Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

35. Stuck

The next morning, Megan woke up feeling much better. She was still pretty upset that her family had found out about her not-really-boyfriend, of course – who wouldn't be? But she'd managed to calm down a lot. She was even coming to terms with the fact that she was going to have to lie to her family. And really, Jake was right – what were three more people at this point? She was already lying to her friends about it anyway. Besides, if this whole thing got too out of hand, she could always tell her family they'd broken up or something. And if Jake really did stop coming around, they'd probably even believe her.

The thing that was still really bothering her about this of course was the fact that Jake had been lying to her. Well, not lying, exactly; she knew he couldn't do that. But that didn't mean he'd been completely honest, either. She knew she was going to have to put all this behind her, just ignore it as best she could. She could still see him at school, maybe even hang out with him. She just wouldn't trust him. It was kind of too bad, but that was just the way it was.

She grabbed her clothes and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for school. Ever since she'd found that bottle, she just couldn't get dressed in her own room anymore; who knew what he could see?

As she brushed her teeth, she couldn't help thinking about how she might possibly have overreacted just a little last night. She was still mad of course, but it was possible that this mess was as much her fault as it was Jake's. After all, she had been hanging out with him every day after school – what did she think would happen?

It wasn't until she was ready to go downstairs that she realized she hadn't actually seen Jake yet. Normally, he was up and out as soon as she was awake, being his old, obnoxious self. She usually had to finish her make-up in the bathroom, even though it meant having to listen to Drew scream at her from the other side of the door. She looked around her empty room, almost disappointed. This was about the time he would normally be making fun of her shirt, or asking her if she'd bothered to brush her hair yet. But today, he was silent – gone. He couldn't still be avoiding her, could he?

"Jake?" she asked, when she couldn't take the silence anymore.

No answer.

She looked across the room, to where his bottle sat, as always. It was only then that she saw the cork jammed into the top. No wonder she hadn't heard from him all morning – she was embarrassed to realize she'd completely forgotten about doing that. He might be annoying, but even at this point, he was still kind of her friend. How could she have forgotten?

She glanced at the clock and realized she had a maximum of six minutes to get that cork out of the bottle before she had to be out the door for school. After that, she wouldn't make it to the bus stop in time even if she sprinted.

Megan snatched the bottle up hurriedly and took it to her bed to work on. She tried to pry the cork up with her fingernails, but of course it didn't work – it was wedged in too tight. All she managed to do was tear a few chunks loose off the side. And now there was even less to pull at than there had been before.

"Megan?" she heard Drew call from somewhere downstairs.

"Coming!" Megan yelled back.

She dug her fingernail down in the space between the cork and the edge of the bottle. It was a tight fit, and once she managed it she had no leverage. She tried to pull the cork up anyway, but all she managed to do was rip her fingernail off.

Megan fought the urge to scream and slammed her fist down on the bed. Now her hand hurt and she still couldn't get the stupid cork out of the bottle. Who used a cork for something like this anyway? Shouldn't there be an actual top or something?

"Megan! We have to go!" Drew called again. Megan glanced worriedly at the clock on her wall. She was pretty sure she had about a minute and a half before he came looking for her.

"I'll be right there!" Megan screamed as she tried desperately to open the bottle.

She tried shoving a pencil down the side, but it only moved the cork further down the neck. And tweezers could fit, but they didn't have the strength to actually do anything.

"Megan what are you doing? We're going to be late for sure!" Drew screamed.

"Jake, I'm so sorry." Megan told the bottle.

She wasn't even sure he could hear her. But if he could, she wanted to at least let him know that she was trying her best to fix this.

There was a knock on her door that made her jump.

"Megan?" Drew asked. "You better hurry, or we're going to miss the bus." Slowly, he opened the door.

Megan glanced up at him, bottle still in hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked, staring at her like she'd lost her mind.

"I was just trying to..." Megan trailed off.

What could she say? That she was trying to free her almost-boyfriend from a bottle she trapped him in so that he could go to class? How would that sound? Fortunately, Drew didn't wait for her to continue.

"Are you ditching?" he asked.

"What? No."

That was about the last thing on her mind. Although now that he mentioned it, it would give her more time to work on this stupid cork.

"If you are, I'm staying too." Drew informed her.

"Why?"

Until he met Jake, Drew had never hung out with Megan in his life. Why would he want to start now?

"I'm not going if you get to stay at home and do nothing – that's not fair."

"Life's not fair." she told him.

"It is today – you stay home, and I do too."

"Fine." Megan grumbled, setting the bottle back on the desk.

If Drew was going to be here, there was no point in staying home. Besides, someone should probably go to class and take notes – not that Jake would need them. And it would probably look more suspicious if she stayed home anyway. Reluctantly, she followed Drew out the door. They sprinted the two blocks to the bus stop, barely making it on time.