Shout out to GyroHippie for the amazing cover *round of applause* First cover I"ve ever gotten =D Love it! <3 ------------------------------------------------------------->
My intestines painfully wrung themselves out as Jack ignored me.
He didn’t annoy me. He didn’t harass me in anyway shape or form. He didn’t look at me, talk to me. Nothing. It perturbed me so much that I was gnawing on my lip in guilty frustration until I felt like the fragile skin was going to break open and bleed.
It’s not like I did anything to him. Well, not really - not with the way he'd turned my prank into his own personal statement.
I squirmed in my seat across from Todd in the cafeteria, sweating like a pig out of nervousness. Jack had sat with his other friends for the first time since he’d first joined us for breakfast.
“You okay?”
I jumped out of my thoughts, spilling some droplets of soup across my tray. “Yeah, of course,” I laughed weakly as I began wiping up the spill.
“You can be a sucky liar, you know that? So what happened between you and Jack?”
I felt my face go blank and I gulped. “I have no idea,” I sighed while looking down at the alphabet letters floating in my chicken noodle soup. How old did they think we all were, eight?
“Then jeez, take a chill pill. It’s not like you murdered someone.”
I rolled my eyes at the absurd thought, “I guess you’re right. I’ve always had a really bad guilt reflex though. I can’t stand the thought of hurting someone - even if it's just Jack.”
Todd raised an eyebrow, “Is this the same Ally I know? What happened to the spunky girl willing to kick Jack in the balls; the one who gets into trouble practically every other day?”
“Hey – most of the time I'm in trouble it’s not my fault, it’s Jack’s,” I squirmed uncomfortably under Todd's calculating gaze. God this was just Todd, I reminded myself. It didn’t mean anything. “And also I’ve never ‘beat up’ on people. I use self-defense and that’s it. Besides just because I enjoy a good adrenaline rush now and then doesn’t mean I’m sadistic,” I shot him a daring smile as memories of all my times with the gang flashed before my eyes.
I felt a tugging sensation at my chest, god I missed them. Especially Caden.
“Whatever,” Todd dismissed, “So did you know that cats sleep 16-18 hours per day?”
“Umm…” I tried to pretend that what he said made an inkling of sense.
“Aren’t you glad we aren’t cats? We’d never get anything done in life.” He continued.
“Yeah,” I sighed and played around with the letters in my soup, “I guess not.”
“So you know how cats have nine lives?” Todd ignored my gaze as he stared deeply into the depths of his own soup bowl.
“Mhmmm...” I replied chirpily in an attempt to humor his weird spell; though…considering it was Todd, it wasn’t much of a spell. He was always odd Todd.
“Friendships are kind of the same way. They have nine lives. I’m sure if you sleep on it for sixteen or eighteen hours you guys will make up in no time. That’s what friends do.”
I stared at Todd with my mouth flapping open and closed like a fish as I thought of something to say.
“Jack and I aren’t friends.” I finally dismissed, trying to hide the fact that Todd had baffled me with his surprisingly insightful analogy.
“He eats lunch with us. You hang around him all the time. I’d say you guys are friends. If not, what else?”
“Well…we’re…we’re,” I drew a blank. “He just won’t leave me alone; that’s the only reason we’re around each other a lot. We’re not friends.” I repeated again, this time with emphasis.
“Then why are you so upset that he’s not sitting with us.” Todd raised an eyebrow at me.
“I –“ That’s when it occurred to me, why did it upset me so much? I couldn’t actually be…missing Jack. But then again, I didn’t have anything to feel guilty about – he was the one who turned my own prank against me. But he didn’t rat me out.
I sighed and rested my head in my hand while Todd smirked at me before reaching over to patronizingly pat my head.
“Gee thanks,” I muttered sarcastically.
“You should have more faith in me. I know what I’m talking about.” Todd said, but then his expression fell a tad, “No one ever believes me. They all think I’m crazy.”
“No…” I protested, feeling pity for this messed-up kid.
“Yes. You think I’m crazy too.” He sighed with a loud huff. “But it’s okay because we’re friends.” Flipping his mood around in an instant, his face broke out in a mile-wide grin. “Anyways, Gary wants some more Jell-O so I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
I chuckled as he left and went back to playing with my soup, dreading having an entire period of PE with Jack ignoring me.
