Now I know I said I wouldn't update any of my old stories until "Lesson One" is finished, but I decided to give you guys a treat for being so patient. I'm sorry for making you wait, but you have to understand I started these stories over six years ago and retouching them is proving difficult. Anywho, enjoy and much love - Jade
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I sighed heavily, collapsing onto my bed. Only it wasn’t my bed; not really. It was Jakeson’s. I was only a guest in his house regardless of how much he insisted I consider it ‘home.’ It wasn’t, no matter how selfishly I wished it were. Brendon and Skylar were right. I couldn’t live with him forever. Or much longer at all. I’d already told him this morning I needed to move out. I’d been set on discussing the move but that, like everything else, didn’t go according to plan.
A knock sounded on my door and I looked up nervously. Not now. If that was Jakeson coming to talk I was prone to snap. I couldn’t handle his hurt expression when he asked why I needed to leave. The only way I’d avoided it so far was because of the Skylar fiasco. That had worn me out enough all on its own.
“Rein,” Matthew’s voice called through the door, “I know you’re in there.”
With a groan I pulled myself from the large bed. “What now?” I asked, pulling open the door.
He took me in with a quick scan of his blue eyes. “It’s only five and you’re already locked up in your room?” he asked, inviting himself in as he strode past me. I watched, with eyebrows raised, as he sat on the edge of the bed and grinned up at me.
“What else is there to do?” I asked, my eyes flickering to the door in my hands. As much as I hadn’t planned on actually talking to Matthew I didn’t want to risk his brother coming in. An open door in this house seemed to be an invitation. Only Matthew would try to talk to me when the door was closed. Seeing as he’d already let himself in I closed the door to avoid Jakeson joining us as well.
“Spend time with your boyfriend?”
I rolled my eyes at his teasing tone. Matthew was such a little jerk sometimes. Only I wasn’t sure why I still considered him as being younger. He was older than me, and in my grade. But after being around Jakeson and the gang I had just gotten used to being the ‘younger brother.’ “I’m not dating anyone,” I sighed, shaking my head.
“Yeah I know,” he responded, earning a questioning glare from me. Matthew just smirked, laying his torso back on my bed. “You came home with Jakeson,” he pointed out.
That was another thing about him; his attitude. I got the feeling everything was a game with him. It almost reminded me of Kale when I first met him. Only Matthew was much more playful than perverted. “Then why ask?” I sat on the bed, a short distance from him.
“To see what you’d say,” he laughed, sitting up and looking over at me. He’d always been direct. It was actually kind of refreshing.
“How does coming home with Jakeson have anything to do with my relationship status?” I asked, pinching his cheeks. The instant scowl that came to his face made me smile.
Matthew knocked my hand away, giving me a little glare. He responded so cute to my teasing I almost wanted to ruffle his hair just to see him pout. It was only funny because he looked adorable when he tried to glare at me, because usually he didn’t like to let people irritate him. He was like his brother in that way, except Matthew scowled at my antics. “Well he’s in a good mood, and you’re locked away up here. Jakeson hates Skylar, so he wouldn’t be happy if the rumors were true.”
“Ah right, I forget you know everything about everyone,” I responded dryly. According to him I was spoiled. I hadn’t forgotten our little argument.
He grinned, tilting his head as he leaned towards me. “Not everything.”
I reached out and flicked his forehead when his eyes darted down to my breasts. I’d started to undo my school shirt when I’d laid down and it was undone one button too far for my liking, It was weird. Very few of the girls buttoned their tops all of the way like I did, and I didn’t notice people always ogling them. Yet every time I had a little more skin than usual showing suddenly I was being eyed up left and right. “Is that all you came to bother me about?”
“Why are you moving out?”
Straight to the point. I blinked into his blue eyes a second. Wait; how did he find out? “I’ve stayed here long enough. Like you said, I can’t hide forever.”
Matthew shook his head, his brown hair swaying. “I didn’t mean to move out. You’re not ready for that,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
The stern look he gave me reminded me of something Jakeson would do and I scowled. “I can handle Kale just fine, thank you very much,” I snapped.
