August 19th, 2008
“This is very unlike you, Jordan,” Headmistress Belladonna said, pacing around her office as I sat next to Jesse. I knew that this was unlike me; she didn’t have to remind me. Headmaster Solomon was leaning against Headmistress Belladonna’s desk, and I didn’t say a word. “You’re a straight A student, and you’ve never gotten into any trouble before. I really find it hard to believe that you’re here right now.
“I’m not surprised with Jesse, really,” Headmaster Solomon sighed, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the boy who sat next to me. “He and his friends have been called into my office too many times to count.”
Why wasn’t I surprised? Jesse definitely was the type of guy that would be called into the principal’s office all the time. I definitely wasn’t the type of girl that got called out at all; I was actually hoping that I could go through my entire high school life without ever stepping foot in Headmistress Belladonna’s office unless it was because of something good.
But Jesse Jacobsen ruined that for me, like he ruined a lot of other things.
“I’d like to know what you two were doing while we were all in the auditorium,” Headmistress Belladonna said, her arms crossed over her chest as she stopped walking. “Not only did you ruin the opening ceremony, but you also broke a chair, which meant you cost the school money. What were you two doing?”
“Jordan had an accident,” Jesse smirked before I could say anything, and he jabbed his thumb in my direction. I glowered at him, but he didn’t even look at me or my wet clothes. “I don’t know why she attacked me though.”
I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest and also crossing my legs. I was still soaked, and Headmistress Belladonna wouldn’t give me an extra uniform to change in to. I was pretty sure this was part of my punishment.
“Jesse,” Headmaster Solomon sighed, shaking his head as he stared down at the idiot beside me. “How about you let Jordan talk, okay? Something tells me that you’re not exactly a trustworthy person at this moment.
“Hah,” I sneered, sticking out my tongue at Jesse, who scowled back at me.
“Jordan,” Headmistress Belladonna said now. “Care to explain?”
So I explained to them what had happened, making sure to point out that none of this was my fault at all. It wasn’t like I broke the chair I was sitting in on purpose… There was no point in doing so. Headmistress Belladonna knew that I wasn’t the type of person to do something stupid without a reason.
“How long has this little… feud been going on?” Headmaster Solomon asked now as Headmistress Belladonna sat at her desk. “If you were trying to choke him, Jordan, for only pouring water on you, I’m sure that something else has gone on between the two of you. A bad breakup?”
I felt all the color leave from my face, and Jesse started laughing. I shook my head so hard that I thought my neck was going to snap as I shouted, “No! Definitely not!”
Headmistress Belladonna sighed. “Then what is it with you two? If you didn’t have a bad break up or anything like that, why would you be fighting like you were?”
I really didn’t want to talk about. I didn’t want to remember what Jesse Jacobsen had done to me, or what had happened because of what he did. Because then I was going to have to remember the one person I just wanted to forget.
“Long story,” Jesse excused, waving a hand in front of his face as he shrugged. “Let’s just say we really don’t like each other. At all.”
“We’re enemies, rivals,” I explained, glancing over at Jesse quickly to glare at him before turning back toward my headmistress. “It’s been going on for months. It’ll be a year in a few months.”
Both Headmistress Belladonna and Headmaster Solomon stared at the two of us for a moment, and Jesse and I both just sat there and waited for them to say something to us. I swallowed, afraid I was going to get in a lot of trouble for something that wasn’t even my fault.
Before I could say anything, Headmaster Solomon started laughing. This surprised me, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t remember a time when I had ever seen him really laugh before, and I just wasn’t used to it. For an intimidating guy, he sure looked nice when he laughed…
“Enemies, huh?” he asked once he was done laughing, and Jesse and I both glanced at each other. It seemed like he wasn’t used to his headmaster laughing either. “Okay. Sure.”
I blinked up at him, not expecting him to say anything like this at all. This just wasn’t like Headmaster Solomon…
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, the same time Jesse did. But our tones were different; I was genuinely curious and he was just defensive.
“There’s a thin line between love and hate,” Headmistress Belladonna answered for him, shrugging as she leaned back in her chair.
It took me a moment to realize exactly what she meant. I made a face, and I could see that out of the corner of my eye, Jesse did as well. We supposedly loved each other? Yeah, right. That was definitely the last thing I’d ever feel for Jesse Jacobsen.
There was not a thin line between love and hate. That was just ridiculous.
“That’s gross,” I snapped, sinking down in my seat at the thought. “And it won’t ever happen.”
“She won’t even let me near her,” Jesse drawled.
Headmaster Solomon smirked, surprising me greatly. “But you want to get near her, don’t you, Jesse?”
I didn’t know if Jesse’s face turned red or if it was just my imagination. “No!”
Headmistress Belladonna giggled, and I looked between her and Headmaster Solomon in complete and total awe. How had this gone from us getting into trouble for disturbing a school event and breaking school property to making fun of Jesse and me?