When the time came for gym, I’d been dilly dallying so much that I was rushing to change before the second bell rang. I threw on my t-shirt and shorts, tied up my hair as I was walking through the doorway to the gym, bobby pins still stuck in my teeth.
I noticed Jack sitting in the role call line, talking with some blond chick. I frowned. He starts ignoring me for one day and the first thing he does is flirt with another girl?
I took a step forward and then did a double take.
Holy crap.
Did I just get jealous?
Holy crap, Todd’s insanity was rubbing off on me.
I quickly took my seat and curled my arms around my legs, giving me a good view of all the scars and scabs there. Pursing my lips, I ran my fingers around the soft, smooth scar tissue wondering if I’d ever be back to normal. At least the scabs were starting to flake away, though I still felt like eyes were searing into the back of my head every time I walked into PE.
Physical abnormalities are an attention magnet for judgmental teens.
I sighed until I heard a snicker coming from behind me, growing in volume until it was almost an outright guffaw.
Hesitantly I turned, raising an eyebrow. The guy’s face turned a nice shade of red as I did so.
“You okay there bud?”
The guy didn’t answer, but kept shaking his head as his chuckles began to calm. I shook my own in response before facing the front of the gym again. Sometimes I really just didn’t understand people.
“Today’s torture will involve bruising along all portions of the body, rib-crushing, sprained ankles, and beatings with mild cases of broken bones. So, let’s get to it team…”
…or at least that’s what I imagined the coach was saying as she described the rules and regulations of flag football.
Oh goody. I groaned – actually groaned out loud as we hustled down to the track after running a couple of laps around the gym.
When I was walking down, I heard some more snickers behind me and whipped around, expecting to see the guy from before. Instead I found myself glaring at a motley group of girls and guys.
I frowned, perturbed. Did someone stick something to my back? Quickly I ran my hand along the backof my t-shirt to find that it was free of any paper. Only cheap, coarse fabric touched my fingertips.
Weird.
I did my best to ignore the laughter behind me; I was probably just being paranoid.
By the time we assembled into teams, I was ready to punch the next person I heard laughing. It seemed like at every turn there was someone giving me an amused look, wagging their eyebrows, or silently chuckling under their breath.
What the fucking hell was wrong with me?
I took my pony tail out and redid it, wondering if there was some nasty snarl in there I’d missed. But even that wouldn’t explain it…
By the time we’d lined up to start the first game, I was gritting my teeth.
The whistle blew.
And all the fast guys ran off leaving me behind, clueless as what I was supposed to do.
I didn’t have to think long though, before something heavy pummeled into me, crashing me to the ground.
I moved my head to the side to see Jack looking at me with relative amusement.
“What the fuck was that?” I shouted. “The ball was nowhere near me!”
“Actually my teammate threw it in your direction for me to catch.”
“BS,” I crossed my arms across my chest as I sat up.
“Think what you want babe,” he rolled his eyes as he offered me his hand.
I raised an eyebrow as he helped me up, “I thought you were ignoring me.”
“Never, princess.” He grinned in a way that was slightly threatening, making me gulp.
“Really? Because that’s not what it seemed like…” I hedged.
“Miss me?” He smirked as he brushed turf of of his clothing.
I scoffed, fully aware that I kind of had, “Not a bit.”
“Liar. Otherwise you wouldn’t -”
“Catch!” Someone yelled out and I automatically ducked as someone else raced by, supposedly racing after the ball.
“Dude get back in the game,” Another guy yelled over at Jack from the other side of the playing field.
Jack rolled his eyes, “As I was saying, you wouldn’t have been annoyed if you didn’t miss me.”
“I’m not annoyed.” I denied, pursing my lips in the process.
He chuckled, “Princess, the irritation and anxiety has been rolling off you in waves.”
“Nonsense,” I denied, jutting my chin out as I stalked over to my other teammates who were crowded around the goal.
My body ached from the fall as I walked, making me hate Jack all over again. How could I have missed him of all people?