“Says the girl hiding from my brother?” he asked, pairing it with a little chuckle. “Face it Rein, you’re not the girl you used to be.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, unable to defend myself. He was right; I was hiding from Jakeson.
He let his torso fall back onto the bed, staring up at me with his big blue eyes. For a second he took me in before smirking. I had the urge to flick him on the forehead again, but didn’t get around to it because he started talking first. “You used to be the girl with the military daddy. Grew up trained and could play football like a tank. Everyone was intimidated by you.”
“No one was intimidated by me,” I scoffed. This was just crazy. I didn’t even know where he got all this information.
“Your only friends were the elite guys,” he pointed out. “From day one you totally skipped over everyone else and only talked to them. Pair that with the fact they bragged about how good you were at football and you’re no longer a typical girl.”
I stared down at him, surprised by what he was saying. “I barely ever talked to you then,” I pointed out. “How could you possibly-“
“People gossip,” he cut me off with a sly smile. “You don’t know that because you’re part of your own little world. I knew all about you before my brother ever got around to introducing us.”
The sad part was I didn’t doubt it was the truth. Today had been a perfect demonstration of how quickly word could spread. Everything had gotten twisted so quickly that I’d heard more rumors than I could count over something as simple as holding Skylar’s hand. Only it hadn’t been simple; it’d been stupid. “What do people think now?” I asked, trying to hide my worry. I already knew the answer. People hated me.
“Since when have you cared what other people think?” he asked, pulling my eyes back to him. “That’s how you’re different. Now you’re used to being spoiled and suddenly you’re doing what you think others expect you to, not what you want to do.”
I didn’t know what surprised me more, his words or the truth they held. Once more I was finding it impossible not to admit he was right. I’d been changing since the first day I’d stepped foot in California. Still, hearing it come from Matthew was weird. “I’m trying to change that,” I informed him. It was true. I desperately wanted to sort things out with Jakeson. And Kale. And Brendon. Aye curumba I’m screwed!
“How?” he asked, openly curious.
“Like I’d tell you,” I scoffed, reminded of Skylar trying to dredge information out of me. I wasn’t sure what it was Matthew was doing talking to me in the first place. He wasn’t playfully hitting on me like he usually did. Nor was he trying to set up a prank for us to pull on Jakeson.
“Why not?”
“Because-“ I stopped. I didn’t really have a reason. What did it matter anyways? Maybe talking about it would help. At least Matthew would be honest about whether my plans were half assed. He’d made it clear he didn’t think highly of the guys always being by my side for aide. Doing this alone was going to take some thought.
Once more he sat up, leaning towards me with an interested expression. “What happened with Skylar?”
My eyes danced over his face. For some reason I felt like there was no reason not to tell him the truth. He’d probably hear a million twisted rumors soon enough, and I’d rather he knew the facts. “I agreed to hold his hand for a stupid reason. Things escalated; I realized my mistake and told him it’d never happen again.”
“How’d he take it?”
“He wasn’t happy. I had to turn him down-“
“Skylar just let you go?” he cut me off with a disbelieving question.
I shrugged. “I didn’t give him a choice. I let him know he was strictly friend zoned.”
“I knew you never liked him,” he grinned. “No one in their right mind likes that asshat.”
“Hey,” I reached out, flicking his forehead with a loud thwap, “he’s still my friend.”
Matthew glared sourly at me, rubbing his forehead. “You have weird friends,” he grumbled, “you know that?”
You have no idea. I laughed, doing back up the buttons on my shirt. I’d just noticed his eyes flicker to my breasts once more and I’d had enough. I wasn’t going to encourage him to check me out, even though the unbuttoned blouse had barely shown cleavage, and instead made a point of playing it safe. “You’re one to talk. I’ve never met these imaginary friends of yours,” I teased.
He smirked, “Do you want to?”
I shook my head. “No thank you,” I declined his offer. I already had more boys on my hands that I could either comprehend or handle. I didn’t understand why they’d possibly be attracted to me. I honestly thought it’d be a fleeting thing.
“You’ll change your mind this summer,” he grinned, blue eyes sparkling.
“Oh, and why’s that?”
