Jade gets Crushed (cont.)

Baby I Fell For You, Even Though I Know It's Wrong

​​Gentle summer breezes welcomed Andre and Chelsea into its wide-open embrace as they walked towards school. Dancing rays of sunlight landed lightly on their faces, a pirouette here, a sauté there, transitioning into an arabesque in graceful presto succession through the varying aperture between the leaves. A stray zephyr breaks away and playfully pushes long wisps of hair into Chelsea's face, as she turns to face Andre, "Can I just be honest with you?"

"Of course..." Andre sensed some discomfort emanating from Chelsea. What is she about to bring up?

"I'm a little worried about...... about the attention of everyone else at school if we're together...... you know like when we're walking down the corridors together and everyone's staring....... I haven't even told my best friends about this...... everyone talking, everyone just-"

"Let me just stop you right there, there's no reason to fret over this. We can take it all slowly, give you time to prepare." He says soothingly as he reaches to give her shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Are you sure you'll be fine with this; I want to make sure you're completely fine with this." She responds with less quivering in her voice.

"Honestly, I'm cool with this, but I gotta warn you, if we're gonna be official I want to be able to hang out together in the open, I just don't like to hide in the shadows, you get me? Unless you're ashamed of me?" He chuckles teasingly.

"How...Wha...What... of course not! Ha.... ha" She nervously breaks eye contact with Andre, looking away with a sudden anxious trepidation.

"You know I was joking right?"

"I'm...I'm feeling a lot of STRESS, right now." Chelsea raises her voice

A silence of unease permeates around them as the hand that was once on Chelsea's shoulder gradually departs.

"My bad... I was only trying to lighten up the mood, I wasn't trying to belittle your current mental state." Andre stared blankly at the ground as they continued their way to school. Chelsea was deep in thought, I can't believe I keep slipping up like this, at this rate he might figure out that something is wrong. I can't. I can't...... It's ok you worry too much, just take a deep breath; everything is going to be alright. Everything is going to be fine; you can do this, just apologize for the misunderstanding.

She couldn't have taken a small joke like that so seriously, being silent for this long it's bananas! Okay maybe I was a little apathetic, but I was just keeping it real with her. What's a relationship worth if it lacks a bit of harmless banter? Maybe it's still early and I don't fully understand her, I should just apologize, I can't bear this any longer.

"I'm.... no, you go first..." they both said in unison, both surprised by the other's echoing of their sentence. They stopped in their footsteps, only a block away from Hollywood Arts. Chelsea's gaze met Andre's with a look of inward affection and affirmation, a feeling of being understood, she thinks to herself, okay now this is quite a surprise, he seems to actually understand me.

"Look I'm sorry Chelsea if I hurt your feelings, but it was never my intention, all I wanted was to ease your anxiety a bit, lighten your load if you know what I mean..."

"No! No..., I'm sorry, I was completely blinded by my fear and anxiety that...that... I raised my voice at you when all you were trying to do was help me."

​They gravitated towards each other, like a comet pulled into orbit, Chelsea's tender hands reached gently to Andre's chin, where a very slight stubble was present. Her thumb and index finger lightly pulled his chin forward. His hands clasped around her waist. Gazing into each other's eyes, it was different this time, it was vulnerable, like an unlocking of a locket within the depths of each other's souls. Vision gradually blurring as lips touched lips.

Beck and Jade were leisurely strolling to the block across from Hollywood Arts, his right-hand grabs hold of her left, by natural habit her fingers intertwined with his, as his fingers gripped on to give a tight squeeze, a squeeze of reassurance. Their interlocking hands swung in contrary motion to their comfortable stride, playful teasing broke out between them.

"Remember the time when I was looking after my neighbor Ally's dog and you thought I was seeing someone else?" Beck asked Jade in a mischievous tone.

"Don't remind me."

"The face you made when you saw that she was just 9 years old hahaha"

Jade made a face of sarcastic laughter, "You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"If I just slammed your head into this streetlamp!"

"Shouldn't have asked, walked right into that one." Beck, pulling a snarky smirk that was fixated on Jade, savoring his moment of victory, until suddenly, he hit a streetlamp headfirst with a sharp dong!

"Ooh AHAhahahaha! You so deserved it." Jade couldn't help herself from laughter at Beck's karmic retribution.

"AHH ouch! That seriously hurt! Not funny, really not funny!" Beck moaned and complained as he held tightly onto his forehead, the intense pain surging from the point of contact bringing with it waves of nausea.

"Alright stop squirming, let me take a look....ooh it's really throbbing!" As Jade pushed aside Beck's tight hands to give the bump a feel.

"This kind of thing only happens in cartoons, not in reality...." He proceeded to take a seat on the corner of the sidewalk, as he continued to groan in pain.

"So, you're just admitting to being silly and stupid like a cartoon...

"Of course no..."

Cutting him off mid-sentence, "Yeah I agree, it was hilarious to watch a live demonstration." As she joins him on the edge of the sidewalk, Beck slowly rests his head on her shoulder, and she slowly runs her fingers into his wavy, soft hair.

"Ok, get up now, let's get you to the school nurse and see if she can do anything for you."

"Noooo...I don't want to..." Beck moans.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to leave you here then, I don't want to be late to school."

"Noooo... ok... give me a little kiss and we'll get going."

"Ughhh fine sissy!" Jade leaned in and gave his forehead a slow peck. Thought you would never ask.

Jade grabbed onto Beck's waist to help him up and lend support to his fragile state. As she turned to face the school, two figures were sharing a passionate kiss, an interweaving of lips, tongue, and bodies. A sour feeling bubbled up in her, she abruptly lost grip of Beck and like a building undergoing demolition, he sank down the way he came.

"AH...now my ass as well! What happened Jade??"

"Is that...Andre?" remarked a surprised Jade. I mean I'm not the jealous type and I'm quite content with Beck, not sure why I don't feel happy for Andre and ok...a little bit jealous if I'm honest, but why am I jealous?

"Andre?? What Andre?" Beck looked around frantically, until he saw it, two figures gradually becoming one. A slow smirk grew on Beck's face and all the excruciating pain was numbed, satisfaction was his anesthetic. What a beautiful sight to behold! I love it when everything falls into place so perfectly.

Beck acting surprised as well, "Ohh... yeah... that's Andre for sure!"

"Things moved fast between him and this Chelsea!" A mildly disgusted Jade responded.

"Woohoooo! That's my man right there! Go get it!" An excited Beck shouted.

"Alright, let's get you to the school nurse and get your head checked up." Jade helped Beck up with a little more urgency and speed.

"Ok ok, take it easy, I'm slightly handicapped right now." Beck stumbled and hobbled as he got up to stand.

"Let's get over faster... school is starting, and we need to get you to the nurse!" Jade urged the trailing Beck. He better hurry up; I want to catch them before they head into school.