The Last Gunshot

3.

*So sorry for the late update! Just finished 75% of exams, so procrastinated on this ^^*

Fortunately, Algebra went smoothly. If you don't count Jack's consistent pestering throughout the whole hour, which I ignored for the most part. It was embarrassing though; the teacher was on edge and would have called on him if Jack wasn't the best student in the class. Yeap, the bad boy actually is good at maths. Surprising? Well, our school is the opposite of clichéd. I hate to admit it, but even Celine is good in her studies, getting over 80 in all her subjects. Extremely unexpected for the school slut.

After school, I casually strolled to where my group of friends were in their usual spot under the big tree, which we named George. That's just how weird we are.

A part of me would have screamed at them to get them to notice my presence, but another part of me wasn't in the mood for screaming or getting too much attention. I was still devastated over Melissa's absence, though I did not let it show too much.

They saw me as I approached, and smiled nervously at me. Although they were my closest friends, I never felt that close to them, and I had difficulty trusting them.

We joined the rest of our group in the usual daily gossip. "Did you hear? Jack Guerra apparently hugged some nerd in the cafeteria today!!"

"OMG Are you serious? No way! He wouldn't even hug Celine when they were dating... She kept on kicking a big fuss every time we were changing before cheer practice," Chloe announced. She was on the cheer team, but was a nerd and an introvert at heart, which is why she preferred to stick with our group rather than going with the cheerleaders. As one of the cheerleaders, she had all the gossip and rumours before any of us, so she was our "messenger".

We looked at each other in shock; that was news to us. "What?? He never hugged her?" I asked

"Yeah. She was always complaining about it, but of course I just ignored her," explained Chloe.

I thought about it. Did that mean he cared for me more than he did for Celine? But he barely knew me, so that was impossible. Or so I thought.

"Hey Nathalie!" I heard someone shout at me. I turned towards the source of the voice, and saw the last person I expected to see. Yeah, it was Jack.

"What do you want from her?" Chloe asked, trying to speak menacingly but did not really succeed.

"Nothing really..."

"Well you came here, and you don't usually... so means you want something."

"Fine, you got me..." Jack turned to face me. "I was wondering if you needed a ride home?"

My friends started whistling and cat-calling, laughing at my awkwardness. "No thanks, I'm taking my bike."

"Wait! Nathalie, I forgot to tell you earlier... I walked past your bike just now, and it had a flat tyre..." Claire announced. Claire was my next closest friend in the group, but not to the extent that I would be pouring out my heart to her anytime soon.

"Fine. Can anyone give me a ride back?" I asked hopefully.

Everyone shook their heads in unison. It was extremely creepy, I must say. I groaned loudly. "Fine, I'll go with you," I told Jack.

"Great, let's get going then!" he replied a little too enthusiastically. "Follow me - my car's this way."

I walked behind him, keeping a safe distance at all times. I noticed my friends' smirks, and turned around, telling them, "You guys better watch out..." I was tempted to show the finger but was scared there might be a teacher seeing - I didn't want to get into trouble for something small like that.

Jack strode up to a car which I had noticed many times, and assumed it was the principal's car. Now I was horrible with identifying cars, but I knew that this was no cheap car - it always looked new and shiny, and it was an Audi, which is not cheap.

"Wait... this is your car?" My eyes were wide open in shock.

"No... Actually it isn't... I stole the US President's car," Jack replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me. "Just get in, alright?" Well, isn't he bipolar? First pleading me to ride back with him, then getting annoyed at me the next minute.

"Look, okay? I don't know what game you're trying to play with me, but just cut it out man, it's getting annoying." I was seriously pissed off now. Could we not have a normal conversation without trying to tear off one another's heads?

"Ughh, fine... just tell me the way to your house." Well shit. I must have really pissed him off.

"Geez, I'm sorry-"

"Save it. I'll just bring you back."

I rolled my eyes at his sudden change of mood, and we drove back in silence, besides my occasional direction on where to turn.

Before I knew it, he had pulled up into the driveway of my house. As i climbed out of the car, I started, "Thanks for the ri-"

Before I could finish, he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back into the car. He glanced around, as if making sure there was noone around, before embracing me in a hug. It felt even better than the one in school had - maybe because we had some privacy. Holding me tight in the embrace, I felt his lips touch my forehead. "Stay happy, beautiful," he whispered as his lips grazed across my forehead. My heart was beating so fast - too fast, even - it felt as if it might pop any moment. After a while, he pulled away from the hug, but left my heart still beating at the same speed. "I'll be here tomorrow morning to pick you up, at about 7:30, yeah? See you then," he smiled at me again. It was weird - before today, I had never seen this boy crack a smile, not even around his friends.

"Okay I guess... see you then."

Opening the front door, I sighed to myself. As usual, my dad wouldn't be back until 7pm, so I had to prepare dinner. Sometimes we got take-out, but my dad always loved my cooking so I decided to cook for him. I dropped my bag on the couch, but while strolling over to the kitchen, the house phone rang.

Walking over to where it was, I picked it up. "Hey, Natbear? I won't be able to make it home for dinner tonight, I've got some extra work to do. I'll prob be back late, so don't wait up for me. You could invite Claire over if you want..."

"Okay dad, but nah. I'll be fine on my own today."

"Sure. Take care Natbear."

"Yeah, see ya."

Hanging up, I cosed my eyes and fell backwards onto the couch. Suddenly a deep voice boomed from my left, "Home alone, eh?" I screamed and jumped off the couch. Turning back, it was none other than Jack.

"What on earth are you doing here??" I shouted in his face.

"Firstly, get some manners. I'm your guest so you shout treat me nicely. Secondly, I love your house! It's so homely and cozy..." I glared at him. "Okay okay, I may have followed you in since you didn't close your front door... that's your fault for not staying safe though."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "You could have just called after me to tell me... don't you have anything better to do?"

"Nope, if I go home I'll be alone, so thought might as well keep you company."

"Fine. But you've gotta go back after dinner. And I'm not cooking for you, by the way."

"Sure, I'll get pizza for us." Jack picked up his phone and began tapping furiously, I asaumed he was dialling the number to get pizza. He suddenly looked up from his phone and looked straight into my eyes, a serious look on his face. I panicked, wondering what he would say or do.

"Pepperoni alright with you?" he asked while grinning mischievously. I sighed internally, glaring at him.

"Sure, whatever dude." He nodded and turned back to his phone.

I walked out of the living room and went up the stairs to my room. Sighing, I plopped onto my bed and lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling. My eyes suddenly felt swollen and tears were threatening to pour out. I quickly closed them, preventing anything from flowing out - neither tears nor emotions.