“Would you believe me if I said that Headmaster Solomon and I were just like you when we were around your age?” Headmistress Belladonna asked, and my eyes went wide. “We were a little older… We were about sixteen or seventeen. We met through friends. I can barely remember why, but we just didn’t like each other. Actually, I really think we hated each other. It lasted for about a year or two, until the middle of college. And one day, everything just suddenly changed.”
This was only a little surprising to me. It was kind of obvious that something was going on between them, but having them confirm it was just weird to me. It was cute, but weird.
Headmaster Solomon smiled at her, and I kind of felt like gushing over this story. I looked over at Jesse, who was making a face as he watched his headmaster and my headmistress smile at each other. But I actually found it kind of cute.
But that didn’t mean I was going to let it happen to Jesse and me.
“I didn’t tell her until after we got together, but I had liked her ever since we had first met,” Headmaster Solomon admitted, and it was just so weird to hear this from him. “It didn’t take me long to fall in love with her, even when she still hated me.”
Headmistress Belladonna shrugged. “Sometimes girls can be really stupid. But guys can too, I guess. Maybe if he didn’t treat me as badly as he did when we first met, I wouldn’t have hated him so much. I probably would have liked him right away, too. A lot of people don’t think before they act, unfortunately.”
I glanced over at Jesse, who had a look on his face that I couldn’t read. I bit the inside of my lip, wanting to know what it meant. He always made those faces at the worst possible time…
“Why aren’t you two married?” Jesse blurted before either of them could continue on with their stories. “If you love each other so much, why aren’t you guys married? You both are adults; you should be able to do it.”
Did he talk this way to everyone? Even teachers and other people that worked at his school? Didn’t he get in trouble for things like this?
“People don’t have to get married to be together, Jesse,” Headmaster Solomon sighed, as if he was used to Jesse’s attitude. “But honestly, the real reason why we haven’t gotten married yet is because we’re not allowed to.”
My jaw dropped, and Jesse rolled his eyes at me. I ignored him, waiting for someone to continue on with this story. Maybe this would make them forget that I was actually in trouble…
“Our superiors won’t allow us to get married,” Headmistress Belladonna explained, and I gasped just a little. This caused Jesse to roll his eyes at me again. “They told us all the reasons, but honestly I can’t even remember them because they’re so ridiculous. That’s why we haven’t even gone public to the school, or anyone else for that matter. No one can know… Is that understood?”
I nodded, and Jesse crossed his arms over his chest and moodily looked away from us. They seemed to take this as a yes as well, but I wasn’t so sure. Why wouldn’t they just force him to say something? I would have.
“But back to your punishment,” Headmistress Belladonna continued now, and I felt like ramming my head into her desk. So much for them forgetting… “You can’t expect that you two are going to get off with just a story, right? You both need to be punished somehow.”
I felt myself scowling again. I was hoping that they’d let us go with just a story, but I guess that that was just too good to be true. They weren’t about to let me go, even though I had a perfect reputation and a clean record before this.
Oh, no. I was going to have to get ready for the rumors to start. Everyone in our grade had seen what had happened, and they knew that we had been called to the office together. Who knew what people were going to think?
“You both will have detention,” Headmistress Belladonna nodded, gesturing to both Jesse and me, “together after school today. And it won’t be in a classroom, like detention normally is. You two obviously need to learn how to get along, and that isn’t going to happen if you just sit in a classroom for an hour. So you two are going to be picking up trash together in the courtyard here. That means you’re going to have to come back here after school ends, Jesse.”
I wished that our schools were farther away from each other, because then Jesse wouldn’t have been able to come to serve this detention with me. I wouldn’t have been as upset about getting a detention if I didn’t have to deal with Jesse Jacobsen during it… It would have actually been bearable if he didn’t have to go.
My first detention. And on the first day of school, too! School hadn’t even officially started yet, and I already had a detention! I thought I was going to be sick. This was all Jesse Jacobsen’s fault! Why did everything have to be his fault?
Jesse didn’t seem to be bothered by this arrangement, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many detentions he had had. He might have not had a spotless record, but I did. And it wasn’t spotless anymore.
“I guess I’ll see you after school then, Emery,” I heard Jesse suddenly say as he stood up from his seat to follow Headmaster Solomon out of the office. “I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun cleaning up trash with you.”
I couldn’t have agreed less.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The look on my face was flat when I saw all the trash in the courtyard that Jesse and I were supposed to clean up. Since when had the girls at my school been so messy?
“That’s a lot of trash,” a new voice suddenly said from beside me, causing me to nearly jump ten feet in the air. I turned to see Jesse, smirking at my reaction. “They expect us to clean up all of this?”
I made a face. “Someone’s got to.”
Jesse shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. “This is child labor, isn’t it?”
I only blinked at him, still a little surprised that he was there. I kind of expected him not to show up, but I kind of didn’t want him to show up as well…
“You look surprised, Emery,” Jesse smirked, causing me to look away from him in embarrassment. “What? Did you think I wasn’t going to show up or something?”
