The next two weeks past as fast as they could. Sophia had been wanting to apologize to Peter properly but every time she got near him, he'd just push her away. Peter secretly wanted her back, but the hurt from the break up and her not remembering the night they'd had together four months ago was eating him alive and he just couldn't deal with her anymore. In Literacy, they were just finishing up their peer projects. Sophia and Christina weren't being so kind to each other. Sophia still despised Christina because she blamed her for ruining her relationship. Sophia still couldn't connect the dots on why Christina had been so urgent about their relationship.
"What hobbies do you like?" Sophia groaned, leaning on her elbow and taking notes. Christina eyed her suspiciously.
"What's up with you? You already know. We're supposed to be working on the essay." Christina sighed and went back to her own laptop, typing on the keyboard. Sophia shook her head and typed on her own but very slowly. Christina grabbed Sophia's laptop and turned it towards her. "Really? You only have like, three sentences done? I have one paragraph!" she shouted and the teacher glared at her. "Sorry." she apologized and turned back to Sophia, raising her eyebrows. "Pick up the pace, Baker."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Sophia said sarcastically, "How does this sound? Christina is a back-stabbing wannabe that damages her friend's relationships. Better?" Sophia typed it in and smirked. Christina forced a smile,
"Just perfect." she giggled then her face went blank with no expression. "Delete it." Sophia rolled her eyes and deleted the sentence. A few rows back, Jamie and Peter were compromising.
"Okay, okay. I'll say you're a dashing gentleman if you say I'm a, I don't know... beautiful singer." Jamie laughed and Peter smiled.
"You sing?" he asked her, giving her his attention and closing his laptop. Jamie sighed and shrugged, looking at her finger nails.
"A little. When I'm alone, you know." her smile faded and looked out the window. Peter sensed something was wrong.
"What's wrong, Jamie?" he asked her, tapping her shoulder and she turned to face him.
"I guess since you know almost everything about me, one more thing wouldn't hurt anyone." she shrugged and he nodded, sitting up straight. "When I was little, my mom and I would always sing together. It was my passion and she really helped me a lot with it, you know... but when I was nine, she got diagnosed with cancer. I started fundraising to give me something to do and to show my mom that I cared about her. She finally died when I was eleven. Singing just wasn't the same without her by my side and carrying me through it all... so I stopped singing all together. I only sing sometimes to calm me down and I feel like singing is the only real thing," Jamie's tears finally formed and were running down her cheeks. "that keeps me connected to her somehow. Makes me feel like she's still with me." Peter wiped away Jamie's tears with his thumb.
"That must've been hard for you. How did you cope?" he asked her, knowing it was probably a stupid question, but wanting to know more. Jamie scoffed.
"I didn't. I dealt with it the worst way possible. I fell into a stage of deep depression. I-I, I started cutting..." her voice trailed off and she sniffled. "I knew it was bad, but it made me feel good. I don't know why. My dad finally found out when I almost thirteen. He took me to counseling and things like that. It helped me, it really did. But I was still tanking my grades in school, I hadn't seen my friends in months... that's when we moved here. I like Carolina. It's nice. Sometimes we visit my old friends in the South, and sometimes they visit us. You're probably wondering why I room with Sophia. My dad is an addict. Has been since their anniversary the year she died. I didn't like coming home to him all drunk and tipsy." she shrugged. "So I found a place and asked Sophia to come with me since she'd been kicked out of her own home. I'm seventeen and I haven't seen my dad in five years. My life's messed up." she played with her fingers.
"Wow. How many people know this?" Peter asked, intrigued. His heart broke at her story, worried for her.
"Only you, and the principal. I haven't even told Sophia. She never questioned me. I didn't want to talk about." Jamie turned back to her computer. "I'm about done, is there anything else? Also, I think your picture is completely boring. Do you really want to use your yearbook picture?" she giggled. Peter slightly smiled and nodded.
"I've got a great idea for your picture. You just need to trust me. Do you?" he asked her, gripping her hand.
"With my life." she said, surprising herself but Peter responded with a wide smile.
It was into the weekend and Jamie was over Peter's. Joselyn treated them to snacks and drinks. Peter and Jamie were kneeling on the ground in front of a huge poster board. They gazed over their masterpiece of a painting. Jamie was getting tears in her eyes just looking at it.
"Now what do we do?" Jamie asked, turning to him and took a deep breath. Peter looked at his mom who nodded at him. Peter ran into the kitchen and picked up a duffel bag. "Um... am I missing something?"
"We're going on a road trip." he hooked the bag onto his shoulder and gestured towards the door. "Shall we?" Jamie laughed and ran with him out the door after saying goodbye to Joselyn. Jordan turned to his mother with a confused look. "How many girlfriends can a guy have?" he asked her. Joselyn laughed.
"Only one. Got that?" she pointed her finger at him, jokingly.
Two hours later, Jamie was singing aloud with the radio, bonking her head from side to side and jamming out. Peter laughed and continued driving. Jamie looked at him.
"How much longer until we get to this place I still do not know the name of?" Jamie hit him playfully and leaned her head back.
"About two hours and half." he chuckled as she grunted. "We'll be there in no time, don't worry. I promise you're going to love this. Once we get what we need, we can go back home and finish our essay."
"So are we getting something for the essay?" she asked him, grabbing a box of Cheetos from the duffel bag in the back seat. Peter nodded. "Oh, great. But when we get it, it'll be pointless because we'll have to drive the four hours and a half all the way back home again. Yippee." she rolled her eyes and stuffed Cheetos into her mouth.
"It won't matter because you're going to love this. I promise you, this will be a memorable road trip. One of the best times of your life." he smirked at her and she returned a smile.
"I hope you're right." she threw a Cheeto at him. "This is odd. How fast we became friends." the smile dissapeared and her jaw dropped. "What if Sophia hates me? You're her ex!" she started panicking.
"It'll be okay. We're not sneaking around, we're just two friends hanging out." he continued driving down the highway with the wind slapping them in the face.
Back in North Carolina, Sophia was embraced in her warm bedsheets and loving it. Her face was flat on her pillow and she was stuck in dreamland. Until, that is, when Mr. Baker stormed into the apartment. Sophia instantly woke up and grabbed a baseball bat from the closet. She slowly tip-toed out of her room and into the hallway. Walking down, she jumped into the living room, holding the baseball bat up. Mr. Baker put his hands up in surrender.
"What? You can't afford a security system for this place." Mr. Baker pointed up and looked around. "Sophia, where's Jamie?" he asked, letting himself sit on the couch. Sophia put the baseball bat down next to the wall and walked into the kitchen.
"Who gives you the right to barge into my house?" she yelled at him, a stern look on her face. Mr. Baker smiled. "Get out." she gestured towards the door and pulled out a cereal box.
"I need to talk to you." he told her, sympathy in his voice. Sophia didn't believe he was being sincere and just continued pouring the cereal into a bowl, then put the box away. "No family issues, promise. It's school." Sophia's head snapped up.
"I guess I should listen to this. Is it my grades?" she asked him, realizing it was a stupid question because it was obviously bad news about her grades.
"It's not bad news, for once." he folded his hands. "You've been nominated for prom queen."
"Prom is a month away." Sophia shrugged her shoulders, the stern look still planted on her face. "You're lying."
"Indeed, prom is far away but people are already making decisions and you're nominated. Do you accept?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Sophia nodded,
"If you're serious, then yes, of course I accept." Mr. Baker nodded and headed towards the door. "Wait," he turned around. "Who's been nominated for Prom King?" Mr. Baker just smiled and walked out the door.