I spot Hannah's brown head of hair bobbing up and down as she walks down the hallway. She's short, so I'm surprised I'm able to find her as easily as I do.
"Hannah!" I call, earning myself annoyed glances from other students as I halfway run to catch to her.
We didn't ride together this morning for reasons I'm not sure of, which is why I'm bustling my butt to find her.
Ever since the day we met in seventh grade, she's been my go-to girl for ranting. She knows all my deepest thoughts and respects them. I couldn't ask for a better best friend.
"Hey," she greets, smiling at my disheveled appearance. When am I not a mess?
"Guess what," I say so I can tell her what happened before Connor or someone shows up. "Will sat beside me in chemistry yesterday."
Her eyes widen because she knows nothing good happened.
"Yeah," I confirm. "We got detention." She chuckles at that and shakes her head, typical Will and Jessa. "Anyway, I missed my cheerleading practice."
Her facial expression went from surprise to fear, just as mine would have.
"What? You're not on the team?" She asks. We stop at her locker and she grabs a few things from it, shoved them in her bag.
My face scrunches up. Despite the fact that my mom will lose her crap when she finds out, I'm relieved of the stress cheerleading always gave me.
"No," I say, sighing. "Mom doesn't know."
Hannah closes her locker and looks at me skeptically like she knows I'm up to something. With her books clutched to her chest, she leans against the lockers.
I decide to explain. "It just so happened that Mom invited Will over to our house for dinner last night. He surprisingly... helped me. Look, long story short, she doesn't know."
Hannah squints her eyes. "How are you going to hide something like that? Practice after school? Games?"
I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know yet, but I'll figure something out."
With that, Hannah and I go our separate ways. She has AP classes in the morning, something I don't have and don't want to have.
It's not that I don't try at school; it's that my hardest is not good enough.
At the other end of the hall I see Connor. He's talking to his jock buddies, looking as if he's having the time of his life with that straight line of a smile. That's Connor; happy, just not showing it.
"Hey," he says when he sees me. "Are you ready for tonight?"
I nod my head and allow him to hold my hand. "Sure am."
I kiss his cheek and smile, wrapping my arm around his waist as he drops his over my shoulders.
"Are you sure?" Connor asks, a small smile slipping onto his face. "I'm bringing my A-game."
I chuckle and shake my head. "Sure, sure. Whatever floats your boat."
He grins and gives me a quick kiss, which is surprising since he has never been big on public affection.
Then he leaves to go to class and I start towards Chemistry. I see Will looking at me and I think he has been for a while, watching Connor and I.
I purse my lips and walk down the hallway, awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact with him as I enter the classroom.
He follows close behind.
*****
I look at myself in the mirror hanging on my closet door and admire the shirt I was given on Christmas last year.
I don't dress up often, but tonight I feel it will be appropriate.
The shirt is comfortable enough to bowl in and I pair it with some jeans. After curling my hair, which doesn't look too bad after watching a YouTube tutorial, I put a little bit of makeup on.
While I'm walking down the stairs to find Dad, my phone buzzes in my hand. A text from Connor reads I'm outside.
Quirking an eyebrow, I peek out one of the windows next to the door and see his red Camaro sitting across the street. The roads are shiny with rain, nothing surprising in Washington.
I quickly text him back, why aren't you coming in?
It doesn't take him long to reply with, it's raining.
My annoyance must be noticeable because Dad walks in and asks me what my problem is.
Ah, Dad, my other best friend. Besides Hannah, Dad often hears about my problems. He doesn't know absolutely everything obviously, such as what happened between Will and me, but the problems that matter are the ones I tell him.
"Oh, nothing," I say through barred teeth as I go through the pile of jackets hanging on the wall. I finally find my coat and put it on. Unable to find an umbrella, I decide I'm going to have to run.
"Where's Connor?" Dad asks as he leans against the pole at the bottom of the stairs.
"He's waiting for me," I tell him. "I'll be back later, Dad. Love you."
I hear an "I love you too" as I take off running across the vacant street, making sure to look both ways.
Connor beeps the horn without realizing I'm right in front of the car and I jump slightly.
When I go to open the passenger side door, it doesn't budge. I bang on the door until he finally reaches over and shoves it open for me.
"Connor!" I scold. I remember that I'm about to go on a date and the last thing I want to be doing is fighting, but it's hard to hide my anger with him.
"Oh, you look great, babe," he says without barely giving me a glance
I look down at my soaked clothes and the mirror on the back of sun visor reflects a crazy-looking girl. My hair is frizzy, sticking up in every different directions. I hastily comb it down with my hand and hope it doesn't look at bad as I think.
"Thanks," I mutter.
"You're welcome," he says mindlessly.
The parking lot at the bowling alley is packed full of people. Beverly is simply a place for older people to retire to, so the businesses don't thrive like they used to.
The bowling alley is the shining star of our little town, especially Friday nights.
Connor meets me at the front of the car and takes my hand in his as we walk in together.
I see that several lanes are being used while only three are left open. In the corner of large room is a birthday party with little boys and girls gathered around a cake. A girl blew out the candles and all the kids clapped, pulling on their parents' shirts to get them a piece of that cake.
Occupying one of the lanes on the far end are several of the guys from school - Connor's friends. I hope he doesn't see them, but when I look up he's already smiling at them.
"Let's get our bowling shoes," I say as we approach the counter. I practically drag him with me to the counter and pull my hand out of his.
I suddenly feel Connor's hand brush against my butt and I jump, looking at him sharply. "What are you doing?"
He's laughing, so I look back at his friends and see them laughing as well.
"Really, Connor?" I ask, annoyed.
