Author's note:Hey guys!!! :D FINALLY UPDATING, RIGHT? Haha, yes. I made it super extra long this time, because I felt bad for keeping you all waiting for so long! :O Okay, well lot's of shock in this chapter, and I hope you all like it! :) Remember to comment, vote, and become a fan if you didn't already! :D and by the way guys, Jack is 15. He is only one year older than Tom and Tom just hangs out with older guys. So enjoy once again lol! But he is two years older than Jannel, which isn't actually that bad. also, I dedicated this chapter to TeamCullen0401 because she is a great writer and really nice and helpful! Check out her story! It's really good! :D
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*Recap*
Just then, a guy walked out of the bathroom next to us, and turned towards me with a signature smirk, a smirk that can't be forgotten.
"Hello, Jannel." he said.
Jack.
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I stared, wide-eyed, into Jack's smirking eyes. Jack started to inch his way toward me, and I quickly jerked my eyes away from him, and ran, full-speed, into the women's restroom.
I heard Jack saying, "Jannel, wait!" as I ran, and slammed the swinging door behind me. I scampered into one of the pink stalls, slamming and locking the door behind me. I sighed and sat down on the toilet. There was no way that I was going back out there. I can't believe Jack would do this to me! I mean, he's done some things, but this is just low. There's no doubt that he knew I'd be his 'blind date'. I don't know how he found out, but all I know is that I've never hated him more than I do right now. I mean, I was nervous about this blind date thing in the first place, but now, I have to go with someone I hate.
I picked up my purse and started emptying the contents onto my lap. Lip gloss, eyeliner, mascara, my cell phone, a couple of crumpled up receipts, my wallet, and a little mirror. I started re-applying some pink lip gloss, and then started putting the things back into my purse. As I had everything put back into my purse, except my cell phone, I set my purse on the floor and scrolled through my contacts list. As I was just about to put my cell phone back into my purse, my hands flinched and my cell phone fell from my reach. I squeezed my eyes shut, then soon heard a small, 'plop'.
"Please no, no, no, no, no, no." I whispered to myself.
I opened my eyes and looked down, to confirm my fear.
"Crap," I cursed to myself.
There it was, right at the bottom of the toilet. I sighed and stood up. Gosh, what else could freaking happen today? I quickly stuck my hand into the toilet and picked up my phone. I wrapped it in some toilet paper and stuck it in my purse. I ran out of the stall and started scrubbing my hands with soap and water. After about the fifth wash, I dried them off. I heard the bathroom door open, as I started to fix my hair in the mirror.
"Jannel! What was that?!?" the voice I knew as Mallory screamed at me.
She walked over to me and I turned to her.
"I just don't think I want to go through with this blind date any more," I admitted.
"B-but, I set this whole thing up. That Jack guy over heard us talking at school and said that he knew you. So I thought he would be perfect for you," she went on.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Jack and Tom go to your school?"
"Yeah, didn't you know?"
"No, I did not," I started.
Tom would be getting some talking to when I got home.
"Also, Jack is not and never will be perfect for me. He's the complete opposite. Plus, I thought he had a girlfriend," I continued.
"Well he probably broke up with her or something. Just give the guy a chance. He seems to really take a liking to you, and an opportunity like this might not come around again," she explained.
Gee, thanks Mallory. It's good to know you think I can attract guys. I wanted to tell her so much about Tom, but she would only go all crazy with questions in her weird, loving, friend way.
"No, you don't understand. Jack is....Jack, and I just can't be here with him," I attempted to explain to her.
"Why do you hate him so much?" she asked.
"Well........I can't really explain this to you now, but you have to understand," I pleaded.
"Well, I can't just tell him that you hate him, so just stick it through this one night, and then if you really hate him that much, then you never have to see him again."
"Unfortunately, I do," I mumbled to myself.
"Did you say something?" Mallory asked.
"No," I answered, a little too quickly.
She furrowed her eyebrows at me in anticipation and curiosity, but then shrugged it off.
"Okay," she simply said.
We walked out of the bathroom and turned to the boys. Jack was standing there, casually, with his hands in his pockets, leaning up against a wall. I couldn't help but think how hot he looked just standing there. Wow, I've really got to stop thinking about that, I mentally slapped myself.
