Alice
“He told you that Jason likes you?”
I nodded. “Yes. Well, he used the words ‘in love’ but yeah, that’s the general idea of it. Keegan is so stupid sometimes, I swear.”
“Are you sure about that?” Zoey asked me slowly and oddly quiet.
“What do you mean?” I questioned her as I brushed through my hair as we got ready for the Monday of school.
“I mean,” Zoey drawled out. “I think I might agree with Keegan. In fact, I really do agree with Keegan.”
“You do?” I questioned incredulously.
She nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, Jason admitted it to me, actually.”
“What?!” I shrieked at Zoey’s confession. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.” She insisted. “He told me on Saturday, actually.”
“Jason told you that he likes me?” I reiterated. I obviously must have heard her wrong or something, because me and Jason are just friends and I’m pretty sure that’s how Jason feels too. He’s a terrible liar, surely he wouldn’t be able to keep that secret from me. It’s kind of a huge secret to be holding, I think.
“Yes, but I’m not telling you this because I think you should ditch Lance for Jason, but-“
“I would never do that.” I said quickly. “Like, ever.”
“I know that, but I think that you should know so that you can help him get a girlfriend or something or like, help him get over you maybe. I don’t know, I just feel bad for the guy.”
“You feel bad for him?” I questioned, starting to paint my nails.
“Yes,” Zoey confirmed. “He’s got it so bad for you, Ali, and you don’t even know. It’s super sad, really.”
“That’s so not true. Now, go get dressed and don’t forget to wear red.”
“Why are we wearing red today?” She laughed, abiding by my request and moving towards the closet. “Are we celebrating Taylor Swift?”
I sighed loudly as I continued painting my nails with a deep red color. “I told you on Friday and it’s been all over school, Zoe. Today is Red for Equality at school.”
“Equality as in gay rights?” She wondered through the closet door.
“Yep, that’s the one.” I chirped.
“Okay then.” She sighed. “So I take it that we’re done talking about Jason then?”
“Yes.” I confirmed. “And hurry up because I still need to get dressed too.”
“Geesh, you’re bossy today.” Zoey teased as she walked out of the closet while I was fanning my hands around to dry the fresh paint. She was wearing a leather-looking red dress with a triangle of fabric missing from the center, exposing a part of her waist. She was wearing black platform booties and a demented black heart necklace with screws coming out of it, which was very creepy if you ask me, but I didn’t mention anything.
“I am not bossy.” I defended. “I’m just a bit tired.”
“Why are you tired? You had most of yesterday to spend all by yourself.”
“Yeah, well I’m just tired. Anyway, you haven’t told me about Saturday night with Danny, how’d that go?”
Zoey grinned at me and I quickly knew exactly how it went and I was silently hoping that she wouldn’t indulge in a play by play of her night. “Let’s just say that I’m still having trouble walking.”
I laughed at that and then made my way into the closet. “Good to hear, Zoe.” I soon came out of the closet wearing a long sleeve pleated chiffon blouse tucked into a floral lace fitted red skirt with tan vintage-looking tan shoes that matched my blouse and they had a low heel on them, making me about two inches shorter than Zoey since her heels were so much taller than mine. I wore a pendant necklace that was a long crystal with a silver snake wrapped around it. For makeup, we both used bright red lip stick and thick mascara and, to go all out with the red theme, we used Brittney Spears Fantasy perfume, which is in a red bottle and smelled amazing. I mean, obviously nobody will see that our perfume came out of a red bottle, but it was just an extra thing and I liked to go all out.
“Gosh, I don’t think there’s anything that Danny can’t do.” Zoey cooed.
“Are you talking in general or are you talking sex?” I asked her as we grabbed our school bags and then headed downstairs to go to school.
“Both, I think.” She giggled. “He’s just wonderful at everything.”
“I don’t know if you’re talking about dirty things or not, but I really don’t want to know details.” I insisted with a small laugh. “Anyway, to change the subject-“
“You’re the one who started the subject.” Zoey pointed out.
