The first few chapters of this story were prewritten. They've been in my archives for months now and they're finally seeing the light of day!
Hopefully you're enjoying the read so far. It gets better, I promise! Chapter 4 is coming up in a few days.
When the final bell rings for the day, the hallways turn into pure pandemonium. There is always so much going on from people on top of the lockers, jumping off lockers, backflipping down the hall, I don't know. It's ridiculous but the point is it's a challenge every time you want to find your way to anywhere at this hour!
By the time I get to the office, I look like I just ran fifteen miles but really, I've just been shoved and groped for 15 minutes. I just can't wait to get out of this school, and this town. It's a beautiful place to grow up in; very serene despite being close to the city, but it's too true to its name; "Old Town". I feel like we're on a little island, detached from the civilisation. Well, that's exaggerating a bit but that's how I feel about this place.
Nothing ever changes. The places I used to cause trouble in when I was 3 are exactly the same as they were 14 years ago. Not a lot of shops open in the town centre, but a lot of shops do close. My parents even said nothing exciting opens in the town centre until Mae opened her cafe. Maybe it's due to the fact that the town is close to the city anyway, so new shops didn't seem necessary.
It's not all bad, though. There's something beautiful about it actually. It keeps childhood alive, but I don't see a future for myself in this town, and frankly every young person feels the same. To be fair, we have made some progress. Apartment buildings rose in the town centre this past year, but they weren't monumental. Just enough so that they blend in with the facade of all the Victorian-era buildings around them. So if I were to do what I want to do, it can't happen here.
"I'm sorry I'm late." I announced as soon I got through the door.
"That's old news, Kim." I hear Jane say as she was setting up the camera. I just dropped my bag on an empty space beside a computer and turned to face the guests. Normally, it's just me and Jane in this room that's it's a bit weird that there are more than 5 people in here. The freshmen were sitting nervously in the corner, not knowing what's in for them. There was one person missing in the group, and I start to worry whether she forgot about what we talked about this morning.
"Can we start soon?" One of the freshmen asked. Just as he asked that, Jane just finished setting up the camera. The two of us then went straight to director mode.
Jane was the one who did all the talking throughout the whole shoot. I stayed behind the camera most of the time, adjusting the focus and zoom from time to time. Even with that, my mind wasn't completely in place. Where's Jacky? She promised she'd be here. Every noise I hear from the hallway, I expect the door would fling open and Jacky just strolls in, but she doesnt.
And why it's bothering me so much that she's not here, I don't know!
It was until we were filming the last freshman, the door swings open and a blonde beauty walks in. We make eye contact for moment but she was dragged on a seat before she could say anything. I turn my attention back to zooming in up close as Jane asks the final question to the last freshman. Once that's done, I cut the footage.
"Perfect!" Jane rejoices. The freshman leaves, leaving only the three of us in the room. "Hi! You're the new student in our year!" Jane exclaims and I can't help but shoot her a wry look. She's really not hiding the fact that she's excited by a new face. "Great. We could use a new face in our year." She gestures for Jacky to sit in front of the camera and she does so without any hesitation.
"Sorry I'm late. The principal wanted to see me." Jacky says but her eyes burned a hole in my face. It was like she was directly telling me that. I looked away, feeling my face heat up. "Are we starting?" She asks. I look at Jane and saw her give me the signal to start recording. I press the record button and Jane starts asking the questions.
"So welcome to Silver Creek, Jacky. Compared to everyone we talked to today, you're a little bit different. They were all freshmen, you're a senior. You only have a year in the school so we just want to know what your expectations are for the year." She asks. I look at Jacky who seems to be contemplating.
"I like that it's a real school, to be honest." She laughs, but it was more confusing for Jane and I. "I was homeschooled for a few years, so I didn't have any classmates or anything like this. I don't have any expectations. I just want to enjoy the school year and experience as much of high school that I can in a year." She says, which came really shocking to me.
I don't want to be seem judgemental but I was very surprised when Jacky said she's homeschooled. You don't meet a lot of homeschooled people in Old Town, and how they portrayed them in movies is a lot different than how Jacky looks. She's on the opposite side of that spectrum which really caught me by surprise.
"The campus is beautiful. Where I come from, campuses tend to be situated between sky scrapers and concretes. That's the thing I love most about Silver Creek. And also the students here—" she laughs, "Theres a bit of everyone. It's interesting and fun. You definitely don't get that when you're having class in your living room apartment."
