Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be - Sonia Ricotti
Chapter 44: Piña Coladas
[Recap]
"My sister Holly is dating him. She came home last night and she was over the moon happy. It hasn't the hit the rumor mill yet, but it will. We wanted you to know first."
"Who is she dating?" I asked.
I never in my wildest dreams imagined the word that came out of her mouth next. Never in a million years.
"It's Jesper."
[End of Recap]
It's actually funny.
Ha.
You can handle so much when you're numb.
My mind had separated from my body. It was somewhere tropical; on a beach drinking a piña colada. Checked out.
"Jesper and Holly?" I repeated, shrugging, "Imagine that."
I took my books out of my locker, folded them under my arm and headed on to my next class. Life goes on.
The news hit the school like a tidal wave. Everyone thought Holly and Nate were destined for each other: the two hottest seniors in school. Freshmen modeled themselves off of those two.
And out of nowhere, Jesper, the new kid sweeps Holly right from under Nate's nose. That was the narrative anyway.
Poor Nate. He was under some serious scrutiny right now. A sneeze in the wrong direction and people would say he's sick out of grief.
I was the first one by the convertible after school. I hadn't bumped into the new lovebirds and I hadn't seen Nate.
Someone from my physics class handed me a beer. The after-school parking lot party vibes had begun.
I hung around, waiting for the boys, and texted Sid, Cleo and Isla about the parking lot party. I figured at least one of them would be interested in joining.
Sure enough, they all rocked up twenty minutes later. "I guess we technically have a right to be here, right?" Cleo asked nervously.
"It's pretty much reserved for cool seniors only," Sid explained, "But thanks to Nate, you're included in that right? His car, your car... same car."
"Sure," I shrugged. I didn't care what the unwritten rules said. It's all school property. "Besides, Sid, you're the queen b's sister."
"Speaking of royalty..." Isla pointed and we saw Nate walking towards us.
He was looking calm and cool as always. Nothing about him seemed impacted. Same hot look.
"First one here?" he asked me, before nodding in the direction of the girls, "Hey."
"Hiii," they waved back like kids in a candy store.
He raised his eyebrows at them and chucked his books into the back seat of his convertible. Rough day, I imagine.
Then he turned around and declined drinks from the many people that were offering it to him. He took mine, since I didn't want to drink it.
Zander arrived shortly after, knocking into Nate in a playful but rough greeting.
He then opened the car door and sat facing us, while we waited for the others. Zane still hadn't recovered 100% from his injuries, so long days at school exhausted him.
"You still got friends after the shit show last night," he commented, staring at the girls next to me, "Respect."
"Dinner was lovely," Cleo answered without batting an eyelash, "Thank you for having us."
Zander laughed. "Nothing about that dinner was lovely, except for the food."
"Trouble's coming."
We looked to where Isla was pointing. Jesper and Holly were walking towards the party.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I don't know if Jesper realized he was walking into Nate's territory. Holly's car was also parked in this spot so it was natural they were going home together. Now that they're dating.
The music continued to play but conversation definitely stopped. Jesper and Holly were the talk of the school.
Jesper's arm was swung around her. She was laughing and looked so happy to be in his arms. She flicked her beautiful hair to the side and gazed up at him adoringly.
Jesper used to tell me he didn't like girls who didn't know how to rough it. And yet here he was... Am I jealous? Maybe.
Nate's boys rallied around him. I looked over at Nate. His eyes were on the new couple and he took a swig of his beer. My beer, actually.
Holly opened her bag to find her keys. That's when Jesper caught sight of Nate.
"Don't do it," Zander whispered so that only Nate could hear.
I heard it too. I looked at Zander who gave me a it's about to go down look. Nate ignored him.
"You have a problem with me?" Nate called out at Jesper, who was still looking at him.
"Nope," Jesper said simply, not falling for the bait.
Holly quickly pulled her keys out and tried to get Jesper to get into her car quickly. She wanted to avoid the blowout.
Nate answered, "Funny, because you made her break up with me."
Oh shit.
This was about me.
My friendship with Jesper was half the reason why I ended things with Nate.
Mrs Maythorne and her disapproval was the other half. Oh wait, also the drama - I didn't want to complicate things at home. So yeah, there were a few reasons, but Jesper's definitely the main one.
Zander's eyes almost fell out of his head. He stared at me and I stared back.
'Do something,' Zane mouthed.
'Like what?!' I mouthed back, panicked. There wasn't anything I could do.
Did this have to be such a public showdown?
"I didn't make her do anything," Jesper said, "She just wasn't that into you I guess."
"Well she wasn't into you at all," Nate answered, "That much was clear."
Oof, what a comeback. The truth is, I gave up thinking Jesper would ever see me as more than a little sister.
Holly intervened, "I am into him. I'm with him, Nate."
Oh honey, it's not about you. I cringed for her.
Thankfully, the boys didn't address that. Where was my tropical beach and piña colada now?
"Hold my drink."
The international signal of something stupid is about to happen.
Everyone backed off, leaving a wide berth around Nate and Jesper. The problem with both boys is that they do not back down.
They may really want to, but they just don't.
"Zander, come on, maybe you can do something to stop this nonsense," I begged him.
I knew I couldn't do anything to stop this. They were fighting about me. My presence would just add fuel to the fire. They only saw red when they saw me.
Zander refused.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Sometimes, guys need to just let it out."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Holly yelled when the first punch was thrown. We all did, but Holly's voice was the loudest. The crowd immediately circled them, blocking my view. I didn't want to see this.
What could we do? Who could stop this?
I didn't expect my answer to be Cleo. She's usually so reserved and shy in public. But this time, she really took one for the team. She mustered up her strength and took her glasses off.
"HEADMISTRESS IS COMING!" she screamed as loudly as possible.
Headmistress Santana was not coming.
In fact, the headmistress was walking to her car. But that got her attention and the headmistress realized that she probably should check this out.
The implication that Santana would shut down these after-school-parking-lot parties, was enough for Nate's friends to pull him away from Jesper.
"He's not worth it," they yelled.
A lot of people cleared out of there quickly. Some stayed. Santana did come over, but the alcohol was cleared out of sight and so were Nate and Jesper. They had their backs turned to her so she couldn't see their bruised faces.
All she found was false calm and aggressive music.
"Turn that down. No more yelling either," she said before walking away.
We were left in the aftermath. Nate and Jesper had gotten a few good punches in there. Jesper looked worse off. Obviously. Nate was supernatural.
Why did Jesper keep getting into fights with them? He knew it was inhumanly possible to win.
Hugo had finally showed up during the fight. It was partly his fault this fight even happened. If he'd showed up on time, we wouldn't have been hanging around the parking lot for him.
Hugo now stood in between the boys and was facing Jesper.
"I feel so conflicted. You're a junior dating the hottest senior in school. Congrats," he said, "But on the other hand, I'd always hoped you and Georgia would get together."
Hugo so missed the boat on this one. Both Nate and Zander cringed at that.
Sid reacted. She whispered to me in realization, "This fight wasn't about Holly. It was about you?!"
Cleo gasped.
Does this clear the path for Georgia and Nate to get together?
Or does she have feelings for Jesper after all?
I don't know which ship to jump on. Oh and, by the way, welcome to a week of daily updates! :)
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