“Yes, well now I’m changing it.” I informed her. “We need to go Christmas shopping soon, it’s getting to be about that time.”
“It is about that time, isn’t it?” She sighed. “I have no idea what I’m going to get Danny.”
“Whatever you get him, I’m sure he’ll love it.” I assured her. “I think I know what I’m going to get Lance, and Jason, actually.”
“Do you know what you’re going to get me?” Zoey asked once we got downstairs to Jarrod and then we were driving towards the school.
“I think, I’m not sure yet though.” I replied slyly. “It’s going to be really cool, though.”
“Mine is too. I’m still thinking about what I’m going to get you, but it’ll be amazing.”
“I’m sure it will be.” I laughed. “We’re both great at presents, so they’ll both be amazing.”
“What are we even doing for Christmas this year?” Zoey asked.
I shrugged. “Hell if I know. I think my mom is coming home, but you know how that is.”
“She always makes it home for Christmas.” Zoey reminded me. “She’ll be here.”
“Right, I’m sure.” I mumbled, although I really didn’t think my mom would be home for the holidays this year. She’s been really busy lately with malfunctions and stuff, but she said that all of these problems are actually good because it means that more people are using the site, so I guess that is good. And December is a really busy month for a shopping site, for obvious reasons. I don’t even know if Patrick will be home, actually and as for my dad, I couldn’t imagine him wanting to spend the holiday with me so he probably will be a no-show as well.
For previous Christmases, Patrick would stay at the house for the morning and open presents with me and sometimes our parents if they were home, and then he’d go to some Christmas party with models and booze, which is always his scene.
As for Zoey, she always spends Christmas with my family, along with Lance. Their parents have a Christmas benefit in New York every year, so they’re never home, and Margaret always goes to that thing. We’re invited and Janet used to try and force Zoey to go, but it wasn’t the Christmas spirit, it was more business talks and boredom than Santa and presents, so she never went and Janet stopped trying to force it down her throat.
“Danny invited me to his family’s Christmas party, Joyce is super nice and he said that she wants me to come.” Zoey informed me. “I told them no, of course.”
“Why’d you tell them no?” I asked her, running my fingers through my hair again.
“Because, stupid,” She scoffed. “We spend Christmas together, I’m not breaking that tradition and I’m not leaving you on Christmas, that’s just ridiculous.”
“Right,” I sighed. “Well, if they’re offering you a legit Christmas, then you should go and take it, that sounds like a lot of fun, I think.”
“It does, but I don’t care.” Zoey insisted with a shake of her head. “We’re sticking together.”
“Okay,” I laughed as Jarrod pulled up to the front of the school and we both hurried out of the SUV, saying a quick goodbye to Jarrod. As we were walking into the school, I noticed that there were a lot of people wearing red of some sort, which was really cool to see, I think.
“So when you see Jason, act normal and stuff. Don’t let him know that you know because I told him that I wouldn’t tell you.” Zoey suggested.
“I wasn’t even thinking about that anymore, but thank you for reminding me of that terrible situation.” I fired back sarcastically.
“Sorry,” She laughed sympathetically. “I’m just saying that you shouldn’t act weird or anything because that’d make stuff awkward.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” I defended. “I know how to play it cool. I’m definitely not freaking out.”
“Liar.” Zoey caught on. “We’ll sit together at lunch today, so you don’t have to talk to him until seventh period, that’ll buy you some time.”
“You don’t want to sit with Danny, the first school day after your first time?” I asked her with raised eyebrows.
“What, is that bad?” She asked quickly. “I mean, we spent all of yesterday together, I’m sure he won’t miss me for one lunch period.”
“Okay, if you say so.” I sang, unlocking my locker as Zoey did the same beside me.
“Hey there,” Danny chirped, showing up on the other side of Zoey.
“Hello,” Zoey grinned. “what brings you to this neck of the woods?”