As I lined up, I heard more snickers as well as a hoot. Holy cow, what the hell was going on here? I creased my eyebrows in frustration. There had to be something I was missing.
But I didn’t have much time to think before the next play began; this time I actually tried to keep up with the others, eyes peeled for any big lugs that might try and tackle me.
Next thing I knew, someone was shouting at me and a ball was being launched through the air, a deadly projectile headed straight for me. I squealed and resisted the urge to scream as the ball zingned towards my face, spinning as if its aim was to bury me into the turf upon impact.
But I held my arms out and to my surprise the ball landed there, only stinging my arms slightly on impact.
“Run. Fucking hell! Run!” My mind registered shouts in the distance.
Oh right. That.
I bolted for the other side of the field, now conscious of all the people converging in on me. At least I’d always been pretty quick on my feet, helping me avoid getting crushed by over zealous gym students. All I could do was just keep running.
I passed the white line and suddenly all the action stopped.
“Way to go!” Our team captain beamed as he came up behind me and clapped an arm on my shoulder.
“Nice job sweet cheeks,” Another guy commented, smirking.
However as I was focused on the congratulations, some guy sent a whopping slap to my ass.
“I just had to smack dat.” He grinned a lopsided smile at me as my cheeks started burning in embarassment.
I stared at him in shock, not even realizing my hands had curled up into fists. “You want to say that again?” I threatened.
The other guys circled around were clinging to each other, laughing while the girls chuckled laughed to themselves a knowing look in their eyes.
Okay. Fuck paranoia. Something was up.
The guy who I’d threatened just kept smirking with his beady black-brown eyes.
Fuck it. “What the fuck is your's and everyone else’s problem?” I questioned in a threateningly cold voice as I clutched a fistful of his t-shirt in my palm.
“Nice ass,” he commented, unfazed as he winked.
I brought my fist back automatically only to find it stop an inch from the guy’s smug face.
I tore my fist away from the guy and crossed my arms to find that Jack was the person who’d stopped my blow.
“What the fuck? It’s not your place to interfere.” I glared at him, aware that the rest of the group had gone silent. Things had gotten serious. No more fun and games. Though admittedly football wasn’t much fun to start off with.
“Hey guys I think we’re going to take a little break to cool off. Cover us, k?”
“Sure thing bro,” My team captain, a lanky blond guy with gages, clutched Jack’s hand as he passed by.
I resented the fact that Jack was taking me away, one hand on my back, guiding me, as if I were an errant child.
“Not cool man,” I mumbled as soon as we were out of ear shot.
“I could say the same thing for your temper.”
I glared. “It takes a temperamental person to know one.”
“Yep, but at least I’m not quite as obvious. You’re such an open book.” He chuckled, shaking his head.
“Fuck it. If I’m pissed, why should I hide it?”
“It doesn’t mean you have to punch the guy!” Jack shouted as if I’d made some fatal error, throwing his arms up in the air.
“He deserved it!” I exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief. Why was Jack not getting this?
“Sure he’s a douche bag. What’s so special? The world’s full of them, get over it.” Jack rolled his eyes.
“I’m not going to sit by and let someone disrespect me. I’m going to fight back.” I snapped, getting ready to just leave and head back to the game.
“Would it have solved anything?” He asked in a softer voice.
I sighed, feeling my temper start to wane. “It would have made me feel better.”
Jack sighed as he rubbed a hand across his face, “You’re hopeless.”
Scowling, I looked out from our place behind the aluminum bleachers to make sure the coach hadn’t noticed our absence yet. We were in the clear.
I sighed and flexed my palm to release some of the built-up tension, “Why are you lecturing me anyways? It’s so hypocritical. You’re just as bad, probably worse even.”
“You’re right. I’m fucking terrible. But the thing is, I don’t think you are. You may have done some shit in the past, but I don’t think it’s really you.”
“You don’t know shit about me.” I seethed, feeling a wave of déjà vu wash over me as I remembered the first time I’d met Jack. God, that felt like ages ago.
“Wrong. I know a few things. Look, maybe I just didn’t want you to get in trouble again or watch you punch that guy’s face in.”
“Why?” My eyebrows knitted in confusion.
