jamie stepped out of her third period feeling hopeful. she ended up really liking her gov & econ teacher, ms. rome. with the incident of this morning sitting momentarily forgotten, jamie had started feeling genuinely excited for her senior year. as she and matt made their way to the lunch table, she could feel stares and whispers around her, but she didn't really mind. it's not much of a rumor if it was true, anyway.
side by side, jamie and matt stepped outside the building.
"i'm so glad i get to eat." matt sighed. "i didn't have breakfast this morning."
"you never have breakfast, matt." jamie shook her head with a smile.
"hey, don't judge! i'm still full from dinner when i wake up." matt protested.
"what?" jamie laughed. "matt, your dinner is already digested by then, you can't still be full."
"well, i am." the two laughed as they approached the table. nick, isaiah, and caroline haven't arrived yet. matt and jamie continued to talk to each other. jamie was so into their conversation about who has the better driving skills, she almost missed paris pull chris to the opposite side of the courtyard.
"look at them." she said before matt turned his head to see what she was looking at. "i still can't believe he did this. that she did it."
"why don't you try to get him back?" matt suggested. "make him feel bad for doing this shit."
"what?" jamie finally pulled her eyes away from the couple. "you mean like make chris jealous?"
"well, that's part of it." matt agreed. "basically, you're trying to make him feel like shit because he's making you feel like shit right now."
"why are you a genius?" jamie asked. "like that is such a good idea!"
"what's a good idea?" nick approached them. behind him was isaiah and caroline.
"i was saying that jamie get with someone to make chris mad. maybe someone he hates." matt explained.
"or someone he loves." caroline added. everyone turned to look at her with question. she shrugged. "i mean, chris is dating paris. the girl who was basically your sister. you loved her more than anyone. so maybe, try to get even by dating someone chris loves more than anyone."
everyone turned their eyes toward matt, including jamie. matt's eyes widened when he realized their proposal.
"no, absolutely not."
"why not, matt?" nick asked. "chris got with jamie's best friend. so why doesn't jamie get with his best friend? aka, you."
"i'm not doing that to chris." matt shook his head. "why not ask nate or someone else."
"because nate won't get to chris as much as you will." isaiah added. "matt, you came up with this idea in the first place."
"exactly." caroline rolled her eyes. "besides, you and jamie don't even have to actually date. just stay friends, but when you're around chris and paris, you hold hands and act cute."
"we won't even be kissing, matt." jamie said. "but i will ask someone else if you really don't want to."
"no." matt shook his head. "i came up with the idea, so i have to follow through. he's not going to talk to me again, though."
"he'll get over it." nick said. "it'll bother him for weeks and he might even fight you, but he has no right to be upset because he did the same thing!"
"i can't believe we're doing this." jamie covered her mouth. "first day of school and i'm already plotting revenge."
"it's not revenge." caroline assured her. "we're just giving chris a taste of his own medicine."
"it's all well deserved." nick agreed. matt sighed before taking a smushed sub in a ziploc bag out of his backpack
"i'm gonna feel so guilty about this guys. i don't know what i'll do if chris stays mad at me for long. he's literally my other half."
"matt, you don't have to—"
"jamie, stop." matt looked at her. "i'm doing this for you." he looked down at her hands. "but we aren't starting right away. otherwise it would be too obvious that we're trying to ger to them. we need to ease into it."
"look who suddenly turned into the expert!" isaiah smirked. "what's your plan, matt?"
the group eagerly discussed the newly thought of "operation: get him back." they decided that in the coming weeks, jamie and matt would start acting closer to each other: talking more than usual, walking everywhere together, and even interacting often on social media. they would do this especially in front of chris and paris. once people start catching on about something between them, they would go for a soft launch, maybe on the finstas since not too many people follow it, but chris will still see it.
"this is so mastermind of us." jamie said as they finished up lunch. the bell was about to ring, so they quickly cleared their table and started walking in groups to their next class.
"how you are, actually, jamie?" caroline asked. she had stayed behind to walk with jamie, even though her class was upstairs and jamie's was down.
"i've been better, definitely." jamie replied. the two started walking toward the building. "nick told me about you and paris. i'm sorry, carol." caroline waved her off.
"please, i'm always on your side, james." she said, putting her arm around jamie's shoulders and giving her a side squeeze. "what happened between paris and i was inevitable. we weren't as close as you two were, anyway."