(Jacks POV oh yes, I went there. lol. And by the way, this was earlier)
I watched as Jannel ran into the bathroom. Shit.
'Another douche move from Jack,' I thought to myself.
Why did I even do this? I can't actually be falling in......love, can I? No. No way. This is just for a laugh. Right? I thought about asking her why she was even on a blind date when she's supposed to be dating Tom, but I could tell he was lying from the moment she walked into the room and spun the bottle. No one ever thought that he could get a girl. Especially someone like Jannel. About ten minutes had passed, and I turned to Jannel's friends, whom I just met about two days ago. I was getting worried and wondered if someone should go in there.
One of them read my mind and said, "I'll go in and see if she's.....okay."
I nodded in agreement. She made her way into the bathroom, and I sighed, leaning against the wall. About five minutes later, the two came out and Jannel looked at me. I saw a hint of lust clear in her eyes.
I smirked and said, "You guys ready to see the movie?"
(Back to Jannel's POV WHOO HOO haha!)
"You guys ready to see the movie?" Jack asked, with a smirk.
Typical.
"Yeah," I muttered.
We walked into the theatre, and took our seats in one of the middle rows. I sat next to Jack, and Mallory, Amie, and Clarissa sat next to their boyfriends. The movie trailers began, and, of course, it was a scary movie trailer. I jumped at a part that popped out in the trailer. I'm that pathetic. Jack put his hand on mine and gave my hand a squeeze. I looked at him and he had a concerned look on his face. This was weird. Jack never cares. What gives?
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
He nodded, and I pulled my hand away from his. I continued watching the trailers, closing my eyes and jumping at some parts. Then, finally, after ten minutes worth of grueling trailers, the movie started to begin. Part of me wished I could just snuggle my face into Jack's arm and stay there for the whole movie, but no way was I going to do that. The lights completely dimmed, and the beginning credits flashed on the screen.
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The movie lasted about two hours, and was so scary, I almost cried. By the end, I was practically in Jack's lap. Well, I wont be sleeping tonight. Now, Mallory's mom was here, and we were getting in the car. The guys had already left about ten minutes ago. Mallory's mom was late, and it was now raining hard, so we were soaked by the time we reached the car. And you'll never believe this, but right when we closed the car doors, the raining stopped. Figures. Mallory's mom began to laugh at the sight of our clown-like faces, with our mascara running and make-up smudged.
"Mom! It's not funny! You were late, and now look what happened!" Mallory raged.
"I-I haha I'm sorry hunny, but you guys just look pretty funny," she admitted.
I looked in the car mirror and busted out laughing. She was right. We did look pretty funny.
"What's so funny?" Amie asked.
"Nothing, it's just, we do look pretty funny," I said.
After that, we all just started laughing, looking at our ourselves in the mirror. Mallory's mom then started the engine, and we were off. Aside from almost peeing my pants, this was a pretty fun night. In about twenty minutes or so, we were pulling into the driveway of the castle, and I then thanked Mallory's mom for the ride.
"Anytime, hun," she replied.
I ran into the front door and took off my shoes, almost tripping in the process. I raced upstairs to my bathroom, and scrubbed at my face until the make-up came off. I looked at a clock on the wall and it told me that it was only 7:00 P.M. Wow. It felt like a lot longer. I walked back downstairs, and bumped into Jack.
"Well, we seem to be running into each other a lot today, don't we?" I asked, in an accidental flirtatious way.
"Yeah, we have," he said.
"Well, is there something you needed?" I asked, seriously.
"Yeah, I was just thinking, maybe I could hang out with you tonight. Like maybe go for a walk. Have a little fun," he said.
"You know I'm dating Tom."
"Oh Jannel, come on. Drop the act. We all know your not really dating him. I knew Tom was lying the minute he brought it up."
"Really?" I asked, a little shocked. I thought I did a pretty good job. Kind of.....
"Yeah. So what do you say?" he asked.
"With you? No thanks."
I began to walk towards the dining room, when he stopped me in my tracks.
"Come on, Jannel, please? I'm seriously not as bad as you think. I just want a second chance," he said.
For the first time ever, I believed what was coming out of Jack's mouth. I don't know if it was the way he looked at me with a meaningful glint in his eyes, or the tone in his voice, but all I knew, was that I really did believe him.