The interview went on like how Jane did it. She did most of the talking while I sat behind the camera, wishing I could talk to Jacky personally and deviate from these ridiculously staged questions. Jane had a feeling Jacky was different from the rest of the student body, and she wasn't wrong. She's not someone you just encounter randomly in Old Town everyday.
When the interview was over, Jane had to rush out because her brother was waiting outside for her. When that happened, it only occurred to me that Kennedy was nowhere to be found today, and she hasn't sent me any text message. So that was the first thing I checked on.
"Everything cool?" Jacky asks, leaning on the table beside me. Her presence is very distracting, but not in a bad way! She's not someone you can pretend is not there. Her presence is always very strong.
"Yeah, I just haven't heard a word from my best friend—" just as I said that, I get a text from Jane.
'Kennedy is in my brother's car and they're making out. This is unbelievable' with an annoyed emoji at the end.
I laughed and shoved my phone in my back pocket. "Never mind. I know exactly where she is. This bitch just missed a whole day of school to make out with her prune-face of a boyfriend—" My eyes widen after realising what I just said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that."
Jacky looked at me, biting her lips like she's trying to stop herself from bursting into an insane laughter. "Prune...face?" There was hesitation in her tone. The way she repeated it made it sound like she was trying to make sure she heard me right.
I froze. "Umm... Yes, he has a face like a prune." The moment I said that, Jacky bursting in uncontrollable laughter. "Oh come on."
Jacky shakes her head vigorously, trying to stop herself from laughing too much. She says, still giggling a bit. "I can't wait to see his face."
"Okay. Let's forget about my best friend's boyfriend's face." I say but this time I can't help but laugh as well. Just thinking of Ryan's face, he really does look like a prune. I sling my bag over my shoulder. "You were homeschooled? That must be a big adjustment to this school, isn't it?" I ask her.
"Too big." She says firmly but with a grin on her face. "I'm a total freak." She follows but it was more of a joke.
"Did you get that a lot?" I ask her, making her laugh. She nods without hesitation.
"That's just the impression a lot of people have." She shrugs. "So, yeah, this is all new for me; new school, new state, new people. We didn't have homecoming dances and teachers who throw pen caps at students who don't listen."
Her own reason why she's homeschooled? What does that mean? And the way she said it, there was something implied there.
"Hope all the new things don't scare you away." I tell her. Jacky's face softens and she tilts her head a bit. "If I were in your position, I would be freaking out and terrified." I admit only because I haven't lived anywhere else other than Old Town.
And even if I have the intentions of moving away for college, I'm still really scared about leaving this place. It's so familiar that it's comforting but at the same time, I'm getting bored with the comfort.
"I'll be okay." Jacky says assuringly and confidently. "When life is a bit too comfortable, it's boring. Putting yourself in scary situations make it more exciting." She says but the moment she does she looks away from me. She takes a deep breath and crosses her arms, almost like she's avoiding something.
I'm not going to bombard her with questions now, that's cruel. She looks very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Have you been to the city of Chicago yet?" I ask her just to kind of break the tension. She glances at me with a different look in her eye this time. She shakes her head, a smirk slightly forming on her face. I pretended like I was insulted by her revelation, making her laugh. "Okay, now I feel like it's my responsibility to do that. It's a beautiful city. You'll feel right at home with the skyscrapers."
Jacky laughs and for a moment, I thought she wasn't taking me seriously. I am. I'm dead serious about what I just said. "Is that right? I will have to take you up on your offer one day." She says.
I really hope you do.
~
The next day at school, I had to take my mom's car to school because if not, I was going to be late. It was the first assembly of the year and our organisation is supposed to be filming some bits. It's 8:55 in the morning but I'm already tired. I haven't had a lot of sleep from last night since I was editing, I had to drive myself and there's just someone who won't stop running through my mind.
It's just an average school day now, compared to yesterday. First day rush dies down quickly around here. There are students chatting by their lockers, some making out, athletes huddling together as they check out every cheerleader and soccer player who walks by. I pass them without giving a single acknowledgement. I just needed to get to my locker and, wow, the person I was hoping I would t see at all was standing right beside mine.
She looks up and when she catches a glimpse of me, she smiles but her appearance alone bugged me, how much more her ridiculous grin? "What are you doing by my locker, Charlotte? As much as I love seeing your face, I really don't." I retorted as I opened my locker to cover her face.
