He Loves Me Not *Under Editing*

Jake, from Laurie's mom??

We were at lunch.  Alex and I had gotten a lot of sleep so we were extra energetic.  Chyna was upset, she hadn't spoken to Cam all day.  Alex and I kept trying to cheer her up by throwing food at each other, but she was having none of it.  I turned to Alex and saw a cute guy walking up to us.  He wasn't as cute as Alex, but he was 'the boy next door' kind of cute.  He walked up beside Alex and sat down.  Alex swiftly turned around and gave him a hug.  "Babe, this is Jake from State Farm at three in the morning."

"Hi, Jake."  I waved and he returned the gesture.  He smiled showing gleaming teeth.  Chyna looked over at him and the ghost of a smile appeared.  He carefully avoided her gaze.  To make it less awkward between them I spoke up.  "So, how do you know my boyfriend?"

"Long story.  A long, bitchy story."

"Oooooh now I have to know!"

"Alright, I am Laurie's brother.  She's an hour younger than me."

"Please tell me you are paternal."

"We are."

"Thank the heavens, how do you put up with her?"

"I honestly have no clue, she is so unbearable."

"I have to work on a project with her."

"God speed, I'd say do it at our house but her new boy toy is hanging out there all the time."

"Who is it?"

"Michael."  Alex clenched his fist and I tensed up.  I could suddenly taste his lips on mine and I looked at the speckled table.  Alex wrapped his arm around my shoulder pulling me into him.  I felt safer, but nothing could erase my memories.  Alex finally spoke up, "They deserve each other."

"I have to agree, bud, I had no idea she cheated on you.  I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I have Cyd now, and I couldn't be happier."

"So this is the legendary Cydney."  I nodded my head.  He puffed out his lower lip and nodded his approval.  "I have to say, you are very brave."

"Why do you say that?"  Alex shot him a warning look.  Okay, what was that about?  I looked into Jake's eyes as he gazed on at me in shock.  He gulped a few times and looked at the ground.  "Well, ya know, he is uh, quite the handful."

I gave him a burning look.  "Yes, yes he is."

"Wait!  Aren't you the mystery girl?"

"That's me."

"I have always wanted to meet you.  Isaiah told me so much, I just didn't know how to approach you after, ya know."

"Yeah, I never knew you were related to Laurie though."  Alex held up his hand to silence us.  "So, everybody knew about you and Isaiah but me?"

"Not everybody, just Jake, Cameron, and Chyna."  My boyfriend shook his head as the bell rang.  I got up and threw away the hard french fries.  Alex grabbed his water bottle before we left the cafeteria and we made our way to class.  I took my seat at the teacher's second desk.  Cam walked in and took his seat.  What?  Cam was here?  I ran over to him before the bell rang again,  "What the hell Cam?"

"Am I not allowed to come to school?"

"Chyna is pissed at you."

"I know, I was hiding in the library."

"You need to talk to her about yesterday."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because if I tell her, then she will tell you and I can't have you find out."

"Is this about the texts between you and Alex?"  His face paled as I mentioned them.  "How did you know?"

"I texted his mom last night.  What aren't we supposed to know Cam."

"Alex will tell you when he is ready."  I huffed and marched away.  Alex wasn't telling me anytime soon, and the more I thought about that text, the more it bothered me.  What was so bad he couldn't tell me?  I couldn't concentrate on anything for the rest of the day.  I thought Cam was my friend.  If he was, he would tell me about this no matter what Alex wanted.  But he was also Alex's friend.  I didn't know the bell had gone off until I felt his hand on my back.  I got up and walked with him to his last class.  I clutched onto my books the whole time.

I zoned out in the other class too.  He put me in the car after the bell rang.  "Okay, Cyd.  What is the problem?"

I stared out the windshield.  "Cyd... Cyd... Love!"

"Oh huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Liar."

"I'm fine Alex."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Please."

"No Alex, because you always expect me to tell you what is wrong but you never tell me what is wrong.  What can't Chyna and I know about?  Why was Cam crying yesterday?"

"I- can't tell you.  I want to, believe me, I do.  I just can't right now."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to automatically go to the worst case scenario.  I am sick and tired of seeing the people I love treat me differently even though there is nothing different about me."  I looked at him.  He drove out of the parking lot and kept his eyes on the road.  We pulled up to my house, "Are you coming in?"

"I think I should go home."  His eyes were tearing up.  At those words, mine started to too.  I opened the door and slammed it shut on him.  He winced and backed out of the driveway.  We didn't even kiss goodbye.  I made it to my room.  I threw my backpack down and punched the wall.  I still didn't get all the anger in my system out,  I punched the wall over and over again until my hand started to bleed.  

A few hours later my mom came home and saw my dent in the wall.  She looked at the hand I was cradling in my lap and tsked.  She directed me into the bathroom and cleaned the wound.  She had me open and close it.  She thought I had broken a few bones and thought of taking me to the hospital. I profusely said no.  She didn't push the issue but instead wrapped it up and said if it felt worse tomorrow then I had no choice.

I went to sleep the hand laying on it's own pillow.  I got a text from Alex before I fell asleep.  I was still mad and didn't want to take hours to respond with one hand.  I just read it and put the phone back down.  He may have apologized but I wanted him to do it to my face.

I woke up the next morning and gently unwrapped the bandage.  My hand had swollen to over twice it's size overnight.  I took it to my mom.  Every touch sent jolts of pain through my arm.  She made me get into the car and we went to the hospital.  They did an x-ray and saw that it was indeed broken. I got a purple cast and she drove me to school.  It was math when I got to school.  I went into class and I told the teacher what happened.  He shook his head and pointed to my seat.  I sat down and Alex tapped on my shoulder.  I refused to turn around.  He was going to have to work hard.