"Alright," was all I could think to say.
Jack smiled. An actual smile. Not a smirk, but a beautiful smile. He took my hand, and I felt electricity surge through my entire body. I never felt this way when Tom and I held hands. All I could wonder was if he felt it, too. With out hesitation, I followed him out the door, and into the falling evening. We walked down the driveway and onto the old, cracked, road. Jack continued holding my hand as we walked. You would think that this would feel awkward, but it didn't. It felt right. After walking for about thirty minutes, my feet began to grow tired. We had been talking about things such as school and sports. Which I have never played. I learned Jack is on the football team, and is in honors math. Impressive.
"Come on, you don't know how to shoot a basket?" Jack asked, laughing his butt off.
"Hey, be nice. I grew up a spoiled princess. I don't know anything about sports other than the fact that they're a, 'complete and utter violation in the distribution of royalty'," I said, using a British accent, and stating what my trainer always told me.
Jack laughed. "Well, I will deffinately have to teach you how to do that sometime."
"Yeah, that would be cool," I said, shyly.
Jack smiled at my shyness.
We still hadn't reached downtown, where our destination was. I was beginning to think we may be getting lost. Jack must have noticed my tiredness, because he stopped walking and turned to me. I followed suit.
"I can give you a piggy back ride if you want," he said.
I laughed, but then shook my head no. "You don't have to do that."
"It's okay. I want to."
I nodded, and slowly climbed onto his back. He started running, full-speed, down the sidewalk we had been walking on.
"Jack! Slow down!" I screamed.
"No! Or else were never going to get there," he yelled back.
"And where is 'there', anyways?" I asked.
"Well, you know. Here, there, everywhere," he said back with sarcasm.
"Good answer," I muttered.
About ten minutes later, we were downtown. I don't know how he gave me a piggy back ride for that long without getting tired. We walked around for a little while, after I got off his back, and talked. We had a pretty good conversation going on about how superman pawns all with kryptonight, until he brought up Tom.
"So why did you do that for Tom if you hated him so much?" Jack asked, after I told him the whole story.
Then I felt guilty about being here with Jack, like I was stabbing Tom in the back. I pushed the feelings aside.
"Well, he said he would stop bugging me at the time, and now he's not really that bad."
"Oh," was his only reply.
"But Jack, you have to promise that you wont ever tell Tom what you know, or that I told you anything. Please."
"Don't worry. I wont."
I smiled. "Thanks."
"No problem," he said, returning the smile.
I could imagine if girls would throw themselves at him. Primping behind the corner, right before he turns it, and then giving him a flirtatious smile. I boiled at the thought. Was I jealous? But this was especially because of his smile, his actual smile.
We rounded a corner, and before we knew it, we were walking down a dark, creepy alley. I squeezed Jack's hand, starting to feel scared. He looked at me, about to say something, but then both our heads turned to what was moving in the shadows, simultaneously. A large man appeared out of the darkness, and I looked at Jack, who was now standing in front of me, protectively. I just noticed he wasn't holding my hand anymore. It felt cold and lonely. When the man walked into the light, I saw it was the guy that tried to kill me the other day. Didn't Tom give him the message? Some people never learn. I shivered, in fear, at the thought of him.
"You thought you could get away from me, princess? Well you were wrong," he growled at me.
"Your going to stay the hell away from her." Jack growled
I've never seen him so angry before. Come to think of it, I've never really seen him angry at all before.
The man let out a dry, low chuckle. "So now you have your little boyfriend fighting your battles for you?" he asked.
There was silence in the air as the man pulled something out of his pocket. He held it up revealing it as a knife.
Jack slightly turned his head towards me. "Jannel......run," he whispered, so only I could hear.
"Not without you," I whispered back.
The man was beginning to walk towards us.
"Jannel, just do it. I will be right behind you," he whispered.
I didn't answer back, but decided to obey him. In a flash, I whipped around and ran as fast as my legs could take me. My hair blew behind my face, a couple strands getting caught in my mouth. I spit them out, then I reached the entrance of the alley. I then realized that I didn't hear footsteps behind me, so I turned around. I saw Jack fall to the ground and the man start to run down the alley at me. Why did I listen to Jack? Why couldn't it have been me getting stabbed? I wanted to scream, cry, and go help him, but the man would only kill me. Tears began to heavily stream down my face.
