Adapting and Conquering (The story of Bertha's rise and fall)

Chapter Twenty-One

Finally, we arrived at our stop. We got off and walked about a block to Jacob's house, a very beautiful Victorian. Jacob unlocked the door and let us in.

"Woah." I breathed, staring at the cavernous ceilings, and how big the house was.

"Yeah," Jacob said, looking sheepish. "This used to be my grandma's but she didn't like all the space so she moved out and we moved in last year."

"It is really beautiful," gushed Ashley. I threw-up a little in my mouth.

Jacob led us to his room, which was plastered with posters of famous basketball players. I settled down on his bed and asked for the note. He threw his backpack on the ground and dug out the anonymous love note.

"Whoever made this took a long time on it." Observed Ashley. "It's very detailed. They must like you a whole lot."

"Who are you really close to at Taft?" I ask.

"Ernie, Vector, Jose, John..."

"I mean girls, silly." I joke.

"Ohh, right." His cheeks flooded with embarrassment. "Heather... Leah, Sue..., Maya, Ola...Holly, Natalie..."

My face turns red at the mention of Heather's name, but I try not to show it. I'm not sure if she would do that to me or not. Would she go out of her way to give a love note from someone else, just to make me feel bad about myself?

"So what happened with you and that Heather girl?" Ashley asks me. "If you don't mind my asking," She adds quickly.

"Stop asking!" I burst out. "It doesn't matter and it's none of your business Ashley!"

Ashley looks embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I see that it's personal, and we just met and all...sorry."

"Yeah. You shouldn't be asking..." I say, rather than accepting her apology.

Jacob is obviously very surprised at my sudden outburst. "Let's just continue with the note."

"Right. Fine." I huff. "Which of those girls do you think would put that?"

"Ummm. Maybe Heather, Maya, Ola, or Holly? I don't think any of the others would put a note there."

"I don't really think Heather likes you like that." I say, trying to get him off her tail. " But I've seen Maya stare at you in class before, so maybe her?"

"Yeah, she always finds excuses to be by me..."

"Hmm..." Said Ashley. "Is Maya that kind of girl?"

"Yeah... she might be." I say.

"Do you know what her handwriting looks like?"

"Oh! I worked with her on a project recently!" I say. I pull out the worksheet that we worked on together in Algebra.

We all inspect the paper and compare it to the love note. "It does look kind of similar, but not really...She dots the i's differently than in the note." I observe.

"Maybe she had someone write it for her? My friend once made me do that for her." Ashley says.

"Yeah, probably. Who's her closest friend again? Ella, right?" I look at Jacob.

"They hang out a lot, so yeah." He responds.

"But we don't have her handwriting!" I say.

"I sit by her in Science, I could check next time." says Jacob. "I'll try to take a picture if I can, or even better, I'll ask her to write something for me."