She Gets What She Wants [Watty's 2016-2018]

Chapter 46

OKAY OFFICIALLY BEST NEW YEARS EVER!!!

This is my life wow oh wow oh wow.

Thank you universe!

This kiss lasts a good five minutes or so. Only because some of the other people start running up and down the hallway in their excitement of the new year. For the first time it is relatable.

"Run with me?"

I don't even give Derek time to think. I grab his hand and pull him through the balloons and streamers, dodging splashes of beverages and then not caring as we get drenched. Derek laughs. I smile so hard my cheeks block my eyesight. Derek yells out my name over and over as I direct him to nowhere in particular, but he lets me anyway.

I wonder if this is what love is like.

Adults like to talk about how teens don't know what a serious relationship is. That we don't know the responsibility, but if adults were such experts then divorce wouldn't be a thing, and those relationships that start with people in their early twenties and last forever would be hypocritical, right? And I'm not that far from twenty anyway. That is how old my great-grandparents on my mom's side were when they got married. They never split. No one can tell me that that young love was invalid.

What I feel is valid.

It has to be.

Nothing could change my mind about how I feel about Derek, absolutely nothing could interfere with-

"JASMINE THERE YOU ARE!"

That was the warning cry that should've made me dodge to the right. To escape the wrath of the chick that hurled me from the left.

"Woah!" I fall thankfully into a stray of pillows on the floor. A safety hazard otherwise, but a safety net for me.

I look up flushed, but am met again with the eyes of a snake.

"It's time to talk," Jade's voice takes on that sweetness that I easily overlook, that I recognize as her tactic to get what she wants.

***

We're in Cameron's car. Jade behind the wheel as she reapplies makeup using the rearview mirror. I'm fidgeting in the passenger seat, waiting for this to be over.

I thought we were done. I thought I made that clear when I left her house from the Christmas party, or how about when I made a point by not taking her calls and leaving her texts unanswered.

So this is her chance to say whatever she needs to because after this I'm really not going to listen.

"Jade- "

"You want to know why I'm getting my revenge on Alyssa?"

Wait what?

"Do you want to know why?"

"You're really going to tell me?"

Why would she tell me? After all this time why now? When I wanted to know, she brushed it off like it was none of my business. But seeing as I was part of her little plan, it would have made total sense that she would have told me then.

"I think it would be appropriate," she holds up an eyelash curler, the metal gleaming from the little light projected by the street light.

"Go ahead, tell me what this is all about. Tell me what exactly makes it 'appropriate' now. And just so you know I'm not helping you anymore."

She fluffs out her hair and puckers her lips before turning to look at me.

"Alyssa broke our girl code," Jade says this as if I'm supposed to know what it means, but of course I have no clue.

"Girl code?" I repeat.

"We were never supposed to hook up with the other's brother. Never. Crushes were fine, as long as it didn't grow into something. It would be weird."

"That's stupid. Why couldn't you just like who you wanted to like?" I roll my eyes.

"Imagine Hailey coming over to meet with your brother over you? Talking about feelings and other things your friend is doing with your brother. How would you feel if you found Chris in bed with Hailey?"

EWW!

Did she really have to put THAT IMAGE IN MY HEAD?!

"See what I mean?" Jade laughs probably at the disgusted expression I'm wearing.

"We decided our friendship just wouldn't work if something like that happened...it's exactly what happened," she adds.

jade waits for me. Waits for me to understand what she's implying.

"Liar," I scoff.

"I'm serious Jasmine. You might know Derek now, but I've known him for the last seventeen years of his life." Her unblinking eyes are scary, but I look straight at her.

"Derek wouldn't go for a girl like Alyssa." I shake my head at the possibility of such an absurd pairing.

"Oh but everyone thought you and Jordan totally belonged together before I set you up right?"

She's right but still-

"You're making this up to get me to keep helping you. You just want me away from your brother so I can get back with Jordan, but that's not going to happen."

"No, I'm not. I just think you should know who my brother is before you get tangled up in something. Derek wouldn't commit with Alyssa in public, but I know they still meet up sometimes when Alyssa comes over. I'm not stupid Jasmine."

"Well neither am I! You're probably just mad that Alyssa tried to make a move on your boyfriend or wore the same outfit as you at some party." I don't believe her for a minute.

"Alyssa's a hoe."

"No doubt about that."

"She might be after Jordan, but she has her boys to mess around with. I just don't appreciate how one of them is my brother." Wow now she's filing her nails. This girl.

"Okay well regardless of whatever reason for your scheme that you're trying to make me believe, how can you still be her friend? Why not just stop associating yourself with her? Have you confronted her about this broken girl code of yours?"

"Why do all that when I can make her suffer for the rest of the year without her suspecting a single thing? In a couple of months, I'm going to graduate, and after that I'll be leaving for college." Jade says this with such confidence, like nothing could go wrong.

"Why does this sound so petty to me?"

"I don't care if you think I'm doing the wrong thing Jasmine. But I think you can understand that if your best friend betrays you and pretends that she hasn't done anything, it's enough to be pissed off. It's enough for a bitch like me to get payback."

"I guess," I say tiredly. In a way, maybe I do understand. Alyssa, as terrible as she is, was or is or was Jade's best friend. And a betrayal can end a friendship quicker than a friendship can start.

"So, before you go trying to get exclusive with Derek, just know that Alyssa has her hands on him already. He won't admit it, but I know what I've seen."