Just You

Twenty One

Twenty One

#Dylan

"I would never break up with you!" 

Jake's words from last night echo through my mind. I couldn't resist the smile spreading across my lips. It's times like these when I find it extremely hard to stick to my promise. These words of his which I analyze and repeat in my head endlessly. I get this tingling sensation just from hearing those words from him.

I knew he was joking but... it just makes me so happy. I guess it's because I always wish it's true. But me and Jake? That's just impossible.

It feels like such a relief to be back to normal with Jake. I can't believe I missed him this much. I couldn't even be angry with him. It's almost scary. I shouldn't I know, but it's not something I could just control. Oh, but I'll keep trying.

However, I couldn't control the joy that crept into my heart when Jake apologized and called me last night. It's like he just missed me. I smiled to myself. 

But the smile didn't last long as a tall dark-haired guy strode in, and took his usual place at the back row. It was Nicko Jenkins. He kept trying to grab my attention by passing me notes and making comments on the lesson. I can't believe Mr. Darwin puts up with his distracting attitude. I did my very best to ignore him, and I was proud to say that I fared extremely well at that. I shoved his notes into my bag without reading them and pretended to be extremely busy jotting down notes when I was just actually doodling amateur cartoons on my graphing notebook.

As soon as the bell rang, I dashed out of the classroom, probably the third one out and crashed straight into Jake's arms.

My heart did a little dance as I stared up at his face. Jake smiled down at me.

"Woah! I knew you were going to try to run away again! I'm glad I came to get you!" he said.

"I'm not running away."

"Oh yeah?"

"Well, not from you," I conceded as I steered him away from that particular hallway before Nicko could see us.

"Do I even want to know?" he asked, smiling.

"No, you really don't. Trust me," I told him, immediately letting go of his bicep as I realized I was still holding on to him.

Jake shrugged and we walked to the cafeteria together.

For some inexplicable reason, I really feel uncomfortable with Nicko ever since I agreed to go to dinner with him. I just had to get away from him. He asked me if I wanted to grab dinner. I told him that I did not think it was such a great idea, and he insisted that it was just a simple dinner for two friends catching up. I couldn't say no in fear of him thinking that I still had feelings for him. I really didn't know how to deal with those kinds of situations. So, I'm trapped and committed into going to dinner with him on Friday, no less. 

I was trying to come up with ways to politely get out of a commitment when I walked into my death. I accidentally crashed into my brother Kyle who in turn backed up on Hannah who was carrying a now empty bowl of coleslaw which were now splattered on her designer cardigan and cheerleading uniform. A steaming dollop dripped down her tray and landed on her custom-made, bedazzled sneakers. It was almost comic, had it not been for the fact that I caused this whole mess. 

Kyle desperately tried to apologize as the entire cafeteria turned to gape. Hannah had a break down, and chaos soon ensued. Somehow, I managed to keep clean and spotless during this entire encounter and I could not help but feel like Hannah would have screamed a lot less if something got splattered on me, too.