Jack:
I sat and watched as Deja continued to laugh and text whoever she was texting. She seemed stuck to her phone and she had only been in school for 2 days. Who could she possibly be texting that was more important than me?
"Who are you texting?!" I asked.
"No one," She said setting her phone in her lap. It went off again and she quickly smiled at me before picking her phone up again and continuing to text whoever it was.
"Liar." Her phone went off again and I snatched it reading the text from the person she'd been texting for 2 days straight.
Jayden💗: ur so flipping cute😍😂 no joke😂
"Who is this Jayden kid?! Why are you texting him?! Why is he calling you cute and why does he have a heart next to his name?!" I asked. Her phone went off again.
Jayden💗: My first football game is on Friday
Jayden💗: And I was wondering if you'd wear my Jersey to school that day
"He asked if you would wear his jersey to school on Friday," I said. She took the phone from me and quickly replied.
"Who is he?"
"No one." Her phone went off again. This time she didn't check it.
"Tell me who he is!" I demanded.
"He's just a guy from school," She said rolling her eyes. "Why do you care so much?"
"I just wanted to know," I said avoiding eye contact.
"You're jealous," She said. Her face began to light up.
"I'm not!"
"You are!" She laughed. "Does Jacky have a little crush on his best friend?" She teased.
"No, I'm jealous because I only get to see you after school when I'm not busy and you're too busy texting a kid from school to notice that I'm trying to spend time with you!" I yelled. She jumped back. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to yell..."
"No, I'm sorry Jack. I should've told Jayden I was spending time with you," I said. "It's just Jayden makes me feel so happy and he's just... Ugh!"
"You like him huh?" I asked.
"I'm like in love with him," She said with a smile.
"Tell me more about him." I was suddenly interested. I loved seeing her happy and smiling. I feel like sometimes I put my happiness before hers, but that's only because when I'm happy it's because she's happy.
She went on and on about what a great guy he was. She told me about him being a football/baseball player and how he was cheated on in 8th grade. She smiled the whole time and I didn't see her frown once. She also told me how he was the first guy at her school to talk to her because he wanted to talk to her instead of wanting to talk to her because her sister is Bridget.
"He's a keeper," I said laughing.
"I know right," She said. "Oh my gosh. I've been talking about him for 45 minutes now and I totally forgot he texted me an hour ago!"
She quickly texted him. He sent back in 2 seconds.
"What did he say?" I asked. I felt like a girl.
"He said to call him," She said. "I'll call him later-"
My phone went off.
"It's me," I said into the phone.
"Hey, David said to come home we have a last minute interview in 30 minutes," Jonah said.
"I'll be right there," I said hanging up. "I have to go. Duty calls."
"Ha! Duty..." Deja laughed.
"You're so immature," I laughed. I got up and walked towards the door.
We said our goodbyes and she gave me a hug before I ran back to the house.
"There you are!" David yelled. "Go get dressed."
I ran up the stairs and quickly got dressed in my regular all black outfit. I fixed my hair again.
"Where were you?" Corbyn asked.
"At Deja's house. I told you guys this before I left," I said.
"Oh yeah." I rolled my eyes.
"How is she?" Jonah asked. Zach sat in the front seat with his ear buds plugged in.
"She's doing great. She has a thing with a guy named Jayden," I said.
"That's cool."
"Yeah, they're like in love with each other and he's a senior."
"Who's a senior?" Daniel asked unplugging his ear buds.
"The guy Deja has a thing with," I said.
"Deja has a thing with someone?" Zach suddenly asked.
"Well i-it's-" I stammered before getting cut off.
"Good for her," He said putting his ear buds back in his ears.
I could tell he was still hurt. He didn't do a very great job of hiding his feelings.
Deja:
"What's your favorite color?" Jayden asked through the phone.
"Blue," I said pacing back and forth in my room. "What's yours?"
"Green, like grass green." I laughed a little. "What's your favorite sport?"
"Basketball for sure, yours?"
"I don't really know. I love football and baseball. I can't really choose between them," He said. "But if I really had to choose over the two, I'd choose football."
"Cool."
He laughed.
"Why are you laughing?" I asked.
"I don't know, I guess I just like how you say cool."
"I say cool like everyone else. See? Cool," I said again. He continued to laugh.
"No, there's something different. I don't know what it is, but when you talk you sound way different from other girls. You're like unique." I smiled and flopped on my bed.
"Well, in that case, thank you," I said. It went quiet for a few seconds.
"Deja?"
"Yes?"
"Keep talking," He said. "I love hearing you talk."
"I don't know what to say."
"It doesn't matter what you say, as long as you keep talking." I laughed a little.
"Jayden?"
"Yeah?" He sounded sleepy.
"Are you tired?" I asked.
"Of course not."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," He said.
"Jayden?"
"Yes?" He answered again.
"Do you really like me?" I asked.
"Deja?"
"Yeah?"
"I really like you and I'd rather like you than any other girl in the world," He said. I smiled.
"Stop being cheesy you annoying," I said laughing. "Would it be weird if I said I want to reach through the phone and give you the tightest hug right now?"
"No," He said.
"Oh, well then I want to reach through the phone and give you the biggest hug right now," I stated making him die of laughter.
