Jackson

Chapter 8

Rebecca's P.O.V

The leaves scrunched under my Nikes as I made my journey to the location where William suggested that we met. Peering around, I noticed that I'd been walking through what seemed like a garden for about ten minutes.

Where could William possibly be taking me?

My thoughts were halted when there was suddenly a tiny beige and brown cafe which stood almost intimidatingly
behind a large oak tree. At first glance, it appeared to be crowded as there was a line outside to get in. Disregarding the scene, I slowly approached the cafe with caution.

As I got closer there was loud music blaring from the speakers outside, which seemed to distract people from the fact that there was an abnormally lengthy line to get inside this tiny cafe. Thankfully, through the glass walls of the cafe, I could see William briefly standing up as a gesture for me to enter.

Relieved at seeing him, I gave a smug look at the security guard who was eying me as I strode inside. Immediately after entering, the aroma of coffee and pastry barraged my nostrils on my way to William, and strangely enough, I wasn't bothered by it.

"Hey, you," I beamed at William who was already smiling at me.

Snickering at Williams's outfit while I pulled out of my seat, I decided to comment, "well don't you look put together today."

His eyebrows pulled together feigning innocent confusion. "What do you mean Rebecca, aren't I always hot?"

"You wish", I laughed and smacked his shoulder with my napkin. William blended in with the setting as he wore a creme-crocheted turtleneck paired with black slacks. However, my excitement over his outfit soon turned to dismay when his choice of footwear became known to me.

"Did you have to wear converse though?" I mocked.

He glimpsed down at his shoes, "What? Converse was the best sneakers ever made globally known to man", he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms with a proud look on his face.

I scoffed, " hey, let's not make hasty and irrational generalizations here."

At that, William pouted. "What? You act like you don't wear them all the time."

"Doesn't mean they're the best sneakers ever made globally known to man," I shrugged using his own words against him.

To this William gave me a dramatic look of disgust, "You appall me every day Rebecca... every day."

"Oh shut up William, why did you call me here?"

Again, William dramatically threw up his hands to feign surrender, "Geez, you didn't tell me you were on your period. I would've left you alone."

Seeing the indifferent expression on my face he continued, "Look I need advice, and the boys aren't much help and you're a childhood friend, so why wouldn't I come to you? You get me?"

Subsequently hearing him say that instantly softened the brick walls I formed around my head this past week. I've known Will since I was about eight years old; longer than I've known Essy and... well Jippy. A lot of people won't get me to cave into certain things the way that William would by just his cute facial expressions. The average person may think that I have a crush on him but I don't, not currently at least. I might have had a crush on him when we were freshmen, the year when puberty seemed to hit him. The feeling was mutual between us until we realized that we would be better off as friends.

"Okay fine, what's up?"

William beamed at me before he continued, "Well, you know that I always seem to go after the quirky girls. It's not something I can help . This time though, I have a feeling that things could work out between me and the mystery girl."

"Mystery girl?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well she might not be a mystery to you though. You might know her more than I ever will honestly, " he said nervously and caged his bottom lip between his teeth.

Meanwhile, my thoughts went a mile a minute trying to work out which quirky girl William is referring to, that I know. I shook my head at the thought while trying to read Will's facial expression to possibly get a hint that'll point to the right girl.

Could it be...

"Is it someone from the drama club?"

Since he says I know this person, the only place I've spent most of my time these days is the school's drama club. I don't think I know any quirky girls there though.

"No Rebecca, definitely not. I don't even think she's into doing stuff that doesn't involve pedicures," he softly smiled. "They're closer to you than you may even think."

Closer to me than I may even think...?

There are only two people who are close to me...

Esmeralda and Jippy. I don't even think that Essy likes guys.

Wait-

"You like Jippy!"

______________

The conversation that Will and I had kept replaying in my head. There's no way that he actually likes Jippy. They literally loathed each other about a month ago.

I can't believe this is happening-

My friend likes my friend!

What should I even do? Should I tell anyone?
I think Essy deserves to know about this. Wait- do I tell Jippy?

I can't, we're not even on good terms.

Why is this so cute though?

Aww, William has a crush.

Wait-

Jippy likes Jackson-

Groaning, I plopped down on my bed to silence my aggravating thoughts, which were two minutes away from driving me into the nut house. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing though. This reminds me that I might need to reach out to Jippy. I rolled my eyes at the thought of facing her irrational way of thinking. At the end of the day, I'm her friend and I should at least try with her.

I rolled over to pick up the phone that I left inside my purse. I scrolled until I came across Jippy's contact and hesitantly called her. The phone rang a few times before it went to voice mail.

oh, so she's ignoring me?

Ignoring my thoughts I decided to call her two more times and fortunately, she picked up at the last call.

"What do you want Becca?" came her voice out of the speaker.

Rolling my eyes internally, I chose to ignore her tone.

"Listen, can we talk, at my place?"

There was a long pause before I heard her sigh, "Okay, fine. I'll be there in an hour."

Before I got a chance to respond, she already hung up the phone. I screamed into my pillow before throwing my phone on the carpet.

Why am I doing this to myself?