after wiping her eyes, jamie took a deep breath. she didn't want to face chris again, but she knew that ms. tylers would start getting worried. exiting the bathroom, jamie made her way back to art class. the art teacher made eye contact with her through the window of the door before opening it.
"jamie? is everything okay? where's chris?"
"hi, ms. tylers. yeah, everything's fine. i'm sorry for running out like that."
"do you want to talk about it?" ms. tylers asked. jamie looked inside the class. some kids were looking out the door, as if trying to listen to what was going on.
"i'll tell you later, i promise." jamie said. "but i'm not sure where chris is. we kind of argued and he went after paris and—"
"don't worry about it. if he's not back in the next half an hour, i'll call the office."
"okay."
jamie walked into the classroom and read over the assignment on the board: draw a picture of your interpretation of 'love.' jamie scoffed, thinking about her current situtation. she pretended to think about the prompt, as if she didn't already know her view on love. after a moment, jamie took out her sketchbook and immediately began to draw whatever came to mind.
"chris!" ms. tylers exclaimed fifteen minutes later. jamie looked up from her sketch. she watched as chris explained some story to the teacher, who only nodded in understanding.
"just make sure it doesn't happen again. go sit down." she said. chris walked toward his and jamie's table. it was only now that jamie noticed his eyes: they were only slightly red and puffy. if they didn't know chris as well as jamie did, any person would not be able to tell he was just crying. jamie looked away almost as soon as chris looked in her direction. she focused back on her sketch.
it was of a broken picture frame. one that was in the shape of a heart and held the picture of a couple. it was nearly identical to the one that happened to be in a box shoved in the bottom of jamie's desk drawer. the only difference was that the frame in the drawing seemed to be broken, cracked right in the middle.
for the rest of art class, jamie tried her best to ignore chris. she couldn't face him right now, not after what he told her earlier. and definitely not after she just had a breakdown in the bathroom over a day that was ten months ago. when the dismissal bell rang, jamie closed her sketchbook, promising ms. tylers that she would finish the sketch at home, and rushed out of the classroom. she needed to be as far away from chris as possible. however, on the way to the parking lot, she bumped into someone else.
"matt?" jamie asked, surprised that the boy didn't even seem to notice her. matt looked up, alarmed.
"oh, jamie." he relaxed. "hi."
"hey." jamie greeted, awkwardly. "um, how are you?"
"i'm doing okay." matt shrugged. "been better." he started to walk with her to the parking lot. "how about you?"
"i'm good." jamie lied. she figured chris would probably tell matt what happened later. "listen, matt..." she started, but matt cut her off.
"you don't need to apologize to me." matt said, softly. "i already told you earlier i'm not mad."
"yeah, but i still feel bad." jamie admitted.
"well, don't. it was my choice." matt said. "and let's not talk about it, yeah?"
"sure." jamie replied, biting her lip anxiously. matt didn't seem to notice. he seemed lost in thought. "everything okay?" jamie asked. matt looked at her, but avoided her eyes.
"yeah. listen, james, i have to go. i'll see you later?"
"oh." jamie couldn't help but feel disappointed. "yeah, of course." she watched as matt hurried off into the parking lot
"jamie!" isaiah approached her from behind. "what's up?"
"hi zay." jamie greeted him, though her eyes were still fixated on matt, who was just getting into his car. nick and chris still weren't out yet.
"jamie." isaiah waved a hand in front of her face. "why are you staring at matt?"
"i'm not staring at matt!" jamie defended. "i'm just worried. he was acting weird just now."
"how so?"
"i don't know. we were talking all fine during lunch but right now he was barely looking at me and all of a sudden he stops the conversation and runs off. he's like...distant, almost." isaiah furrowed his eyebrows.
"that is weird." he said. "do you want me to talk to him? or i could ask nick if he could find out anything."
"no, it's okay." jamie assured him. "i'll just text him later. thanks, though."
"of course. hey, are you, by any chance, able to give me a ride home?" isaiah asked, looking up from his phone. "my dad just texted and said that he'll be late."
"sure!" jamie smiled at him just as maya came out from the building.
"hi j! who is this?" she looked at isaiah.
"i'm isaiah. jamie and i have math together."
"oh!" maya grinned. "nick talks about you all the time during digital design class." she said. isaiah tried not to smile.
"is that so?" he asked. "i'll have to ask him about that later."
"i'd pay to be there for that." jamie said. "now, let's go. i have so much to tell you guys in the car." she led the two to her car before calling caroline and telling all of them the events of last period.
"no fucking way." caroline said over facetime. "the way i would have killed to see paris' face when chris said that."
"i don't know." jamie admitted. "i kind of felt bad for her. she looked crushed."
"like how you looked when you saw them walk into school that first day?" isaiah asked. maya nodded in agreement.
"yeah, she low-key deserved that, jamie." she said. "i don't even know why you were friends with paris in the first place."
"she was my best friend, maya." jamie told her. "i've known her since i was three. i guess i kind of saw past her fakeness since we were so close. i never noticed it."
"no one really did." caroline admitted. "i wasn't the closest with her but that was only because she had a sort of protective nature over you. i assumed it was because you guys were so close, she didn't want to lose that."
"well that's a lie if i ever heard one." jamie scoffed. "if she didn't want to lose me, she shouldn't have dated chris. hell, she was the first person i called the morning after the breakup. she spent months helping me get over him and then went and stabbed me in the back."
"so you agree with us, then?" isaiah asked. "she deserved hearing chris say that."
"i guess. but that doesn't make me not feel a little bit guilty."
"it because you're too nice, james." maya told her. "you have to feel zero sympathy for that bitch."
"maya! don't say that!" caroline gasped. "aren't you literally twelve?"
"i'm fifteen, actually." maya narrowed her eyes. "who are you, again?"
"alright guys, enough." jamie intervened before the group started laughing. as she drove, jamie was feeling incredibly lucky to have met isaiah and caroline. even though she'd been friends with carol since middle school, the two have gotten even closer since the beginning of the school year.
and for that, jamie was kind of grateful that her ex-best friend dated her ex-boyfriend, although, she would never admit it aloud.
maha speaks :)
that ending sucks balls forgive me please.
the next couple of chapters will hopefully be better!