“I was just wondering if you wanted to go off campus for lunch today?” He wondered. Oh, how that boy has such terrible timing.
“No, not today. Alice needs me today, there’s a crisis.” Zoey quickly vetoes Danny’s proposal.
“Oh, about Jason?” Danny wondered nonchalantly.
I gasped and my jaw dropped dramatically. “How did you even know that?” I demanded in a hushed whisper.
“Because he told me…” He replied slowly, obviously confused about my amount of shock. But like seriously, did everybody know except for me or something? This was infuriating.
“He told you?” Zoey questioned. “When?”
“Last night, after I left your house.” Danny shrugged. “He was kind of freaking out about what your friend, Keegan, said.”
“This is terrible.” I groaned dramatically, shutting my locker with more force than necessary as all three of us started making our way through the hallway towards our first period. Well, not Danny’s first period, I don’t know what his first period even is.
“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Danny admitted. “You guys are practically famous, 80% of this school is in love with you.”
“You’re not helping.” Zoey deadpanned towards her boyfriend. “Go, get to class. You’re being such a guy.”
“Oh, um, alrighty then.” He shrugged before giving Zoey a quick goodbye kiss on the cheek and then saying a small goodbye. He disappeared down the hallway in the other direction and then it was just me and Zoey again.
“He’s so ridiculous.” Zoey muttered. “I swear, who says that?”
“Zoey,” I laughed. “Calm down, it’s really not that big of a deal. I’ll talk to Jason and get things figured out and everything will be fine.”
“You’re seriously going to talk to him about this?” She asked with raised eyebrows.
I nodded. “I kind of have to, don’t I? I still have three weeks of this project, I can’t just play dumb for that long. And even after the project, I’m still going to be friends with him. I mean, if he doesn’t like, hate me for some odd reason or something and doesn’t want to be friends.”
“You do what you think is best, Ali.” Zoey said as we entered first period, which Jason was in. However, we had assigned seats, and Jason sat at the front of the room while me and Zoey sat in the back. When we got into the room, he wasn’t there yet anyway.
“Oh yeah,” I snorted. “Like I know what’s best here.”
“You do.” She assured me. “You’ll do the right thing.”
I sighed heavily and leaned back in my seat. “I’m still not convinced that it’s true.”
“Yes you are,” Zoey insisted. “Keegan told you on just a hunch, but Jason actually admitted it to me and he admitted it to Danny. He likes you, Alice. Just don’t break his heart or anything mean.”
“I’m not going to break his heart.” I rolled my eyes. “Even if he does like me, he doesn’t like me that much, I know that.”
“Sure,” She chirped optimistically for my benefit. “And he really is a nice guy, so let him down gently. We can totally get him a girlfriend, I think.”
I laughed at that idea. “Yeah, let’s do that, Zoey. I think it would work.”
She nodded. “Yes, it would.”
The bell rang and I looked around for Jason, but he wasn’t in the room. I figured that he could just be late to school, but half way through the period, his desk was still empty.
“Do you think he’s skipping?” I whispered worriedly to Zoey. I really think that if Jason was skipping school because of this, then this mess has obviously gotten way out of control.
Zoey shrugged. “I dunno, he could be. Just call him or something.”
“What if he hates me now?” I whined.
She rolled her eyes at me. “That’s definitely not the case, Ali. He could just be sick for all you know.”
“Yeah, but he hasn’t missed a day of school at all, I don’t think.” I mentioned. “Even when he’s sick, he doesn’t miss.”
“Well, then call him and figure everything out.” She repeated.
I sighed heavily and realized that was my only option, to call him and see what was up. At lunch, me and Zoey sat down at our bench in the court yard and I made the phone call to Jason’s cell phone.
“He didn’t answer.” I whined, ending the call once it turned to his voicemail.
“Well, if you want to get super creepy, you could go ask his brother what’s up. What’s his name, Alec?”
“Aaron.” I mumbled. “I could, but wouldn’t that be like, really creepy?”
