Oh, Heather

Chapter Six

   Jacklyn walked home after school, well, usually avoiding home until it got really late. Her parents never noticed and she had more fun by herself anyway. She sat in the alleyway behind the library, not too far from her house. She pulled a cigarette out of the carton she kept in her bag and watched the cars go by. Throwing the cigarette to the ground, she smashed it with her foot, staying sat down. Pulling out her phone to check the time, she saw a message. You're paired with that Heather girl in chem. Putting her phone beside her, she drug her freshly manicured hands down her face, collapsing her head into her legs.

   Truth was, Heather angered her. But not because of Miley or anything else like that. No, it was because Heather made her feel something she’s never felt before. She made her heart race and her insides twirl around, but she’d never admit it. They weren’t romantic, or so she says. Girls can’t feel that way about other girls, or so her mother says. You're confusing those feelings with anger, or so her therapist says. But according to her father, her therapist didn’t know what she was saying. Jacklyn was forced to stop seeing her therapist and forced to stop going to therapy all together. She sat there another hour, thinking of ways to get out of the project. She could skip that class, but eventually her parents would get a call and that would be worse than dealing with Heather for an hour a day. None of her ideas seemed anywhere close to reasonable, so she made her way home. After checking to make sure her parents were asleep, she crawled in through her window, laying down on her bed. She rolled around, trying to fall asleep at a decent hour and stop her mind from racing. After several, long minutes that turned into hours, she fell asleep. 

   She woke up to the sound of an empty house. Finally, she thought. She got ready for school and left the house. She was much happier to get to school today, until she remembered who she got paired with for chemistry. She groaned as she made her way to her first period. She got nothing from what the teacher had been saying, Heather was clouding her mind. When she got to second period, she realized she was earlier than the three she sat by. She shrugged her shoulders and sat down. She kept checking the door, she wasn’t waiting for them to come in, it was just weird to her that she managed to be earlier than them. Once they came in, they all sat down, completely ignoring Jacklyn as they had been doing all year. She glanced at them occasionally, watching as they laughed and joked around with each other. Jacklyn could have had that, but she screwed it up. She knows she messed up, but she’ll never admit it, not to anybody. The rest of class and the ones after went by quickly, until Chemistry anyway. 

   She sat down in front of Heather who had a scared look in her eye and she glanced at Jacklyn every now and then. Immediately after the teacher finally walked in, she informed everyone to get into their pairs. Jacklyn pulled her chair up to Heather’s desk. She was suppressing a smile, she was finally able to work with the girl who made her knees weak. She knew how important Heather’s grades were to her, so there was no way she’d back out. But, no matter how happy Jacklyn was to work with her, her rude comments and arrogance wouldn’t stop.

   “Fair warning, I suck at chemistry.” Heather said, trying to make some sort of conversation.
   “You were here when she explained what to do right? So do it. Can’t be that hard.” Jacklyn replied.

Heather rolled her eyes as she placed the elements where she thought they were meant to go on the chart. She looked at Jacklyn to double check it.

   “I’m pretty sure Iron is 28, not 43.” She said, swapping the two.
   “Is that it?” Heather asked.
   “Yeah. Other than that it’s right.” 

   Heather nodded and sat back, waiting for Ms. Evans to come by and check it. Once she did, she gave the girls a green check mark beside their name. Jacklyn moved back to her table, eyeing Mia and Heather as she listened to them talk about her. Jacklyn left as soon as the teacher dismissed them, wasting no time to get away from Heather. She attended her last two classes, leaving them as quick as she could, and started walking toward the alleyway again. There were never any police officers or other people there, it was her perfect getaway place. As she opened her carton of cigarettes, she realized she was out. She tossed the carton and sat down, pulling out her phone instead. She swiped away the few messages she had and opened instagram, scrolling through her feed. She saw a post from Heather, it was with her and her mom. Heather had on a tight-fit sweater and her hair was curled. Jacklyn didn’t notice anything about her mom, or where they were at. She was smiling at the photo, she was about to like it, but instead she turned off her phone. She hit her head lightly on the brick wall behind her, folding her arms around her knees and pressing them against her chest. 

A single tear slid down her face, but she wiped it away before it fell onto her jeans. Clearing her throat, she started her walk home. However, instead of making her way home, she walked to the park. Sitting on one of the metal picnic tables, she pulled her book from her bag and rested the side of her head against the palm of her hand. She skimmed the pages, focusing on the straight couples with their kids. She watched as the couples took their kids and pushed them on the swings, helped them on the slides, and swung them on the several maypole spinners around the playground. She wished she could have had that, but there was no guy who stayed around long enough to be her dad. Ever.
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A little insight to Jacklyn's life :)
Sorry for the late update!