"I want to talk about homecoming." She says, poking her head from behind my locker door. "I am holding a meeting for homecoming committee members in the library after school. I just want to make sure you're there."
I stopped rustling through my locker. I turned to her with a frown on my face. "I think you made a mistake." I tell her. "I didn't sign up to be in the homecoming committee yesterday." She plastered on this smug grin.
"Yes you are. I spoke to Principal Greene this morning and she specifically wants you in the committee." I roll my eyes at Charlotte but since it's the principal's request, I can't do anything about it. Just as I think Charlotte was going to leave me alone as well, she hands me a note. "I know you're doing the whole documenting shebang, but you still need to help set up because you're a senior AND a committee member."
I scoffed and shoved the note in my jacket, not caring whether it gets crumpled or torn. Charlotte rolls her eyes at me as i shut the door of my locker. "A senior? Not all seniors are required to participate. You're talking so much bullshit right now." I say but Charlotte was completely unfazed.
"You're forgetting something, Kimberly." She steps forward, nearly closing the space between us. I freeze, trying to take a step back but my legs won't cooperate with my brain. I can feel charlotte's hand wrap around my arm loosely. "You don't have a choice. I'm your council president."
"That's abuse of power." I pointed out.
She said 'president', but shes being so sneaky hiding an underlying message with that tone! And what sucks is we both know what it is.
I wrench my arm away frustratedly. "You're not really being subtle about keeping it." I tell her but she just grins. In the beginning, I saw on Charlotte's face that she never wants this to get out in the open but now, she doesn't seem so terrified if someone knew. I don't know if she's completely okay with that because she masks it well. I try to do the same but, wow, it's very hard.
"I'm not a snitch." She says, shrugging her shoulders casually. She starts walking backwards before waving me at me with a stupid smirk on her face. "And I just want to remind you that if you fail to do your duties or pull out, you'll be given probation for insubordination and failing to comply to your responsibilities. I'll see you after school in the meeting." She then spins around and walks off, cheerily greeting the people she passes. So pathetic.
I should really be getting to the assembly. I spun around, ready to sprint to the auditorium. "Shit." I cursed, stopping dead in my tracks but, losing my balance at the abruptness made me fumble over. Jacky was standing in front of me with a confused expression. I avoid her gaze as my face turned into the exact same colour as my shirt; a bright distracting red. "Were you standing there the whole time?" I managed to ask.
"Maybe long enough that I didn't hear your conversation with Charlotte." I raised my eyebrows at her, but she simply laughs it off. And for the first time since I met Jacky, I didn't think I would ever see this girl blush. I couldn't hide my amusement that a smile just stretched across my face. She waves her hands frantically, dismissing her words earlier.
"Never mind that." She clears her throat before showing me her timetable of classes. "There's an assembly this morning, but I don't know where the heck that is."
Jacky being confused is definitely something you don't expect from her character. She looks so put together and cool about everything, but when she gets confused, it's like seeing a whole different person. "Lucky for you, I'm going to the assembly too. But we're late, so we have to get going now."
She laughs as I dragged her to the gym. "Aren't you always late?" She asks.
I smile at her and returns it. We took very wide strides just to get to the gym, and even when we got there, the assembly has already began. Where we sat probably wasn't idea but it was the closest one to the door. We were sitting beside a bunch of cheerleaders and a group of boys from the basketball team behind us. It's just that we looked completely out of place. If only this weren't a requirement, I would never attend these assemblies.
Just as we sat down, Charlotte walks up to the podium. Being Charlotte, she gets a huge round of applause just for walking. She waves like this is a pageantry, and brushes her blonde hair out of her face. The boys behind Jacky and I let out howls and whistles. I grimaced before leaning forward to keep my head as far as possible from these monkeys.
"Well." Charlotte starts with a wide grin on her face. "I want to thank everyone who voted for me last year, and I really hope I don't disappoint you." She gets a round of applause, even from me. "And freshmen, I just want to say: Welcome. We're gonna give you the best Welcome this year and we guarantee you will fall in love with this school. The sense of community and family at this institution is incomparable......"
I let out a deep sigh and crossed my arms. The longer Charlotte talks, the more her voice fades away in my head. All I see now is her trying to win over the new students, and she's doing an amazing job at that. As I look around, the smiles on the freshmen's faces definitely guarantees that she's getting their support. And I seem to be the only one in the entire gym who's not crazy about wanting to kiss the ground Charlotte walks on.
