The Thing About Flip Flops

Chapter Eleven: Damn You And Your Stupid Pretty Face

I'm not sure if Jack was kidding or not about becoming my friend.

Nothing much has happened in the last week or so since his initial proposal of friendship. We've actually been getting stuff done in the project. Stuff with my friends are pretty normal. Chris and I went on a few more outings over the weekend.

I'm sitting with my friends and Chris at our usual lunch spot when Jack walks up and plops his tray right down next to me.

What the fuck is he doing?

Henry, Jenna, Natalia, and Chris all look confused and nervous. They've all heard of him and his reputation, especially since the fight that happened so recently.

"What? No hello?" Jack asks us, and I realize we've all been staring at him. What is he playing at?

"What are you doing here?" I manage to ask.

He looks at me. "I told you. I'm gonna become your friend."

Shit. I thought he'd been joking.

Henry clears his throat. "Is there something I'm missing here?"

I look at him incredulously. "No. This dickhead just wants to become my friend, apparently, for whatever reason."

Jack cuts in. "The reason is so that I can insult you."

"What?" Nat asks, confused. I can tell they're not taking this well.

I don't blame them. We're the quiet crowd who doesn't usually go around making friends with people who beat up teachers. Not that Jack was the one who did that. If I recall correctly, that Joshua dude did.

Chris folds his arms and glares at Jack. "Go away."

Jack looks at him, mildly surprised and mildly amused. "I've seen you before."

"So what if you have?"

Jack shrugs. "Just saying."

I clear my throat. "Everyone, Jack. Jack, this is Henry, Natalia, Jenna, and Chris." I point to each of them in turn.

"Got it," Jack returns, looking like he definitely hasn't got it.

"I told Jack not to insult me because only my friends could do that, and so now he's becoming my friend in order to be able to insult me," I explain quickly. Everyone still looks confused.

Whatever.

Jack pops open a bag of Doritos. I stick my hand out. Friends or not, you have to share Doritos.

He ignores me, of course, choosing instead to offer a chip to everyone but me.

If my friends were unsure about Jack before, they definitely aren't now. I mean, he gave them free food.

"You're a dick," I tell him solemnly as he finishes up the last of the chips and crumples the bag into a ball.

"If you want to see it, just say the word," he says as he tosses the ball at me, but I duck aside. I flip him the bird.

I focus on my food and choose to ignore Jack for the remainder of the lunch period. Which, to be fair, is pretty damn difficult because he's being totally different than normal, talking to my friends and cracking jokes.

If he can be like this, why does Jack choose to glare at everyone and pick fights?

The only one of my friends that doesn't seem to like Jack is Chris. I'm not really sure why. I guess it's because having a reputation as a jerk and a druggie can't really change someone's opinion of you so fast. Maybe it'll just take time.

Still, jerk or not, Jack actually seems like he'd be a pretty decent friend. Maybe. Sort of.

At the end of lunch, after the bell rings, Jack stops me before I can go.

"Are we friends yet?"

"No."

"So you mean you made me suck up to your friends for nothing?"

I fold my arms over my chest. "I didn't make you do anything. This was your own idea."

"Wow. It's almost like you don't even want to be my friend. Harsh. I'm devastated, A."

"First off, if you ever want to become my friend, you can't call me that."

He mimics me by doing the same thing with his arms. All that does is highlight his really nice arms. I look away. "Why not?" He inquires.

"You just can't."

"You'd rather I called you Audrey? But I've already told you, 'Audrey' doesn't do it for me."

"You can't just choose people's names!"

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Hmm." He taps his chin as if thinking. "Not a good enough reason."

"It's not even a nickname!" I cry. "There's literally no explanation for it."

He shrugs cryptically. "None that you know of."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever, dickhead," I tell him, and shove past him to get to my class.

***

Click.

I try to flip my pen around my finger and make it spin. It doesn't work. I'm not a very coordinated person.

Click.

I try to make a paper airplane. It doesn't work. My old English teacher quit to become a pilot, but I don't know if it's the career for me.

Click.

I try to do origami. It doesn't work. How the fuck does paper work?

Click.

I try to ignore Jack. It doesn't work. Damn you and your stupid pretty face.

Click, click.

"Would you quit it?" I bark.

He continues clicking his pen as if he hasn't heard me, but I can tell that he's smirking.

I groan loudly enough for the teacher to ask if there's a problem.

"No," I say. "No problem at all."

Jack is sitting in the desk next to mine. When he got here, he just plopped down right next to me. There was nothing I could really do, other than move, except when I tried to do that, this happened:

"Audrey. Where are you going? Are you leaving detention early?"

"No, I was just-"

"Detention for another day. Unacceptable. And, from now on, sit in the same spot."

"FOR FU-" I force myself to bite down hard on my own tongue to avoid getting into even more trouble. "Fine."

So now, I am stuck here, sitting next to Jack, stuck in detention for an extra day.

I sneak a peek at him.

His hair falls into his eyes as he leans down to see his paper. His outfit is the same as usual - jeans and a hoodie (I don't think I've ever seen him wear the same hoodie twice, though) - except today instead of beat up sneakers he has on black combat boots.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Shit.

I meet Jack's eyes, my cheeks heating up.

"I'm not?" I say, hoping it sounds like I'm telling the truth.

He rolls his eyes and turns back to his homework.

I don't look at him for the rest of the detention period.