(Picture of Jasmine)
[Jasmine]
Just leave me alone.
No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the words that Jacob said out of my head. The words stung fresh when he said them. They stung during all of my classes and the sting was still growing strong as I took my lunch tray over to my regular table in the center of the cafeteria.
And it was weird because I just knew he existed but here I was thinking way too hard about him like we've known each other for years. Damnit. Jacob, what have you done to me? We haven't even had a decent conversation. Hell, we weren't even friends!
But here I was sitting with my friends in complete silence hoping that he was okay.
I was starving but I couldn't bring myself to pick up my silverware and devour the lasagna sitting in front of me.
"You alright, Jas?" My other best friend Jewels asked, hushing my thoughts and snapping me back into reality. My behavior wasn't hard to detect at all. I wasn't really good at hiding my emotions even if I wanted to. I wasn't good at lying either...
"Huh? what? Oh yeah girl don't worry about it." I shooed her away. See? I was a horrible liar! I knew that was more un-believable than Craig waking up before me in the mornings.
Diamond touched my arm and gave me one of her pity smiles. "Is it about you know who?"
"You know who what?! I wanna know too!" Jewels pouted, giving me one of her you-left-me-out puppy dog looks.
You know who? Damn. I wasn't going out with the boy. I mean he was...really good-looking but we didn't go out and it irked me that my friends would think like that. "No! It's not about anybody! Let's just-" I picked up my fork and knife, hoping my weak smile would make them leave the situation alone.
They glanced at each other before continuing their meals. Victory.
I sighed and as I took a bite of my lasagna. It might have tasted better if my taste buds weren't being so stubborn. Like Jacob. Ugh...why did everything come back to him?! Get out of my head. Get out of my...
"Hey sis, can we crash?"
I looked up and saw my brother, his girlfriend Sasha, Rayan and Chresanto standing over me. I glared at each and every one of them.
In the corner of my eye, I could see Diamond scooting over to make room for Craig (I'm pretty sure). Hell no! Those lowlifes were NOT going to sit with me after what they did to Jacob and as for Craig's girlfriend...I just didn't like her! "Um...No? Why?"
Diamond stopped moving and looked from me to Craig. She has been my friend long enough to know that me and my brother fought constantly.
"Why you trippin' Jasmine? There's no more room at our table." Craig's voice turned angry.
My brother's anger did not scare me. He was all bark and no bite to me. "I'm not and that is not my problem!" I snapped looking directly into his eyes.
"Man you walkin' home..." Craig mumbled sitting down at our table anyway. His little "posse" followed him as usual.
I growled and rolled my eyes. Whatever. I would just tell mom and dad anyway. I loved to get him in trouble.
Chresanto's ass sat right next to me, giving me a lustful grin. Could this moment in my life grow any worst?
"Hey Jasmine. Craig and I are throwing a party this Saturday...you should bring your new loser boyfriend!" Sasha sing-songed making Craig, Rayan and Chresanto burst out laughing.
Yup. Just got worst.
I sighed, pushing my lunch tray to the side. I looked her way and plastered the fakest smile on my face as possible. I was not about to start with her today.
Jewels and Diamond just rolled their eyes. They couldn't stand Sasha either.
She was all kinds of wrong. She was one of those people who thought they were the shit. What she needed was a good ass whooping' but I was sure she was already getting one from my brother... Let me stop. Think happy thoughts Jasmine.
Well I couldn't. Not when Chresanto put his arm around me and started rubbing my belly like I was carrying his baby. "Instead of going with stutter boy, you should go with a real man."
Okay. That was it. I couldn't do this anymore. My appetite was gone. My atmosphere had been polluted with idiots. I needed to go. Now.
Jewels rolled her eyes.
"Oh so your going to bring that man with you to the party that I'm not going to?" I snapped, jerking away from Santo. "And Craig...where is this party going to be? Our house?"
Craig ignored me by looking straight ahead like I was a nobody. Fuck him then. I was going to tell mom and dad!
I picked up my barely touched food and walked over to the trash, ignoring the fact that my stomach was arguing with me.
"Where are you going?" Jewels called after me as I started making my way out the door.
"The library."
"The library? Why would you want to go in there?" Diamond crunched up her nose.
"I have a history report due tomorrow."
"I thought you were already done with it??" Both of them seemed confused since I was bragging about being done with my report before anyone else two days ago.
I was done actually but I needed an excuse to leave. "I just need to check my facts that's all." I shrugged and pushed open the door of the cafeteria.
I took my iPod out from my back pocket and shoved the headphones in my ears, putting on Fetty Wap's song "Again". The music calmed my nerves and I headed up the stairs into the library, humming the lyrics.
Lunch was about to be over in 10 minutes and I wasn't looking forward to going to Algebra for my last period of the day since Sasha was in there and sat right next to me.
Pulling open the doors of the library, a cool breeze swept over me. Dang. It was super cold in here and I didn't have a jacket. As long as I kept moving around, I would feel warm in no time. I started looking at my surroundings.