"Now on a more important note: homecoming is coming up in 2 weeks." She definitely caught everyone's attention now. "Now, the senior class will be in charge of organising, as always. I'm not going to enumerate everything on my list this morning, but may I request these people to stay behind after class this afternoon for a meeting—"
Charlotte then begins to enumerate the people she has chosen for her homecoming committee. A lot of it were from her clique, which is already expected. It's just when she called my name, I saw Kennedy shooting me a look, her eyes wide with shock. I shrugged my shoulders at her and let out a sigh. She knows what's up, we both do.
"Oh! And Jacqueline Holliday. I almost forgot."
Jacky?!
I frowned, turning to Jacky beside me. She doesn't look at all surprised that she's part of the committee because of how indifferent she looks now.
"My other announcement is that homecoming tickets go on sale this Friday. That's all. Over to Principal Greene."
Jacky lets out a sigh and turns to me, crossing her arms. "Charlotte is a sneaky little weasel." She says then lets out a scoff. "Looks like you're stuck with me after classes."
"You will be making homecoming committee meetings very very bearable for me." I tell her, running a hand through my hair. "She already has a hidden agenda planned."
"Ha! I bet she does." Jacky exclaims proudly, almost like she's not surprised anymore. "But it's not just you. She must have something planned for me too."
I scoffed, knowing exactly what that is already. Charlotte's been trying to get under my skin but failed in all her attempts because I keep avoiding her. Now I can't avoid her as much as I can because she purposely dragged me into having to see her every single afternoon until homecoming now.
"I should have seen that coming, honestly." I admit without giving it a thought. Luckily, Jacky was very cool about not asking. I would've melted on the spot if I had to explain why, especially to Jacky.
~
Just this first week of working with Charlotte's homecoming committee, it turns out I was right. It is pure torture. The only person keeping me sane is Jacky, and because of her I haven't completely lost my mind yet. It's the conversations with her that make me want to actually be in the committee because the time I spend with her makes every annoying thing Charlotte makes us do a lot bearable.
Jacky revealed that Charlotte and her were childhood friends, much to my surprise. Jacky and Charlotte are complete opposites; Charlotte is so eccentric and loves the spotlight, but Jacky is the most laid back person I've ever met. So it's hard to imagine these two being friends now. Her mother and Charlotte's mother were close friends in high school, so I guess that's why.
When I asked Jacky what happened to them, she just shrugged and said, "I lived in New York, she lived in Illinois. We drifted. It happens."
"So what does your mom think?" I asked her at the time.
Something shifts in Jacky's aura. She tenses but she answers me anyway, "She didn't force it," She says in a tense voice. "At least I told her not to force it." And that was that; I received the message to end that part of the conversation.
Apart from Charlotte's pure enjoyment to make snarky comments about me indirectly, every afternoon seems to be a gift. I'm missing a lot of my responsibilities in the photography organisation, but I don't see it as time wasted because I'm getting to know Jacky... little by little.
She is very reserved, and very private. I sometimes look at her and wonder who she really is. The only thing I figured out about her is that she lived in New York to City for 11 years, Jacky is just a nickname, her real name is Jacqueline and she's homeschooled. She smiles, as charming as ever. Even then, there's a coldness in her eyes that takes over that spark every time I mention something about her life before Old Town. I feel like she has this wall around her that makes it impossible for anyone to get through to her. The moment i think I've actually broke a section of her wall, another barrier springs back to cover it up.
"I'd hate to spend my Friday anywhere else." Jacky makes a sarcastic comment. I chuckled as I staple the ribbon onto the pillar. "What's a better way of spending your Friday than stapling ruffles and ribbons to a foam pillar, right?"
"Yeah, it's not like I have a life." I shrugged indifferently but I know Charlotte is throwing daggers in our direction. Jacky feels that too because over the week, we developed this kind of communication when we want Charlotte to overhear us. "Is your aunt okay with you staying late in school?" I ask her.
Jacky laughs, shaking her head. I peer behind the pillar to see her smiling, her hair tied almost lazily but nonetheless out of her face. She wipes the sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist because she has glitter on her palms and fingers.
"She's actually glad I'm not being a cave woman. She was so worried I would become one when I moved here." She laughs before getting back to her work. "I'm here with you so what's to complain about. We're almost done with this so I guess we're out soon." She says.
