Recap: Jamie hit Summer in the nose with a plastic ball and met Aimee, who is an old friend of Luke's.
A huge thank you to 999_rindee for the adorable cover! :)
Chapter Sixteen
Jamie Vandeviere
Throughout all my years in high school, not once had I ever been called to the principal’s office. Until today. It was a white, stuffy room that smelled like apples and cherries, and the aroma alone made me more fidgety about the whole situation because I couldn’t stand the scent of burnt candles.
After the ball hit Summer in the nose, she let out a piercing wail that could have been heard all the way from California. The entire class went scuttling to her sides, some of them concerned and some of them somewhat excited, and I had to weave my way through the swarm of curious girls surrounding her to inspect the damage that I had done.
To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. Her nose was red, as were the right side of her face, but it wasn’t bad. It was just a plastic ball, for heaven’s sake, yet she was acting like I just threw a ball of steel at her.
Right after the ‘accident’ happened, I asked her if she was okay but never got around to hearing her response since the next thing that she did was to scream at the top of her lungs and lunge at me like some kind of a psychopath, tugging and pulling my hair frenetically like she had completely lost it. With her manicured nails, she even managed to put scratches on me here and there, though she later claimed it wasn’t intentional.
Then we were called to the office to give Principal Tanner the whole story and to “sort out our differences like adults.” Summer hadn’t made any of that easy with her constant moaning and nagging, and she had threatened me all about five hundred times since I stepped into this room.
“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer,” Summer spat, still pressing the ice pack against her nose like the life of her nose depended on it. “I will sue your ass off.”
I tore my eyes off the tiny sculpture of Abraham Lincoln sitting on Principal Tanner’s desk. Its eyes seemed to follow me wherever I moved, like the Mona Lisa. Creepy.
“I’ve said that I’m sorry, Summer,” I retorted exasperatedly. It was probably my thirtieth or fiftieth apology and I was sick of apologizing to her because all she did, in return, was to curse me to hell or threaten me. I understood why she was mad but it wasn’t like she was completely innocent. She should have been paying attention to the ball in the first place instead of chatting up her friends while we were out there on the field.
“Sorry isn’t going to stop my nose from bruising,” she seethed, her words dripping with venom as they came through her teeth. “What the hell have I ever done to you, Vandeviere?”
“I didn’t mean for the ball to hit you!” I cried in frustration. Gosh! How many times did I have to repeat myself to get her to believe me?
She snorted, throwing me a murderous glare. “Yeah, right. You did that on purpose.”
“So you’re saying that I somehow magically controlled the course of the ball and sent it flying in your direction?” I snapped at her, my patience thinning. “You’re delusional.”
“Ladies,” Principal Tanner chastised, folding his hands together on the table disapprovingly. “Be nice, please.”
“I’m going to sue you, Vandeviere,” Summer repeated, ignoring the principal and her lips quivered with anger, “and you will wish you had stayed invisible.”
It took all my self-restraint not to snap back at her. Summer Merrick, always the drama queen.
The principal sighed. “You are both free to go. Be more careful next time, ladies. “
I uttered “Thank you” the same time Summer gasped and exclaimed, “What do you mean we’re both free to go? Did you not hear what I’d just said? This lunatic here tried to hurt me!”
Principal Tanner cringed at the shrill in her voice. “Your classmates and your teacher have informed me that it was unintentional.”
“What about my nose?” she screeched in outrage, slamming her fists down against the table. The nerve of that girl… She had no respect for anyone. The guilt that I felt when I realized I’d hit her had diminished completely at this point. In a way, she deserved it.
“Miss Merrick, would you like to spend your lunch period in detention today?” Principal Tanner asked curtly.
I walked out after thanking Mr. Tanner again, rolling my eyes as I left Summer alone in there to pester the poor guy. She was seriously a piece a work. How did Luke manage to put up with that for two years?
I shook my head as I walked down the corridor inside the administration office, still hearing bits of Summer’s shouting even though I had closed Principal Turner’s door on my way out. Catching a glimpse of the clock hanging on the wall, I stifled a gasp when the time read twelve-fifteen. Two periods had gone by already. I had spent two hours wasting my breath arguing with Summer. Unbelievable.
I stopped cold when I found Luke, Adam, Bryce, Roger and Seth crowding the reception area, huddled together on a couch that looked way too small for five muscular guys. Lucy and Clara were talking to Mrs. Byers, the school secretary, and their eyes flew to me instantly when I came into their view.