There were only a couple of people here and there. I cleared my throat and started looking up and down the aisle of books aimlessly. I picked up a few that had nothing to do with my history report and decided to do a little reading.
I made my way towards the back of the library where they kept the sitting area and guess who I saw?
Jacob.
He was sitting by himself and picking over his lunch. I felt bad for him. I knew he must have hated being by himself. I know I did. I couldn't stand being by myself...unless it was by choice but I don't think he ever had a chance to pick.
I paused the song on my iPod and took a deep breath before approaching him. "Hey."
He looked up and me for a split second and then looked away quickly. I sighed and took the seat across from him.
"Y-you cant b-be here." He said barely over a whisper, avoiding my eyes.
I cocked my head and tried to study him. I couldn't figure out why he was trying to avoid me. I was pretty sure I was the only one trying to be nice to him. "And why not?"
He hesitated like he didn't want to say what he wanted to but sighed and finally looked my way. "Y-your brother w-wont like it if w-we s-started hanging out."
Anger started to flood throughout my body. So THAT was the reason why he was so timid around me.
My fucking brother. Godamnit.
Craig thought that since he was older that me he could make my decisions for me. Um...no. My own parents didn't even do that so why was I going to let him...who was only a couple of months older than me by the way...control me like I was his pet. Whoop dee fucking do. No.
I reached over and touched his arm. "Jacob, don't worry about him. Look, if it bothers you so much, he doesn't have to know."
"He d-doesn't?" Jacob raised his eyebrow and tilted his head. "B-but won't he eventually f-find out?."
I put my finger up to his lips and his whole body tensed up. "I want to get to know you, Jacob. I really do. How 'bout we leave school early and go back to my place?"
His eyes widened and he started shaking harder. "I-I don't t-think that's a g-good idea."
I tried to stop smiling but I couldn't. He was just so adorable. "Great. Let's go." I stood up, grabbed his arm and made our way out of the library.
"W-what are you d-doing?!" He whisper-hissed from behind me. I ignored him and continued my way out of the school.
He looked pretty terrified as soon as we were both standing outside of the empty parking lot within minutes.
I couldn't help but to laugh. "It's okay Jacob. Nobody's going to get you."
~*~
[Jacob]
This girl was crazy...no, psycho. She was trying to kill me. I couldn't get in trouble.
My mom would probably have a fit that I skipped a class period and think I was possessed by the devil. Yeah, my mom was just that religious crazy.
As much as I was telling myself to turn around and go back to school, my legs would not move in the opposite direction. Jasmine was still holding onto my arm and started dragging me across the street from the school.
"J-Jasmine." I tried to get her to stop. I really wasn't trying to get into anymore trouble today. Maybe tomorrow...?
"Don't worry! We'll be fine. I don't live far." I guess she thought that would make it better. It didn't.
A lot of things started running through my brain like why was this popular girl trying to get to know a loser like me? I'm sure she had a lot of other people to hang out with yet she was trying her hardest to be my friend.
Hopefully she didn't feel sorry for me. I didn't want her to feel like she had to help me.
We were now walking in some neighborhood, the school non-visible behind us. She let go of my arm and I sighed in relief.
She started giggling. "You must still think girls have cooties."
I darted my eyes towards her and fought the urge to laugh. "W-what? N-NO!"
She broke into a full laugh and I couldn't help but to join in with her. Her laugh was contagious.
It actually felt good to laugh. I don't think I've ever laughed before. People were too busy laughing at me. It was nice. I relaxed my muscles and fell out of my comfort zone.
"So what's a boy like you doing over here in the rich part of L.A.?" She finally got her laugh under control and regained herself.
I sighed and shoved my hands into my pants pocket. "M-my mom l-lost her j-job a f-few weeks a-ago s-so and she d-decided to m-move here."
Jasmine bit her lip. "I'm sorry to hear that. Has she found a new job?"
I shook my head slowly.
"I can talk to my parents," She hopefully smiled, kicking a bunch of rocks with the heel of her shoe. "You know if you want?"
I couldn't help but to admire her. She was the nicest person I've never met. She haven't even met my mom yet she was so willing to help her. But I couldn't let her do that. My mom needed to find a job on her own. I shook my head and she nodded, dropping the issue.
We kept walking but my feet were getting tired. I could have sworn this girl said she didn't live far. I wanted to see what her definition of close was.
"Here we are." She pointed up ahead.
My eyes widened at her house. It was...so huge! You could fit like 7 models of my house in hers.
She laughed at how surprised I was. "Come on!" She grabbed the rim of my shirt and started dragging me towards her lawn. I've never actually been in an abundant house before and my heart was pounding at the fact that I was about to.
As soon as we reached her cream colored door, she fished in her bag and pulled out her house key.
I felt like I didn't belong here. The Crippen's house was super elegant and tidy. I felt a ping of jealously shot through my brain. My house wasn't even half as good at their house.
