Bully, turned best friend, turned lover?! - A Greg Jenko Love Story

I wasn't "gorgeous" to you....

Running out of the house, I looked over at Brad to see him grinning as he panted, out of breath from our quick escape.

"I haven't been to a party likes that in ages, Kate!" he panted, still beaming.

I just smiled, trying to hide the fact that, due to my high school experience eight years ago, I had never actually been to a party like that. My smile must have given that fact away though as, when Brad looked at me again, his smile had fallen from his face and he was looking at me in a state of confusion. 

"You've never been to a party like that?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"Actually..." I regretfully admitted, "I've never been to a party unless it was a family one..."

I looked down, my cheeks now burning from embarrassment, but I felt an index finger under my chin as my face was lifted up again. Thank god everyone from the party was a way away otherwise this would have looked extremely awkward... 

"How could you have never been to a... single party?" asked Brad in disbelief, not letting his finger drop from under my chin.

I scoffed; "In case you don't remember, I wasn't all that popular in high school..."

His face fell again, but then he perked up, saying, "But you were so gorgeous...."

I blushed but then it all came back to me....

Flashback:

It had been the day of high school, that Morton had decided to ask Melodie, the girl across the street and the 'prettiest' in school, to prom. But... he was rejected. That, and the school jocks, led by none other than Greg Jenko, were laughing at him in mockery after Jenko had explained to Morton that Melodie wouldn't go with him because she was hot and he was a nerd.

“Erm, bye” stuttered Morton, dashing off away from Melodie.

“Yeah, good talk buddy,” Jenko called after him.

I slammed my locker door, running after my brother, yelling, “Morton!”

“Aww look: his little girlfriend came to the rescue,” cooed Jenko.

I stopped in my tracks then and backed up towards the jocks.

“I’m his sister,” I hissed, frowning at them.

They looked astounded; “But you’re cute!” one of the jocks exclaimed.

Jenko then snapped out of it, “Hey dude, no she isn’t! Open your eyes, she’s fuck ugly!”

Reality:

Jenko's words echoed in my head over and over as I stood there, forced to look at him as I took my trip down memory lane.

'She's fuck ugly! Fuck ugly! Fuck ugly! Fuck ugly......'

I blinked fiercely to try and keep back the tears, taking a deep breath and looking him dea in the eye.

He stood waiting for a response, but I don't think he expected me to say what I did.

"Not to you," I whispered, pulling my chin from his grip and jogging away from him, still blinking.

I saw Doug talking with Eric and decided to jog up to them. I plastered a smile on my face as I did so, hoping to masquerade my sadness. I didn't look back to find Brad but I imagined he was still glued in place, staring in bewilderment at where I has stood before him just moments ago. I shook off the thought as I stopped beside Eric.

"Hey, you made it," he smiled, snaking an arm around my waist. I had to try my best not to squirm at his touch, knowing it would jeopardize any chance we had of getting information from him.

"Yeah," I breathed, smiling at him in a way which he clearly liked as he pulled me into his side even closer.

The thing was though, Doug didn't even seem fazed, smiling at the two of us like we were newly weds. 

"Can Kate be in on it too?" he asked, and I looked between him and Eric confused.

"In on what?" I asked quietly.

"Nah, I don't want my lovely girl getting hurt now do I?" Eric said.

"Aw come on man, you must have seen her in there tonight! I mean she's a demon with a steel platter!"

I smirked at my brother, but then became concious of Eric's hand sliding further and further down from its previous place on my hip. I smiled my way through it though.

"In on what?" I turned to Eric, purposely looking at him through my doe eyes.

He smiled down at me again, giving in to the eyes; "I said that you brother here could be a real part of the crew and help me sell some of my shit to the school students. I was gonna introduce him to my hook up and everything, but yeah are you interested?"

I thought about it and, seeing Doug nodding vigourously in my peripheral vision, beamed back at Eric.

"Would you expect anything less?" I asked.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed, but then Brad came jogging up to us.

"That was nuts! Almost lost you guys back there," he said, but Eric and Doug remained silent.

I refused to look up at Brad, instead taking a rather big interest in my shoes. The silence was awkward, even more so considering the conversation I had had with him just moments ago.

"Hey, thank you again for the party, man," Eric thanked Doug, not bothering to address Brad.

"And you," he continued, spinning me around to face him, "I'll see you tomorrow yeah?"

It took everything in me not to slap him right now, but I resisted, instead smirking up at him; "Can't wait."

He grinned then, leaning forward quite suddenly, pecked me on the lips, quickly, before smiling again and dashing off with his friends, leaving me in a state of awe.

"Woah...." said Doug, looking after him, "He's smooth."

Brad didn't say anything, just stomped back to the house. Staring after Eric, I stopped and turned to Doug.

"I'm gonna have to pretend to be interested in him aren't I?" I asked uncertainly.

"It's for the sake of the mission, Kate," Doug said, slinging his arm around me and walking me back to the house.

Upon reaching said house, Dad ushered us inside and Mom pushed us down on the sofa next to Brad so that I was sandwiched in the middle. She proceeded to go on about how some people form the party had drawn dicks in black marker over the toddler pictures of Doug, and how we had better do some chores, etcetera, etcetera.

My mind was elsewhere though. I couldn't help but notice how close Brad's hand was to my leg, and I watched it like you do a spider when you see it in a room, trying to calculate the next move.

So, as soon as Mom had finished ranting, I shot up from my seat and dashed up the stairs to my room. There, I shut the door, threw on my pyjamas and climbed into bed, curling into a ball, and crying. It wasn't because I was sad or anything, I was just confused. Confused about Brad....