“Jamie!” Lucy exclaimed, rushing to my side and throwing her arms around me.
An awkward silence ensued when Luke and Adam shot up from the couch simultaneously, throwing the exact same question- “Are you okay?”- at me. They seemed a bit stunned by the coincidence themselves, glancing at each other with a look of surprise spreading across their faces.
Seconds of silence ticked by before Luke cleared his throat and replanted himself on the couch, as if nothing had happened.
“Yeah,” I blinked, in a daze. “What are… What are you guys doing here?”
“We were worried about you, of course!” Clara cried, squeezing my hand. “Lucy said Summer clawed you!”
Holding back a laugh, I looked over to Lucy with my eyebrow raised. She shrugged in response and said, “What? She did! That crazy bitch.”
“I can’t believe I missed a catfight,” Bryce chortled, clearly finding all this amusing. “I pictured you and Summer going at it in my head on my way here. It was kind of hot.”
“Me-ow,” Seth drawled in agreement, winking at me.
I rolled my eyes at them both.
“Did you do it on purpose?” Bryce asked in a quieter tone, wiggling his eyebrow suggestively, like a villain in a children's play. “We totally won’t tell anyone if you did.”
“No!” I exclaimed, appalled that he was even asking. Seriously, did I strike him as the kind of person who would do something like that?”
“Is she still in there?” Roger shot an inquisitive look at the hall that led down to the office that I had just exited from. He seemed somewhat afraid.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “We better get going. I don’t want to run into her again.”
“Amen to that,” Seth chuckled. “I’m starving.”
A beep emitted from Luke’s cell phone and I looked over to him at once.Sliding his phone out of his pocket, he let out a soft laugh after glancing at the screen and I wondered if it was Aimee who had texted him.
“We should get back to lunch,” Luke said, meeting my gaze with a small smile after looking over to Adam. “Jamie’s in good hands.”
Then abruptly he walked out of the office with his friends in tow, leaving Lucy and Clara staring after them, perplexed.
The office suddenly felt less cramped when Roger, Seth, and Bryce took off for the cafeteria after patting me on the head like they would to a child. I had really come to like those guys- even though they were sometimes a bit immature and juvenile- and the fact that they missed the first half of their lunch period for me was really touching considering I knew how important food was to them.
“You sure you’re really okay?” Adam asked with a frown, sweeping his eyes over my body in inspection. Lucy and Clara’s expressions mimicked his and the three of them looked so worried that I wanted to throw my arms around them to assure them that I was a hundred percent fine.
“Yeah,” I told them with a grin. “I wasn’t the one who got hit in the nose.” The entire scene from Gym earlier replayed in my head and I was tempted to laugh again. I had to hand it to Summer to throw all that fuss over a plastic ball. She really should consider joining the Drama Club at school.
Adam took my hand and the four of us exited the office after I thanked Mrs. Byers for her help. While Summer and I were waiting in the reception area for the principle to see us earlier, Mrs. Byers had jumped to my defense multiple times when Summer verbally assaulted me.
“Wish you didn’t just hit her nose,” Lucy mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear. “You should have knocked out her teeth or something. That would have shut her up.”
Right now, I kind of wished I had, too.
***
“Explain to me again why we’re going to the carnival,” Lucy asked from the backseat of my car and from the rearview mirror I could see her bobbing her head violently along to a Katy Perry song playing on my radio. “Haven’t we, like, exceeded the age limit?
I got a text from Bryce last period that said the gang- which, apparently, now included me- was to meet up at the carnival after the guys were done with football practice. He seemed extremely excited about it, adding dozens of exclamation marks to the end of his text and capitalizing all the words. And since I adored the carnival, I told him I was in.
Adam offered to pick me up but I told him there was no need since I needed some Girl-Time with my best friends. For the past couple of weeks I hadn’t been spending a lot of time with Lucy and Clara so I was really glad I could hang out with them tonight. Yes, I’d become friends with the jocks, but they could never replace Lucy and Clara.
“Because Bryce said I could bring friends and you guys are my best friends,” I countered. “And Luce? I don’t there is an age limit.”
Beside me, Clara giggled. “I cannot believe we’re going to hang out with the jocks.What do I say to them?” From her tone, you would have guessed that the jocks were another species or something.
"Anything will do,” I told her. “They’re really nice. I promise.”
