January 21st, 2008
The last place I wanted to go right then was badminton practice. Ever since we had gotten back from break, I had pretended to be sick so I didn’t have to go. But I couldn’t miss anymore practices, because if I did, I would get kicked off the team. And badminton was the only sport that I was, and probably always will be, good at.
I just couldn’t face Dawson yet and tell her that my brother was dating a friend of mine. A really good friend of mine that I had known since elementary school…
I had also been avoiding Emily because I had no idea what I was supposed to say to her. I didn’t know if she knew that I knew about her dating my brother, but I decided on talking to Dawson before talking to her.
“Jordan,” I heard a familiar voice call out to me after school, causing me to freeze before I could walk any farther. Good thing I had Chelsea with me, or I probably would have ran for the hills. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
It was obvious that I had been avoiding Emily for the past two weeks, but I was hoping that she just wouldn’t notice for some reason and move on with her life. But no, that wasn’t about to happen…
Chelsea glanced between my frozen state, and then looked back over at Emily. “Sorry, she’s mad at your right now.”
“I’m not mad at her!” I cried out almost immediately, definitely not wanting to hurt Emily’s feelings at all. But I knew Chelsea, and she definitely didn’t care about hurting people’s feelings when it came to someone she barely knew…
Emily’s eyebrows furrowed, obviously worried over the fact that I might have actually been mad at her. But I didn’t know how I felt about her right now, because she was dating my brother behind my back. I had known this girl since elementary school…
“She knows about you and Austin,” Chelsea informed Emily now, saving me from having to do so. “She may not be mad, but she feels betrayed and upset that you didn’t tell her. I mean, it’s her brother after all.”
Emily’s frown grew, and I knew she was trying to think of what to say now. I stayed silent, and so did Chelsea, and this caused a very awkward silence to fill the air around us. I really wished I could have just ran…
“I’m sorry,” Emily apologized, her grip on her backpack tightening as she took a step toward me. “I didn’t know how I was supposed to tell you. I didn’t know if you’d be happy or mad… I mean, he’s your brother and I’m your friend. It’s probably weird for you. Austin thought that we should wait to tell you, and I just agreed to it…”
I should have known that rat was the cause of this. It was just like Austin. I didn’t even know if he had had any other girlfriends before, but I was sure that he did. Austin and I may have been close, but he never liked talking about relationships with me at all… I couldn’t help but feel left out just a little.
“I’m not mad at you, Emily,” I told her truthfully, letting out a sigh and shaking my head. “I just wish I was told when everything happened. I mean, like you said, he’s my brother and you’re my friend. I would have liked to know.”
Emily nodded. “I’m really sorry.”
I forced a smile now, not in the mood to move the muscles in my face. “It’s really no problem. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? I have badminton practice now and I can’t afford to be late. I’ve already missed for practices in a row…”
Emily nodded, taking a step away from me. “Oh, okay! Sorry for keeping you! I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
I nodded this time. “Definitely.”
As Emily scampered off, Chelsea and I turned toward the direction of the locker room. I didn’t even know how I was feeling now. I felt relieved, but I also still felt kind of annoyed at my brother for not telling me right when him and Emily started dating.
“You know, you suck at talking to people,” Chelsea informed me as she walked me closer and closer to the locker room. “I mean, it’s been almost three weeks that you’ve avoided Emily and Dawson. You’ve been leading Dawson on, and Emily didn’t have any idea that you were mad at her.”
“I wasn’t mad at her,” I denied, even though I was pretty sure that I had been.
Chelsea rolled her eyes. “You were mad at her for not telling you that she’s dating your brother. I know you, Jordan, and I know how you react to things. You’re a complete and total sarcastic pessimist about almost everything.”
I gave her a flat look. “Thanks.”
“You see?”
I huffed, not in the mood to deal with her right then. I was going to have to tell Dawson that the guy she liked was dating someone else, someone even younger than both of them. I didn’t even know how she was going to react, and that freaked me out even more…
“Thanks for walking me,” I thanked Chelsea, even though I still sounded upset and angry like I always did. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chelsea smiled at me. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And you better have a smile on your face!”
