Breakaway

Breakaway: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I yawned tiredly as I walked through the school gates, extremely annoyed at having to wake up half an hour earlier then usual in order to get to school on time. There was absolutely no chance that Rachel was giving me a ride after what happened in the theatre yesterday.

I saw a few people standing around a new notice on the bulletin board and realised that it was the cast list for Romeo & Juliet.

I quickly veered right, curious about the part my sister had gotten. As I made my way towards it, the others who had been standing around left, leaving only me as other students walked past, chatting and laughing.

I scanned the list for Rachel’s name, and found it next to Lady Capulet. It made sense, considering we are identical twins.

“Looks like I’m going to have to try extra hard to win your heart,” came an amused voice from right behind me.

I yelped and jumped in surprise at the closeness of the voice.

I turned around to see Jesse Anderson standing there, his hand covering his mouth, clearly trying to stifle his laughter at my reaction.

I looked up at him, raising both eyebrows and crossing my arms over my chest.

His hazel eyes lit with mirth as he took in my stance, and began to laugh.

“And what, pray tell, is so funny?” I asked.

He pursed his lips and took a deep breath, clearly trying to get his laughter under control, “Sorry, but your reaction was rather amusing, then when you tried to act tough you looked like a kitten trying to be a tiger, it was just to funny.”

“What was with that first comment anyway? Did Ryan put you up to it?” I demanded.

“I meant the play. I’m playing Paris. Why would Ryan put me up to that?” he asked, while running his fingers through his dark brown hair.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, “we got into a bit of an argument yesterday.”

“Judging by what you just said to me I’m going to guess that your argument had something to do with is player ways,” he said, as we began to walk down the hall towards our lockers.

“You could say that.”

“Tell me if you have any luck at getting the message through his thick skull. I’ve been trying to tell him for years, but it never seems to get through to him.”

“Why do you hang out with him?” I asked, bitting my lip as soon as I realised how blunt and nearly rude my question was.  

Jesse is one of the nicest guys around school. He’s nice to everyone and could fit in with nearly any social group in the school. He is also the only person out of all the Senior’s, who can match me with all around academic standings. He is one of the very few people who can actually be considered popular for being liked. Like someone else who used to go here… snap out of it Vanessa!

“I’ve known Ryan since we were in toddlers. We don’t hang out as much as we used to anymore, but I can’t help but look out for him,” he said with a shrug.

“I can understand that. You know someone for a long time, and even though you don’t approve of their actions and judgements sometimes, you still care about them. You look out for them even if they don’t ask or want you to,” I said as we reached my locker.

I exchanged some books ready for first period, before shutting my locker and leaning against it. I could tell Jesse was about to say something to me, but before he could say it, Brittany appeared. Her black hair wound in a messy bun, and her shorts were way to short to be regulation. What is it with the cheerleaders, winters only just over and we’re in D.C. and it’s bloody cold outside.