The mischief in his eyes made me nervous. It was a look that said he knew something I didn’t know. If it had been Kale giving me that look I would have known he’d torture me with curiosity to get his way. Matthew on the other hand wasn’t like that. “Next year it’ll just be me, you, Kale and Frankie. Everyone else is about to graduate.”
How could I have forgotten?! There was a little under a month of school left. Three weeks. I realized. Three weeks and they can go to college. It was impossible to hide my upset reaction. “I forgot.”
“Even Skylar will be gone,” he grinned, the information clearly making him happy. “That means I go up on the ladder.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Matthew stood up, fixing his messy brown hair. “I’m popular for our grade Rein. Me and my friends alike. The only reason I’m not a part of Jakeson’s troupe is because unlike Kale I didn’t want to be,” he flashed a smirk down towards me. “Next year we’ll be the top dogs. Frankie and Kale are already making moves.”
“They are?” I asked, bewildered but not surprised. There was an entire side to highschool I knew nothing about. Well, really I didn’t know anything about any of its sides. I’d been going along just happy to have made friends, and totally turned a blind eye to the fact some of those very friends were developing feelings for me. I didn’t know if it was because I didn’t want to have to deal with it, or I was just so shocked by the idea of it all. Why on earth would they want me?
“Kale’s using this next year’s varsity to his advantage. You know, looking at the drafts seriously this year. Being team captain has its perks,” he shrugged, staring down at me. His usual boyish smile was gone. Instead he looked somewhat serious; a face I’d only seen him wear around the house. “Frankie bringing you to the bluffs was a stand on his part.”
Once more I didn’t understand. “This is unbelievable,” I shook my head, “there’s no way people think that far in to it all.”
Matthew laughed, stepping forward to loom over where I sat. “It’s high school politics in all its glory. All of us spoiled brats have nothing else to do but scheme.”
One look at his smirk and I knew he was telling me the sad truth. “You really don’t,” I sighed. I was disappointed with teenagers as a whole. Why couldn’t we just all go about our business? Instead everything we did had to make its way through the grapevine. A smile to a friend would have ten different meanings to ten different people. I’d never even considered it. I liked playing oblivious. It was easier than playing the game.
“Don’t ask me why, but by Kale secluding you to his group early on you were spared from it for the most part this year. Next year will be a different story.”
And I’d thought I felt shitty earlier. Now I felt dread growing in my limbs. What the hell am I supposed to do? I had no idea how something like this worked. How am I supposed to figure out how to behave not to be hated? Things had always been so easy before. I just did what I wanted to do. I was always me. Maybe that had been my mistake? “I won’t be something I’m not,” I said out loud as I came to the conclusion. “I just have to be more careful is all.”
If I could pay closer attention to my friends I could avoid any of the situations I’d thrown myself into. As long as I thought before I acted I could pull it off. I’d still be myself, just not a blind idiot.
“See, I keep telling Jakeson you can take care of yourself and he just has to baby you,” he chuckled, still looming over me. I started to wonder just how the hell things had ended up like this. I was alarmingly allowing him to dominate the situation. I never would have let anyone stand that close in the past.
So I moved. I got to my feet, causing him to stumble back a step in surprise. I have control of this. I thought, in a voice I’d thought I’d lost. I’m the girl with balls, Mareusa raised me better than this. I smirked, going over to the dresser to pull out clothes. “So you said Frankie made a stand?” I asked, deciding I could at least use Matthew as a source of information. Just because I wasn’t going to change didn’t mean I didn’t want to know as much as I could.
“Showing up at the bluffs with you was a pretty big deal,” he shrugged, watching as I pulled out jeans. “It showed that you were his friend too, not just as part of the group. Kind of a heads up he wasn’t going anywhere next year.”
Never in a million years had I considered something like that would be the reason behind it. I’d never considered how bored these kids were. Growing up with everything they wanted had driven them to extremes. Why play with toys when you can play with people? I grabbed a shirt and looked over at him, standing in the middle of the room. He was just watching me, as he’d often do. In a way it reminded me of Kale, and how he’d scan over me without caring I was aware of it. “So Kale will have his football group,” I stated, understanding that much. It didn’t surprise me. “What about Frankie?”