The parking lot was practically full when we pulled up and it took us forever to find a parking spot. I guess the large “Last Day” banner hanging on the fences was really attracting business. We got out of the car and found Seth, Roger, Bryce, AJ, and Jack standing in front of the ticket booth, all of them looking tremendously out of place since they were surrounded by children who were half their size. Roger, who was like six-foot four or maybe even taller, looked particularly nervous to be encircled by kids. Especially after a little boy ran into the side of his leg, fell on his butt, and started wailing.
As we approached the jocks, I spotted Luke and Aimee coming from the opposite direction. Side by side. I tried to tell myself that that they probably didn’t even come together, that they probably only bumped into each other in the parking lot, but deep down I knew different. Aimee was unquestionably interested in Luke but was the feeling mutual? It was so hard to tell with Luke keeping a poker face all the time.
A thought washed over me, filling me with instant dismay. What if Luke and Aimee had dated? Seth said they knew each other before she started going to Roseville. How well did they know each other exactly?
“Hey, you.” Feeling a hand on the small of my back, I smiled and leaned into Adam’s embrace, never been so pleased to have him by my side. Tonight was my first time to hang out with the jocks outside of school- not counting the party that Luke and I threw- and I wanted Adam to be there. I needed him to be there to take my mind off the strange, unfamiliar feelings stirring inside me.
“Hey!” I smiled, craning my neck to look at him. “Did you just get here?”
“I got here about ten minutes ago,” he said. “But I left my wallet in the car so I went to get it.”
“Like boyfriend, like girlfriend,” Luke chortled, and there was an edge to his voice that I didn’t like. I wasn’t the only one who noticed; Lucy’s eyebrow went up as soon as Luke spoke.
At first I had no idea what he meant by like boyfriend, like girlfriend. Then after giving some thought into it, it dawned on me that he was talking about me leaving my purse behind on the lunch table the first time I ate with the jocks. It was my carelessness that day that got Adam and me talking.
“So I hope you guys don’t mind me joining,” Aimee smiled. “Luke said I could tag along. I’m Aimee, by the way.”
Wait. Luke invited her?
Of course he did. No biggie. It would be nice to get to know Aimee a bit. It wouldn’t hurt to gain a friend, right?
“Of course we don’t mind hot girls tagging along!” Bryce waved off her comment like it wasn’t a big deal. “I would have totally texted you to come but I didn’t have your number and I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Bryce,” he smiled flirtatiously, then leaning closer to Aimee, he half-whispered, “but mostly people call me Hot Bryce.”
The wink that he gave her was so unsubtle that the rest of the guys cringed.
I gestured to Lucy and Clara, who had been awkwardly standing beside me and eyeing the jocks suspiciously. “I don’t know if you know each other but these are my best friends, Lucy Evans and Clara Mathews.”
“Hellos” and smiles were exchanged and it just made me so happy to see my best friends getting to know my new friends. I knew Lucy and Clara didn’t have the best impression of the jocks so I was glad that they, at least, agreed to come out tonight for my sake. For some reason, I kind of hoped that their views of Roger, Bryce, and Seth would change like mine did.
Anyway, all was going well until Jack blurted out “Wait, you’re Clara Mathews?” and exchanged a meaningful look with Seth who blushed.
“Yes,” Clara responded carefully. “Why?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” Jack let out a nervous laugh and sprinted off after mumbling something about hotdogs.
As if realization had just dawned on him, Bryce let out an animated gasp, turned to Seth and said, “Dude! Isn’t this the girl you copied off last year? For your Biology test?”
Seth smacked himself on the forehead and glared at Bryce when Clara released a shrill cry. Lucy and I exchanged a look of silent understanding, already knowing how this was going to end. Bad move, Bryce. You see, Clara cared a great deal about grades and while she didn’t mind tutoring others who weren’t as academically gifted as her, she hated cheaters.
Bryce, recognizing what he had done, muttered, “Oops!” and shaped his lips into an O.
“You copied my answers?” Clara screeched, her nostrils flaring.
“It was just a one-time thing!” Seth implored desperately, turning to me with a beseeching gaze. I shrugged at him. “I needed a B to pass that class and I was, like, Biology handicapped.”
“You are incorrigible!” Clara reprimanded. “How dare you?”
“I stayed up all night studying the night before!” Seth asserted pleadingly, like that somehow helped his case. “Look I’ll… I’ll buy you a hotdog once we get in there!”
