The Pretty Boy's Crush

Safe

"Paige, you look tense, if you're worried about getting caught, go to the bathrooms and count to twenty and then come back. He'll be gone, and I won't say a word." Jason says as I blush lightly knowing that he's sticking up for me and wanting me to be safe. I wonder if he's like this to everyone or if he's just like this to me. To stop myself from squealing like a pig, I tell myself he acts like this to everyone.

I nod and get out of my seat and speed walk to the girls' bathroom which is very conveniently close to their table. Without the teachers even knowing, I slip in there. Thinking about how rebellious I'm being. I know this sounds super lame, but this is the worst thing I've ever done. This is the only rule breaking I've done.

I open the metal door and slip in there and then go into a stall and shut the door and just stand in there and look at some of the graffiti. There's a lot of cuss words and words you should never call a girl. Like, whore, cunt, slut, and hoe. Just to think that this is the girls' room, why would we call each other such mean names? I mean, if someone gets on my evil side, I don't mind calling them a bitch.

I close my eyes, counting to thirty instead of ten, just to make sure. I then open my eyes, looking away from the graffiti and leaving the stall. I then go back to Jason, sitting next to him, acting like nothing ever happened.

"Hey, is he gone?" I ask as I look around for Mr. Detonator. He's one of the detention teachers. The other day he had a black eye because one of the kids punched him in the face. I thought that was scary and if I were him, I would've quit immediately. Or I would've asked for extra money to not resign.

"Yeah, you're in the green, you're safe," Jason replies smirking as I sit down. Jason has braces on both his top and bottom. I don't know why since I didn't know what he looked like when he just got braces. But, all the girls say that his braces make him cuter. So, I just believe them for some reason. In sixth grade, he didn't have braces, but I also didn't have a crush on him so I never really focused on his teeth. Maybe they just weren't straight or something, I don't know.

"What are you going to get to eat?" He asks me as we get dismissed from the table, and we start walking to the cafeteria area, all walking in a straight line. We then walk past my table, and all the girls start waving at me and telling me to come and sit down and stop acting crazy.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out when I get up there. Really, all school food is disgusting but, I always find something," I say looking around at the food as I ignored all my table mates. I kind of feel bad, but I don't want to sit with them, I want to sit with Jason. Brooklyn can yell in my ear later.

Today we have pasta with meatballs and sauce, pizza as always, cheese sticks, and peanut butter and jelly crustables. Pizza and crustables never change, I don't know why, but they never do. They're always here.

I go ahead and grab the cheese sticks, and Jason does too as we both go down the lunch line. At this school, we all have IDs. They're pretty useful as they give you permission to buy food, rent library books, and they also help you participate in any outside school events.

...

Jason and I talked during lunch about school and grades. Turns out that Jason is in all advanced classes for all of his core classes. I wish that I was that smart, I'm always getting good enough grades to go into advanced courses, I just never gain enough courage to actually admit myself into them. Of course, since everything is going great, Jason has to ask the worst question in history.

"Who do you like? Do you have a crush?" Jason asks me as I look away from him and to my empty tray, trying not to make eye contact as I don't want him to know that I like him.

"Uh, no, I don't like anyone. And if I did, why would I tell you?" I ask him, trying to sound all confident while on the inside, I know I'm not confident at all. But, I can't let Jason know that. Laughing lightly, Jason decides to joke around with me too.

"Oh okay, relax I was just wondering," He says rolling his eyes, smirking at me as we both know that we're joking around with one another.

"Who do you like?" I ask him putting him on the spot.

"I don't know, really, no one right now. Considering I just broke up with my ex." He says not happy anymore as he looks to the ground. "Here, I'll take your tray." He says as he grabs my tray and walks to the front of the table where he puts our plates down and then talks to some of the girls that are up there. They all seem so happy to talk to him, and I bet that they all like him too. I have a lot of competition, and I'll probably lose, to be honest.

I can't believe that he said he didn't want anyone right now. I was hoping he would say something to me that mattered. Or someone you might know. Make me think about it. But, I guess I also shoved him down making him believe that I don't like him. Even though I do, I was hoping that he wouldn't take it so seriously. Maybe I should've just told him the truth.

Jason walks back and sits down bored.

"Sorry for asking. I should've known- "

"Whatever, I don't care, I just don't like anyone right now and apparently neither do you." He says smirking as then looking away from me before we keep eye contact for too long.