innocence // jai brooks

chapter 3

The next day at lunch I go to sit at my usual table and I am the last one to arrive. "Hello my amazing friends," I smile and sit down.

"Someones in a good mood," Josie gives me a weird look.

"Spoke to soon... most hated person is heading this way..." Casey says.

Jai sits next to me and I smile at him. "Nah, we're good now,"

"Come sit with me?" Jai asks me.

I look at the girls, silently asking for permission.

"Go you loser, we can survive one day without you," Erin laughs.

I thank them and walk with Jai to his table. "Uh... when you said sit with you I thought you meant just us," I whisper.

He shakes his head. I nervously sit next to him while the others stare in confusion.

"This girl again really dude?" Luke says and shakes his head.

"She's my friend," He tells him.

"She's not your friend, she's a fucking prude. She rejected my offer," Beau says and glares at me.

"YOU ASKED HER TO FUCK YOU?" Jai stands and yells. The whole cafeteria turns to Jai and he sits down.

"What the fuck?" Vanessa asks Beau.

"Calm down babe, it's no big deal," He says to Vanessa.

"Yes it is actually! You asked that slut of all people!" Vanessa says and my eyes go wide. Why would she call me a slut? I instantly feel my face redden.

"Vanessa she's not a slut," Jai defends me. "You're an ass Beau, don't ever talk to her again," He continues.

"Calm down Jai she's just some random chick you're trying to get with. Who cares about her I'll find you someone 10x hotter," Beau says. My heart breaks into a million pieces and I can barely contain myself from bursting into tears.

"You know what Beau... fuck you," Jai says and takes my hand and leads my to the hallway.

I hear Beau laugh and I see Jai's eyes glare at the lockers we are soon approaching

"God. FUCK," Jai says and punches one of the lockers as we enter the hallway.

"Jai stop!" I tell him.

"Sorry..." He sits down. I sit next to him and squeeze his hand and rest my head on his shoulder. "Thanks for standing up for me... that was a really cool thing to do," I tell him. He places his arm around my shoulder and I smile. I know I can't fall for him, because he obviously would never go for a girl like me.

"It's not okay for Beau to treat you like that, you know. He only does that because he knows I..." He stops in mid sentence.

"Because he knows you what?" I question.

"Nevermind,"

"Well, I know it was probably hard defending me against your brother... but for what it's worth, it meant a lot to me,"

"I'm sorry for involving you in all this... You deserve better," He shakes his head.

"I can handle myself," I shrug.

"So why isn't there a boyfriend in your life?" Jai curiously asks me.

I laugh and roll my eyes.

"No, seriously. How come?"

"Boys don't like me," I shrug while looking down.

"That can't be true," He shakes his head.

"I've never had a boyfriend," I say while looking down still.

"Hey, look at me. You don't need a boyfriend to prove you are amazing," He tells me while lifting up my chin.

"It would just be nice if guys actually took an interest in me for once,"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" He asks. I stay quiet. Jai chuckles. "Well, do you want me to show you what it's like?" He leans in and we slowly kiss, I follow his lead. He breaks it off after what feels like forever. "That was pretty good for a beginner," He winks and I blush.

"What happened to being just friends?" I ask.

"We're just friends. Can't a guy help his friend out?" Jai laughs and stands up. "See you later," He walks off like nothing happened.

I rush into the cafeteria and find my table. "Guys," I announce and sit down.

"What are doing here?" Josie asks me.

"Jai just kissed me," I tell them.

"Are you serious?" Casey eyes me.

"Not lying," I confirm.

"Did you like it? Was he good?" Erin asks.

"Considering I don't having anything to compare him too, he was amazing," I gush.

"What happened to being just friends?" Josie asks me.

"We are," I shrug.

~

I hear my phone buzz in my purse and whip it out.

Meet me at my locker after school.

I squint my eyes. This number wasn't in my contacts so I simply replied with a 'who is this'.

Your first kiss ;)

I laugh and put away my phone.

"Why are you laughing?" Josie asks me as we walk down the hallway to our next class, which is pre-calculus.

"Just a text from Jai," I shrug, while trying to hide my smile.

"You so like him!" Josie gasps.

"No. We're just friends! And anyways, I'm pretty sure he's into Zoe,"

"Whatever, you're so into him!" Josie gawks.

"Okay, maybe I do, but it's so pointless so I'm not going to let it get to me," I shrug.

"Probably a good idea, I don't want you getting hurt, A," Josie tells me.

We take out seats in the front row as the room fills up with our classmates. Jai walks into the class and looks at me.

"You're in this class?" He asks.

"You're in pre-calc?" I ask him back.

"I'm actually really smart," He tells me.

"Me too," I reply. Jai sits down into the empty desk next to me. "Hey why do you want me to meet at your locker after school today?" I ask him.

"I just wanted to talk about earlier, I thought maybe we could go get something to eat since we kinda skipped lunch?" He half asks me.

"I'd like that," I smile as I hear Josie fake throw up.

"Shut up Jos," I laugh.

After class, I head to Jai's locker. As I arrive, he is leaned into some girl and they start to makeout. I rush away from his locker before he sees me and barely hold myself together from that horrible sight. I storm out to my car and break down once I get in it. I'm such an idiot, why would I ever think Jai could like me? Loser me? I'm a nobody and he's so mysterious and hot and popular and Australian. I need to keep my distance from him. I roll my eyes as his name lights up on my phone.

Hey, where are you?

Sorry. Had an emergency with Josie, maybe another time..