I didn’t say anything to make it seem like I had heard her, not in the mood to deal with anyone happy or chipper. I was hoping my partner in badminton would be unhappy with me for missing so many practices so I wasn’t the only one in a crappy mood.
“Hi, Jordan!” Kara greeted me, causing me to cuss loudly in my head. So much for her being angry at me… “Have you been okay? You’ve missed the last four practices in the past two weeks!”
“I know. Sorry,” I apologized sheepishly, scratching at the back of my head. What the heck was I supposed to say? I wasn’t about to tell her the truth. “I’ve just had a couple things to deal with after school. But now I’m here for good.”
Kara smiled. “That’s great! I’ve been on a team all alone for the past two weeks, but I’ve still been able to kick ass!”
I smiled now, still not in the mood to. “That’s great!”
It was great, but I just wasn’t in the mood for anything peppy right then. I just wanted to get talking to Dawson over with and just move on with my life…
Even though I started out loving badminton, I was kind of happy that it was ending soon. Dawson had been telling us all how she would love for all of us to join the tennis team, but I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be able to do that. Tennis was just a bigger and harder version of badminton, which I was barely passing at…
“Dawson’s been looking for you for a while,” Kara now told me after we had changed and were heading toward the tennis court. “She said it was for something important, but when we asked, she wouldn’t tell us what it was about. Do you have any idea?”
I didn’t look at Kara as we continued on walking. Obviously Dawson didn’t want anyone else knowing that she liked Austin… So I was going to have to keep it a secret. “No clue.”
If only that was the truth.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After practice was over, I hurried toward the locker room. I had luckily avoided Dawson, but I knew she would eventually find me if I didn’t leave right after practice was over.
Quickly changing, I tried to think of what to tell Dawson when I finally did face her. I couldn’t think of a good way to nicely break it to her that Austin was dating Emily… What the heck was I supposed to do?
After I was finished changing, I grabbed my backpack and quickly headed toward the exit. I would just talk to Dawson after our next practice…
But that plan was shattered after I saw who was waiting right by the exit, the only exit of the entire locker room. I cussed under my breath, quickly looking around for some other way out before she could see me, but it was too late. She had already seen me, and there was no way I could get out of it.
“Jordan,” she said, and I couldn’t tell what tone she had in her voice. “Are you okay? You’ve been gone for the past two weeks. I was afraid that you quit or something.”
I could do that? I mentally slapped myself, unable to believe that I didn’t even think about just quitting the team. I barely ever had any interaction at all with Dawson, besides badminton practice…
“No, I’m fine,” I excused with a nod, awkwardly adjusting my backpack strap on my shoulder. “Just… some things came up that I had to deal with, that’s all.”
Dawson nodded. “Oh, that’s good…”
It was nice of her to ask if I was okay before she asked about Austin, but I knew that that was all she really cared about right then. Her right foot was tapping furiously, and she looked nervous as she bit the inside of her cheek. I really just had to break it to her already…
“So… about what you said about Austin,” I started, looking around to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. “Remember how you asked me to see if he had a girlfriend?”
Dawson smiled only a little bit. “Yeah…”
“Well…”
Damn it. I didn’t want to do this! I didn’t want to break her heart of crush her dreams or anything… But who even know how long Emily and Austin were going to date? I mean, Austin was two years older than us and Dawson was only a year older than us… She had the closer age to him…
“He has a girlfriend,” I finally blurted what I had been hiding for the past three weeks. “Sorry, Dawson.”
The look on her face absolutely crushed me, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I had been hurt like this before when it came to Trinity and Dallas, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was what my face looked like.
“Oh…” she nodded, her voice cracking. “Alright. I’m not surprised… I mean, he’s Austin Emery and everything. Any girl would be lucky to be with him.”
I needed to get out of this conversation somehow. I didn’t want to be rude and excuse myself, but then I didn’t want to stay and watch her cry…
“Dawson!” I heard someone cry out from the other side of the locker room, saving me from having to say anything. “Come here! We need you!”
