If I'd Known

Chapter One

I don't know how long I've known Jack. But I remember having a thing for him, when I was far more naive, and I didn't understand the man he'd really grown into. I was fifteen, over a year ago. It was prom week-end, and of course my twin sister Katy had a date for the prom, and I did not. Not that I was old enough anyway, she wasn't really old enough, but her date was the quarter back, so even though he was only a Sophomore, he still got to go, and invited Katy as his date. I was happy for her, but it would have been nice to know a guy was interested in me. But it'd always been about Katy, so that was probably why she was going to the prom with the hottest guy in the school, Henry Perkins, star footballer, head of the class, blah, blah, blah, never mind it was only the Sophomore class, and the only reason he was the star quarterback was because Clint Goings got expelled for smoking dope in the locker room. Originally Henry was just second string, but after Clint left, the job fell to him. Not that he isn't a good player, he was just primed to be the most popular guy in school, and of course, my sister was primed to fall in love with him, and when my sister falls in love with you, you better damn well fall in love with her. So I was sitting on the front porch, watching the paint dry, and waiting for Katy to come outside, so I could take her picture, then take pictures of her and Henry, then one of the car, and the other couples they were going with, and on and on, all about Katy. I'd been sitting there for about 30 minutes, when I saw Jack jump the fence. He lived, and still lives right next door, so he was always jumping that fence, and I usually didn't even notice. But that day I did. It had been hot all day, and Jack had been working, so when he jumped the fence, he didn't happen to have a shirt on, and to my 15 year old mind, it was fairly staggering, to say the least. He vaulted himself onto my porch, and was making to ring the doorbell, when he noticed me sitting there.

“Hey Carri, what are you doing out here?” He'd asked me, looking surprised.

“Waiting for Katy. Do you need something?” I'd replied, suddenly finding it hard to talk around him, and I'd felt my cheeks turning red. I didn't understand what was going on, mostly because I've known Jack forever and never felt anything like this around him before. Jack was the one I'd always played with in my old sandbox, and in my old tree house, the first boy I'd called names, and played house with. But since I turned fifteen, and started to look more like a real girl, he'd been less, well, physical with me. We used to spend a lot of time wrestling in the backyard, and we’d have footraces in the front lawn. But I wasn't the only one who'd changed. He'd always been a little bit taller than me, but now he was over five inches taller than me, and like I said, he was hot without his shirt. His voice had gotten deeper in the last two months, and girls blushed and twittered around him now. He stuck with his friends, and I stuck with mine, and we never mingled at school, because girls and boys really don't hang out together at my school, not unless they were dating, then they were rarely seen without the other. Not that many of my girlfriends knew how close I'd been with him, they just knew that I lived next to him. But my best friend, Lindy knew, because she was dating his best friend, James. She lives just down the street, and used to join us in the sandbox.

Jack sat down on the side of the porch, and grinned at me. “She's getting ready for the prom, right? Going with Henry?”

“Yep, and she's in there shrieking about her hair not curling right. And she's also way mad because she tried to use spray on tan, and it turned her orange, and it's taking her forever to get it off, plus she can't remember what color flower she told Henry to get, and she's worried if it'll be the right shade to match her dress.”

Jack laughed, and my cheeks had flamed again. I remember wishing they'd stop, because it was giving me away. Jack's smile got wider when he took in my red cheeks.

“Aren't you going?” He asked, his eyes twinkling. I looked down at my hands in my lap

“Nope, not like there's a ton of guys asking me.”