Zoey nodded. “Yes, but if you’re really worried, then it’s a good kind of creepy.”
“I really can’t stand that Aaron guy, though.”
“I’ll go with you, if you want. Or you can just wait until Jason gets back to school to find out what his deal is. Maybe he has mono or something terrible like that.”
“Right,” I sighed. “I’ll just go ask Aaron. You don’t have to go, though.” I realized how creepy what I was about to do was, but I was just worried about Jason, and the future of our friendship. I didn’t want this to come between us and I really didn’t want to lose him as a friend. Surely, he could get over a stupid crush. I got over a bazillion stupid crushes over the years, so I’m positive that Jason will get over it and then we’ll still be friends.
I walked into the cafeteria and searched through the throngs of people for a few minutes before my eyes landed on a large table of people- barely any of them were wearing red, I observed with irritation.
“Aaron.” I announced when I approached the table, causing the whole table to go silent and look up at me in shock. The blond asshole looked up at me and smirked softly.
“Hey there,” He cooed.
I wrinkled my nose at him before continuing. “Where’s your brother?”
His smirk faltered, which made me happy, and then he shrugged. “He’s ditching.”
“Do you know why?” I asked slowly so that his pea sized brain could understand what I was saying.
“Yeah, he said something about embarrassment and then love and then something about… you. Yeah, he was talking about you a lot.” He replied.
“Man,” I whined loudly. “Okay, thanks.”
“You can repay me by-“
“Shove it.” I snapped, turning away from the table of people and hurrying through the cafeteria and returning to where Zoey was still sitting on the bench.
“How’d it go?” She asked curiously.
“He’s still a weird jerk.” I muttered. “And he basically informed me that Jason isn’t here because of me. It’s my fault.”
“Okay, first of all, it isn’t your fault. Jason knew when you first started talking that you had a boyfriend that you very much love. He shouldn’t have let himself fall for you.”
“He did not ‘fall for me’.” I said quickly. “A small crush, that’s it.”
“Whatever you say.” She sang. “But everything will work out and you really can’t blame yourself for any of it because it’s not your fault.”
“But maybe I unintentionally flirted with him or something.” I mumbled. “I’m just a bubbly person, it happens.”
“You aren’t a flirt.” She informed me. “You’re just bubbly, that’s not flirty, there’s a difference.”
“I’m not even a great person, why the hell is this happening?” I wailed pathetically.
“You are a great person, so don’t even say that again.” Zoey defended. “Just stop stressing. Like you said, it’s probably just a small crush that’ll be gone before winter break.”
“You really think that?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No, but it’s what you need to hear right now.”
“You could have just said yes.” I huffed.
“Well, then yes. I really think that.”
“You’re such a liar.”
“I don’t know what you want from me here!” Zoey laughed.
I sighed heavily and then stood up from the bench just as the bell rang. “Come on, it’s time for government.”
“Oh, yes.” Zoey cooed sarcastically. “Because I’d much rather discuss the judicial branch than your drama.”
“The judicial branch seems like a much better topic, actually.” I grinned at her and pulled her into the school to make our way for the social studies wing of the school, which was kind of close to where we were, so that was good.
I did know that I’d have to talk to Jason, though, and soon. I knew what it felt like to have a broken heart, although that’s not what’s happening with Jason, but I know that this kind of thing just sucks. Granted, everything worked out for me, obviously, since I have Lance. But there were times during the years that he’d bring girls home and he’d have the occasional girlfriend and that was just a really sucky feeling, to see the guy that I really liked be with somebody else.
However, I was very confident that this situation would soon be forgotten, just like Jason’s crush. I mean, how hard can it be to forget a crush on a girl who is so… me? I’m really not that great at all, even if Zoey yells at me for saying so, it’s true. I’m sure that Jason will soon realize how shitty I really am and then we’ll just be friends and it will be totally unawkward like it was before Zoey’s party. However, before any of that happened, I really just needed to talk to him.
Ugh. When did my life turn into a real life episode of Days of our Lives?