“You copy off a girl’s test answers and you make it up to her by buying her a hotdog?” AJ gasped mockingly. “Well, Seth. I am disappointed in you.”
“I’ll make it combo!” Seth piped up after shooting a murderous glare at AJ. “Shit, you know what, Clara? Whatever you want today… It’s all on me.”
Clara, in response, heaved a sigh and looked away from Seth with her arms crossed.
“Uh… Maybe we should start going in?” Bryce suggested, chuckling nervously.
***
I looked down at my wristband ticket with a smile, the wristband ticket that Adam had insisted on paying. I told him I could pay for my own since tonight wasn’t even a date but he wouldn’t hear any of it. It was considerate things like this that made me grateful to whatever it was that led me to Adam. His presence had a calming effect on me and I hadn’t let go of his hand since we walked into the carnival.
Luke hadn’t looked at us since his disparaging remark a while ago.
With my heart bursting with anticipation, I looked from the colorful concession stands near the entrance to the colossal Ferris Wheel in the center of the park. The carnival had always held a strong appeal to me with its joyful atmosphere and music. The heavy aroma of cotton candy, popcorn, and deep-fried deliciousness hit my nose and my mouth water instantly. The colorful glow of the rides rested on my face, creating comfortable warmth with the autumn breeze, as laughter and screams resounded through the park. Children were running around with balloons in one hand and food in another, their parents shouting warnings as they went tailing after them.
I loved the carnival.
“So… where do we go first?” Bryce asked, his eyes bright with liveliness. He had already chucked down a fried dough, an enormous cotton candy, and a large cup of Coke. That much sugar couldn’t be good for anyone.
“If you say Spinning Teacups, I’ll kick your ass,” Roger snapped at him, shuddering. “It took me forever to freaking get rid of your vomit last year. You ruined my favorite shirt.”
“Zero Gravity!” Lucy suggested. It was high speed ride that allowed the riders to stand against the wall while the cylinder spun. The line for that ride was always obnoxiously long because it was one of the most thrilling ones in the carnival.
“Okay! Let’s do that!” Bryce pumped a fist in the air, as if he was a politician giving a speech for his campaign. “You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up. Anyone want ice cream?”
Four carnival rides later, the nausea started kicking in. My head was getting a little fuzzy and even though I hadn’t eaten anything prior getting on the rides, my stomach felt funny. Bryce was in a worse shape than I was; he was puking his gut out in a garbage can but that didn’t seem to have dampened his enthusiasm. In between his heaving, he would raise his fists into the air and cheer until he had to lower his head again to unload the content in his stomach. He really was the craziest person I had ever seen.
“I’m going to go get some water,” I said, a bit limply as I rose from the bench. Luke’s eyes met mine fleetingly and I swallowed when he looked away.
“I’ll get it for you,” Adam said, gently pulling me back down.
I shook my head, which was a really bad move on my part considering it increased the dizziness. “I kind of want to walk around.”
“I’ll come with you!” Aimee piped up, hopping to her feet. “I could use a soda.”
“Okay,” I said feebly. “Great.”
The queasy feeling intensified when Aimee fell into step beside me with a warm smile on her face. I knew I wasn’t being fair to her; she seemed like a genuine, nice person but I’d been feeling so threatened by her that I couldn’t find myself to behave normally around her.
“Roseville is a really nice town,” she sighed, inhaling deeply to take in the smell of the food around us. “I haven’t been here long and I already think moving here is the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“I heard you used to live in L.A. This must be quite a change of scenery for you.” I figured if she was making small talks the least I could do was to keep the conversation going. “Why did you move in the middle of the school year, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“My parents were sent to Germany last week. Job relocation,” she explained. “And I wanted to finish high school in the States so I moved in with my aunt who lives in Roseville.”
“So…” I took a deep breath, not knowing how to phrase it without seeming like a territorial ex-girlfriend of Luke’s. “Did you and Luke know each other from before?”
“Yeah,” she replied gleefully, and her eyes brightened up a little at the mention of Luke. “His parents are friends with my parents. We saw each other occasionally at dinner parties.” Then as if she was afraid the people around us would eavesdrop, she lowered her voice and said, “I heard about his breakup with Summer. It’s terrible that she and Paul did that to him. Luke deserves so much better.”
Yeah, Luke did.
