no strings attached

part one

It was a quiet and tranquil Friday morning. Jasmine slept peacefully in her room until she heard her bedroom door open. She looked over to see her brother standing by her bed.

"Wake up." He told her. Jasmine sighed and covered her face with a pillow on her bed. "Come on, don't go back to sleep either." He told her. "What time is it?" She asked him. "It's five. You start class at seven." He told her. "Seven?" She asked him in disbelief. "Yeah, so be ready by 6:45. I'm not gonna wait for you." He told her before closing the door. Jasmine sighed and then sat up on her bed. She checked her phone for a few minutes before getting up from bed and getting ready for school. When she was finally ready, she grabbed her bag and went downstairs.

"You look so pretty today." Her older sister told her as she smiled. "Thank you." Jasmine smiled back. "Where's mom and dad?" She asked her. "They're still out on their trip, but they should be home later. Jayden is waiting outside for you." She told her. "Oh, okay. I should get going then. I'll see you later." Jasmine told her as she hugged her. "Okay, have a good first day at school." Her sister said. Jasmine walked outside to see her brother Jayden waiting for her in his car. As she tried to open the passenger seat, he shook his head and gestured towards the back seat. She sighed and then opened the back seat door and got in.

"Why didn't you open the front door for me?" She asked him. "I'm picking up my girlfriend. She's gonna ride in the front seat." He said. As much as Jasmine wanted to complain, it wasn't her car, so she had no say in who should sit where. "Alright, so you're picking her up before you drop me off? It's already 6:45." She told him. "That's not my fault. You're the one who takes two hours to get ready." He told her. "That's not the point, though. You could have easily dropped me off first. The school is pretty close from here." She told him. "If it's so close, then walk." He told her. Jasmine sighed and rested her head in her palm. "You know what? Just drive." She told him as she looked at the time on her phone. Jayden started his car, and he drove to his girlfriend's house. By the time they arrived, school already started for her. The whole car ride was silent and filled with tension. When they finally arrived, Jayden parked his car in front of her house, and they began to wait for her.

"I need you to be nice to her." Jayden told her. "If she's nice to me." Jasmine shrugged. His girlfriend opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat.

"Hey, beautiful." Jayden kissed her cheek. "Hey." she smiled at him. "Before we go, I want you to meet my little sister Jasmine." He told her as he pointed to the back seat. His girlfriend turned around and looked at her, and Jasmine looked back at her with a blank expression. "Okay." She shrugged. Jasmine raised her eyebrow. "And why is she here?" She asked him. It got awkward and quiet for a moment. Jasmine's eyes darted at Jayden, and he looked back at her. "I'm gonna drop her off at school." He told her. "She couldn't have walked? That's pretty weird." She said in a displeased tone.

"Just like how you're pretty weird for questioning my brother about some shit that doesn't even concern you." Jasmine told her. "Jasmine, stop." Jayden shook his head as he started the car. "No, it's none of her business, so I don't know why she's so concerned. If you have a problem with me being in the car, then you can get the fuck out." Jasmine told her. "I know you aren't talking to me like that. You better calm down, I don't care who's sister you are." His girlfriend told her. Jasmine sat up in her seat. "If I don't calm down, then what? You disrespected me first, so I'll talk to you however I want." Jasmine told her. "Jasmine, stop it." Her brother told her. "Yeah, stop it. You're sitting up like you're going to do something." His girlfriend told her. Jasmine reached for the front seat and began to hit and throw punches at his girlfriend.

"Jasmine, what the fuck?" Jayden said as he stopped the car. While he was in there, he tried to separate them and stop the fight. "Get out!" He yelled at Jasmine. She wasn't listening, so he rushed to the back seat and pulled her out of the car. "Fuck you." She said to him as she pushed his hand off of her and pushed him. He stayed silent as she grabbed her backpack and slammed the car door. "You don't know how to control your anger." He shouted from his car. She sighed and continued to walk away as she tried to fix her roughed up appearance. She noticed her bruised hands and fists, but she still kept walking away as if nothing had ever happened. She put her headphones on and turned it up at full volume, desperately trying to immerse herself in it and distract herself from what just happened.