"Forgive me, Jack," I whispered to the night cold air.
Thankfully, the man was a pretty slow runner, so I ran to the left of me, and found a local garden, about two shops down from the alley. I found some tall shrubs, and ran into them. I got myself positioned and peered through the little holes of the bushes. Finally, I saw him walk by, angerly stomping, and muttering things to himself. I exhaled, as if I had been holding my breath in anticipation. I hustled out of the bushes and ran out to the sidewalk. I rushed back to the entrance of the alley, almost tripping over the cracks on the sidewalk in the process. I then ran, with all my might, down the alley, until I reached Jack's lifeless looking body. I knelt down next to him. I started shaking his body, attempting to get him to come back into consciousness.
"Jack.......please. Don't leave me. I need you," I kept whispering.
I rested my head down on his stiff chest. I started sobbing. I can't lose him. I just realized that. I felt a sudden movement underneath me. I lifted my head up slowly to see jack now standing up. I stood up and looked at him. I wiped my tears away, before he could see. He was smirking. Smirking??!?!?! What the heck?!
"So what was that about you needing me?"
"I-I- um," I stuttered.
My cheeks were flaming red.
He chuckled. "Your so cute," he muttered.
He leaned in and crushed his lips against mine. I instantly wrapped my arms around his neck and wound my fingers in his hair. He let out a small moan. He rested his arms on my back, right above my butt. Our lips moved together in sync. In about five minutes, we pulled away. I smiled, but then I looked down, and saw the blood stain on his shirt.
"Oh my gosh! Jack!" I yelled.
I unbuttoned his shirt and gaped at both the big gash in his stomach, and his abbs.
"It doesn't hurt too much," he lied.
I barely touched the wound, and he winced.
"Jack, we need to get you to a hospital or something. This is bad," I went on.
I didn't even know where to begin in helping him. I can barely look at blood without gaging. The cut wasn't too big, but it would most likely need some stitches.
"No, we don't have time for that now," he said.
"Well, my mom used to help mend wounds, so maybe she can help you. We just need to get you back to the castle," I said, my voice cracking at the last part.
He nodded in agreement, trying to look calm, but I knew he was worried. He took my hand, and we began to walk out of the alley, him limping a little. As we entered the sidewalk, I felt numerous buzzes coming from my pocket. I pulled out my phone, and gasped, almost dropping it. My mom had called me twenty times! I quickly called back her number, surprised that it even still worked from dropping it in the toilet earlier.
"What is it?" Jack asked, worriedly.
"My mom called. Alot."
After one ring, she answered.
"Jannel??!?!?! Oh thank God. Where the hell are you?!?!!"
"I'm so sorry, mom. I forgot to tell you. I went to hang out with Jack."
"What?!!? You know I don't want you going out alone with a guy anymore!! Not after what happened the last time!" she screamed.
"Mom that was not Tom's fault! He's the one that saved my life!" I yelled back.
"Jannel, I want you to come home right now and your grounded for a week! Do you know how stressed out I was trying to figure out where you were? Your father almost had to send a search party."
"Grounded? Mom, come on!"
"Just be home within the next hour!"
Then the line went dead. I put my phone angrily back into my pocket. Jack turned to me.
"Jannel, how did that guy know you? And what was your mom talking about?"
So I told him the whole story, from the mall, to the moment I got home. Jack looked at me with sympathy clear in his eyes.
"Let's get you home, Jannel," was all he said.
I could tell Jack wasn't very good or familiar with comforting people, but I didn't blame him. I wouldn't know what to say, either. We walked back to the castle as fast as we could, him offering still to give me a piggy back ride, but I wouldn't allow it. Not in his condition. Once we finally reached the driveway, which felt like it took five hours, but in reality only took forty minutes, we walked up to the front door. Before I even had a chance to open the door, it was quickly opened by my angry-looking mother.
"Get your ass in here!" she screamed in my face.
Ah, the nurturing voice of my mother.
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How did you guys like it?? Jack changed a little, huh? Let me know, Team Jack or team Tom? The song to the side is called gravity! I thought it suited this chapter! Also, just a random thought, do you guys like ghost adventures? It's like one of my favorite shows!! Hahah vomment!!!!!!!