"still." jamie said. "we were all friends. and—" jamie stopped speaking as the new it couple passed them, arm in arm. jamie felt like throwing up. paris glanced back at her and their eyes met for a split second before turning back around. jamie shook her head.
"i can't believe i have english with her next period. he's probably walking her to english."
"hey, at least he's not in your class. first and last period are the only times you guys are actually going to have to talk at some point this year." caroline said.
"yeah." jamie shrugged. "to be honest, i'm praying the art teacher doesn't seat us alphabetically like mrs. hadley did. i cannot go through that again." caroline scoffed.
"please, with your luck, you'll be paired with him instead of infront of him." jamie sighed, knowing caroline was probably right.
"i'll see you later." she said, giving the girl a hug once they arrived at the class.
"bye, james. text me if you get bored."
"i will." jamie walked into the classroom. she noticed the perfect empty seat right in the middle of the row by the wall. she loved sitting against the wall. it was the greatest opportunity to take a nap. she sat down and decided this was officially this year's nap class.
"this seat taken?" a voice snapped jamie out of her thoughts. she looked up at paris and at the seat right next to her. she didn't really want to speak to paris at all. or ever again for that matter. but she didn't want the teacher to see her being mean. especially since students were now starting to fill up the other empty desks.
"go ahead." jamie said, avoiding her eyes.
"j, about this morning—"
"i really don't want to talk to you about this morning, paris. or about this morning at all. or to you."
"i know, but i just want to say i—"
"paris, please." jamie shut her eyes. "leave me alone." she turned away and looked down at the desk in front of her. all she wanted to do was lean against the wall beside her and take a nap. it was right after lunch and she was tired. however, she decided until after the teacher finished her interruptions to take that opportunity.
she didn't even realizes class had ended until she felt a tap on her shoulder from the girl sitting behind her. jamie was suddenly energized from her small nap. she walked to her study hall with a smile. just one more class after this and she was done! she didn't even care that chris was in her art class anymore. she just wanted to go home.
during study hall, which jamie was taking instead of a science class this year, she finished all of the first day assignments that her teachers had already given her. she even finished the math assignment, though she spent that whole class texting nick. once she finished her work, she decided now was a good time to finsta post her current situation.
because what other thing to post about when your ex got with your best friend?
INSTAGRAM.
liked by notasaint and 52 others
yeswhale cried to this town too many times today
view comments.
carolbellsring why are u posting this during class
— yeswhale its study hall carol. the selfie's from this morning.
bigmanbernie its ok baby we can start fresh today hey!
— yeswhale hallelujah!
— crazy4sparklingice i forgot this was a dominic fike song for a sec
isaiahsphotodump not this town
— yeswhale u dont get it.
yungmoneygamer same
COMMENT DELETED!!
bigmanbernie anyone else see that?
— yeswhale see what.
— mayaastember i saw that.
— carolbellsring i saw it too.
— yeswhale WHY ARE WE LURKING IN MY COMMENTS SEE WHAT?????
bigmanbernie got a bottle for TWOOOOO
— yeswhale matt enough with the dominic fike lyrics
— bigmanbernie why.
— yeswhale no
— bigmanbernie YOU EVER WONDER WHYYYYYYYY
+++
jamie was already working in her sketchbook when chris entered the 2-D art classroom. this was the only art class out of the five offered at their high school that jamie had not taken yet. chris had just needed a fine arts credit to graduate, so he decided to take this class with jamie while they were dating. it was far too late to get out of it now. to jamie's relief, chris had taken a seat in the back of the classroom, while she was seated in the front. she noticed one had yet to take the seat right next to her (the tables were in groups of two.)
"good afternoon everyone!" the art teacher, ms. tylers exclaimed once everyone had gotten settled. she noticed the empty seat next to jamie and looked around the room. "you!" she pointed to the back. "you don't have a partner. come right here next to jamie. our first assignment requires you to work with the person next to you."
jamie's smiled faded when she saw the figure take a seat next to her.
"you're fucking kidding me." she sighed. if ms. tylers heard that, she didn't seem to say anything about it.
"my name is ms. tylers." she continued. "i've been the art teacher here at somerville for six years now. i teach every one of the art classes, so if you have taken one of them before, we've already met!" she glanced at jamie, who beamed at her. ms. tylers was the only teacher jamie felt truly comfortable with. "today's assignment is simple. draw the person next to you. it doesn't matter if you're good. it doesn't matter if you've never touched a sketchbook in your life. try your best. that's all i'm going to say. good luck!"
the class started to buzz with excitement. jamie and chris avoided each other's eyes. jamie skipped to an empty page in her sketchbook and started to draw.
