Jessie - Luke Ross fanfic

Part Four

RING RING...RING RING...RING RING...RI-
Stupid alarm, I think as I turn it off. I yawn and stretch as I lazily get out of bed and into the bathroom. After washing my face, I'm fully alert and more energetic. I slide down the railing to the bottom of the stairs and eat breakfast. I put my clothes on last, deciding what to wear. I end up going for red converse shoes, a black vest top, a white hoodie with hints of red and some dark blue jeans. I kiss Jasper and wave goodbye to Mom and Dad as I walk out of the house.

Monday.

New school week, in the middle of October. It's weird that I'm starting a month later than I should do. My blue backpack is empty, since my books should be at school. It's good that I know the way. It's at least six roads away, about a fifteen minute walk. I'm getting closer and closer to the school, I can see the building two roads away now. I see some other people who look like my age, most likely going to this school, too. Each step I take means one step closer. I take a deep breath and breath out calmly as I walk through the main gate.
It's not as bad as I thought it would be, there is a lot of shouting going on, lockers banging, shoes squeaking and a lot of laughing and chatting, what you would normally hear in and average school. But there's one problem; I don't know where I'm going. I look around for a bit until I see a boy, I think a year younger than me, putting his books in his locker. He's wearing them sort of yellow Indian clothes and normal school shoes and his skin a bit darker than a tan.
'Hi!' I say as I approach him.
He looks almost startled like he's just seen a ghost. Was there something on my face?
'No please! Don't hurt me, I left my lunch money at home!' he begs.
I give him a confused look. 'What? I'm not going to hurt you. I'm simply asking you where the Principals' office is,' I say almost giggling. The boys face relaxes.
'Oh phew, no wonder you scared me, your face is new. Anyway, I'm Ravi. Ravi Ross,' he says in an Indian accent offering me his hand.
I shake it, 'and I'm Jasmine Clarke. Nice to meet you. And yes, I am new here. So do you mind taking me to the office?'
'Of course, just follow me!'

A few minutes after, I get my schedule and my locker combination and find my way to my first classroom, which is Biology. It is very awkward. Everyone keeps whispering in the background as I take a seat in front of the classroom. Some are nice, and say hello and that was pretty much it. Sooner or later, the day goes by pretty quickly and I find myself at my locker picking my books up. I hug my books to my chest, turn a corner a bump right into a boy, making my books and papers fly and scatter everywhere. I didn't get a good look at the boys face as he kneels down already beginning to gather my books. I kneel down too, bursting out apologies.
'I'm so sorry, I should have looked where I was going, I am so-'
The boy looks at me and my heart melts. He's handsome, I'll give you that. He gives me the exact same face as I give him, like he's almost as surprised as I am. His hair is a bit spiked up and has a lot of freckles on his face. His brown eyes meet my hazel ones as he hands my papers and books over.
'Thanks,' I say, both of us getting up. He's about half a head taller than me, wearing some sneakers, jeans, a light pink t shirt with a blue jumper on top.
'It's cool,' he says. 'I'm Luke Ross, by the way.'
'Oh, Ravi's brother?'
'Yeah,' he says and I nod slowly.
'Sooo...' he starts. I look at him confused. 'You are...'
'Oh ermm, I'm...' I hesitate, not being able to get the words out of how embarrassed I am. 'I'm-'
Suddenly, a group of people came rushing past, 'I gotta go,' I say and run off with the crowd. The last thing I hear him say is, 'But you didn't tell me your name!'

