That's What She Thought

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

At about 6:15, the time Jack's football game ended, Peyton punched in his cell phone number. She sat on her bed in her room, with a couple of blankets wrapped around her. Her room was always cold, especially in the winter. And now, because it was February, snow was beginning to pile up on the ground outside. 

She silently wished those blankets were Jack.  

She waited for him to pick up. After three rings, she heard voices coming through the phone. 

"Don't answer it!" someone whispered cautiously.  

"I need to take this," another said. Maybe they don't know they've already answered, Peyton thought. 

"What, is she prettier than me or something?!" the voice said, sounding angry. 

"No, don't worry! She would never be prettier than you," the other replied. Peyton couldn't quite place their voice. Was it Jack? If it was, she couldn't make sense of what he was saying.  

"Jack?" Peyton asked. Then she heard muffled voices that sounded worried. Then a bleep sounded; the phone had been hung up.  

Peyton was really confused. Hundreds of questions had popped into her head. Was that Jack on the phone? Or had someone else been using it? Who was the other voice? Why did they sound worried? A sudden memory popped up into her head.  

She remembered today at lunch, Josh had bothered her once again. There's something you don't know about Jack, he had said. What could Peyton possibly not know about Jack after their five months together? Would he be able to keep a secret from her all this time?  

Peyton's cell phone bleeped on her desk. She grabbed it and read the screen. NEW TEXT MESSAGE, it said. It was from Brooke.  

Heyyy gurl! What's up? We haven't talked in hours! Call me!  

Peyton did need to talk to Brooke. She had to ask her what she thought about Jack's weird behavior, like the phone call, and what he might be hiding from her. Why would he want to keep a secret from Peyton? It just didn't make sense. 

Sitting up on her bed, Peyton dialed Brooke's number. After two rings, her friend picked up. "Hey, Peyton!" she said happily. "We haven't talked in forever! Got any news?" 

"Omigosh, totally. Tons of news. It's...about Jack," she said sadly. 

"Ohhh Peyton..." Brooke said. Peyton could tell she was smiling. "Did you guys kiss again?!" she was getting excited. 

"Well...I went over his house earlier...and he acted really awkward. I mean, like, I asked Jack to play Truth or Dare, and that's, like, his favorite game that we always play! But he said that he 'used to like to play it before...'. So then I said, 'before what?' And then he made up and awkward excuse that it was 'getting late'. But it was only 4:30!" Peyton raged. 

"4:30?!?" Brooke cried incredulously. "That's only considered late for the elderly!!" 

"I know, Brooke, let me finish," Peyton growled. She had been really stressed out with all of her and Jack's sudden relationship problems. 

"Alright, alright," Brooke replied shortly. She paused. 

Peyton continued, "Then he said he had a football game 5:00-6:15, and a meeting at 6:30. Which, ok, I could understand that. But what bothered me was that he was all panicky, and sweating, and...he looked really uncomfortable." 

"What is his deal?" Brooke cried. "All of sudden he's all awkward and stuff. Like, what is that? You don't just freak a girl out like that!" 

"I know, right?" Peyton agreed, but then realized this was pretty serious. "Do you think he's hiding something?" she blurted suddenly.