A nervous laughter escaped my mouth. "You don't think we could have a better location than I this?"
I hear Jacky laugh at my question, making my cheeks go bright red. She steps out from behind the pillar we're doing. "Ohh I think about that every time we're covered in glitter paint." I've been hearing her laugh all week but it somehow sounds lovelier every time I hear it? "Like... as much as I love stapling plastic flowers on a pillar with you, I want something different."
I felt my face getting warm. "What's a better way to have conversation then?" I ask, trying to keep as much composure in my voice as I can. I can't even look at Jacky now without turning into a tomato, which is why I jumped when she suddenly sat down beside me.
. She grabs a wipe from the table and attempts to scrub off the glitter on her palms. At least she's not looking at my face, that's the upside there.
"Anywhere is better than here." She says. That's the only time she looks up but I was more caught off guard when she leans over, her mouth just lightly brushing my ear. "I just don't like Charlotte eavesdropping on every conversation we have." Her laughter rang in my ear that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Our conversation was cut short when Charlotte announces that we're all allowed to leave, once again proving how right Jacky is. We never get a proper conversation with Charlotte lurking from every corner. Jacky leans back and lets out a sigh. She might not have seen it but just as Charlotte said that, I kept my eyes on her and she gave me a really dirty stare.
"Well, that's that then." Jacky's voice was the only thing that snapped me out of it. She stands up and dusts the glitter from her hands. "Do you want me to wait for you at the front? I just need to get rid of this glitter. My aunt will be so pissed if I get this all over her carpet."
I smiled at Jacky and nodded. She tells me she'll be outside in fifteen minutes before she walks out of the gym. I didn't even realise everyone else was gone until Jacky left— well, everyone gone but Charlotte and myself. The air in the room suddenly became suffocating.
"what do you think of Jacqueline, Kimmy?" Again with the 'Kimmy'. I roll my eyes and completely ignored her remark. "Oh, okay. I see what you're doing." She laughs, almost bitterly. "And I understand that effect Jacqueline has on people. She's very alluring, but she's not very good at opening up. That girl has a lot of secrets."
I let out a sigh and dropped the scissor on the table when I stood up. "Thanks for the tip." I say dismissively as I walked pass her. That's only when she grabs my hand in the last minute and stopped me from leaving the gym.
"What do you want from me?" I snap, yanking my arm away from her grasp. "When will you leave me alone?!"
"At the exact moment you lose all your feelings for me, Kim." The way Charlotte's tone changes to a more serious one caught my attention completely. My body stiffens when she holds my hand. She's more gentle compared to how she stopped me from leaving, but her behaviour now is more of a red flag. "You're only avoiding me because you're afraid all those feelings will come back. Don't you think I know that?"
I let out a heavy breath. I want to run away but the way she's holding my hand is making it difficult to even just... step back. "Why do you do this, Charlotte?" I ask with as much courage as I can muster. She looks at me with so much confusion but I try so hard not to let that break me again. "You know exactly how I felt about you, and I know you don't want me like that, so why would you go out of your way to hurt me like this? That's too cruel, even for you." Thats when her grip loosens, and it was easier for me to pull my hand away from hers. "Let's keep our relationship, if you could even classify it as that, the way it always was, Yeah?"
Charlotte takes a step back. For a moment, I thought she finally grew a heart. It's naive of me to think like that, but with the words that left my mouth, I can see in her eyes that she was affected by them.
"Oh, you're so dramatic." She says but it didn't come out as teasingly as she always lets her words be. There was some sort of twisted emotions in her tone but it's masked well by her usual snarky tone.
At this moment, I'm more dumbfounded than I am hurt. I force a smile, leaving Charlotte confused. Truth is my whole chest is aching all because of her, and she doesn't even realise that. She takes it as a joke, she always has. What's worse is even if I want to hate this girl, I never can; not for long. I've already tried being completely open with her; telling her how I feel genuinely, even if I knew I'd get hurt. But now I see that's never going to change. That's just how Charlotte is; a woman with no empathy.
And I'm never going to give her the power to hurt me like she did ever again. Or at least not show her she has the power to hurt me. "I'll see you on Monday." I say but my voice was shaking.
I spun around and walked out of the gym as fast as I can. I'm getting lightheaded by the minute but I just want to leave the building, wishing I never fell for Charlotte in the first place.