We stopped when we reached the food stalls and told the old lady who sold us beverages to keep the change. I asked Aimee what it was like living in L.A. and she heartily described the life that she had on the west coast without any hesitation, making it sound so interesting with her choice of words and gestures that I felt like I was listening to a story.
I came to the decision that I liked Aimee after all.
***
Some of the younger kids in the park had gone home by now, leaving the carnival to mainly the teenagers, but the place was still pretty packed and the lines for the more popular and thrilling rides were still as long as ever.
“Let’s go on the Tilt-A-Whirl!” Bryce exclaimed, exhilaration dancing in his eyes. He seemed more excited about these rides than the kids around us, the sugar rush he was on making him more wide-eyed and hyper than usual. “C’mon, people! Let’s go!”
“Weren’t you like barfing your insides out minutes ago?” Lucy frowned at him with a scoff. “You really think it’s a good idea to go on a ride like that?”
Roger gingerly took the deep-friend Twinkie from Bryce’s hold and dumped it into the nearest trash can, muttering “Way too much sugar for you, dude” before Bryce could react.
“This is like our freaking last carnival together!” Bryce rebuked. “We’re all going off to college next year so show some spirit!”
Seth was the first one to surrender to Bryce’s request. He jumped to his feet and thumped his chest, as if trying to display machismo, and was quickly followed by Roger, A.J., and Jack. Aimee and Lucy got up from the bench, too, and Clara rolled her eyes when Seth encouraged her to join them. He had been trying to get on her good side all night and even though Clara hadn’t exactly told him he was forgiven, I could tell she wasn’t as angry as she was hours ago.
“You coming?” Adam murmured..
Frowning, I glanced at the Tilt-A-Whirl skeptically. The word “whirl” alone made me feel a little nauseated. Motion sickness sucked. “I think I’ll pass.”
“Jamie and I are sitting this one out,” Adam announced, interlacing our fingers together.
Bryce groaned. “Oh, C’mon. You guys are no fun!”
“Adam, go with them,” I chucked. Then putting my lips to his ear, just loud enough for him to hear, I muttered, “Bryce will never let me hear the end of it if you if don’t.” Okay… So I wasn’t really worried about Bryce’s nagging. I just thought that with Adam not on the football team, he had missed out on too much guy-bonding time as it.
“I think I’ll sit this one out, too.”
My eyes flew to Luke in surprise when he spoke suddenly, his voice ringing out clear over the crowd. Aimee’s face fell with disappointment but she quickly composed herself as she darted her gaze back and forth between me and Luke.
“Dude!” Bryce punched him in the shoulder sulkily. “Why?”
“I’m tired,” Luke answered simply. “I need a recharge.”
“Come on, Bryce,” Adam smoothened the situation with a soft chuckle. “Let the guy rest. Besides, he can keep Jamie company.”
Bryce didn’t argue much after that. Sighing, Roger clasped a hand over his shoulder and hauled him to the line. As they made their way to Tilt-A-Whirl, Aimee looked back occasionally, trying to sneak peeks of Luke with a small frown drawn across her brows.
Luke, with his hands coolly tucked in the pocket of his jeans, remained standing without looking in my direction or making a sound. For some unknown reason, my heart was beating so fast that I had to let out a gust of air from my mouth to calm myself down. In my ears and mind, it was thump- thump- thump on repeat, which was really ridiculous because this was Luke, my friend Luke, who I had just seen at school this morning. There was absolutely no reason to be nervous.
I gulped when Luke shuffled over to the bench wearing the same unruffled expression on his face. He seated himself on the bench beside me and we were sitting so close that our arms were almost touching.
C’mon, Jamie. Say something. Make the awkwardness disappear.
So much for having absolutely no reason to be nervous.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I've been super swamped with school... I've missed Wattpad terribly :'(
I've been getting some messages expressing concern for the way this story is going so I'm going to clarify a few things:)
A. This isn't going to be a story where the main characters don't realize how they feel about each other until the end of the story. B. Jamie won't turn into one of the mean girls and ignore her friends. C. There will be more Jamie vs Summer chapters in the future.
I've got my midterms coming up so I'll be busy with my studies the next two weeks. I will finish and post the next chapter as soon as I'm done with my exams though! I already have 60 percent of it written since it was originally supposed to be the second part of this chapter but I didn't want you guys to wait any longer than you already have....
Thank you so much for reading and hopefully you enjoyed Chapter 16! Please vote and comment so I can know you're still reading:) Your support is very much appreciated!