talk anymore
jamie
oh
nick
yeah uh
we actually all dropped them bc of this
me and matt only still talk to chris bc yk
but carol doesnt talk to either of them anymore
jamie
good for her.
this is why i love caroline.
nick
okok i have to go.
ill see u at lunch!!!
jamie
bye!
maha speaks :)
long chapter for the first one i hope u guys enjoyed
please note that not all chapters will be this long! i just wanted to give a good introduction before things start to go a little more shorter or longer paced later on.
i missed you guys!!