I didn’t tell him that I really didn’t think that he was going to show up, because I didn’t want him to know that he was right. So I stayed silent, beginning to pick up trash so I wouldn’t have to deal with him at all.
“This is too much work for me,” Jesse sighed, plopping down on the ground and leaning against a tree. “You can handle it on your own, can’t you, Emery? I’ll supervise.”
“No, you won’t,” I spat, wishing I was strong enough to pull him off the ground with ease. “You’re going to get up and help me.”
Jesse shut his eyes, continuing to rest against the tree. “No, thanks.”
“Get up,” I snapped, kicking his leg. He didn’t even budge. “Do you really expect me to clean everything up on my own?”
Jesse smirked. “Yep.”
I felt like kicking him harder, but I knew that it would do no good. It was pretty much impossible for me to hurt him.
“We’re supposed to be doing this together,” I reminded him, just in case he had somehow forgotten. “It’s supposed to make us get along. So get up.”
Jesse sighed, cracking one of his eyes open as he rolled them at me. “Look,” he started, and I knew whatever he was going to say was not going to make me happy. “Even if we did work together, you’re not going to like me. You hate me. We’ve made that clear already. Do you really think that you’re going to stop hating me just because I help you pick up some trash? Is that really going to make us just miraculously get along?”
He had a point, but it wasn’t like I was about to tell him that. He still had to get up and help me just because it was fair.
“Get up,” I repeated, my hands balling into fists.
Jesse closed his eyes again, letting out a breath before resting his head on the tree he was leaning on. “No thanks.”
This guy was going to be the death of me. He just couldn’t do a single thing that I asked him to! Why did he have to be so difficult? I just didn’t understand him!
When I saw a water bottle on the ground, I got an idea. It was full, just like the bottle Jesse had poured on me was. It was sooner than I thought it would be, but I was sure that it was now time for my revenge.
I inched toward the water bottle, glancing over at Jesse now and then to make sure he wouldn’t open his eyes. When they stayed closed, I let out a sigh of relief and picked up the water bottle before hiding it behind my back.
I headed back over to Jesse, as if I hadn’t picked anything up at all. His eyes stayed closed, and I knew that he wasn’t going to open them again because he probably thought I had given up and was no cleaning up on my own. I’d be even luckier if he fell asleep…
I unscrewed the cap once I got back to Jesse, smiling at what I was about to do. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing as I tipped the bottle over Jesse’s crotch.
It took him a second to react, which kind of surprised me. I kind of expected him to realize what I was doing before I could do it, and then he would stop me before I could even start. But he didn’t, which only made me happy.
I might have not gotten all the water on him like he had to me that morning, but it was definitely good enough for me. He definitely looked like he peed his pants, and that was all that I wanted. Too much water wouldn’t have looked realistic…
He grabbed onto my wrist, causing me to tighten my grip on the water bottle as he pulled me forward so our chests were now pressed against each other. Both of my wrists were in his hands, and I waited for him to do or say something.
We stared at each other, not moving from the position that we were in. I was smirking, but the look on Jesse’s face was hard. With his arm around my waist, all we did was sit there and stare at each other.
Our faces were so close. They were only a few inches apart. If someone were to walk by, they would have gotten the wrong idea, but I didn’t even care right then. People could have thought what they wanted to. I didn’t care what other people thought.
“Have fun walking around looking like you peed yourself,” I finally grinned, sick of the silence that was all around us. “Did you really think I wasn’t going to get you back for what you did?”
Jesse’s eyebrows furrowed at me. “I’m going to make you wish you didn’t do that.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, our faces so close that I almost licked his lip. I hope he didn’t notice… “I’m looking forward to it.”
He let me go then, and I stood back up and brushed myself off. He stared down at his wet pants, scowling when he saw how much it really looked like he had peed himself.
“Are you really looking forward to it, Emery?” Jesse asked when he looked up at me after he tried to wipe at his pants. “I’m just going to make your life even more of a living hell.”
I wasn’t expecting anything less from him. I didn’t think that his tormenting would ever end. Was it possible for it to go on forever? It couldn’t have kept going after we went to college, right? Unless we both went to the same college… But there was no way Jesse was smart enough to go to Yale, the college I knew I was going to go to.
“Revenge is sweet,” I shrugged, as if that was going to justify everything. I screwed the cap back onto the empty bottle, though there was no point in doing so.
“And karma’s a bitch,” Jesse scowled, wiping at his wet pants.
I smiled sweetly at him. “But so am I.”
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The song on the side... is freaking perfect. It's kind of funny since Shane Dawson used to play Jesse before I changed him to Matt Lanter... But that song is exactly how Jesse felt in the original book, since he thought that he was bad because of what he did in the past but all he wanted to do was save Jordan from everything that ever went wrong in her life. I can't stop listening to it...
I've been watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the one from 1971. I watched it yesterday and today. I don't know if I've gone crazy or not, but I couldn't stop laughing pretty much every time Gene Wilder opened his mouth. He was just hilarious as Willy Wonka...
I miss Hunter... so there's a picture of him on the side. :D?
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)