"I wanna reach through the phone and bring you to where I am so that you're right next to me," He said.
"That's weird." I laughed. "Just kidding."
"You scared me for a second there." I continued to laugh. "Do you think your dad would care if I just took you from him?"
"Probably..."
"Well if I were to pick you up right now, would you be okay with that?" He asked.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying can I come pick you up right now?"
"I don't know, I still have homework to finish and you still need to finish your homework," I said.
"You're boring."
"No, I'm not. You wanna know what's boring?"
"What?" He asked.
"If you end up failing on the first week of school and never play sports ever again."
"You're right..." He laughed. "So what you're saying is that you don't want me to pick you up?"
"Maybe some other time," I said. There was a knock at my door. I got up and answered it. "One second."
"When's dinner going to be ready?" Bridget asked.
"I'll make it in a little bit," I said. Bridget rolled her eyes and walked off. I shut the door. "I have to go make dinner."
"Why doesn't Bridget make dinner or your step mom?" Jayden asked.
"Because they don't know how to," I said laughing. "I'll talk to you later."
"Alright. Make sure you talk to me later so that I'm not waiting for 500 years for you to call me back," He said.
"I'll make sure to."
"Okay, bye Deja."
"Bye, Jayden." I hung up the phone and set it down on my bed. I walked over to Hashbrown and pet his head. He was asleep as usual. Sometimes I get scared that he's dead, but then he flinches and I'm not scared anymore.
I walked down stairs and began making spaghetti. I finished making the meat and the noodles. I set the table and waited for my dad to come home.
He got home and we all had dinner together. I couldn't help but notice that Bridget was giving me very unusual looks.
"So how has school been so far?" My dad asked.
"Pretty great," I answered.
"Yeah, really great," Bridget said.
"Have you guys made any new friends?" He asked.
"I've made a whole bunch of new friends," Bridget bragged.
"Deja?"
"Well, sort of, I don't know. Not really." I shrugged and continued to swirl spaghetti noodles around my fork.
"So, when are you going to tell everyone about your new friend Jayden?" Bridget suddenly asked. I stopped what I was doing.
"Jayden? Who's that?" My dad asked.
"No one," I said. "He's just a guy from school."
"Really? People are saying he's more than just a guy from school. I heard he asked you if you would wear his jersey on Friday."
"Who'd you hear that from?" I asked.
"Deja, everyone knows. He told one of his friends and he told a whole bunch of people and now your face is plastered next to his on the school's Ship or Dip Instagram," Bridget said. "See?"
She showed me a picture. It was a picture of me, Kyle and Jamal. We took it over the summer and Jamal posted it on his Instagram except whoever owned the account cropped Jamal and Kyle out. There was a cute adorable picture of Jayden smiling. In the caption, it said Ship or Dip.
I scrolled through the comments. Everyone was commenting ship.
"No way..." I said.
"Yeah," Bridget pulled her phone away.
"So who is he?" My dad asked again.
"I met him on the first day and we talked a bit and we've been talking over the phone for 2 days. He's a really cool guy and he did ask me to wear his jersey and I told him I would. I guess the whole school knows I'll be wearing it," I said.
"I just don't know why he asked, you," Bridget said. "He's gorgeous and super popular and you're like... not. Why did he ask you?"
"I don't know, why don't you ask him?" I was starting to question why he asked me to wear it. He could've asked any girl at the school.
"I heard he likes you," Bridget smirked. "And I also heard you like him back."
"Where'd you hear that?"
"You act like I can't hear your conversations with Jordan or whatever his name is."
"Jack?"
"Yeah, him."
"Jack knows him?" My dad asked.
"No, I just told Jack about him." My dad nodded his head.
"So do you have a thing with him?" He asked.
"I don't know," I shrugged.
"What about you, Bridget?" Brianna asked. "Do you have a thing with any of the boys at school?"
"No, I'm actually hard to get and I'm not easily swayed
by a guy who I think likes me," She said. "Yeah, if I were you, I would never actually believe that Jayden actually likes me because knowing you, he probably doesn't. He's probably only talking to you because you act like one of the guys."
"I can't believe you," I said.
"It's the truth-"
"Bridget, don't say things like that," My dad said. "It's not nice."
"I just want you to remember that you're living in reality, not your little fantasy world where Jayden is in love with you."
"Bridget." My dad gave her a look. "Deja, I would love to meet Jayden. Is he available on Friday?"
"He has his first football game."
"Perfect, I'll go."
"Are you sure dad? You don't have to go," I said.
"Yeah, you should just stay home," Bridget said. I could tell she didn't want him to come because she didn't want to be embarrassed in front of all the kids at school.
"Actually dad, I'll tell Jayden you'll be coming." I smiled and got up. I put all of my dishes in the sink. I began putting away all of the dishes. Dad helped wash the dishes while I rinsed and put them on the dish rack. Bridget and Brianna walked upstairs.
"Deja, don't listen to what Bridget was saying. You are beautiful and Jayden is a really smart guy if he chose to love you over any other girl at school because you are absolutely perfect." He kissed my forehead and we headed upstairs.
"Thanks, Dad, I love you." I hugged him before walking into my room and calling Jayden back.