"What?" He murmurs as he nears me, his voice turning from joking to serious. "I'm just claiming what's mine." Leaving a kiss on my neck, he pushes away from me and says he'll be back as he makes his way over to his friends.
The guy behind the counter has been watching us the entire time. He's older with wrinkles and a face that looks like it's naturally tired-looking. I sigh and set my wallet on the counter.
"Size 12 and size 7, please." The man turns to grab the shoes and returns with funky-colored bowling shoes. "Thanks."
"How many games?" He asks all-too friendly like. Note my sarcasm.
"Um..." I trail off and crane my neck to see Connor flapping his gums to his friends. "Just one."
I pay for our shoes and the game, which is cheap since it's Friday night, so I let this one slide. I'm not against paying for dates, but Connor never even offered.
I walk up to our lane and take a seat in front of the computer that is used to enter the names of the players. Taking another look over at the rowdy teenage boys, I enter Connor's name and then my own.
After sending daggers at the back of Connor's head, I pull my shoes on. He must have k own I was planning his funeral because he finally shows up as I tie my other shoe.
He kisses the top of my head and takes a seat beside me to put his shoes on. "Sorry babe, Jeremy had a hilarious story." He laughs again as if he's reminiscing.
"What was the story?" I ask, trying to keep the peace between us.
"Nothing special," he tells me, shaking his head. "How about we get this game started?"
I nod my head and try to rid myself of anger. I feel as if I'm finding ways to be angry at him.
"What's the bet this time?" I smirk at him as I grab a green bowling ball that suits my size.
"What bet?" He asks and I mentally face palm.
"Remember the first time we met? You bet me-" I stop myself and shake my head. "Never mind, just make a bet. It's more interesting."
"I don't know, you go first."
"Okay," I say as I think. "You get to carry my crap from classroom to classroom for a week." I know how hard it is for him to skip out on his social hours.
He rolls his eyes at me. "That's lame, Jessa. You're better than that." He jokes and I smile. "If I win, you get to hand over some test answers for your dad's class."
I narrow my eyes. "Are you suggesting cheating?"
"More like a little extra help." He plants a slowly kiss on my lips.
"Fine," I agree, though I'm sure getting rest answers from my dad will be impossible. He doesn't need to know that.
As we begins playing, he mentions the party and our costumes, going from Tyler's unique one to Hannah's.
"Her costume was perfect for her," I laugh at the memory of Hannah dressed as Hermione.
"I didn't know she had it in her," Connor says before going to bowl. He knocks down three pins and on the second bowl, he earns a spare.
"What, being Hermione?" I ask jokingly. I bowl my bright green ball down the lane and it earns me a strike. I turn back and wink at Connor. He smiles and shakes his head at me.
"No, going to a party. She's always been such a prude." He aims his ball and rolls it, knocking down all the pins expect one. He curses under his breath and doesn't look at me while he waits to retrieve his ball.
He's always been a sore loser.
I frown at him. "She's not a prude. She has morals, ever heard of them?" I ask, feeling the urge to stand up for my best friend.
"Whatever," Connor replies after he misses the last pin, getting a gutter ball. "I guess it was just a surprising thing for Hannah Carson."
"Carter, Connor. Hannah Carter." I remind him. He shrugs his shoulders and takes my seat when I get up to bowl. I get a gutter ball which brightens his mood slightly.
We go on to bowl for another half hour, each getting better than the other.
But, at the end, I win.
"I hate this game so much," Connor grumbles as we put our other shoes back on.
"Why are you such a sore loser?" I ask half jokingly, but I really want to know.
He gives me the most annoyed look. "I'm not a sore loser, Jessa. I just like to win."
"Whatever you say." I laugh to myself. He glared at me and I only laugh harder. It's so hard to joke with him.
"Hey, Reed!" I hear one of Connor's friends yell his name and Connor looks over, a smile instantly reappearing.
Connor goes over to them again. I grab our shoes and carry them to the counter, dropping them off and then sitting down on a seat near the door.
15 minutes pass before Connor finally reappears. This time all the boys are with him.
"There's this party-" Connor starts, but I don't let him finish. I can tell he doesn't want to be here. Maybe no more than I do.
"Just go, Connor." I wave him off. He smiles and kisses me quickly before disappearing out the door.
I stay in the chair for a few more minutes before I get the urge to stand up. The rain has subsided for now but the clouds are still there which prevent me from seeing the stars. They look as though they'll disappear soon, though.
I look out into the parking lot and realize I have no way home.
"Why?" I yell into the air. I would normally laugh in this situation because it's kind of funny to me, but this time I just feel like crying.
I shove my hands into my pockets and begin walking. Maybe I'll call Dad and have him come get me.
Just as I take my phone out, I hear skateboard wheels rolling down the sidewalk and I step out of the way, but they stop right behind me.
"Jessa?" Will asks and I turn around to find him dressed in old jeans and a sweatshirt, both sprinkled with holes that were most likely put there but manual labor.
"What are you doing here?" I ask him. I shove my hair out my face ungracefully to get a better look at him.
"I've just been visiting the past a little, I guess you could say." He kicks his skateboard up so that he grabs it with his hand.
A lot of my memories are with that skateboard - a lot of my scars are from that skateboard. We used to get around on it all the time. Instead of me getting my own or even using my bike, I rode around the docks at the bay with Will on his skateboard. It was complicated.
"What memories were those?" I ask without thinking.
Will just smiles and looks at the ground. He used to do that when he felt insecure though he had no reason to be.
"I want to show you something."
_________
Ooo what do you think he wants to show Jessa?
The song is Little Bit of Truth by You Me at Six! I hope you liked the chapter, thanks for reading!