“His dad’s the sports coordinator so he always has an in with the footballers,” Matthew said, clearly used to the workings of it all.
I nodded, heading towards the bathroom. He followed me with his eyes, staying where he was. Even as I closed the bathroom door and started to change out of my school clothes I knew he hadn’t left. We both knew I had a dilemma on my hands. Next year my only friend is going to be a part of Kale’s group. I can stand against Kale.
I knew that much was true now. But being friends with him and the people he’d chosen to surround himself with? That I wasn’t interested in. When I stepped out to see Matthew sitting on my bed once more, I looked over to him. “So what’s this you were saying about I’d change my mind this summer?”
Matthew grinned up at me. “You’ll meet my friends. It’ll be easy, you’ll see.”
“What’s easy supposed to mean?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow as I looked down at him.
“If you like them then you’ve got yourself another politics free year. Just stick with us and you won’t have to worry about anyone else,” he said as though it were the most obvious answer of them all.
Holy fuck. He’s serious. These crazy rich people really do play mind games. “You want me to be friends with your friends?” I asked, in wonder at the entire thing.
“It’s a small group of guys. We all do some football, but we’re big on the hockey. I have a feeling you’ll fit in,” he gave me a dangerous smile. “Only this time around we’ll make it clear they are strictly friend zoned.”
“You people use friend zone a lot,” I muttered, thinking back to Skylar. It’s a fitting term though. I decided, and gave Matthew a smile of my own. “But don’t worry. I’ll let them know I’m not interested in kids like you.”
As always he frowned. “I’m older than you,” he pointed out like he always did.
I just shrugged, snatching my jacket from the floor. “Whatever, let’s go.”
“Where?” he asked, getting up off the bed to follow me out the door nonetheless.
I smirked over at him, realizing I’d been right when I’d guessed he’d come along. It wasn’t hard to get him to do what I wanted, despite his claim he didn’t give into me like ‘all the other guys.’ He’s right. I realized, watching as he put on his shoes alongside me. They really do what I want them too, to an extent. Hadn’t I once feared that? I’d pulled some stunt with movies to show them they gave in too easily.
All I’d done was get used to it. “I want to clear my head of all this stupid shit,” I answered honestly. “You can join if you want,” I offered, deciding I should at least pretend to be inviting him even though I knew he was coming either way.
“Which car?” he asked with a grin, draping his arm over my shoulder.
I slipped out from under it, rolling my eyes. Sooner or later he’d get the memo. I just had to make sure to stay firm on that. “You have more than one car?” I asked. He’d asked me the question once before, but I still found it hard to believe. I didn’t even have one car, and that was because I couldn’t afford one. I needed a job. I knew Matthew didn’t have one; meaning his parents had gotten him not one, but a few cars. Rich people are crazy. The old familiar thought was once more in my head.
“I’ve gotten one every Christmas and birthday since I turned sixteen,” he laughed, as though it were a perfectly normal occurrence. “What do you want, sports or luxury?”
I hesitated, not sure how to even answer that. “Uh-“ I paused, considering my next words very carefully, “whichever car is your favorite, so much so that you won’t speed and kill us both.”
He just laughed, and opened up the front door for me. “I’ll be right out,” he informed me, disappearing as she shut me out on the front step. I hadn’t been lying. I was desperate to get away from it all for a bit and just relax. Matthew seemed surprisingly good at enjoying my laid back ways and I had a feeling he might be the perfect person to relax with. My first experiment at making sure I can keep someone as strictly a friend.
He pulled up in a burnt orange beauty of a Dodge Charger. I didn’t know much about cars, but I knew for certain what this particular breed was. I, like my father, liked these powerhouse vehicles. They reminded me of the classics I loved so much.
I didn’t have to fake my smile when I hopped into the car and grinned over at Matthew. “Nice choice,” I complimented him, accepting my life was closer to a dream than anything else.
“So where are we headed?” he asked, pulling down the drive way. He made a show of revving the engine with a smirk.
I looked at him for a moment before deciding. I’d had the perfect idea. Something I could do and really unwind. Pressure free. Fun. Harmless. “Bowling.”
Matthew bowling? This was going to be fun.