I sigh heavily when I flop myself on bed laying there for a few minutes. I'm such an idiot, I think and I mentally slap myself. Why couldn't I just say my name? Where's the harm in that? Ohhh man, he must think I'm insane!
My thoughts are interrupted when Mom walks into the room. 'Hungry?'
'No,' I just say and she sits on the end of my bed.
'So...' she says shortly.
'School was fine, Mom how many more times do I have to say this?'
'You don't know what I'm about to say,' Mom laughs and I let her continue.
There is a few seconds pause when she says, 'who's the boy?'
I frown and sit up in bed eyeing her, 'What?!'
'Yeah that's right. There's a boy!'
'What makes you think that, Mom?!'
'Don't deny it!' Mom is a pro when it comes to these things- a debate about girl stuff and she'll always win.
I sigh and slouch back down. 'His name is-'
'Go on...'
'His name is Luke Ross,' I simply say.
'And?'
'That's it,' I finish.
'Seriously?' Mom gasps.
'I only met him for a couple of minutes and then just ran off,' I say disappointed in myself.
'Ohhh, Jaz!'
'Don't worry, I might see him again tomorrow!'
'Fine. Tell you what? Why don't you take Jasper for a walk in the park for a few hours. Get some fresh air both of you. That'll cheer you up.'
'Yeah, I'd like that.'
'Great! Meet you downstairs,' Mom says cheerily and walks out of my bedroom. A few minutes later, I get off my bed and walk downstairs, not in the mood to slide down the railing. Mom has already got Jasper out and he barks happily when he sees me. 'Ready for walkies, boy?' I say to him and he barks again. There's no point in a leash or the pooper scooper, because I trust Jasper not to run off and he always goes for a poop before we go outside for a walk, but I bring his red leash, just in case.
Jasper jogs a few metres ahead of me in the field. Some kids come by and ask if they can pet him. They throw him a stick and he catches it with ease. Later, we go to the park, I had to put the leash on as you cannot bring in a dog without one. Jasper didn't really like the idea of me doing this, but at least he didn't fidget too much. I tie the handle on one end of a park bench and sit down on the bench next to him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there came a basketball heading in my direction. I jump up and catch it before it smacked my head. I'm still holding the ball in front of my face when I hear a voice.
'Nice catch!' I lower the ball down and I almost gasp.
'Luke?' I say. He looks just as surprised to see me, too.
'Hey, you're that cute girl that I met yesterday in school. I didn't catch your name.'
'Oh yeah, ermm, sorry about that...'
Then, before I could say anything else, four more people approach us, one of them I notice as Ravi.
'Hello, Jasmine!' Ravi says and I smile.
'Hey, Ravi,' I say.
'How did you two meet?' Luke asks.
'Ravi helped me around the school yesterday. Thanks for that,' I say to him.
'No problem. I'm just not used to girls. Or friends,' Ravi says with a shy smile on his face.
A tall girl with long blonde hair stepped forward. 'I'm Emma,' she says.
'Yeah, I've seen you before,' I say to her. 'And by the way, I absolutely love your shoes,' I say pointing down at her hot pink wedges. 'It goes great with your outfit.'
'You're sweet, and have great fashion sense. I like you already!'
'And I'm Zuri. I'm the cute adorable one,' says a shorter girl with darker skin.
'Right you are,' I giggle.
'Hi, I'm Jessie. I'm their nanny,' says a young woman with red wavy hair.
'I'm Jasmine Clark,' I say and turn to Luke, 'glad we've formally met.'
He smirks as I pass him the basketball.
'Is this your pet dog?' Zuri exclaims as she kneels beside the bench.
'Yeah, his name is Jasper, got him when I was eleven and he was a month old,' I say and everyone pets him, which Jasper loves because he feels loved.
I'm the first to get up and turn to Luke.
'You knew to school?'
'Yeah, came from California. Moved in about a week ago,' I reply.
'Why don't you come over. To my place, we'll hang out there,' Luke says facing me.
'You know what? That'll be awesome. How about this weekend? I'm free then.'
'Yeah!'
I untie Jasper's leash. 'Well, we'd better get going.'
'Come by our place this weekend,' Jessie says, scribbling something on a piece of paper. She hands it over to me and I put it in my pocket. 'You'll be welcome any time!'
'I will!' I say to her. 'See you guys later.'
They all wave goodbye to me as Jasper and I walk out the park. I take his leash off to let him run wild a bit more in the orange sunlight as we head back home.