Dawson wiped at her eyes, nodding a goodbye at me before jogging off in the direction of the voice. I let out a sigh, quickly sprinting out the door before she could even think about coming back. I was getting out of there before she started crying. I would just feel ten times more awful if I saw her crying.
I was huffing only a little when I got out to the parking lot, and I looked around for the car that was supposed to pick me up. When I saw that it wasn’t there, I looked around to make sure Dawson wasn’t around. When I saw that she wasn’t, I let out a sigh of relief and continued to wait.
I was the first one done changing, but the last one to leave.
Standing there all alone like an idiot, I cursed at myself for not seeing this coming. I should have known that Dallas and Austin were going to be late, and if my calculations were correct, today was the day that Dallas was driving.
Rubbing at my arms, I huffed in anger. Being able to see my breath in the air only pissed me off more. “I’m going to kill Dallas one of these days.”
“I’ll help.”
At the sound of this new voice, I nearly jumped from the curb. I then turned around, my eyebrows furrowing at the person that stood before me.
Are you stalking me or something?” I snapped, my arms crossing over my chest when my eyes landed on Jesse. “Because I’ll call the cops if you are.”
He smirked. “It’s not my fault we live in the same town.”
I felt my eye twitch, wanting nothing more than to just hit him over the head or something. Anything to get him to shut up or go away.
“Well, you don’t have to be here at my school,” I told him, as if he somehow didn’t know. “You’re not a girl, unless there’s something you’re not telling me, so you’re not supposed to be here.”
“Cambridge isn’t that far from here,” Jesse chuckled, and I wished I could have just picked Cambridge up and throw it across the country. Whatever got Jesse Jacobsen to just leave me alone. “I could just be walking home for all you know.”
“School ended two hours ago. Why would you be walking home right now?” I asked, suspicious that he actually was stalking me and he had been waiting for me to come out the entire time… That would have been too creepy.
“Who said you’re the only one with after school activities?” Jesse asked, cocking his head to the side. He really reminded me of a dog when he did that.
“Oh, really?” I asked now, not believing him as I placed my hands on my hips. “Then what do you do at school afterwards?”
Jesse winked at me. “Who said it was at school?”
Not wanting to know what he meant, I turned away from him and faced the parking lot once again. Maybe if I just ignored him he’d go away, like a stray cat or something… Though I’d never ignore a stray cat.
“So, you know, I might be seeing you a lot after school.” Jesse whistled, as if trying to get my attention back onto him. “Sounds like fun, huh, Emery?”
I made a face. “Well, I hope seeing you here won’t be a regular thing. Sounds like torture.”
Jesse laughed. “Sounds like heaven to me.”
“You’re so weird.”
“I know.”
“Well, I’m waiting to be picked up, if you don’t mind,” I informed him snottily, as if he had any right to know. “So just go away and let me wait for my ride in peace.”
“Aw, you don’t really want to wait here all alone in the cold, do you?” Jesse asked, taking a step closer to me.
I took a step away. “Yeah, I kind of do. I’d take freezing to death over talking to you any day.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re very pessimistic?”
“Maybe you’re just too optimistic for me.”
“Jordan!” a new voice now cried out before Jesse could say anything else to me. “Jordan!”
I turned around to see Molly making her way toward us, and I only wished that I could have found a nice way to tell her to go away. I had no problem with talking to her, as long as Jesse wasn’t there with me.
“Hey, Molly,” I greeted, awkwardly trying to ignore the boy who was standing next to me.
“I was just wondering if you knew the homework for--hello,” Molly started, but then cut herself off when she saw the person standing next to me. She giggled, and I almost did a double take. What was going on? “I’m Molly.”
Jesse grinned. “I’m Jesse.”
No, no… They were not… They couldn’t be flirting, could they? I know they had barely even said anything to each other, but the way they were introducing themselves was just… gross. It made me want to get out of there even quicker than I had when it was only Jesse.
Molly’s jaw dropped, and she then looked over at me. “This is the guy you complain about all the time!”