She thought about returning home, but she ultimately decided to walk to school. She arrived there by 7:30 and walked to the counseling office to pick up her schedule. By the time she was finished, it was time for her to head to her second period class. As she walked around the hallways trying to find her class, she felt everyone's eyes on her. As she kept walking, she couldn't seem to spot the class she was looking for.

"Are you new here? You look lost." Jasmine noticed someone standing right in front of her. She looked up to see a pretty girl with straight jet black hair and caramel skin smiling at her clueless expression. "Am I that obvious?" Jasmine asked her while covering her face in embarrassment. "No, you're good. I can help you find your class." She said as she pointed to her schedule. "Thank you so much." Jasmine said as she handed her schedule to the girl. "We have the same class. It's up here." She said as she pointed up the stairs and handed her schedule back. "Okay, thank you.." Jasmine paused since she didn't know her name yet. "Desiree. My name is Desiree." She told her. "Thank you Desiree." Jasmine said while laughing.

As they walked into the class which was still fairly empty, more people turned their heads to look at Jasmine. "Everyone keeps looking at me." Jasmine said as she looked around. "You can't really blame them, you're so pretty." Desiree smiled at Jasmine as she took a seat near the back of the class. "Thank you." Jasmine smiled back and sat down right next to her. "You're welcome. I've been meaning to ask you what school did you transfer from?" Desiree asked her. "I'm from Canada. I moved here last week. I was homeschooled for a few years so this is all new to me." Jasmine told her. "Oh, that's so cool. Why did you come from so far?" Desiree asked. Jasmine paused for a moment and Desiree noticed the shift in her energy. "Oh, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I guess that was a personal question." She told her. "It's okay." Jasmine shook her head. "I used to live with my grandma in Toronto since I was little but she passed away recently, so now I'm living with my parents and siblings now." Jasmine explained. "I'm sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how hard that is." Desiree frowned. "It's okay, thank you." Jasmine told her.

As Jasmine and Desiree kept talking with each other, the class started to fill up with more people and it started a few minutes later. Jasmine found the class boring, so she started to listen to music to occupy herself. At one point, a group of guys walked into the classroom late. Jasmine's eyes only fixated on one of them; a guy who wore a grey jacket with black pants. His exposed skin was covered in tattoos. For a moment, they held eye contact with each other as he was walking to his seat. He eventually looked away from her and pulled out his chair to sit down, and his friends followed after him.

"Desiree.. who is that?" Jasmine asked her as she pointed in his direction. "That's Matias, I saw him looking at you too." Desiree said. Jasmine leaned back in her chair and looked at him once again. She thought about the whole encounter until class ended. Jasmine and Desiree got up from their seats and grabbed their backpacks.

"So what's your next class?" Desiree asked Jasmine. "Algebra, what about you?" Jasmine asked her. "I have Psychology, I'll see you later?" She asked her. "Yeah, see you." Jasmine smiled as she walked out of the classroom. When she made it to her Algebra class, she walked to an empty seat and sat down waiting for class to start. As she was waiting, she noticed a guy approach her and sit down in the seat next to her. As Jasmine was rummaging through her bag, she accidentally dropped some of her things on the floor. The guy sitting next to her reached down to help pick them up.

"Thank you so much." She said to him. "No problem." He smiled and shook his head. "Are you new?" He asked her. "Yeah, new to the school. Is this class hard?" She asked him. "Not really, but I guess that's just my opinion. You'll be good." He told her

He asked her. "Yeah, it's my first day here. My name is Jasmine." She told him. "I'm Angelo, nice to meet you Jasmine." He said as he held out his hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet you too." She said as she shook his hand.