"you really aren't going to look at me?" chris asked finally. jamie looked at him in the eye for the first time since this morning.
"i know what you look like." was all she said before returning to her sketch. chris looked after her helplessly. of course he knew what she looked like. he didn't need a picture of her to remember to her eyes, lips, and nose. but he sucks at drawing. when they dated, she would always try to give him tips in art, while he helped with her writing. that was how they worked. now they're barely speaking.
"something wrong?" ms. tylers walked up to the table. she looked between the two and noticed jamie already working without so much of a glance in chris' direction. then she understood. this was the boy jamie told her about last year. "you're chris?" she asked. chris nodded. ms. tylers suddenly felt guilty for pairing the two together.
"i've heard a lot about you, ms. tylers." chris started. ms. tylers smiled at him.
"i could say the same about you." she replied. jamie tried not to look up at her. last thing she wanted was ms. tylers to feel bad. "let me know if you need help." she said before walking away to another table. jamie heard chris sigh deeply before seeing him bend over his paper in her peripheral vision. she knew chris always struggled with drawing. he never figured out how to draw a nose.
"draw me with my hair down." jamie offered to him, finally looking up. chris met her gaze with a look of question. she rolled her eyes. "it's easier to draw me with my hair down rather than in the ponytail it's in right now. you won't have to draw the ears."
flashback - seven months ago ( a week before they broke up )
"stupid. fucking. EARS." chris rubbed his eraser against his paper for the fifth time, ultimately making a whole. jamie laughed before giving him a new sheet of paper.
"chris, calm down." she said. "we're just drawing for fun, it doesn't have to be perfect."
"but you're perfect." chris replied stubbornly. "i can't draw you without trying to make it perfect." he huffed before throwing his pencil down. "i give up."
"let's do something else, then. something that doesn't require you to draw ears." jamie offered. "we can watch gilmore girls?"
"okay!" chris perked up. he didn't even have to hide the fact that jamie's favorite show has him invested. he needs to see what happens now between logan and rory. jamie grabbed her laptop from the foot of the bed and chris joined her against the headboard. she opened up netflix and the two got comfortable before clicking play.
"jamie?" chris asked after a couple minutes. jamie hummed in response, her eyes not leaving the screen. "how am i going to survive 2-D art next year. i can't even draw an ear." jamie paused the show and looked up at him.
"ears are hard to draw. i didn't get them until i had already been drawing for five years. ms. tylers will understand. and she'll teach you. i can help, too!"
"you promise?" chris asked her. jamie smiled at him before leaning upward to give him a kiss.
"only if you help me with writing." she said. chris kissed her back.
"what kind of man would i be if i didn't?"
flashback over.
"thanks." chris mumbled. jamie could tell he thought of the same memory she had. both of them went back to their drawings. after another twenty minutes, ms. tylers announced that time was up and everyone turned in their portraits.
"by the way." jamie reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded sheet of paper. "this fell in my backpack. i think it's yours." she placed it in front of him just as the bell rang. chris was about to respond, but jamie had already walked out of the classroom. she didn't want to go through the same thing that had happened after first period. she could not spend another second with chris if she wanted to prevent that. call her dramatic, but that's the truth.
she met up with matt and nick in the parking lot.
"chris is getting a ride from paris." matt told her. "so we can leave."
"thank god. i'm sick of school already." jamie said as she took the passenger seat — chris' usual seat — in the minivan.
"you want us to drop you off at home?" matt asked, getting into the driver seat as nick sat in the back. "or you could come back to ours."
"i think home." jamie said. "no offense to you guys, but i cannot see chris or paris right now. besides, i need to tell maya everything."
"it's no problem. we get it." matt replied. he pulled out of the parking lot and drove the usual route to jamie's house, which was only a couple houses down from their own. he pulled up in front of the driveway. "text me later, okay?"
"i will." jamie promised. she waved at them before exiting the car and going into her house.
thank god the day was over, she thought as she stepped inside. never in her life did she think that chris and paris would do something like that. but knowing jamie, if someone goes low, she goes even lower.
maha speaks :)
that ending sucked lowk
but lmk how fast u guys want this like should i have her and matt start right away or like kind of ease into it and they dont actually do anything until like chapter five or six