Finer Lines

3. What A Gentleman

I woke up the next day feeling alive. Like I was ready to face almost anything, even school. I walked through that open gate and into the hellhole, waiting for Tori and Jake to arrive. Brittany tried to talk to me about something but I wasn't listening, I just kept looking over her shoulders and waiting for the black land-rover to drop off my new best friend and my new possible first boyfriend.

Finally I heard that sweet sound of new tires against the pavement and looked over the gate to see Jake and Tori walk out and head toward the entrance of the playground. I tried to look casual by joining Tracy, Stephanie, and Brittany and the others in a group conversation. There was a tap on my shoulder and I could already tell who it was. I turned around to see Tori wearing her loose blue top and denim shorts with striped flip-flops. Her smile was, as usual, bright and welcoming. Behind her was Jake. He had his hair kind of messy but still cute at the same time and was wearing a black v neck with his silver necklace that had the hand of David charm dangling under his shirt that he wore everyday.

"Hey Amy!" Tori said, smiling.

"Hey guys! You actually came back!" I said, jokingly.

The day went on as usual up until P.E., which got a little fantastic. I knew that Jake played tennis and was muscular for his age but I didn't know just how competitive he was. We did short sprints and with every round he became faster and faster. Athletic guys are always a plus. Even though he was fast, I was faster. I just pulled ahead by a couple seconds each time and we would both laugh when I defeated him. His laugh made my heart melt. It sounded like he had just woken up in the morning which have his laugh a raspiness I wish all guys had.

Whenever I got tired and sat on the concrete under a tree he would sit right next to me and smile. After P.E. was over we had lunch. It was October now and the weather started to get cold. I walked up to the only metal tables at the the top of the hill in the middle of the grass field and started to shiver. I had forgotten my jacket. When I sat down next to Jake he saw the goosebumps on my arms and ran inside. When he came back out he was holding my neon orange work out jacket that I had left on my desk. By the time he gave it to me it had already began to smell like him and he hadn't even worn it. He always smelled like a mixture of Abercrombie and Axe.

After we ate, we all walked down to the tree at the bottom of the hill and just talked. There were these other guys there, Kevin and Dave. These guys had been harassing me all year with sexual comments and dirty rumors. I just ignored them and tried not to care.

"Hey Amy, wanna give me a lap dance? I'll pay you a dollar," Dave said, laughing along with Kevin. You see, Dave was the biggest 8th grader at our school and Kevin was a scrawny perverted wanna be. All the guys started laughing and my cheeks became bright red with embarrassment, especially because Jake was standing right there.

"Dave knock it off, can't you tell she's tired of it?" Jake said. I looked at Jake in astonishment, no one had ever stood up for me like that. Dave and Kevin walked away, defeated, pretending as if they weren't that stupid. This was just the beginning of Jake amazing me...