"Make your self at home." She smiled, sitting her purse on a wooden coffee table before turning to look at me. My body had tensed up again and I was too scared to move. What if I messed up something?
"Jacob, are you nervous?" She asked quickly.
Yes. "N-no. W-why would y-you say that?" I ran my fingers through my hair which is something I usually do when I'm really nervous about something.
She smiled and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the kitchen. "You ever had a gummy worm banana split topped of with chocolate syrup?"
I shook my head and shoved my hands back into my pockets. "My mom d-doesn't want me eating s-sweets."
She stopped grabbing the ingredients to whatever she was about to make and cocked her head at me. "You've never had ONE piece of candy before?"
Again, I shook my head. My mom always thought I would become too hyper if I ate candy so therefore I've never had any. What's the big deal anyway? I'm sure candy tasted like any other normal meal.
She shook her head and continued to make whatever it was. I sighed and sat down in the chair across from her and watched her make it. Well, It did look pretty tasty...
"Here you go." She smiled as she slid a bowl full of vanilla ice cream, gummy worms, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and sprinkles over to me. My mouth started watering and I stuck my finger in and licked it.
Oh my...
My eyes grew big and she started laughing me. "You're mom is making you miss out on the good stuff, Jacob." She handed me a spoon and gestured me to follow her upstairs. "Come on, we can eat in my room."
Nodding, I followed her up the stairs shoving spoonfuls of ice cream in my mouth. It was so yummy!
We walked in her room and I plopped down on the floor while she sat on her queen-sized bed. She tried to get me to sit next to her but I didn't want to mess up her bed.
You know...she made me feel things I've never felt before. It was so weird because she was actually interested in the things I had to say. She never laughed at me. She would laugh with me. She made me feel like I was important. That's all I really ever asked for.
"Hey, what kind of music do you like?" She said as she sat down next to me on the floor.
"I l-like p-punk rock." I shrugged and she reached for her purse.
"You've got to listen to some Rap and R&B." She handed me her iPod and smiled.
I hesitated. I mean I've never actually had an iPod before. I wouldn't know how to work it even if she showed me.
"Come on. Take it. You can bring it back whenever you like. I have a back up one with the same stuff on it." Her smile was mesmerizing.
I nodded and put it in my pocket, not wanting to be rude. "I-I'll t-try to enjoy it. Th-thank you."
We were sitting there talking for what felt like hours talking about random things when all of a sudden the front door downstairs opened and slammed shut.
"Aye Jasmine, You in here?"
As soon as I heard Craig's angry voice, my ears started ringing. I looked over at Jasmine and panic flooded through my body. I knew that this was a bad idea from the start.
Jasmine pulled the spoon out of her mouth and stood up. "Uh...yeah?" She snatched my arm and told me to run out the back door behind the kitchen. "I'll see you tomorrow." She whispered giving me a tiny wave.
I quickly ran down the stairs and disappeared out the back door just like Jasmine told me unseen by Craig. Phew. I continued down the empty road when I was sure I was safe and sound away from the Crippen's house.
You know what? That was fun. That was too much fun all at once. I was pretty sure my mother was going to have a fit and question me until tomorrow about why I was coming in so late but whatever. That was the first time I've ever had fun in my entire life and I'm eighteen years old.
Smiling, I took out the pink iPod she had let me borrow and attempted to try and play the song she wanted me to hear.
It wasn't working out too well. I had no idea what I was doing.
"Well if it isn't Stutter Boy?"
"Aye, what you doing over here in the rich neighborhood? Shouldn't you be trying to make your way back to the orphanage?"
I looked up and saw the boy with two braids and the other one with short curly hair. They were playing basketball in the street and were now trying to make their way over to me. You know...I was having a pretty good evening. I didn't want it to be ruined by getting beat up on the side of the street. I tried to ignore them and just kept walking away. But they ran up to catch me.
"Whoa there, Stutter Boy. We just want to talk to ya." Two Braids said putting his arm on my shoulder.
"Yeah. What you doing over here anyway? We were looking for you after school but we couldn't find you." Curly Hair smirked my way, looking over his shoulder.
"Oh snap. Don't tell me you trying to get with Craig's sister!" Two Braids started laughing in my face.
Tears started forming in my eyes. I just wanted to be left alone. "N-no! I'm n-not!"
"Dude. You're in soooooooooo much trouble!" Curly Hair put his foot in front of mine and I tripped on the concrete, scraping my knee.
They both laughed and exchanged high fives each other before running away out of sight while I forced myself up.
~+~
"Jacob! Are you okay?!"
I sighed as I shut the door behind me.
My mom had probably been in her room pacing back and forth thinking that something bad had happened to me.
"I'm fine mom!" I rolled my eyes and went straight to my room. I plopped on my bed head-first, landing into my pillow.
The tears that were pinching the back of my eyes the whole time I walked home were finally falling.