“Shit. It’s not like I thought it through. I just did it,” Jack defended, exasperated.
I looked at Jack as if I were seeing him for the first time again. He actually sounded like he meant it, like he did care.
But why? How?
“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “And I think you’re a major hypocrite, but for some reason the way you put it makes it almost sound…sweet…kind of,” I hedged.
Jack made a gagging sound in his mouth, “Sweet my ass. Maybe I just felt sorry for the guy. I mean, hey you do have a nice ass.” He shrugged casually slipping his hands in his gym short pockets.
I punched him in the chest.
“Hey,” He remarked, though he was smiling as he said it, his eyes twinkling.
“That’s for not letting me punch that other guy.” I grinned.
“You’re quite the little sadist sometimes,” Jack patted my head.
As I rolled my eyes he flicked my nose. “So are you a big enough girl to go back and play the game nicely?”
“Don’t even, Jack. Next time I’ll be trying to punch your face in.”
“And failing…” He teased.
“You wish,”
“Wishes are for wimps.” He denied, chuckling.
“You’re such a jerk,” I groaned.
“Because I’m clever?” He smirked.
“Yes – I mean no, damn it.” My eyes widened as I realized my slip.
“Thought so,” He patted my behind lightly.
I glared. “One of these days…”
“You’ll put ketchup on my clothes?”
“Oh my frickin God!” I yelled, pulling at my hair in frustration.
“Glad to see you lovebirds are back.” Mr. team captain grinned down at me, a knowing look in his eyes. I was conscious of Jack's arm resting on my waist and hastily shoved it off.
“What?” I noticed the smirks on everyone else’s faces. “Oh no…Oh Hell no. There is absolutely nothing between us.” I defended, gesturing back and forth between the two of us.
“…except behind closed doors.” Jack wagged his eyebrows suggestively.
“Not even,” I shook my head in dismissal. “Let’s just get back to the game.”
And so the snickers followed me as I turned my back and didn’t stop until the period was over and I was back in the safety of the locker room. I did my best to just push them to the back of my mind while keeping my temper under careful lock and key.
When it was all over, I shrugged out of my t-shirt and on a whim flipped it over to examine the back side.
That evil conniving bastard…
In big Sharpie letters were the words Smack dat ass with a large arrow pointing downwards.
“I fricking hate you Jack,” I groaned as I slammed my head against the locker in front of me.
“Ow,” I mumbled when I hit my head a bit harder than I’d meant to. Slamming my t-shirt onto the floor, I dressed quickly hoping to intercept Jack as he left the lockeroom.
Just as I got outside, I saw his retreating form, recognizable by the Green Day t-shirt and broad shoulders.
He turned around as I clapped a hand on one of his shoulders.
“Need something?” He shot me a dazzling lopsided smile.
I wasn’t impressed. “You already blew my prank up in my face. Why the hell would you do this on top of that?”
“Because,” I inched back as he stepped closer to me so that his breath fanned across my face. He tipped my chin up, causing my breath to catch in my throat. “I like having the upper hand. I lost a couple of shirts – before this we were just even.”
“Is this why you were ignoring me?” Somehow I found voice enough to speak though I felt uncomfortable at the proximity.
“You got it babe – at lunch I was working on that. Earlier I just wanted to watch you squirm.”
“Squirm?” I furrowed my brows.
“I know you better than you think.” He smirked before leaning down and kissing me on my…forehead?
He pulled away quickly leaving me in a daze. And I had the vague feeling that I was missing something very important, something that was right in front of my nose.
Caution: Not edited...like at all. I apologize for any errors -feel free to point them out if there are any really bad ones. I was in a good writing mood, though, and just really wanted to post it. So please let me know what you think.
I love all of your guys' support <3 Amazing =D
And hey do you want to hear about a miracle that happened me today? No? Too bad...I'm going to tell you anyways.
So, at my school practically everyone had something wrong with their schedule.
For four of my classes there was only one class period available. For the other two there were only two class periods available. So...I was sure that my schedule was going to be messed up beyond all recognition...
It was perfect <3
I got all of my classes :D Hallelujah!
#miraclesmakemewanttojumpforjoy