I slapped my hand over my eyes, not even going to deny it. Jesse already knew I hated him, so there was no point in denying that I complained about him all the time. Let him know that I let the whole world know that I hated him! Didn’t matter to me anymore…
“Oh, so you talk about me, Emery?” Jesse asked, taking a side step closer to me now. I didn’t even bother moving away, because I knew there was no point in doing so.
“No, Jacobsen,” I snapped, removing my hand from my eyes and glaring at him as harshly as I could. It still didn’t freak him out one bit… “I complain about you. There’s a difference.”
Jesse smirked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “I don’t see one.”
Molly giggled when I pushed Jesse’s arm away from me. “You two are so cute!”
“Are you kidding me?” I practically screeched the same time Jesse said, “I know, right?”
When I saw Dallas and Austin pulling into the parking lot, I felt immediately relieved. I took a step away from Molly and Jesse, ready to bolt right toward the car as quickly as I could just so I could get away from Jesse.
“I’ll see you later, Molly,” I called from behind my shoulder. “And hopefully I won’t be seeing you later, Jacobsen.”
“Love you too, Emery!”
I scowled, but didn’t turn around for him to see it. Chances were he would just laugh about it anyways… The sooner I got home, the better I would be. I’d be away from Jesse and Dawson, and just school itself. The first thing I was going to do when I got home was sleep…
“Is that who I think it is?” Dallas asked after I had piled into the back of the car, ignoring the guy who was sitting behind the driver’s seat while I sat behind the passenger’s seat. He wasn’t even looking at me anyways. “I thought I told him to leave you alone.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I snapped, putting my stuff in between me and the guy looking out the window. What was his name? Hunter, right? Whatever, not like it was ever going to matter to me. “If you weren’t late, I wouldn’t have had to talk to him.”
Dallas rolled his eyes, waving a hand in front of his face as he pulled out of the parking lot. “I’m not that late…”
“A half hour is late, Dallas.”
“Not to me.”
“I hope when you’re old, I get to take care of you,” I started, my arms crossed over my chest with a sour look on my face, “because when you need to go to the hospital, I won’t take you until a half an hour after you tell me.”
Dallas mocked a horrified face. “But then I’d die, Jordy! You don’t want me to die, do you? You wouldn’t have died from just waiting outside for a half an hour…”
“You never know. I could have been jumped.”
Austin scoffed. “Please. It isn’t like there’re any gangs around here. Your school is in a nice place. No one would jump you.”
“You never know!” I disagreed, being obnoxious on purpose just so I could keep the argument going on. If I was annoying them, that was the point. “You don’t know if there are any gangs around here! Unless you’re in one and I didn’t know!”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Austin sighed, rolling his eyes at me as he continued to sit in the passenger’s seat. “I’m not about to do anything stupid like join a gang. I’d probably get killed anyway.”
I shrugged. “Probably.”
The thought of any kind of gang being around almost made me laugh. Not only was the neighborhood that I lived in safe, pretty much the whole entire town was. I couldn’t even remember when there had been a murder of a robbery. That was how good of a place that I lived in. Any type of gang being in town was just a funny thing to think about…
“Hey, Jordan,” Dallas called from the front seat to get my attention after we had all stopped bickering. “Did anyone ever tell you that you--”
“Yes, I know, I’m a pessimist! You don’t have to remind me like everyone else!”
Dallas grinned. “I was going to ask if anyone’s told you that you’ve been able to see your bra right through your shirt, but what you said works, too.”
I immediately covered my chest before Dallas could see anything more. “Dallas! Keep your eyes to yourself!”
“You know, the proper term is keep your hands to your--”
“Same thing!”
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Me being the dumbass I am, I totally screwed up. Not only is this chapter ten thousand years late, but it was supposed to come before Jesse's birthday chapter. -____- I have no idea how I screwed that up.
So... I posted a new story called Our Song. Please read? :3 It's in the external link on the side! Or you could just click on my profile and it'll be there! :D It's not going to be ridiculously long like all my other stories, I (hope) promise... :)
Get ready for a major time skip after this chapter. xD
Please COMMENT, VOTE, READ OUR SONG, and FAN! :D